New principals step into roles at Horseshoe, Peabody Montessori
Horseshoe Elementary School and Peabody Montessori will have two new principals for the upcoming school year while Alexandria Senior High will have an acting principal while current principal Ben Arrington is out on sick leave.
Christine Gatlin, Horseshoe Elementary
Before accepting the role as Horseshoe's new principal, Christine Gatlin was the assistant principal at Forest Hill Junior High for the past five years.
She is starting her 31st year as an educator.
"I taught third grade for most of my career," said Gatlin. "Then I was a librarian at a K-2 school." She was also a librarian for a year and a half at ASH.
"We already made our calendar for the year with parental involvement activities, the fall festival, and programs for the kids to perform for their parents.
She is also the wife of Chris Gatlin, principal of Holy Savior Menard High School.
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What advice did he have for the new principal?
"Make sure you have a plan and a process for everything and stick to your plan," she said.
Kelly Fields, Peabody Montessori
Kelly Fields is the new principal of Peabody Montessori. She has been an educator for 33 years.
"I started at Ball Elementary. And then I got a job at Phoenix back in 1987, I believe," she said.
She taught 4th and 3rd grades but most of her years were spent teaching second grade.
"I fell in love with second grade at Phoenix," said Fields. "I didn't want to leave because I was able to cover wonderful content but at the same time, I got a lot of hugs. And they loved me every day. So it's hard to leave second after that."
At Peabody Montessori, she said they are focused on literacy.
"Our goals throughout the district are to make sure that all of our kids by the end of third grade can read on level or above," said Fields. That will also include writing since it goes hand in hand with reading.
"We want our students to be excellent communicators," she said, in reading, writing and speaking.
"We plan on using some strategies to help our students become more effective writers, giving them frequent feedback on the writing process and involving the parents as well."
Jody Goodman, ASH
Jody Goodman, assistant principal of curriculum and instruction at ASH, is the acting principal while Arrington is out on sick leave.
She has been an educator for 29 years in Rapides Parish.
"I started at Tioga Junior High, then moved to Tioga High School, then ASH," she said. "I taught math - algebra I, geometry, mostly."
Plans for the upcoming year are to improve ACT scores and build community in the school.
"I want to build community among the teachers with working collaboratively, working together in their departments and with one another," said Goodman.
In this era of COVID, she is looking for some kind of normalcy for the students and let them know that the staff is there for them.
"We've adjusted and now we want to move forward just keep moving forward," she said. "We did a lot of work last year with ACTs and we're going to continue that work."
This article originally appeared on Alexandria Town Talk: Horseshoe, Peabody Montessori welcome new principals
