Her Story
About Tiffany
I serve as principal of an elementary school (K-4) in the Nashville School District, where I've been for nearly 10 years. My journey in education spans 19 years, beginning as a classroom teacher for 13 years before transitioning to an academic coach role. I never initially planned to become a principal - I was asked to serve as interim principal when our former principal left, and during that year I gained an overarching vision of what the school needed. Because I knew our families, kids, and community better than anyone else, and my own daughter attends the school, I felt deeply invested and applied for the permanent position. My typical day changes constantly - from classroom observations and leadership team meetings to one-on-ones with teachers, coaching conversations, covering lunch duties, and talking with parents. I'm also still functioning as an academic coach alongside my principal duties. My goal is to transform our elementary school, put it on a better path to become a reward school, and get recognized by the state. I was a very successful teacher with the highest data in the district and network, and that success translated into my academic coaching work with high academic data as well.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Tiffany
01What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I think there are lots of challenges with education, especially in today's political climate. One challenge we face is budget - just ensuring that we have enough money to really make an impact, trying to figure out where the budget goes and making it stretch to provide the correct resources and staffing that we need for kids. The second challenge is the changing view of education in the eyes of the public and parents. It's much different than when I first started. The public and families are less invested, or it's more of 'this is a school problem, this is a personal problem,' but I have a deep belief that it takes a village - community, families, and schools need to be connected. I think it's a challenge today because it's very separated. And then there's teacher retention - a lot of teachers are leaving the field because it's just really, really hard. The day-to-day, year after year, it just gets harder and harder. Luckily we don't have this at our school, but it's a big issue in education.
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