Over winter break, Azle High School said goodbye to two assistant principals (APs) and welcomed two new ones: Misty White (Ru-Z) and Dustin Bell (C-Gl). Some may recognize White as the assistant principal for Azle Junior High South and a former teacher and coach at Forte Junior High.
“I worked at Forte Junior High,” said White. “I was a teacher and coach there for 8 years, and then 11 years as AP at Azle Junior High. A lot of my time was spent at Azle Junior High. It was a great campus, good staff, great kids. They’re in junior high though, so they’re going through weird things, but, that was the fun part of it.”
Because White moved up to the high school, she now sees some familiar faces from the past.
“The students, oddly, were glad to see me,” said White. “Even the ones that we spent a lot of time in junior high together and I thought they hated me. They were like ‘Oh my gosh, I’m so glad you’re here.’ So it’s been good so far. The challenge has been big, and I don’t know where anything is, but I’m learning.”
White also has family that goes to Azle High School.
“My daughter’s a freshman,” White said. “I have a niece that is a sophomore, a nephew that is a junior, and a niece that is a senior. And so family wise, I was going to be going to those graduations anyway, so now I get to be part of those graduations, so that’s exciting.”
However, moving schools in the middle of the school year can bring some challenges.
“[Changing schools after winter break] was very difficult, because usually the end of July to the beginning of August, before kids come back for school, is when you get ready for your school year. That’s where you get everything from the administration, teaching, your staffing, all of your procedures are set in place and you’re ready to go. [Because] I’m getting right in the middle of the year, I didn’t get any of that. There wasn’t a work day before we came back, so I didn’t even know who was in my department. It was pretty wild.”
Saying ‘hello’ to new coworkers means saying ‘goodbye’ to old ones, too.
“I feel like I haven’t had time to miss it because I’ve just been very busy from the minute I walked in here,” White said. “I miss the people though. We’ve been a family for 11 years, so it was hard. That part was hard.”
Before fully transferring to the high school, White was able to spend a week after Winter Break at Azle Junior High South.
“I talked to Mr. Driver, and he let me stay at the junior high that first week we came back, but then we had snow days, so my week got shortened to three days,” White said. “But it was good closure wrapping everything up at the junior high and then getting to come over here. I’m just really excited to be here at the high school. It’s the mothership of all the schools, so I feel like I’m with the big dogs now.”
