New principals coming to 3 Hamilton County middle schools

Robert Sharpe, center, details the educational benefits of a one-to-one ratio between students and technology, while Rick Smith, left, and Tracey Carisch, right, listen during a meeting with Times Free Press reporters in 2012.
Robert Sharpe, center, details the educational benefits of a one-to-one ratio between students and technology, while Rick Smith, left, and Tracey Carisch, right, listen during a meeting with Times Free Press reporters in 2012.

Three Hamilton County public schools will get three new principals on July 1, school district officials said. New principals are slated for Red Bank Middle School, Orchard Knob Middle School and Tyner Middle Academy.

That's in contrast to past years, such as the 2012-2013 school year, when more than 25 schools came under new leadership changes after three rounds of principal swaps.

photo Orchard Knob Middle School principal Crystal Sorrells second from left, talks to teachers as they board a bus to take a tour Saturday of area recreation and community centers.

"We're fortunate to be going through a period of stability right now," Assistant Superintendent Robert Sharpe said Friday, adding, "Last year, there were only four [new principals]."

"What drives that is retirement," he said. "Things have stabilized."

Andrea Edmondson, the assistant principal at Red Bank Middle School, will move up to be principal and take the job held by John Pierce, who's retiring.

Crystal Sorrells, the principal at Orchard Knob Middle School, will move into the principal's slot at Tyner Middle Academy. Its principal, Mark Smith, died after a heart attack in November at age 53. The system tapped Reuben Justice, a retired middle school principal, as interim principal at Tyner Academy.

Ron Davis, an assistant principal at Woodmore Academy, will take over as principal at Orchard Knob Middle School.

None of the new principals returned calls seeking comment Friday.

Sorrells and Edmondson both took part in the Principal Leadership Academy, a program of the Chattanooga-based, nonprofit Public Education Foundation (PEF). The program pairs assistant principals who aspire to move up the ladder with mentors from the business community.

The aspiring principals spend one day a month focusing on a different component of leading a school, such as finances and human resources.

"It's to prepare them to become a principal," PEF President Dan Challener said of the program, which is done in partnership with the school district, the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

While PEF offers the program, it doesn't help the school district decide who's hired.

"We are not at all involved in their selection process," Challener said.

Sharpe said one more principal change may be announced next week.

Contact staff writer Tim Omarzu at tomarzu@timesfreepress.com or www.facebook.com/tim.omarzu or twitter.com/TimOmarzu or 423-757-6651.

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