-
Nara Allen, left, and Stacie Ward.
A familiar face will be returning to the halls of White County Middle School.
The White County Board of Education has approved hiring Nara Allen as the school’s new principal, effective July 1, 2021. Current principal Kristi Gerrells is retiring in June.
“It is very exciting,” Allen said. “I am thrilled to step into this new role. I’ve been at the middle school before, so I know what a great building it is. I’m just really looking forward to it.”
Allen is the assistant principal at Mount Yonah Elementary School, where she has been for the past two years. She was previously an assistant principal at WCMS for five years and a teacher for a few years. She taught seventh and eighth grade English.
“I feel like the middle school staff has such a strong foundation of academics, just helping students, the whole student, and I just want to be a part of that,” Allen said. “I feel like we can just take what the foundation is and build on that and go forward.”
Subscriber exclusive: To read the full interview with Allen, click here.
Following an entire career spent at one location, Jack P. Nix Elementary School Principal Stacie Ward will be retiring in June.
And after more than two decades spent in education, Ward said now is right time for her to focus on her family and personal matters.
“As you know, in 2015 I had a health scare of cancer,” Ward said. “So that coupled with the craziness of the pandemic over the last year and then becoming a grandmother last year, I realize what life has that I don’t have a lot of time to do. Very thankfully, God just arranged some opportunities for me to be able to leave just a little bit ahead of schedule as far as retirement goes. So I’m very thankful to have that blessing. I’ve always heard that you know when you know, and I know that it’s the right time. I’m very excited about that. I truly will miss this building because it’s been part of my life.”
Ward was hired as a paraprofessional at White County Elementary School in 1993, but had to quit at the end of the year because she was finishing her bachelor’s degree. In August 1994, she came to Jack P. Nix Elementary School for her student teaching. After finishing her student teaching in December, she started as a special education paraprofessional the next week.
The next year she became a second grade teacher and remained so until 2001, when she began teaching first grade. In 2007, she became assistant principal and an “unofficial instructional coach,” later being named principal in 2012.
Subscriber exclusive: To read the full interview with Ward, click here.