Julie Daniels is only 38 years of age, but she has had several years of experience in the education system in various capacities and has now become one of the youngest people in the Clinton County School District to hold the important position of Director of Pupil Personnel.

Daniels, the former Julie McFall, is a Clinton County native who was raised in the Piney Woods Community and began her career in the local school district in 1996 as a high school English teacher, a position she held for about a decade before moving up to administrative levels.

The new DPP graduated from CCHS in 1992 and attended Western Kentucky University, receiving a Bachelor’s degree in English with teaching certification. She also holds a Master’s Degree in Counseling, obtaining Rank I in school administration and is now working on completing her Doctorate in Educational Leadership.

After leaving the classroom, Daniels became the first principal of the new Clinton County Early Childhood Center, serving two years in that capacity from 2008 through 2010. She was then appointed to a new position that ended after two years, that being Director of District Programs. That position was created by former Superintendent Mickey McFall to help develop professional standards when the new common core standards testing began in Kentucky.

With that position having ended after last year, Daniels applied for the DPP opening which came about when the former Director of Pupil Personnel, Charlotte Bernard, was hired as schools’ superintendent. She has been serving in the job since about mid-July.

“I’m very fortunate to have such varied experience, including in administration and it has helped develop a wide base of skills,” said Daniels during an interview on Monday. She feels the experience, even at still a young age in the overall scheme of being in the education field, will be an asset to her new job.

Daniels noted that the new position held a broad array of responsibilities, including pupil attendance, truancy, the Home Hospital and Home School programs, drug testing administration, among others. However, as with Director of Pupil Personnel leaders before her, she stressed the primary roll was student attendance. “If kids aren’t in the classroom on a daily basis, almost all other aspects are secondary,” she said.

Daniels also said she would continue some of the incentives for overall school attendance that was initiated during the past school year, including giving individual trophies for schools that had the highest monthly attendance as well as “most improved” attendance.

Daniels noted she had also been working with individual schools and school officials to help them implement incentive programs at each school, noting that what may work for the ECC or elementary level schools may be different from what incentives would work in the higher grade levels.

She also added that each school would also have its own Attendance Committee to work on ways to improve student attendance at each individual facility and that the district would be participating in the state-wide, High Attendance Day that will be held on Tuesday, September 18 across Kentucky.

The Director of Pupil Personnel is also charged with dealing with student truancy, and she had praise for the local court juvenile system, mainly District Judges Mike Lawson and Scarlett Latham, for their work with students and assisting parents when a case comes before them.

Daniels also feels that parent involvement is the absolute essential part of education, in any aspect, whether it be in attendance, academics or whatever facet of school may be. “Parents are the most important element in any aspect of education,” she said.

Daniels added that when children see their parents valuing attendance and other parts of their learning process, it sends a message that it’s important to everyone.

The new DPP said possibly the most surprising aspect of the new position was “how busy” it kept her, but added that was a good thing. She noted she had also been on some home visits, which was something new, but something she likes. “You really don’t know the student until you know their family,” she added.

Daniels said she loved her new job so far, saying it kept her busy with something new every day. “You get a connection and feel like you’re making a difference,” she said.

Daniels also knows something first hand about each school from a parental standpoint as well, having a child in three of the four schools: Ashton, a second grader at Albany Elementary; Seth, a 7th grader at Clinton County Middle School; and Ethan, a freshman at Clinton County High School.

In closing, Daniels said that she feels there is a good (educational) environment out there and said there is a team effort at the district level with a lot of support from the community, school personnel and parents alike.