A Porters Chapel Academy English teacher and former public school principal was tapped to be the school’s next headmaster.

Pam Wilbanks, who teaches at the private school, will replace Doug Branning on July 1. Branning became PCA’s headmaster in 2009 and will retire on June 30.

Wilbanks retired as principal of Warren Central High School in 2009 and has been teaching English at PCA since.

“I’m really excited about doing this,” Wilbanks said. “I’ve enjoyed being a teacher at Porters Chapel. I have some mixed emotions about leaving the classroom, but I want to continue the positive learning atmosphere at the school.

“Mr. Branning has done an excellent job and I want to continue the tradition he’s set. We have an excellent faculty and staff and we have a vision.”

Branning said he was leaving the school to pursue other interests, adding, “Right now, I have no definite plans, but that will take care of itself in time.”

Mark Buys, president of PCA’s board of directors, said, “She has a tremendous amount of credibility, experience in the classroom and in administration. We have set a tradition at Porters Chapel to offer the best education in Warren County, and she will continue that legacy.

“We are sorry to see Mr. Branning leave, but he wants to move on and we wish him the best.”

Wilbanks has been in education for 32 years. She was a teacher, assistant principal and principal at Warren Central Junior High School, and was Warren Central High School principal from 2006 to 2009.

“The board has made and excellent choice in selecting Ms. Wilbanks,” Branning said. “She will be an improvement from me.”

Branning was hired at Warren Central Junior High School in 1977 as a teacher and assistant coach. He became head baseball coach and assistant varsity football coach at Vicksburg High School in 1987. He returned to WCJHS as assistant principal in 1996, and was assistant principal at VHS from 2000 to 2008.

He retired in 2008 and worked as a teacher and coach at Tallulah Academy in Louisiana, before going to PCA.

“I have mixed emotions about leaving,” he said. “I have been treated very well by the school. The teachers, the board and the students have all been very good to me, but it’s time to move on to other things.”

The school is a dual-accredited private Christian school — accredited by both the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools — with 230 students.