Troy board names choice for principal

By Brent Shrum, Western News Reporter

A school administrator and former banker from Alabama is the Troy School Board¹s first choice for the district¹s next high school principal.

In a special meeting on April 8, the board selected Rodney Smith from a field of four finalists for the position. The other three finalists were Troy High School teacher Glenn Herman, Libby Middle School assistant principal Keith Ivers and Ron Goodman, a Columbia Falls native currently living and working in Circle.

The four finalists spent the day in Troy touring the district and being interviewed by the board.

Smith was the nearly unanimous choice of a 10-person committee charged with screening applicants and making a recommendation to the school board. The committee included two board members along with administration, staff and community representatives.

Sylvia Maffitt, one of the school board representatives on the committee, said she thought Smith would get along well with Troy¹s teachers and be an involved member of the community.

Eight or nine of the committee members picked Smith as their first choice, said district superintendent Brady Selle. However, Smith is scheduled to make $58,000 at his current job next year, Selle said, while the salary range for the Troy High School job was listed at $48,000 to $55,000. The board authorized Selle to negotiate with Smith on the salary but as of its regular meeting on Tuesday a contract had not been finalized.

Smith worked as a banker for about 16 years before beginning a new career as a government and economics teacher in 1995 and then moving into school administration in 1997. He currently lives in New Market, Ala., where he is an assistant high school principal.

The new principal will replace David Henderson, who in February submitted a letter of resignation effective in June.