In an email to Morgan Academy friends and families, the school announced the hiring of Martha McKnight as the school’s new headmaster.

The announcement comes more than two months after former headmaster Randy Skipper announced he was leaving to become the executive director the Alabama Independent School Association, the governing body that oversees such schools as Morgan Academy and Meadowview Christian.

McKnight most recently served as an adjunct professor at Judson College. Prior to that, she served in the Demopolis City School System for 34 years in a variety of positions, including special education coordinator, school psychometrist, 504 and Title IX coordinator and educator.

“People here have been so kind and so welcoming. This is a warm atmosphere and that is so important,” McKnight said Wednesday. “I’ve had teachers that have come to introduce themselves. I bet I’ve met at least half the faculty if not more.”

She expressed interest in working at Morgan because she said she discovered retirement and being a stay-at-home person was not for her. She retired last year after a career in education in Demopolis and felt she needed to keep serving children.

She said she is looking forward to a great year at Morgan and hopes, under her direction, the school will continue build on success.

“I want Morgan to build on the successes it already has,” McKnight said. “Morgan is an outstanding school, academically and athletically. They provide for a well-rounded child by having activities that would interest every child … I hope to see what they have established continue to grow with enrollment and to continue to prosper.”

Overall, McKnight said, the children in her school are the priority and she hopes the faculty will function as a family.

“I am a very hard worker and I want to do the right thing. I want to treat people like I would like people to treat my child. And I think that you don’t mess up when you do that,” McKnight said.

McKnight holds a master’s degree in elementary education from Auburn University at Montgomery and has completed 54 hours toward a Doctorate in Education Administration — Leadership, Policy and Law from Alabama State University.

According to Tuesday’s emailed announcement, McKnight is a Leadership Marengo graduate, the Region 6 representative for the Alabama Association of School Psychologists, served as the Dayton representative on the Marengo County Economic Development Board, served on the quality assurance committee of the Marengo County Department of Human Resources and on the human rights committee of West Alabama Mental Health.

McKnight and her husband, Clifton, live in Dayton and have one grown daughter. Dayton is a community located in Marengo County.

But McKnight said her location would not affect her work as an administrator.

“Where I live, you have to drive to get anywhere anyway,” McKnight said. “I have no constraints on my time or other activities that would interfere with me doing this. I have a life, but this is part of it.”

Students at Morgan Academy report for their first day of classes on Aug. 15.