Denton school board members this week promoted two administrators to the top spots at two middle schools.

Gwen Perkins

Gwen Perkins, Denton High School associate principal, will become principal at Crownover Middle School starting in the fall.

Angela Ricks, Ryan High School assistant principal — whom district officials say is the first African-American woman selected as top administrator of a Denton campus — will lead a new Shady Shores campus slated to open in 2011.

The announcement was made during a board meeting Tuesday night.

District spokeswoman Sharon Cox said Ricks’ appointment as principal marks the first time an administrator has been hired two years prior to a campus opening. Generally, chief administrators start one year prior, she said, but district officials wanted her to be a part of the “complete building process” of the campus that was approved in a $282 million bond election in 2007.

After the announcement Tuesday, the new principals shared a two-handed high-five and a hug outside the district board room.

Angela Ricks

Ricks called the announcement an honor. She has been an administrator at Ryan High for more than seven years and served as a health teacher for five years. She also has 12 years experience as a registered nurse. Ricks is involved in state and district programs with an emphasis on school improvement and classroom instruction.

“I feel like the district has prepared me for this task,” Ricks said. “I’m ready for it.”

In the fall, Ricks will have dual roles — continuing her job as assistant principal and taking on responsibilities of a new campus south of Stephens Elementary School in Shady Shores. She said her “wheels are spinning nonstop” in anticipation of gathering information on her future students, hiring a campus staff, implementing new programs and opening a new school. She said she looks forward to getting her two youngest children through high school and on to college within the next two years.

Perkins will replace Crownover Principal Dianne Blair, who plans to retire in June. Blair, who was present Tuesday, received rousing applause and a standing ovation for her 36 years in education — 29 of which have been in Denton with 23 years as a district administrator. She has led Crownover since it opened in 2002.

“I can’t even begin to say how honored I am to be selected as the instructional leader to lead such an extraordinary campus,” Perkins said. “I look forward to continuing all the great things that Mrs. Blair and her current staff have put in place and building on those things for years to come.”

Perkins has seven years of administrative experience — three at Denton High. She worked as an assistant principal at Keller High School for four years and as a teacher and coordinator at Trinity High School in the Hurst-Euless-Bedford school district. Coming from a high school background, she said, she will be comfortable in the new role knowing what is expected of her students as they enter high school.

BRITNEY TABOR can be reached at 940-566-6876. Her e-mail address is btabor@dentonrc.com .