Donald Lewis The Thomasville School Board accepted TMS principal Joe Jackson’s resignation Thursday night. Jackson is leaving the school after one year at the helm. He is retiring, according to superintendent Vic Adkison.

TMS assistant principal Vickie Morris was appointed as interim principal and teacher Dwight Figgers was appointed interim assistant principal at the middle school.

Donald Lewis was hired to be the assistant principal of Thomasville High School. Prior to being hired in Thomasville, Lewis served as the assistant principal of Dothan High School. He is originally from Talladega and said he was looking to get back to a small-town school system. Lewis has 15 years of experience in education, is married and has two sons. He said he expects to be relocated to Thomasville by the end of August.

Leave

Adkison brought forth a proposal to cut one day of system-paid leave from the teacher benefits package. Currently, the state pays for two days of personal leave for teachers, while the Thomasville system pays for one additional day of personal leave for teachers with five or more years of experience.

Adkison said the cost of that additional day of leave is $61,724 per year. “It’s obvious we’re under a lot of financial pressure,” Adkison said. “Two school systems have been taken over by the state because of their financial situations.” Adkison said schools have also been warned that there could be an additional two percent of proration taken out of the current year’s funding. Adkison said taking back the leave money could cushion that blow. He added that the additional day of leave could be added back when school budgets recovered in the future.