Butler County Schools Superintendent Darren Douthitt didn’t have to look far for a new principal for Greenville High School.

At Thursday night’s Butler County Board of Education meeting, the board approved the transfer of Joseph Dean from Georgiana School principal to Greenville High School principal.

Douthitt said the decision to move Dean to Greenville was easy.

“Anyone who has been to Georgiana School knows that there is something special about him,” Douthitt said. “There’s no question about his management of academics or discipline. He had all the answers to all the questions.”

Dean is certainly no stranger to the Butler County School system.

The Monroe County native has served as principal at Georgiana School/Butler County Magnet School and interim superintendent after Mike Looney’s departure in the fall of 2009.

“I think it’s well known around the county that Mr. Dean is one of our best administrators, and we felt like it was necessary to put one of our best administrators at Greenville High School,” Douthitt said. “He’s a very sought after individual and we certainly want to do everything we can to keep him here. We don’t want to lose him to another school system.”

Dean briefly left the Butler County School System in May of 2010 to become principal at Escambia County High School. He resigned from his position with ECHS slightly less than two weeks after accepting the position.

He then returned to Butler County as the principal of Georgiana School/Butler County Magnet School.

Attempts to reach Dean for comment were unsuccessful.