Decatur Schools to open year with three new principals, one interim

When City Schools Decatur opens Aug. 1, four of its eight K-12 schools will have new principals from one year ago.

Two of those are brand new to the district. The new Oakhurst Elementary principal is Tanisha Sanders, who comes from Clark County, and the Glennwood Elementary principal is Kristy Beam, who’s moving from Spain. They were chosen from a pool of 64 applicants.

Greg Wiseman, named the permanent Renfroe Middle School principal in April, isn’t at all new to the district. He has spent his entire 23-year career in education with CSD. This includes nine years teaching fifth grade at Clairemont Elementary (when it was K-5), two years as instructional coach at Glennwood, then a 4/5 Academy, and 11½ years as Winnona Park Elementary principal.

“My whole career has been in elementary schools, so I figured I’d be returning to Winnona,” Wiseman said recently. “But after two weeks here I fell in love with the kids, so I decided to apply [for the permanent position]. You have that transition here from child to young adult. Now you can go deeper and begin to challenge the kids.”

Meantime Instructional Coach Ruth Scott remains as Winnona’s interim principal. The permanent position won’t get posted until around December, about the same time CSD begins searching for a principal at the new 3-5 Talley Street School, now under construction.

Information: www.csdecatur.net