News

WHHS principal to retire in January

By Lightning Reports, Published: December 15, 2015

West Henderson High School will have a new principal shortly after Christmas break.

Dean Jones, a veteran teacher and coach who has been the principal at West for the past nine years, will retire Jan. 29 after 28 years in public education. West High’s assistant principal, Shannon Auten, will assume the principal’s job on Feb. 1. Auten, who joined the Henderson County school system in 2006 as a coach and school counselor, has been assistant principal at West since 2011.
Jones spent his first 2½ years in teaching at Murphy High School before moving east to Henderson County, where he has spent 25 years. After four years at Flat Rock Middle School, Jones became a phys-ed teacher and head baseball coach at East Henderson High School. In 1999 he became head football coach at West Henderson. He moved back to East five years later as assistant principal and athletic director.
“He has done basically every job in the county system that you could imagine,” Bobby Wilkins, Jones’s friend and peer, said in a news release. “He was good at everything. … Coaching gives you the basic background for administration. It prepares you with organization and discipline.”
Superintendent David Jones expressed thanks for the veteran teacher and administrator.
“We are very appreciative of the leadership and service Dean Jones provided our school district,” he said. “He is a fine man who made a positive impact on our students, staff and community. We wish him well in his retirement and future endeavors.”