Principal Karissa Lang, inspired by teachers growing up, receives state award

Feb. 25—School became an escape from home life for Karissa Lang when she was growing up, and it inspired her to become an educator so she could help students the way teachers assisted her.

That career path led Lang first to Decatur City Schools and later to Hartselle City Schools, where she is principal at Crestline Elementary. On Friday, it led to her learning she has been selected Alabama's National Distinguished Principal.

"I had a rough childhood; my parents divorced, and it was difficult," Lang said. "I had a single mom and she had three kids and she was working multiple jobs and it was tough. School was kind of my escape, and I loved school and I loved learning."

Lang, 43, said school gave her an opportunity to get out of her home situation. She said her father, a Vietnam veteran, was an alcoholic.

"We moved around a lot; he couldn't keep a job. ... It was just a difficult childhood; we were extremely poor," she said. "My mother was very much like, 'Be better than me, do better than me.'"

Lang said she adored school and received help there.

"I had some teachers that really invested in me when I was in elementary school," she said. "I still keep in touch today, and they just had such an impact on my life. They talked about college; they talked about doing better for myself and that I could do it."

Lang said those same teachers helped her with scholarship information when she got ready to attend college. She said she decided to pay back what teachers poured into her.

"I want to be that for someone else," she said.

Lang has been the principal of Crestline Elementary since 2017. Hartselle school officials surprised her Friday morning with the announcement that she had been selected the state National Distinguished Principal. She had previously been selected one of three finalists for the award given by the Alabama Association of Elementary School Administrators and the National Association of Elementary School Principals.

"I was incredibly shocked that I made it to the finals. I never thought (about winning)," Lang said. "I just kept thinking, when I found out the committee was coming to interview, I just thought, what an opportunity to show off my school, to show off my teachers and my staff and the hard work they put in. I was just so excited to have that opportunity."

Ashley Benham, 46, Crestline Elementary assistant principal, has worked with Lang since she came to the school in 2017. Benham said Lang is very deserving of the award.

"She goes above and beyond to make sure every child in our school feels loved and cared for and gets what they need. We have a lot of needs here at Crestline," Benham said. "She knows every student in this building, she knows their needs and their families. It's truly about building relationships."

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Path to administration

Lang has been an educator for 21 years, 13 of which have been in administration. Her first teaching job was as a fourth grade teacher at Gordon Bibb Elementary (now Banks-Caddell) in Decatur. Lang transferred to Oak Park Middle (now Decatur Middle) for her first administrative job as an assistant principal.

Lang said she wanted to be an administrator because she felt it would be a better way to help kids and support teachers.

"I always felt that as an administrator you can be the cheerleader for the people in your building," she said. "Then you can also just make sure things are in place to make sure that you help kids. Education is the great equalizer."

Lang said education is what opens doors for children.

"Whether they come from poverty or difficult home lives, education is what can change their life," she said. "So to be in a position where I can do that, to me, was always just the ultimate goal. I had an amazing principal when I was in school who made a difference in my life so maybe to offer that to another child is always what you want to do."

Lang was principal of Chestnut Grove Elementary in Decatur for four years before moving to Hartselle's Crestline Elementary School six years ago.

"My children were in the school system here in Hartselle and Hartselle always had a good reputation," she said. "The opportunity came open and I just decided to come."

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Supporting staff, students

There are certain things that make a good principal and number one is being a servant leader, Lang said.

"It's not about you, it's about everybody else," she said. "It's just about doing whatever's necessary to make sure that everybody has what they need and that's your staff, that's your teachers, that's your kids."

The second thing, Lang said, is to be a strong instructional leader.

"You've got to know what good teaching looks like," she said. "You have to be the person who leads the charge because that's what we're here for. We're here to love kids and we're here to make sure that they're ready for the next point in their life and that's instruction."

Benham said Lang is an exceptional principal.

"She is everything that you'd want a principal to be. Her dedication, just her caring, her personality is so caring," she said. "When a kid walks in in the morning, for example, and she can see on their face that they're having a bad morning, ... she takes care of their mental, emotional, the social emotional part of it right off the bat."

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Still teaching

Benham said Lang is the only principal she has known who is in the classrooms every day.

"She works with kids every single day," she said. "She teaches small group lessons."

Lang said she still loves teaching.

"I look forward to it every day," she said. "It just reminds me of why I'm here. It reminds me of what teachers deal with every day. It keeps me connected to the classroom. It's why we go into education, at least I did, was to help kids. It just keeps that connection piece of it; it's my favorite part."

Lang said she is where she belongs.

"I love what I do," Lang said. "I can't imagine doing anything else. I'm happy."

Lang has a bachelor's degree in elementary education from Auburn University. She has a master's degree in elementary education and an education specialist degree in educational leadership from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. She has another master's degree in educational leadership from Jacksonville State University and also has a national board certification in middle childhood generalist.

Lang's original undergraduate major was poultry science, but she changed her major when she was close to graduation.

"I just had this nagging feeling, just this persistent (contemplation) of what my purpose was," she said. "I finally realized that's what I wanted to do, I wanted to help kids, I wanted to help someone like I was helped."

Lang is married to Aaron Lang, and they have three children. Two are in Hartselle City Schools and one attends Jacksonville State University.

Lang will receive her state award in Washington, D.C., in October. The other finalists for the state award were Margaret Jones of Edgewood Elementary in Selma City Schools and Alice Turney of Riverchase Elementary in Hoover City Schools.

—erica.smith@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2460.