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By unanimous vote, AISD board approves Hosack as permanent Mac principal

First-year leader eager to continue initiatives; band honored for making it to state

Shield staff reportsDecember 17, 2019Leave a Comment

After G comes H: Garrison era ends; Hosack era begins

Sherwynn Patton demonstrates a restorative practice circle to the McCallum vertical team during a teacher workday on Jan. 6. Photo by Larry Featherstone. Originally published on the McCallum High School Twitter feed.

Strengthening community at Mac

The administration team showed new principal Brandi Hosack that they had her back (or was it her arm) by dressing up as her for Halloween. Photo by Anna Nagle.

Hosack values family, transparency, Wonder Woman and doing the right thing

Hall passes on lanyards are part of the new policy changes at McCallum this year. Given to all teachers, students are expected to leave class with the pass in hand. Photo illustration by Dave Winter.

Targeting tardies, silencing cell phones

Senior Aranza Sanchez talks with principal Brandi Hosack and assistant principal Gabriel Reyes on the first day of school. Photo by Anna McClellan.

Hosack era begins at Mac

Interim principal Brandi Hosack shared with seniors Stella Shenkman and JK Smith that relationship-building is the key to making a campus work and also the prime reason behind the new cell phone policy and the flexible instruction time initiative.

For Mac’s new principal, campus leadership starts and ends with building relationships

In her debut community meeting in the cafeteria on May 28, interim principal Brandi Hosack said her first job was going to be to listen to stakeholders so she could learn McCallums culture and traditions, and after her remarks she set about to do just that with band director Carol Nelson and alumni association president Tommy Cowan and vice president Vickie Flaugher. Photo by Madelynn Niles.

Hosack makes debut as Mac principal

Mr. Garrison links pinkies with the leadership of the Class of 2018 as they sing the school song at the close of last years graduation ceremony. Garrison has one more song to sing: Wednesday night at the Erwin Center with the Class of 2019.

Thank you, Mr. Garrison, for everything

Producer Stella Shenkman and guest hosts Gregory James and Bella Russo sit down with outgoing principal Mike Garrison in the lastest episode of The S Word, the Shields exclusive podcast series.

In Episode 8 of ‘The S Word,’ Mike Garrison talks Mac past, present and future

SHELTER IN PLACE: Principal Mike Garrison walks through the rows of cots as McCallum prepared to become a shelter for Red Cross volunteers on Aug. 29, 2017. The volunteers stayed in the gym for two days before relocating to the Great Hills Baptist Church.
“The volunteers got here, and two days later, poof, they’re gone,” Garrison said. “I wanted to make sure
it was nothing we did, and it wasn’t. They were very nice, they complimented us, they said McCallum was very helpful and flexible, but the Red Cross just came up with another plan.” Photo by Dave Winter.

Garrison to retire after 16 years as principal

Kristen Tibbetts

On the same night that she shed the interim tag to become McCallum’s permanent principal, Brandi Hosack joins drum majors Jonah Brown and Dexter Canning and associate superintendent of high schools Dr. Craig Shapiro as the board recognizes the @mccallumband for being the only Austin ISD band to qualify for the UIL State Marching Championships.

After being unanimously approved by the AustinISD Board of Trustees at last night’s regular board meeting, Brandi Hosack cleared the last hurdle to becoming the permanent Mac principal.

Hosack told MacJournalism this morning that last night’s vote brought a long professional journey to a happy conclusion.

“I’ve been working towards it for six months, and so [I feel] relieved of course to get the interim title off and to be able to get, not really to get, started; we’ve already started, but to be able to continue the work I’m excited to stay.”

She said that it removes a barrier to the initiatives already underway since she become acting principal last summer.

“When you’re the interim principal people don’t know, they don’t really know to buy into what you are doing and what you are saying because they don’t know if you’re going to stay or not. So I think it’s just a sense of calmness that it brings to everything like ‘OK, now we’re all in this together.’”

“

[I feel] relieved … to get the interim title off and to be able … to continue the work I’m excited to stay.

— principal Brandi Hosack

In the future, Hosack said she will continue to work hard to build relationships on the campus.

“We started the Student Leadership team last week, so we’re excited for that and just making sure that we continue to build upon the great things that have already happened.”

Speaking of great things that have already happened, the board recognized the band for its success during the fall 2019 marching band season.

The Mac band placed 14th at UIL State on Nov. 2-4 at the Alamo Dome in San Antonio. The band qualified for state by winning the UIL Area D Contest in October in Pflugerville. There are 253 5A marching bands in Texas. Their marching show was entitled “Forever in Stone,” based on the ancient tale of Medusa. The show featured the following musical selections: “Isle of the Dead” by Rachmaninoff, “Angels in the Architecture” by Tichelli, “You Are So Beautiful” by Preston, and “Medea” by Barber.

–with reporting by Anna McClellan and Kristen Tibbetts