Evans beginning to settle in as C.C.H.S. Principal

Posted August 26, 2015 at 6:35 pm

Newly hired Clinton County High School Principal Stacey Evans is now working on her second full week with school in session.

Evans was hired during an afternoon Site Based Decision Making Council meeting on August 11. The opening day of the new school year was on August 12 and the first official day for students was August 13.

“It was pretty fast paced,” Evans said.

Evans has been employed with the school system for 21 years.

Her first nine years were spent as the director of the Adult Education Program.

In 2003, she was hired as a teacher at the high school in the history department. Now, after 11 years in a classroom, Evans is sitting in the head spot at the high school and looking to accomplish great things during her tenure.

“Changes in your life … it was the right time,” Evans said. “My kids are grown. I felt like my community and my school needed me in a different position in order to reach out to more students. It’s a big job. It’s going to take a little while because school was already started when I was hired so it’s going to take a little bit to get the school situated to me I guess you would say.”

Evans believes after a little time, she will become more accustom to her position.

“I think we can improve things and go from there,” Evans said. “I think after a while we can get it straighted out to more of what I want it to do. It’s going to take a little while, but there are improvements that need to be made.”

Evans said being in the principal’s position is different and it’s busy, but she likes her new job and is looking forward to her first year.

“It’s busy,” Evans said. “Between monitoring halls, and students and parents, there are a lot of things that are included in this position that you wouldn’t really realize. Community involvement, talking to parents, advocating to the public … there are a lot of facets to this job that you don’t see or you don’t think about.”

Not only does the principal have to run the school during the day, the principal is also responsible for extracurricular activities including after-school sporting events and other school related activities.

“You have to be at all the major games,” Evans said. “There is supervision that is taking place so our job isn’t done at the end of the work day. Our work day may be 10 o’clock at night.”

Even though Evans enjoys her position so far, she said she enjoyed teaching and will miss the classroom environment.

“I liked teaching, I enjoyed the subject and I loved working with the students in the closeness that you have as far as helping a student advance … I’ll miss that,” Evans said. “Here you have 515 students where you used to have 30 and you could focus on that, so you had a more personable relationship in the classroom.”

Even though Evans has been in her position a short time, she still has an agenda or goals she would like to implement during her first year.

She wants to focus on of course, overall education as well as the discipline of the students at Clinton County High School.

“Discipline is a big thing we need to focus on at this level,” Evans said. “But you can’t do everything at once. You have to pick your battles.”

One of Evans’ goals is to see everyone in her school at a proficient level.

“You want a good, highly effective school,” Evans said. “You want a functioning school that is safe, a school where kids are improving and learning at high levels, so your overall plan is to have a highly effective school and moving students beyond to higher levels.”

Evans related how instrumental Joan DeForest had been facilitating her transition to principal. DeForest was hired in the summer to get thing ready for the new school year until a principal was put in place.

Evans is a graduate of Clinton County High School and she believes that shows her students they can excel in life and in the classroom.

“I think it shows we have a connection for the school,” Evans said. “It’s a learning curve. We teach our students to be long life learners, so we have to do the same. This is a big learning curve.”