New GHSA director says openness is a priority

Incoming leader Scott has been Dalton’s superintendent since ’18.

Tim Scott was approved unanimously Monday as the Georgia High School Association’s executive director effective July 1, succeeding the retiring Robin Hines. Scott says he will make communication and openness his priorities when he takes the job.

“I want to make sure people have access,” Scott said. “I know that Dr. Hines has done a great job with that. It’s a thing that I feel I’ve done well as a superintendent and principal, which is to make sure people have my email and phone number and let them know it’s not changing. That’s what I think is real important.”

Hines, who has served since 2017, will remain indefinitely to help in the transition, particularly as it comes to working with the

General Assembly, a role in which Hines has been outstanding.

Scott will be the GHSA’s seventh executive director and the second — Hines was the other — to join the association from the outside.

Scott has been Dalton’s superintendent since 2018; he was the assistant superintendent of district operations with the Douglas County School System before taking the Dalton job. He also has been a principal at Douglas County, Dublin and alma mater Northside-Warner Robins.

Scott said his experience with the GHSA made the job attractive to him.

“I coached, and after coaching I spent 14 years as a high school principal. The GHSA has always been a large part of not just my life but also my children’s and the things they did,” Scott said. “I knew it was a great opportunity, and the Georgia High School Association is probably, in my opinion, the best organization in the nation like it.”

Scott and Hines have been friends for years. Hines replaced Scott as Northside’s principal in 2007 and served for two years before becoming Houston County Schools superintendent.

In other actions, the GHSA’s 75-member executive committee passed six proposals in a meeting that took just 70 minutes.

One would allow a transfer student to gain immediate eligibility if his or her new school is the student’s first in the GHSA.

Many smaller associations, such as the Georgia Independent Athletic Association, already have this rule. The old GHSA rule was a reason cited by some former GHSA schools that left for the GIAA a year ago. It also caused competitive issues for current GHSA schools that could not offer the same eligibility.

Another rule change allows GHSA schools to play opponents with middle school athletes if the opponent’s association allows it. Middle school students are not eligible for GHSA varsity teams.