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Tiranus Edwards remembers the experience of being a principal at a school for students who needed assistance with graduation.

“You can really change the course of their life and put them on the right track,” Edwards said. “I stay in touch with my former students and see the success that they’ve had.”

Edwards, who has served as a Cedar Hill High School assistant principal for the past four years, will succeed William Petty as the new principal at Hilltop Academy/STRIVE Academy. Petty retired from the District after serving CHISD since the early 2000s.

Edwards was previously a principal at a school similar to Hilltop/STRIVE in Tarrant County. A Cedar Hill resident since 2014, the commute was rather long, and he decided to join CHISD.

But he always wanted the opportunity to work in a similar capacity to his position in North Richland Hills. The New Orleans native will be the campus’ third principal, following Petty and Patrick Nash.

“It was fast-paced, and I wore a lot of different hats at different times,” said Edwards, who is also a CHISD parent of a rising fifth grader at Collegiate Prep Elementary.

Edwards said he’d like to increase enrollment at Hilltop and encourage CHHS students who may be struggling for one reason or another to attend the program.

“We can better assist the students to graduate,” Edwards said. “That will lower the dropout rate.”

As for STRIVE, which helps students who have faced discipline matters at their home campus, Edwards would like to develop stronger support processes. That will help so that once students return to their home campus, they don’t come back to STRIVE.

“We need to do a better job of checking on them when they return to their campuses, if they need some help,” Edwards said.