Brent Harrison accepts position at Saraland

Enterprise High School Principal Brent Harrison on May 26 officially departed from his alma mater to take over as principal at Saraland High School.

Harrison grew up in Enterprise and attended EHS before graduating from Troy University. He also received a master’s degree from Montevallo. His teaching career began in Georgia at Duluth High where he also coached.

Harrison returned to his alma mater in 2005 and began coaching and teaching at Enterprise until becoming vice principal at EHS in 2011. He took over for former EHS Principal Matt Rodgers in 2017. He had one brief stint as principal at Charles Henderson in 2015 before returning to EHS in 2016.

“It was a very, very tough decision,” Harrison said of leaving Enterprise. “Enterprise is a very special place and is my alma mater. With that being said, there was really only a couple two or three jobs I would even consider leaving Enterprise for and Saraland was one of those. It was one of those perfect storms, as far as taking this opportunity.”

Harrison said that the move to Saraland was just an opportunity he couldn’t say no to.

“It was just one of those things where I felt like it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up for me and my family,” Harrison emphasized. “Looking forward it was just something I couldn’t say no to.”

Saraland Superintendent Dr. Aaron Milner –a former Enterprise superintendent that left in 2013 – said that Harrison coming to Saraland would be a “new chapter” for the school.

“We are pleased to have someone with Mr. Harrison’s experience to lead Saraland High School as we begin a new chapter for the Spartans,” Milner said in a statement. “I have the utmost confidence he will make decisions based on the best interest of the nearly 1,200 students under his care and provide exceptional leadership for his faculty and staff.”

Enterprise Superintendent Greg Faught said that Harrison would certainly be missed at EHS.

“He’s been an outstanding administrator over the last several years,” Faught said. “Before that he was an excellent teacher and coach, as well. He’s certainly someone that’s going to be missed.”

Harrison said that he had many fond memories at EHS but a few of them will always stand out to him.

“There really is too many to count,” Harrison said of his favorite EHS memories. “The overall school spirit here is something I’ll always take with me and I would like to say one of the proudest moments I had as a principal was when we marched up main street for the funeral procession for Kaleb Watson.

“Our students did extraordinarily well, they were very somber and showed what kind of class our study body has here at EHS.”

Harrison’s final message to the students at EHS is that he knows the future is bright.

“I value the relationships I made with the students here and will cherish and miss those, but I have no doubt that they will be in good hands and be just as successful as they ever have been,” Harrison said.

Faught said that the search for a new EHS principal is ongoing but he didn’t think the search would be completed by the next school board meeting on June 11.

“I want to be able to have someone in place just as quickly as possible but this is such an important, high impact job that I have to make sure I’m recommending the right person for the job to the board,” Faught said. “I would realistically like to have someone by the middle of June, though.”

According to Faught, Enterprise High’s principal will have to be versatile to handle all of the responsibilities that come with the job.

“It has to be someone who can do it all,” Faught said. “To be principal at Enterprise you have to be able to do everything well and that includes curriculum, instruction, finance, discipline and all of the dimensions of leadership that we expect from a principal. A principal has to be good at all of those things. It’s going to have to be someone that’s well-rounded.”