Buda assistant principal hired for lead spot at Marble Falls High School
JENNIFER FIERRO • STAFF WRITER
MARBLE FALLS — Marble Falls High School has a new principal.
The Marble Falls Independent School District board of trustees approved the hiring of Damon Adams as the principal for the 2017-18 school year during its regular board meeting April 17.
Adams has been with the Hays Consolidated Independent School District since 2007. He currently serves as the lead assistant principal at Jack C. Hays High School in Buda.
Marble Falls ISD Superintendent Chris Allen made the recommendation to the board.
“We felt like he was the best fit for the school and the community,” Allen said, “and also, he has a clear vision for how to work with the existing staff and community to help us in our continued pursuit for excellence.”
Allen said the more Adams spoke to the search committee and staff members and the more he and the committee checked Adams’ references, the clearer it became that he was the ideal choice to lead the high school.
“The more clear it became his heart and education philosophy aligned with the district’s vision,” Allen said.
In addition to his work as a campus administrator, Adams serves as an adjunct lecturer for department of curriculum and instruction at the Texas State University in San Marcos.
Adams will try to spend time at Marble Falls before the end of the school year, but Allen said the new principal still has obligations to the Hays campus. Adams will take over the Marble Falls High School leadership spot in July.
Emmett Aubry has served as the interim Marble Falls High School principal since October when Manny Lunoff resigned for personal reasons.
The job drew 63 applicants. The interview committee spoke with 10 candidates and recommended three to Allen for a second interview. In addition, those three candidates took a tour of the high school campus and other parts of the district to share their impressions of what they saw and where they thought improvements could be made.
During those tours, the candidates met teachers, students, parents, and curriculum staff members.
In other business, the board approved the memorandum of understanding with the city of Marble Falls regarding possible future use of school land and other fields by the municipality.
Essentially, the memorandum outlines which entity is responsible for what at each site. For instance, it outlines who is going to maintain which fields, when they can be used by recreational leagues, and what part of the year they can be used.
“It’s a framework agreement,” Allen said. “It’ll be used as a guide to future agreements for the use of district facilities and property so the city can provide recreational programs for the community.”
Allen noted the agreement doesn’t specify that the land must be turned into youth fields, adding the board and administration envisions having multipurpose fields for families.
“My interest is in creating opportunities for our students and their families to be engaged in structural activity,” the superintendent said. “That does a tremendous amount of good for kids that translates to academic performance and social and mental health.”
Allen said he had heard residents indicate a desire for more baseball and soccer fields that will benefit all ages, which is something he believes in.
“It gives us an opportunity to reach out to all sectors of the community,” he said. “It lays the foundation on the road we hope to make as we lay recreational opportunities for the community.”
While the board and administrators are comfortable with the progress that has been made with city leaders, Allen emphasized the two sides are still talking about possibilities.
“It’s a very deliberate process,” he said. “No one is in a rush to do anything. We’ll have an operations agreement before we get into any detailed plans.”