Principal academy boosted by donor

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By Brittany Cofer bcofer@timesfreepress.com

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.

The program also received an anonymous $50,000 donation Thursday, said Christa Payne, director of development for the Public Education Foundation. [ed note: Correction to article - The donation matches Mr. Davenport's contribution for $50,000 per year for five years.]

“I think public education is critical to the economic future of our city,” Mr. Davenport said. “You’ve got to have an educated work force; you’ve got to have good schools to provide a solid education foundation.

Mr. Davenport, who was a Baylor School trustee for 10 years and chairman of its board for four, said “it was time to do something for the public system.”

The donation will be paid in $50,000 increments over five years and will help jump-start the project by hiring a program director and beginning the application process, said Hamilton County Schools Superintendent Jim Scales.

“This is a real boost to that effort,” Dr. Scales said. “It will enable us to get the program off the ground and get a positive start.”

He said the academy will need about $300,000 annually to properly educate and train leaders, and Mr. Davenport’s donation, along with a similar one from Unum, is helping that become a reality.

Such a large donation coming from an individual, rather than a company, speaks to the need for this program, Ms. Payne said.

“It shows an individual really can make a difference,” she said.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Applications for the Principal Leadership Academy soon will be available, and 12 to 16 assistant principals or other district leaders will be chosen by late April or early May. In July, participants will take part in an intensive one-week training session, then participate in monthly seminars. Participants also will attend another intensive one-week development session in the fall.

Source: Christa Payne, director of development for the Public Education Foundation