News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Algood Middle School welcomes Rusty Darley as its new principal.
Darley served for five years as the Assistant Principal at Cookeville High School, and previously as a teacher and athletic trainer in other school districts.
“I have a different perspective of Algood Middle in that my first perspective is as a parent,” Darley said. “Of course, my children came through Algood Middle so I was aware of the faculty and what an excellent job they did with both my children. And I thought this was a good opportunity to kind of follow in the lead of Dr. Winningham and Mr. Tim Martin and what they started, and continue the excellence of Algood Middle.”
Darley said his first priority is building relationships with the faculty, staff and students. He said that he’s already received a tremendous outpouring of encouragement from the community and that he hopes to continue that energy into the school year.
“For me here at Algood Middle it starts from the ground up,” Darley said. “It starts with the faculty and staff. Getting them back in school, getting them focused on what our goals are for this year, and then working on the achievement, working on keeping kids in schools, working on learning loss that has happened with COVID and getting students back on grade level.”
Darley said one of his long-term goals for Algood Middle School is to help it achieve status as a reward school. He said a reward school is one that meets the state’s criteria for growth, achievement, and attendance, especially working with the Hispanic population on growth as they transition into an English-language school.
