Photo by Taylor Bright.
Chelsea High School announces new Assistant Principal Philip Cosper.
When students come back to Chelsea High School this month, they will have a new assistant principal to look up to — a long way up.
At 6 feet 10 inches, Philip Cosper will be hard to miss in the halls of Chelsea High School, where he will begin work this school year.
“I know you may look at me and see I’m head and shoulders above the rest,” Cosper joked during his introduction at the July Shelby County Schools Board of Education meeting.
Shelby County Schools approved Cosper’s hire during the board meeting, welcoming the education veteran from Talladega County, where he oversaw the fleet of buses the county runs, managing 114 bus routes and more than 150 employees.
Before that, he was the assistant principal at B.B. Comer Memorial High School in Sylacauga, where he was born and raised.
Now he’s coming full circle.
“The reason I chose to come back is that I miss the students,” Cosper said. “I missed the students and teachers. The relationships to me are the most important thing in education.”
The University of Alabama graduate is looking forward to working in a growing school system with strong parental support of the school.
“I am just grateful for the opportunity to work for a great school system where I can learn and grow and be there for the students,” he said.
Cosper said he wasn’t particularly looking for a new role, but he wound up interviewing and accepting the job in a matter of days, in time to prepare for the new school year.
Dominique Cosper, Philip’s wife and a school teacher at Winterboro High School in Alpine, said the opportunity was providential.
“It was God answering our prayers,” she said.
