Foothills Regional High School is pleased to announce the hiring of Kelly Akin, Linda Boyd, Scott Carrier and Thad Dixon as new area directors, effective July 1, 2025. These individuals will provide leadership and support to select sites in each Foothills area, including special programs.
“All four of these leaders are well-respected members of the Foothills community with positive, longstanding reputations in public education,” said Assistant Superintendent Dale Simpson. “I am confident in their ability to provide exceptional leadership and support to our sites. Our regional team looks forward to working with them in these new roles as we continue to elevate the Foothills experience for our students.”
Kelly Akin brings more than 30 years of experience in education to her new role. She began her career in 1992 teaching middle school in Jackson County before moving to Franklin County High School, where she spent 14 years serving in various roles, including a mathematics teacher, academic coach, department chair, and assistant principal. In 2013, she moved to Franklin County Middle School, where she served as assistant principal and principal. Before retiring in 2022, she served as the school improvement specialist for Franklin County Schools. Since 2021, Mrs. Akin has led the Foothills Franklin site as co-site director and now looks forward to supporting additional sites across the region.
Linda Boyd steps into this new leadership role with 37 years of dedicated service in education, including 19 years as a middle school principal. Throughout her career, she has been a strong advocate for student success and believes that education is the cornerstone to reaching one’s full potential. Since retiring from full-time administration, she has continued her impact at Foothills, serving as an assistant site director at the Virtual Campus. In her new role, she looks forward to collaborating with other leaders to better meet the needs of our students and increase student success through course completion and graduation.
Scott Carrier brings over four decades of experience in public education, including 25 years in school and district leadership roles. After retiring in 2017 as a high school principal, he joined Foothills as the site director for the Youth Challenge Program. In this new role, Mr. Carrier looks forward to working alongside multiple site leaders in hopes of learning from each other to ensure all students have the tools and environment they need to graduate and succeed.
With more than 30 years in K–12 and correctional education, Thad Dixon brings a deep commitment to equity, academic excellence and student-centered leadership. He has served as a principal and regional coordinator in traditional school settings and as a regional principal with the Georgia Department of Corrections, overseeing GED programs across multiple facilities. At Foothills, Mr. Dixon currently serves as a regional area coordinator, supporting both instructional and student services teams. As an area director, he looks forward to continuing to build systems that empower students and staff across the network of Foothills sites.
In addition, we are pleased to announce that Ms. Melissa Griffin has accepted the position of CTAE coordinator, where she will continue to combine her educational and workforce development expertise to develop our CTAE offerings further and expand our work-based learning opportunities.
Announcements regarding the ESOL and gifted coordinator positions, as well as the site director for the Alternative School Program, will be shared at a later date.