Leadership Initiative News
Bill Kennedy, the Public Education Foundation’s director of secondary initiatives, will lead the Principal Leadership Academy on an interim basis as the board conducts a search for a permanent director.
While seventh-graders stack pennies and make length estimates, one person in class is busy wandering the classroom, taking notes as she goes. Normal Park Museum Magnet School Principal Jill Levine spends only about 10 minutes in Matt Jorgensen’s class, but learns much. “I saw so many things in his classroom that other teachers could learn from,” she said.
Dr. Godfrey Saunders has resigned as director of the Principal Leadership Academy, effective Oct. 31, according to a news release. Saunders said he wanted to be with his family in Montana. “We had all planned to relocate to Chattanooga,” said Saunders. “When that fell through, I was faced with a difficult decision. Working with the Principal Leadership Academy was an opportunity to do something I love, but in the end, family comes first.”
Citing the need to be reunited with his family in Montana, Dr. Godfrey Saunders has resigned as director of the Principal Leadership Academy effective Oct. 31.
Former athlete and current assistant principal at Orchard Knob Middle School LaKesha Carson said she was used to employing a variety of techniques to de-stress and unwind after a particularly crazy day. But what she learned last week during the first day of faculty in-service at the middle school was the opposite of everything she has ever done or thought to do.
Despite the best efforts of previous teachers and administrators, Orchard Knob Middle is a school with a reputation: a history of low test scores and high discipline referrals. Changing the school's image is near the top of the to-do list for first-year principal Crystal Sorrells. "That's where the work is," she says. "We have to change the perception in the community, and that starts with ou[r] staff."
Hamilton County Superintendent Rick Smith announced Wednesday that he will be shuffling more than a dozen principals and assistant principals within the school system. Smith was voted into the job last week. [Ed note: All appointed principals have participated in either PEF's Leadership Fellows initiative or the Principal Leadership Academy!]
With 13 years of teaching and three years as an assistant principal under her belt, it would be easy to assume Vanessa Harris already has what it takes to become a principal. But Harris, who is an assistant principal at Brown Academy, says she still wants to develop skills the school system can’t necessarily offer — business skills. That’s why she applied to join the Principal Leadership Academy.
Godfrey Saunders sat in the back row, pumping his fist, whispering, “Yes, yes!” The leader of Hamilton County’s Principal Leadership Academy saw that the vertical alignment and leadership concepts that business consultants were discussing with academy students were exactly what he’d been trying to instill... A dozen assistant principals comprise the inaugural year of the academy — a partnership of Hamilton County Schools, the Public Education Foundation, the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Thirteen aspiring school leaders have spent the last year working with business mentors and participating in leadership training in preparation for the responsibility of running a Hamilton County school...The Principal Leadership Academy is the result of a partnership between Hamilton County schools, the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce, the Public Education Foundation and UTC. Launched in the summer of 2010, the Academy works to help prepare aspiring principals for the rigors of taking the helm of a school.
...Gov. Bill Haslam on Tuesday downplayed concerns about the impact on class size, telling student leaders that teacher quality ultimately matters more. ... Public Education Foundation President Dan Challener, whose group works to strengthen Hamilton County’s public schools, said “teacher quality is the single most powerful force for improving student achievement. Great teachers make a great difference.” But Challener noted that “it’s also true that every time we increase class size, we make it harder and harder for all teachers, even the great ones, to get the results we need. And I think that’s especially true for teachers working in high poverty schools.”
Two national experts in educational leadership will conduct the third workshop for members of the Principal Leadership Academy (PLA) on Friday and Saturday at the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce, according to PLA Director Dr. Godfrey Saunders.
Zac Brown says he's never been more excited about the first day of school. Although it's still several weeks away, the first-time principal can't wait to meet all the students and teachers he'll be guiding at East Ridge High School. ... In 2008 he became assistant principal at Hixson High School, and signed up for the county's Principal Workshop last year.
Godfrey Saunders, a 32-year veteran educator and former principal of Bozeman High School in Montana, will lead 13 assistant principals through a program designed to give them practical knowledge about how to run a school. ... Funded with about $600,000 in donations from Unum, businessman Joe Davenport and an anonymous donor, the academy is a joint partnership of Hamilton County Schools, the Public Education Foundation, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce.
Dr. Godfrey Saunders has been named director of the Principal Leadership Academy, a joint effort to train aspiring Hamilton County schools’ principals. The Academy, which launches this month, is the outcome of a partnership among the Hamilton County Department of Education, the Public Education Foundation (PEF), the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Throughout the area, teachers work diligently to educate and mentor students. Through their dedication, creativity, ongoing pursuit of excellence and passion for teaching, these talented professionals prepare boys and girls to pursue their passions and excel in life.
Nearly 30 assistant principals in Hamilton County schools graduated Thursday from a yearlong intensive training program that they say has equipped them to take the reins at local schools.
See video on WDEF News 12's website.
The local academy to train would-be public school principals has received another $250,000 gift, this time from an anonymous donor. The Principal Leadership Academy — a partnership of Hamilton County Schools, the Public Education Foundation, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce —now has received a total of $600,000 in donations. To fully fund the program, leaders say they need $300,000 a year.
Joe Davenport of Pointer Management has made a five-year, $250,000 commitment to the Principal Leadership Academy currently under development by the Hamilton County Department of Education, Public Education Foundation, Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce and University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
A project that will train area education leaders to become principals just got some help from a local business and civic leader. Joe Davenport, a local investment manager who has long been an advocate for private schooling in Chattanooga, made a five year, $250,000 commitment to the Principal Leadership Academy now under development by Hamilton County Schools, Public Education Foundation, the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Local business and civic leader Joe Davenport has made a five-year, $250,000 commitment to the Principal Leadership Academy that is under development by Hamilton County Schools, Public Education Foundation, Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce and UTC.
Saying it is "recognizing the connection between strong public schools and the economic vitality of our community," Unum officials announced Thursday that the firm is providing $100,000 to help the Hamilton County Department of Education establish a Principal Leadership Academy.
They probably won’t argue over Austen, deconstruct Hemingway or decipher Tolkien. The new book clubs at public schools around Hamilton County have more to do with a love of learning than of literature, as teachers and administrators are taking their own time to read up on how to be better educators. Through the Public Education Foundation, an anonymous donor gave $40,000 to buy books for each of the 44 book clubs that will start soon in the county’s elementary, middle and high schools.
Thanks to an anonymous donor who contributed $40,000 for this purpose, the Public Education Foundation announced grant awards for 44 Hamilton County public schools to develop or continue educator book clubs.
Becoming a school principal is like absorbing several giant doses of culture shock all at once, say those who have done it. ... “Nothing can prepare you for sitting in that chair as principal,” said Bill Kennedy, director of secondary school reform with the Public Education Foundation. Mr. Kennedy and James Colbert, the school system’s assistant superintendent and a former high school principal, are creating a principal preparation workshop where current assistant principals and others eligible to be principals can be trained on what they’ll need to know to one day take over leadership of a school.
While other local book clubs have been tackling some well-known titles - The Shack, say, or Three Cups of Tea - 12 groups in Chattanooga have been meeting to discuss less familiar fare, like Rigor is NOT a Four-Letter Word and Why Are School Buses Always Yellow? The books might not be on the bestseller rack at Barnes and Noble, but for these readers, they might be mind-changing, even life-changing stuff.
Chattanooga Times Free Press
Chattanooga Times Free Press
Chattanooga Times Free Press
Chattanoogan.com
15 HCEA school representatives discuss change strategies for improving school culture
Chattanooga Times Free Press
'We have the best pool of principals and principal assisútants we have had in years,' Hamilton County Board of Education member Debbie Colbum said.
Press Release
Winter Institute provides training and support in whole school improvement and instructional leadership
PEF is a local non-profit dedicated to improving student achievement in Hamilton County Schools
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“Due to the funds that were provided…
…for us by the Benwood Initiative, we’ve been able to provide some of the best research-based workshops for our teachers to implement reading strategies in the classroom, and we’ve established a literacy block which is two hours per day, every day, for all of our students.”
Marthel Young
Principal,
Orchard Knob Elementary