Bradley named principal at North Murray High

Maria Bradley was named principal of North Murray High School during the first meeting of the new school board this year. A vote last October had ended in a 3-3 tie.

The high school on Mount Carmel Road is expected to be ready in the fall of 2010.

“I’m really excited and looking forward to it,” said Bradley, who has been principal at Gladden Middle School since 2002. “I first interviewed for the job in July, so it was time for some closure.”

The school board voted 4-0 for a package of personnel moves that included hiring Bradley, with Crystal Felty and Josh Young abstaining. New board members Ricky Mallett, Rebecca Whaley, Kay McCurdy and chairman Greg Shoemaker voted for the package. Elizabeth Gould did not attend the meeting.

Asked about Bradley, Felty said Monday, “I could not vote in support of everything that was in the package.”

Young did not immediately return a phone call Monday afternoon.

Felty, Young and Gould voted against naming Bradley principal in October. Felty said then it was “not a personal thing against Dr. Bradley.”

“With the new high school, I just feel we have to get the absolute best person,” she said then. “Hindsight is 20-20, but we don’t always get that option as a board and I feel like we need to look at more options.”

Superintendent Vickie Reed, Bradley’s sister-in-law, recommended her for the position last fall. Former school board chairman Julius Weyman abstained from voting at that time since his wife worked on the Gladden staff under Bradley, resulting in the tie vote.

Reed did not immediately return a phone call Monday afternoon.

Bradley said she is moving forward in the areas of technology and sports.

“I will work for North Murray to become a ‘smart showcase’ school, which is a school that showcases technology,” she said. “Gladden Middle was a smart showcase school, and I will be making a case to the Smart Technology company that sponsors these schools to come to North Murray. What better place to showcase technology than a new high school?”

Bradley said she will fill a teacher’s position with a person who will also serve as athletics director if the school board approves it.

“I’ll be recommending an assistant principal and a guidance counselor, and also a teacher who will double as the athletic director,” she said. “I feel like we’re behind already, so we need to get moving.”

North Murray will actually begin this fall in the halls of the current Ninth Grade Academy, which is in the old Bagley Middle School. Initially it will be comprised of ninth- and 10th-graders. Current Bagley eighth-graders will move into the high school.

“We’ll be meeting to work on scheduling soon,” said Bradley, “and also choosing (school) colors and a mascot. The first coach to be hired will be a head football coach.”

The school is expected to cost around $35 million. The school system will receive $9.9 million from the state, and also continue to sell bonds — a total of $15 million at this point — that will be repaid with Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax funds.

The Maria Bradley file

1989 — Graduated Murray County High School

1991 — Associate of science degree, Dalton State College

1993 — Bachelor of science, University of Georgia

1994-2001 — Science teacher, Murray County High School

1996 — Master of secondary science, State University of West Georgia

1998 — Educational specialist, Lincoln Memorial University

2001-2002 — Assistant principal, Gladden Middle School

2002-present — Principal, Gladden Middle School

2003 — Doctorate in Educational Leadership, Argosy University

2005 — Georgia Association of Educational Leaders Outstanding Educator of the Year

2005 — Georgia Association of Middle School Prinicpals Exemplary Leadership Award

2006 — Georgia Middle Level Principal of the Year

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