Brown hired as FHS principal

Flomaton Elementary School Principal George Brown will make a short walk across the parking lot after the Escambia County School Board unanimously approved him as the new principal of Flomaton High School.

Brown, 45, will be replacing Scott Hammond, who has served as the high school's principal for the past 17 years and announced his retirement at the end of this school year.

Brown said the hardest part of applying for the principal's job at the high school is leaving the teachers, staff and children at the elementary school.

Brown took over as principal of FES on July 1, 2018 and will take over as principal of FHS on July 1, 2021.

Brown did say the good thing about the move is that he will soon being seeing some of his elementary students at the high school.

"They are coming and I look forward to interacting with them every day," Brown said.

A native of Flomaton, Brown was a 1995 graduate of Flomaton High School. He went to Jefferson Davis Community College in Brewton for two years and then received his bachelor's degree in special education from the University of West Florida.

While attending UWF, Brown worked part-time as a groundskeeper and custodian for several elementary and middle schools in Escambia County, Ala., during the summer.

His first teaching job was as a special education teacher at Escambia County Middle School in 2000 and he then transferred a year later to Escambia County High School.

While at ECHS he coached boys' basketball and was an assistant baseball coach. He also was an assistant football coach at Flomaton.

Brown then took a job at 2005 during the first year of Spanish Fort High School, where he also served as the head girls' basketball coach, assistant football coach and a special education teacher.

He also coached tennis and golf.

While at Spanish Fort Brown received his master's degree in administration from the University of South Alabama.

Brown came home and was named the FES principal in 2018.

"I love this town and the people who work here for both schools," Brown said.

Brown said he'd seen the high school principal job posted for a week and decided to apply.

"I feel like we've done some great things at this school," Brown said of FES.

He said Hammond is leaving the high school in a great position and wants to continue and make improvements.

"My goal is to make it better," he said of the high school. "Scott Hammond has set the bar real high, but I will look for improvements from everybody, including myself."

He said his biggest challenge will be flipping his mind set back to high school after serving as principal of an elementary school.

"Now I have to switch it back to 7 through 12, but some things remain the same," he said. "It's all about educating our children."

Brown's family has deep roots in Flomaton with his grandfather, George Arnold Brown, Sr., serving at Flomaton's elementary and middle school principal from 1965 to 1986.

Brown and his wife Danielle have four children, Bear, 8, 11-year old Ryder, 5-year old Story Jean and 4-year old Juniper Rae.