Principal Leadership Academy

It's tough being a principal.

A principal is like the CEO of a good-sized company, responsible for the productivity of dozens of teachers and hundreds of students. Yet principals receive very little preparation for their jobs. For this reason, it had long been a key goal of former Hamilton County superintendent Dr. Jim Scales to build a Principal Leadership Academy to help mentor and prepare assistant principals to take over the job of principal.

PEF, in partnership with Hamilton County schools, the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, is glad to be able to help.  In 2009-10, PEF hosted a series of Principal Leadership workshops for elementary and secondary assistant principals. This series of half-day workshops served as a "bridge year" and focused on topics such as leadership and decision making, budget development and appropriate use of funds, and personnel management and the evaluation process, among many others.

Thanks to funding from Unum, Joe Davenport (Pointer Management), an anonymous donor, Hamilton County Department of Education and United Way, a full-scale Principal Leadership Academy began in summer 2010 to provide more intensive training, mentoring and support over the course of one year to assistant principals interested in moving into a principal's role.  The monthly topics covered are:

• September - Instructional Leadership
• October - Cultural Leadership
• November - Managerial Leadership
• December - Financial Leadership
• January - Human Resources Leadership
• February - Strategic Leadership
• March - External Development Leadership
• April - Micro-political Leadership
• May - Presentations and Graduation

We are proud to welcome the third class of protégés to the Principal Leadership Academy!

Protégés in the Principal Leadership Academy, Class of 2013

Allyson DeYoung - Apison Elementary
Andrea Edmondson - Red Bank Middle
Julie Fine - Barger Academy
Patricia Holder - Rivermont Elementary
Gail Huffstutler - Bess T. Shepherd Elementary
Phil Iannarone - East Lake Academy
Lesa Johnson - Central High
Julia King - Brainerd High
Michele Reeves - East Brainerd Elementary
Mark Smith - Howard School
Callie Stewart - Woodmore Elementary

Read more about the first and second classes and their accomplishments.

For more information on the Principal Leadership Academy, contact:
Bill Kennedy, Interim Director
423.668.2429