A new Gainesville student activity director is expected to be hired Monday, weeks after the announcement that high school athletic director Wayne Vickery’s position is changing.

Vickery’s part-time position is being replaced by a full-time position designed to encompass more responsibilities.

“The responsibilities are much, much more than those currently held by the part-time person we have now,” said Delores Diaz, school board chairwoman. “So it’s a completely different direction.”

Vickery, who has worked in the school system for 34 years, was notified March 20 of the change and the opportunity to apply for a full-time, systemwide director of athletics and student activities.

Diaz said the board expects to receive a suggestion for the position from the hiring committee at its regular meeting Monday.

The new director will organize the middle and high school interscholastic athletic program, according to the position description provided by the school board.

The director will also work to develop feeder programs at the middle and elementary school levels.

Diaz said she believes high school athletics and activities will benefit from rising students who have experience from the feeder program.

“The director of athletics and student activities will provide leadership and support for athletic personnel, keep the community aware of and responsive to the athletic programs, prepare and administer the athletic program budget and assume responsibility for the
organization of all interscholastic intramural athletic events and student activities,” the job description states.

“We want this person to not only supervise the high school athletics, but also the middle school athletics, P.E. programs at the elementary level and more, so they can take on some of the feeder program at the elementary level,” Diaz said.

She said the move is not about Vickery but the needs of Gainesville elementary and middle school students. She said in Vickery’s part-time capacity, he’s not been able to serve the district’s younger students in the same way he’s successfully served the high school athletes.

“We didn’t feel that the needs of all our students were being met,” Diaz said. “This is no reflection on (Vickery), it’s just that he is a part-time person and can’t do in that position all the things we would like to be done.”

A change of positions

While districtwide athletic directors aren’t unheard of, in Gainesville’s neighboring school districts the job of athletic director is typically held at the school level.

Gordon Higgins of Hall County Schools said the county school district hires an athletic director for every high school and an assistant principal responsible for athletics at each middle school.

At the elementary level, athletics and student activities are governed through a cooperative with Hall County Parks and Leisure Services, Higgins said. But Hall County does have an athletic representative at the central office, too.

“I’m the central office person who oversees athletics,” said Higgins, who is the district director for community relations and athletics. “But it’s not really the day-to-day operations; that’s handled at the school level. I’m more or less with things that pertain to (Georgia High School Association) and anything with eligibility.”

In Buford City Schools, Dexter Wood is the Buford High School part-time athletic director and there is no athletic representative for the entire system.

“I am the high school athletic director that helps coordinate the middle school, too,” Wood said. “I don’t carry the title of system athletic director, no. I’m more of a high school athletic director that has a couple assistant ADs who work with the middle school.”

At the Gainesville school board’s April meeting, Diaz said the school board had the idea months ago to change the position.

“The decision to create a full-time position of director of athletics and student activities was one that the board has talked about for some time now,” Diaz said. “Our system has grown tremendously and along with it, the needs of our system have grown. We communicated our vision to Dr. Creel, and she has set about implementing our vision.”

A school board’s ability to partake in personnel changes is determined by its governance system. Gainesville’s board governance system policies are available online.

The policy titled “Board Code of Ethics” states board members will not intrude on school administration responsibilities, “including such functions as hiring, transferring or dismissing employees.”

The policy also states board members will consider personnel employment matters only after receiving the recommendation of the superintendent.

“This is not necessarily about personnel,” Gainesville Superintendent Wanda Creel said. “It was a direction, which the board can give, in regards to how we want to support our students. From a policy standpoint, this is (about) services and what we want to provide for our student population, and therefore does become a right of the board from a policy standpoint.”

Future of Gainesville athletics

At the board’s April meeting, some residents asked whether the new director will be able to uphold the quality level of high school athletic success Vickery has established over the years. In 2013, he was named the Region 8-AAAAA Athletic Director of the Year and in 2010 he joined the Georgia Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

“The current direction of athletics at Gainesville High under the leadership of Wayne Vickery has been to compete at a very high level with facilities that are unmatched in the state and a coaching staff that is consistent, quality and happy,” said Lee Wiley at the April meeting. “All while operating in the black.”

There may not be much room for improvement in athletics. The football team was the 2012 AAAAA state champion, and the school has 30 state championships in eight sports.

In the Regions Director’s Cup, awarded by the Georgia Athletic Directors Association, points are given based on a school’s ranking in various sports.

In the cup’s current standings, Gainesville is ranked eighth for AAAAA schools. The school was ranked eighth the past two years. Gainesville girls’ athletics have ranged from 26th last year to their current ranking at 36th, while boys’ athletics have remained in the top four for the past three years.

But Diaz said she doesn’t believe the success of high school athletics will falter because of these changes.

“Obviously we don’t think that, or we wouldn’t have created this position,” she said.

Creel said the new district athletic director will still have a strong role at the high school, and the assistant athletic director, Bryson Worley, will still provide a presence on campus.

Furthermore, Creel emphasized there will be a clear point of contact for recruiters either at the high school or with the district, though the individual has not yet been determined.

The hiring committee — which includes community members, middle and high school coaches, an elementary school P.E. teacher, parents and administrators — reviewed 29 applications and interviewed select candidates last week.

“I know they have interviewed several people and I expect we will know the decision on Monday,” Diaz said. “But we don’t know anything yet, including who the finalists are.”

Diaz said it is her hope that the new director will help develop a strong feeder program in the lower school levels, and therefore enhance athletics at Gainesville High School.

She understands the community’s frustration, she said, when it comes to the new position, but she feels optimistic about its impact on the district’s future.

“We really feel that we are making the best decision for our students, and that is our goal,” she said. “We feel that, in the end, we’ll be stronger for having made this change.”