High Shoals Elementary Principal Selected

teachers, students, and parents will see a face in administration next year that is already familiar to many in Oconee County.

The Oconee County Board of Education has announced that Billy Heaton, former assistant principal at , has been chosen to serve as principal of High Shoals Elementary beginning with the 2011-2012 school year.

Heaton also taught at , where he was named Teacher of the Year in 2003, the announcement stated.

"We are glad to welcome Billy Heaton back to Oconee County Schools and we hope that he will remain with us for a long time serving the boys and girls of this community," Superintendent of Schools John Jackson said in an open letter to parents.

Heaton succeeds Tom Brown who is retiring this year.  Brown "has done an outstanding job as the school's first principal," Jackson wrote.

Presently Heaton is the principal of Colbert Elementary School in Madison County. The school earned a Platinum Award from the Georgia Governor's Office of Student Achievement in 2010 for exceptional improvement in student performance, Jackson said.