3 Associates Promoted to AISD Principal Positions

Three associate principals have been promoted to fill principal vacancies for the 2012-13 school year, superintendent Dr. Heath Burns announced Tuesday.

• The new Craig Middle School principal will be Dan Dukes, currently an associate principal at Abilene High School. Dukes will take the reins from Gustavo Villanueva, who earlier was named the Administrator of Instruction at AHS beginning the 2012-13 school year.
• Carla Garrett will be the new principal at Austin Elementary School, succeeding the retiring Candy Scarborough. Garrett has served as an associate principal at AHS since 2010.
• Associate principal Jane Allred-May has been promoted to director of Jefferson Center to replace Connie Mangin, who in December was named the new executive director of special education to succeed the retiring Larry Davis. In its first year of existence, Jefferson Center houses Travis Opportunity Center and Houston Student Achievement Center alternative education programs.

"All three of these internal candidates are tried and true," Burns said. "They've performed in their current assignments and will thrive in their new roles. We are lucky to have strong internal talent in our district."

Dan Dukes joined AISD in 2010 after serving two years as principal of the Model Secondary School for the Deaf, a national special education school in Washington, DC. He served from 2004-07 as honors program coordinator for both the Model Secondary School for the Deaf and Kendall Demonstration Elementary School. He began his education career as a teacher in North Richland Hills, TX, at Birdville High School. Dukes will receive his doctoral degree from George Washington University in Washington, DC, in May. He owns a master's degree from the University of Texas-Arlington and a bachelor's degree from Texas Christian University.

Carla Garrett taught elementary school for the first 11 years of her career and later gained experience as a middle school and high school teacher in Keller, Victoria, Port Lavaca and Bloomington. She was vice principal at Irving Nimitz High School from 2006-10 before joining AISD. She earned her bachelor's degree from the University of Houston-Victoria and her master's from Tarleton State University.

From 1979-2003, Jane Allred-May was the administrator for Houston SAC, now a part of Jefferson Center. She also served as an associate principal at Cooper High School from 2003-11 before becoming associate principal at Jefferson in 2011. Allred earned her teaching degree from Hardin-Simmons University and master's from Southwest Texas State University (now Texas State University).

Candy Scarborough is retiring as principal of Austin Elementary after serving in AISD for the past 25 years, including the last 23 at the southside campus. Scarborough served as the guidance counselor at Austin for 14 years before taking over as principal eight years ago and has been an educator for 30 years. Prior to coming to AISD, Scarborough taught in Lubbock and Austin. She holds a bachelor's degree from Texas Tech University and master's degrees from Hardin-Simmons and Abilene Christian universities.