July 27, 2024
By: Dwayne Page
The start of the new school year is bringing changes in administration positions at three of the five schools in DeKalb County.
Teresa Jones, who became assistant principal last year at DeKalb Middle School, will succeed Caleb Shehane as principal there this year. Shehane recently resigned after serving two years as DeKalb Middle School principal.
Taking Jones’ place as DMS assistant principal is veteran teacher Josh Agee.
Meanwhile Thomas Cagle, who served as an assistant principal at DeKalb County High School for the last three years, has stepped down. Succeeding him in that role is Seth Willoughby, who for the last two years has been assistant principal at DeKalb West School.
Jones said she is super excited about this new chapter in her life.
“Last year I walked into an assistant principal position in a school that had some great foundations going on,” said Principal Jones. “My plan is to build on those foundations to make DeKalb Middle School a place where students, parents, and community members are proud to call their own. That is my goal. I want students to be proud of the job and success in the work they do while they are here. I want parents to be proud to send their kids to DeKalb Middle School and I want teachers to be proud being part of something that is moving forward,” said Jones.
Before becoming assistant principal last year, Jones served 20 years as a seventh-grade teacher.
“I was a 7th grade math teacher for 15 years in Smith County and then I was hired here at DeKalb Middle School as a 7th grade math teacher,” she said.
In 2020, Teresa was chosen as Teacher of the Year for DMS and at the district level. She is married to Chris Jones and the couple has four children, Evan, Ean, Eli, and Olivia Grace.
After spending his entire career at DeKalb Middle as a teacher, Agee said he is proud to be joining the administration.
“I am going into my 24th or 25th year at the middle school so this is my family and my home,” said Agee. “I have done a little bit of everything throughout the years. I started off teaching math and I have done science, social studies, and reading. Everything except for English. My last job was RTI. I also coached basketball for 22 years here. I was ready for a new challenge. I am really excited about being a part of the leadership team here,” said Assistant principal Agee.
Agee and his wife January are the parents of four, Kennedy, Vaden, Lucas, and Teagan.
Meanwhile at DeKalb West School, Snow is moving from a long-time teaching position to administration as assistant principal.
“I am very overwhelmed but excited to serve in this capacity,” said Snow. “I just completed my 16th year teaching. For the last eleven years I taught 4th grade and before that I taught 1st grade for five years”.
Cindy’s husband is Eric Snow and her stepson is Brody.
Willoughby is returning to DCHS where he began his career in the school system as a Biology teacher in 2015 before taking the assistant principal post at DeKalb West in 2022. During his time at the high school, Willoughby also served as an assistant boys basketball coach and was the head tennis coach.
“I am very excited to be back at the high school. I will always love the West School. That’s a very special place but I look forward to serving the students and faculty at the high school,” said Willoughby.
Seth and his wife Mackenzie have a one-year-old son Baylon.