Following internal moves by Kosciusko High School Principal Cory Blaylock and Middle Elementary Principal Chris Terry, the district wound up needing to fill the leadership positions in three of the five schools in the district.
Following the school board vote Monday night making the transfers official, Superintendent Billy Ellzey said he believes the district moves will be positive.
“We’re excited about the new leadership we’ve put in place and we’re looking forward to these people starting in their new roles,” he said.
Kosciusko High School
Blaylock is moving from the KHS role into a new position combining oversight of district technology and data analysis, as well as improving the district dropout rate.
Blaylock will be replaced by Lee Henry Coats, the former one-year KHS assistant principal who has served as principal at Kosciusko Upper Elementary (KUE) for the past two years.
Coats is a former teacher at the elementary and high school levels who earned his bachelor’s in Business Marketing from Jackson State before deciding to go into education. He returned to school to get his master’s in Teaching and specialist certificate in Education Leadership, both from Belhaven University.
Coats was also named Teacher of the Year in 2009, when he was a high school teacher in Holmes County.
“I love Kosciusko and enjoy being part of this community. When I was there (KHS), I had a great experience and learned a lot,” he said. “I’m really familiar with a lot of the people there and I want to go back and build on the success they’ve had.”
Coats said he will miss everything about being principal at KUE, but particularly the relationships he has built with students, parents and teachers.
Kosciusko Upper Elementary
The vacancy created by Coats’ move from KUE to KHS will be filled by Josh Dodd, current district Director of Federal Programs, Student Assessment & Elementary Curriculum. He has been in that role for the past three years.
“It has always been a lifelong goal of mine (to be a principal). I love working with students, teachers, and parents,” Dodd said. “I want to help in any way I can and am excited to use my education and experience to help fourth- and fifth-graders.”
Dodd said it is the next step in the progression of his education career. He earned his bachelor’s in Elementary Education and his master’s in Educational Leadership from Mississippi State University. He has taught fourth and fifth grade in the Starkville and Winona school districts, and also served as an interventionist in Starkville.
“I look forward to the journey. We’re going to have a great year. I’m really excited about the interaction with students, parents, faculty and the community,” he said. “I have an open-door policy for anything and everything.”
The role he leaves behind will be added to the duties of Dr. Chancey Fort, the district Director of Counseling.
Kosciusko Middle Elementary
Current KME Principal Chris Terry will return to the classroom and teaching at Kosciusko Junior High School, creating the vacancy which will be filled by current KUE fifth-grade ELA teacher William Anderson.
After earning his bachelor’s in Elementary Education from the University of Mississippi and his master’s degree in School Administration from Mississippi State University, Anderson spent four years teaching sixth grade in the Water Valley school district.
He then spent time in full-time ministry before returning to the classroom at KUE for the past two years.
“It didn’t take me long to want to get back to it,” he said of his time away from education. In addition to teaching at KUE, he is a preaching minister at South Huntington Church of Christ in Kosciusko.
“I love the community of Kosciusko and the school system, so when the opportunity came up and I had the credentials, I decided it was time to see if I could make this move,” Anderson said of moving from the classroom into administration.
“I will miss the close relationships you can build with students through the year; that will be what I miss,” he said. “But I look forward to supporting the teachers in making a difference for their students in the classroom.”
