After a year of serving as the head of the McCallum school community, Principal Brandi Hosack announced on Monday that she will be moving on from her role as principal to step into a central office position in AISD. Late Monday night, the  Board of Trustees voted to make Hosack’s promotion official, naming her the district’s executive director of human resource services effective July 1.

To Hosack, whose favorite part of being principal was interacting with students and staff, the promotion is bittersweet. 

“The position I’m taking is much more of the business side of running this district,” Hosack said. “The worst part is not being able to interact with students, because that’s the favorite part of my job. I’ve been on campuses for the last 16 years, so it’s a whole new ball game for sure.”

Although Hosack wishes she had more time to spend at McCallum, the nature of this rare opportunity pushed her to take the next step in her career. In taking the promotion of director of human resource services, Hosack also plans on returning back to school to complete her doctorate degree. 

“The opportunity came a lot faster at me than I expected,” Hosack said. “It’s one of those things where I had to measure out, “Is it going to come open again when you’re ready?” and a lesson in life is that you don’t get to call the shots all the time. You don’t get to pinpoint exactly when things happen, but you have to make decisions on when you take advantage of that.”

In terms of furthering her own education, Hosack’s new position is more than appropriate.

“My goal is to go back to grad school and get my doctorate in business and administration, so the job that I’m going to be doing fits quite well with that,” Hosack said. 

“I’ve been to grad school once to get my master’s; it’s time to finish up my degree and get my doctorate. It’s really personal, internal motivation for me. It’s something that I’ve wanted to do for a long time. I feel a lot like our seniors do right now, trying to gear up for college again.”

As for next year, the new interim principal appointed by the Board of Trustees in Monday’s meeting was announced on Tuesday. She is Austin High School academy director Nicole Griffith. She is meeting with the McCallum faculty via Zoom at 4 p.m. today.

While Griffith begins her task of filling Hosack’s role today, Hosack promises that she won’t be too far away for McCallum in body or in spirit. 

“I’m going to miss the students so much. I enjoy speaking to you guys every single day, seeing you in the hallways,” Hosack said. “You are the reason we do what we do, you’re the reason that I got into education in the first place. Not having that every day is going to be for sure the hardest.” 

Even though her time at McCallum was cut short, Hosack will take with her a year’s worth of memories to cherish as she steps into her executive position within the district. While she finishes preparing applications to graduate school and adjusting to her first central office role, Brandi Hosack wants to remind the MAC community how much they mean to her. 

“My time with you was not as long as I hoped it would be. But you have forever changed who I am,” Hosack said. “I love you guys, and you are going to do amazing things in this world. I won’t be too far away, I’m going to think about you all the time, and as soon as we’re allowed to go to football games, I’m going to come and say hi. I’m going to miss you guys.”