After a six-year stint as pre-K–12 principal of the 175-enrollment Jayton Schools, Lyle Lackey has been named principal at Decatur (Texas) High School, an institution with more than six times Jayton’s enrollment in high school alone.
Jayton-Girard ISD’s board and superintendent Layne Sheets were informed of Lackey’s candidacy June 10, and on Tuesday morning the Decatur ISD board voted to offer Lackey the job.
While the contrast is wide between rural Jayton, in Texas’s sixth-most-sparsely-populated county, and burgeoning Decatur, which has grown into a northern exurb of the Metroplex, Lackey says that he takes great pride in Jayton-Girard ISD’s accomplishments during his tenure.
“The growth of our district, which was 125 kids six years ago and now 175, and maintaining traditions and success in academics and athletics” are achievements he will recall with most pleasure, Lackey said. He pointed to memorable milestones for Jayton students during those years, such as the first-ever trips to state for the boys’ basketball and cross country teams, the band going to state for the first time in twenty years, and One Act Play’s trip to state this spring.
At 4A Decatur, Lackey expects to “learn the Decatur way and build culture with staff and students,” he said. It’s a very successful district in academics and athletics, Lackey said, where his job will be to “provide stability and consistency to help meet its goals.”
Both Lackey and his wife, Katie, grew up and later lived in larger Texas cities and currently have family in Aledo and Cleburne, so the geographic move will bring them closer to kin. Katie, who was elected Kent County attorney in November 2020, expects to remain in that position via a combination of inperson visits and remote work.
“We are excited to be closer to family,” Katie Lackey said. “But this community has just meant more than words can describe to us. I care so much about this county and this community and want to continue as long as I can.” County commissioners affirmed their support for the plan at last Thursday’s court session.
According to his online bio, Lyle Lackey was raised in Cleburne, graduated from Cleburne High School in 1992, and earned his teaching degree at Baylor University in 1996. He served teaching and coaching stints at Cleburne Middle School, Cleburne High School, Summit High School in Mansfield, and in 2011, after earning a master’s degree in educational leadership in administration at Lamar University, went to Weatherford High School and served as assistant principal from 2013 to 2015 He and his family came to JGISD in fall 2015.
While Lyle Lackey will wrap up his contract with JGISD June 30 and take up his duties in Decatur on July 1, arrangements for a family move will continue to take shape over the summer. The Lackeys’ eldest daughter, Liz, will start Decatur High this fall as a sophomore. Daughters MaryLyle will be in second grade and Violet will be in kindergarten.
JGISD superintendent Sheets, who came to the position this spring from Dawson ISD, has begun the search already for a new principal. “I really appreciate getting to know Mr. Lackey during this short time,” Sheets said. “We wish him and his family nothing but the best.”
While Sheets has not set a hard and fast date for filling the job, he said he is looking to find “the right person and the the right fit.”
Lyle Lackey said, “I am very proud and appreciative of the impactful relationships that my family was able to build with the community and staff of JGISD.”
Katie Lackey summed up the coming move for her husband and family: “We feel as confident in this move as we did when we came to Jayton . . . what a blessing that the last six years have been. Change is hard, but we are excited and confident.”
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