Fentress Schools Director-Elect Ready To Work Hard

Fentress County Schools Director-Elect Kristi Hall said that her focus for her tenure will be on the kids.

Hall said that while she feels grateful for all the support from the community through the process, now the hard work begins.

“My number one goal is kids,” Hall said. “I think if we put kids first then everything else will fall into place so that is my biggest concern. We are in the business to educate students and I want to prepare our students for their tomorrow.”

Hall said that one challenge she hopes to tackle is a teacher shortage that many Upper Cumberland school systems are facing. She said that the system does not have the applicant pool it used to have. Hall said that she also hopes to address the major impacts the pandemic has had on the schools, teachers, and families as they move forward.

Hall currently works as Fentress County Schools Federal Programs Supervisor. She said that the reason she was interested in this job was because of the kids.

“When I think about our school system and we can look at test scores and we can look at data, that when you look at the faces of those kids in the school that’s really what I wanted it for,” Hall said. “I am all about children, I am all about them learning and feeling comfortable and being safe. No one loves your children more than you do so now I have a lot of children to love. So it was really all about the kids.”

Hall is taking over the position from long-serving director Michael Jones. She officially begins her tenure on July 1st, 2022.