By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
Nesmith leaving ECCA, returning to central office
Travis N
Travis Nesmith - photo by File photo

One Effingham County school will have a new principal next year while another will have a change in athletic director.

Effingham College and Career Academy Principal Travis Nesmith will move into a central office position, and South Effingham High School Athletic Director Travis Dickey will remain at SEHS but in a different role.

The changes were among the personnel moves the Effingham County Board of Education approved in executive session last week. The board expects to sign 2015-16 contracts with about 850 employees next week.

Nesmith will succeed Judith Shuman, who is retiring at the end of the school year, as the Effingham County School System’s curriculum coordinator. In addition, he will continue to oversee the career and technical programs for the district.

“I have always possessed a passion for helping young people,” Nesmith said.

Along with being ECCA’s principal, Nesmith serves as the CTAE (Career, Technical, and Agricultural Education) coordinator. Effingham Schools Superintendent Randy Shearouse credited Nesmith with being a “student-centered principal” who “has made a difference to a lot of students” at the College and Career Academy.

“You hate to lose that, but you hope he can make an even bigger difference with more students in his new role with the district,” Shearouse said. “He’s going to be missed greatly (at ECCA), but you don’t hold somebody back from moving forward.”

This will be Nesmith’s second stint in the Effingham County School System’s central office, having worked previously as the system professional learning coordinator and system testing coordinator. He moved on to South Effingham High in 2008 as the instructional supervisor, and four years later became the director of high school programs at ECCA.

“There is not a better feeling than to see a teenager who has struggled in high school overcome challenges and graduate with a high school diploma,” Nesmith said.

Dickey will remain at SEHS as an assistant principal.

Shearouse did not specify why Dickey was reassigned, saying just that “we thought it was in everyone’s best interests to move in a different direction.”

Also, replacements were named for two instructional supervisors who are retiring.

Jennifer Peavy, the teacher leader for Effingham County’s Reading Recovery program, will succeed Brenda Barrow as Guyton Elementary’s instructional supervisor. Michelle Corless, a fourth-grade teacher at Rincon Elementary, will take on a new role at RES as instructional supervisor after Ramona Kessler retires.

School officials do not have specific candidates in mind for the ECCA principal or SEHS athletic director openings, according to Shearouse. The positions will be advertised soon, he said.

“We’re going to open that up,” Shearouse said of the job searches. “That will result in probably other changes taking place.”