7 UC Principals Named To Statewide Network

Seven school principals across the Upper Cumberland have been named to this year’s Tennessee Rural Principals Network.

Allardt Elementary Principal Missy Cravens said the network is a leadership development program designed to address the unique circumstances faced by school leaders in rural areas. Cravens said they will focus on issues like limited funding, teacher shortages, and geographic isolation.

“We have meetings to where, you know, things that other areas may do well, they can share with us, things we do well, we can share with them,” Cravens said. “Or, you know, our challenges that we’re having, they can help us find answers.”

Jackson County Middle School Principal Gary Tinsley said the network will meet several times over the course of the school year. Tinsley said the program should be greatly beneficial as every school has its own strengths and weaknesses that they can support each other with.

“Plus we get a coach that’s assigned to a small group of principals where we’ll get to be more in-depth and talk about, you know, what my school needs and how to develop a plan, a learning plan to help me, you know, develop a better school,” Tinsley said.

Tinsley said he hopes to learn about ways to better maximize their resources and engage with teachers, students, and the community.

“It’s one of the good things about having all these rural principals together,” Tinsley said. “A lot of us are limited on resources being in rural areas, and so that’s one of my main focus is how can I learn to take advantage of the resources we have to provide the best experience for our students.”

Craven said she hopes to learn how she can adapt her leadership style so that it is properly suited for her school.

Cravens said she has only been a principal for one year but she has nearly three decades of experience in education that she is bringing to the network.

“I’m hoping that I’ll be able to bring strategies for providing different types of teaching strategies, leveraging technology, just being able to expand the educational offerings that I’ve learned over the past twenty-eight years to those other counties,” Cravens said.

Both principals said they were nominated to the network by their district’s director of schools.

The other Upper Cumberland schools represented in the network are the Alvin C. York Institute, Pleasant Hill Elementary School, Van Buren County High School, Irving College Elementary School, and Eastside Elementary School.