Cornelia Elementary School’s new top administrator will be Amy McCurdy. Habersham County Board of Education members voted Monday to hire McCurdy to replace Dr. Renee Pryor as principal for the 2015-2016 academic year.
As Now Habersham reported on March 10, the vacancy opened up after the board picked Dr. Pryor to be the system’s new Director of Federal Programs. The job entails insuring that Habersham Schools have all the federal funds they need. Pryor will also monitor expenditures to make sure spending is in line with federal regulations.
“Dr. Pryor left big shoes to fill at Cornelia Elementary,” Habersham County School Superintendent Matthew Cooper says, “We had a committee do a very thorough search for the best candidate.”
McCurdy is currently principal at Prince Edward County Elementary in her home state of Virginia. Before that, McCurdy served as assistant principal at Hopkins Elementary in Gwinnett County. Hopkins was, during McCurdy’s tenure, the largest elementary school in the United States with right at 2500 students. Cornelia Elementary serves a population of about 600.
McCurdy also has years of experience with students for whom English is a second language (English Language Learners). Cooper says almost 70% of McCurdy’s students at Hopkins were ELL and that experience is sorely needed here, “We have a large ELL population and that was a skill we were looking for. We needed someone who has the experience and skills to reach that group of students.”
In addition to the right mix of skills and experience, Cooper says there was an air of serendipity about the choice of McCurdy, “Before this job even came open she and her husband were wanting to move back to Georgia and they were wanting to move to Habersham County,” he explains. “They were looking at land here, looking at houses here. When this job came open they just couldn’t believe it.”
In addition to the McCurdy hire, BOE members approved the full slate of next year’s principals for Habersham County Schools.
| Habersham County School | 2015-2016 Principal |
| Baldwin Elementary | Vickie Wade |
| Clarkesville Elementary | Tim Goss |
| Cornelia Elementary | Amy McCurdy |
| Demorest Elementary | Connie Yearwood |
| Fairview Elementary | Darlene Hudson |
| Hazel Grove Elementary | Misty Turpin |
| Level Grove Elementary | Nancy Carter |
| Woodville Elementary | Alison Anglin |
| Hilliard Wilbanks Middle | Marybeth Thomas |
| North Hab Middle | Brent Tuck |
| South Hab Middle | Daphne Penick |
| Ninth Grade Academy | Connie Franklin |
| Success Academy | Rodney Long |
| Habersham Central High | Wes McGee |
