At least 15 DeKalb County schools will get new principals next year in what's become an annual leadership shake-up by Superintendent Crawford Lewis.
Only three of the 15 vacancies came through retirement.
Of the rest, Lewis either reassigned the principal to a different job, or a selection committee at a school picked someone to be its principal, creating a vacancy in that principal's former job.
The affected schools are Columbia, Druid Hills, Lakeside, Lithonia, M.L. King Jr., Southwest DeKalb and Towers high schools; Bethune, Sequoyah and Stone Mountain middle schools; Bouie, Evansdale, Panola Way and Robert Shaw elementary schools; and DeKalb Alternative School.
Most of those schools have already filled their vacancies. Five principals affected by the moves have been made assistant principals at different schools.
Columbia, Lakeside and Southwest DeKalb are advertising to fill their openings, with selection committees at those schools involved in the searches.
Lewis also may not be done. According to a spokesman in an e-mail, "There will be additional appointments. ... The list is not complete."
Lewis in the past has said he does not relish the disruption caused by the changes but that he wants to respond quickly to performance, especially given the pressure of the annual reviews schools now face.
Lewis last year asked one of the county's top principals to take a job at a lower-performing campus.
Then-Vanderlyn Elementary School principal Charlene Burger was snapped up by Oak Grove Elementary — one of eight schools that needed a new principal for the just-finished year.
Lewis reassigned eight principals to other jobs two years ago, although at least one declined and left the system.
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