Chester Begins Search For New Bragg Principal

The hunt is on.

The Chester Consolidated School District is now in the unenviable position of having to fill the sizable hole left by , who announced earlier this week he was leaving the district to become the .

The gap left by Johnson is not merely a reference to his large stature physically. The award winning principal, who picked up honors both and this year alone, had become synonymous with the success of the elementary school over the last five years.

Chester Superintendent Christina VanWoert said she was happy for Johnson.

"We can only wish Dan Johnson the very best in his new endeavor as the Principal of Sparta High School," VanWoert said. "We are grateful for his four and a half years in Chester."

VanWoert hired Johnson to succeed her as Bragg Principal when she became superintendent, and was not disappointed.  

"He was always an impeccable instructional leader and contributed a great deal to student achievement and teacher professional development," VanWoert said. " He will be missed a great deal."

With six weeks until the start of the new school year, VanWoert is working now to find the next principal.

" We have a Committee of teachers and parents that will be chaired by me and Kerri Wright, our Chester Board of Education Vice-President and the Chair of our Personnel Committee," VanWoert said. " We hope to begin interviewing towards the end of next week and plan to have a new principal in place for the start of the upcoming school year."

For his part, Johnson expressed confidence in VanWoert finding someone "better than him" to do the job and had only one piece of advice for his replacement.

"Believe in the people you work with," Johnson said. "I am a believer in human capital and there is a great staff there."