Two Marion County principals to be reassigned

A principal shuffle in Marion County, Tenn., will lead to two new faces being named to take the lead at schools in Jasper and Whitwell as soon as this summer, school system officials said.

"There are two principals that are going to be reassigned," Director of Schools Mark Griffith said Thursday. He said no one has been terminated.

"We're just looking to go a different direction within the system," Griffith said.

Whitwell High School principal Josh Holtcamp and Jasper Elementary School principal Tim Bible will not return to their positions when school resumes this fall, he said.

The announcement was made during a meeting Wednesday with the county's 10 principals.

"Their reassignments are still pending budgetary evaluation," Griffith said. "They're under contract till June 30."

Griffith said it was "premature" to speculate on who their replacements will be.

Bible has been principal at Jasper Elementary School for at least 12 years, and Holtcamp has headed the high school in Whitwell for the last four, according to officials.

Staff at Whitwell High School said Holtcamp was not in the office on Thursday.

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Bible said Thursday the reassignment was unexpected.

"It was a surprise to me and many others," he said. "I'll just wait to see what the reassignment is; I don't know what it is now."

Bible said he hoped his replacement would be named before school is out on May 23 so they could work together for a smooth transition for students and parents.

"It's a good school. No matter what happens, I am very proud of my school," Bible said.

Griffith said he wanted to let Bible and Holtcamp to know early on "so they have the time to explore their opportunities."

Meanwhile, a search for new principals at the two schools could get under way soon.

"I hope to start [advertising] these positions around the second week in May and get a replacement in place maybe by mid-June," Griffith said.

The posts will be open to people already working for the system or someone hired from elsewhere, he said.

"We welcome opening up the positions for someone we can recruit, but we also think we've got some great folks internally as well," he said.

Contact staff writer Ben Benton at or 423-757-6569.

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