LaGRANGE — The Troup County Board of Education on Thursday approved the hiring of a new principal for LaGrange High School.

The new principal, William “Alton” White, currently is principal of Jordan Vocational High School in Muscogee County and will continue there until a replacement is found for him. He then will officially take over his post at LaGrange High School.

Current Principal Penny Johnson is still serving at LaGrange High School, but was approved in November to take the central administration position of director of secondary curriculum, which became effective Jan. 1. She will continue to be acting principal until White can transition into the role.

White has an educational specialist degree from Troy University in educational leadership and administration, and master’s degree in educational leadership and bachelor’s degree in business management, both from Columbus State University, according to a handout from the school system. He has worked in education for about 22 years.

A more comprehensive report on White will appear in a later edition of the Daily News.

The board also approved purchasing equipment for two new food serving lines at Gardner Newman Middle School. The school system will purchase the equipment from Strategic Equipment Inc. for $53,562.89.

“I think this is something very much needed at Gardner Newman Middle School,” said board Chairman Ted Alford.

The school nutrition department applied for a state grant for school lunch equipment for several schools and was awarded $33,000 toward the purchase of the serving lines, according to board documents. The remaining $20,562.89 will come from local school nutrition funds.

The board on Thursday also approved the following:

• Selecting board members Dianne Matthews and Ashley Adams to serve as representatives on the THINC college and career academy “THINC Tank.” These representatives will assist in providing ideas for the THINC strategic plan.

• Appointing Alford to serve as a liaison between the Troup County Board of Education and the Troup County Parks and Recreation Commission Board.

• Appointing board member Debbie Burdette to serve on the Georgia School Boards Association’s Legislative Liaison Network as the representative for the 2016 session of the Georgia General Assembly. Ashley Adams served for the last two years.

• Reaffirming the Troup County Board of Education code of ethics and board member conflict of interest policies, originally adopted in January 2011.

• An updated policy for teachers’ professional learning in the school system. The new policy includes updates defining how funds may be spent for professional learning, oversight responsibilities at each school and standards for reporting to the state.

• The human resource recommendations for hirings and terminations of certain staff.

• The operation of LHS Girls Volleyball Inc. as a sanctioned booster club.

• Affirming the financial report, showing 62.25 percent of budgeted revenue — $61,282,360 — received and 48.20 percent of budgeted expenses — $47,810,044 — used as of Dec. 31, which is the midpoint of the fiscal year.

• Selecting Southern A&E as architect for design and administration of the construction contracts for the replacement of the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system at Long Cane Elementary School for a basic design fee of 4 percent — about $56,000 — and a contract administration fee of 2 percent, which will depend on the final construction contract. Funding will come from the Georgia Department of Education.