Patty Frazier was hired Thursday as the new principal at W.S. Neal High School.

Frazier had served as assistant principal under the late Phillip Ellis and was acting principal in the past year when Ellis was out during his fight against cancer.

The Escambia County School Board voted to hire Frazier Thursday during its regular meeting. After a 30-minute executive session to discuss the hire, the board voted, with only Donnie Crutchfield voting against the hire.

Superintendent Billy Hines, who made the recommendation to the board, said it was a “hard decision.”

“All of the candidates were local people,” he said. “All of them had the best interests of Neal at heart.”

Frazier has 18 years of experience in education.

School board member Danny Benjamin said the decision was difficult.

“We had a tremendous decision to make this afternoon,” Benjamin said. “We’re not going to please everybody. All of the candidates were home grown. I hope after today that all of us will rally around all of our schools.”