PULASKI COUNTY, Ark. -- The Pulaski County Special School District is excited to announce new assistant principals at several schools for the 2023-2024 school year.
At the elementary level, two schools will have new elementary principals for the next school year. Alycia Jernigan will replace Staisey Hodge at William Jefferson Clinton Elementary as assistant principal who is taking over as principal at Oak Grove Elementary. With two decades in education, Jernigan served as a classroom teacher for 15 years within PCSSD and Catholic schools. Most recently, she served as instructional coach at Sylvan Hills Elementary for the past five years.
In the Robinson feeder, Chenal Elementary welcomes Michele Pickett back as assistant principal, a position she held back in the 2021-2022 school. Pickett has worked with PCSSD since 1987, starting as a classroom teacher then holding positions as an instructional coach and assistant principal at various elementary and middle schools. Pickett replaces Neely Claassen who moved to the principal position at DRIVEN Virtual Academy for K-5.
Five secondary schools will have new faces in the assistant principal position next year, two at the middle school level and three at the high school level. Monica Ring moves from Maumelle High to Robinson Middle as assistant principal. Ring has worked in education for over twenty years, in PCSSD and Jacksonville North Pulaski School District. She has experience as a classroom teacher, instructional coach and assistant principal. Ring replaces Jamie Reed-Moss who will take over as the instructional coach at Oak Grove Elementary. Also in the Robinson feeder, Dr. Yvette Dillingham will split time between Robinson High and the ALE program (held at the Center of Innovation) as assistant principal. In the past 12 years, she’s served as principal at Oak Grove Elementary, Harris Elementary, and DRIVEN Virtual Academy.
Maumelle High School will have two new assistant principals next year, Morgan Dickerson and John Bagby. Dickerson worked as a classroom teacher for nearly ten years in PCSSD and Crossett School District. Most recently, she spent the last two years as a novice teacher and mentoring specialist in the PCSSD central office. John Bagby is moving from Sylvan Hills Middle to assistant principal at Maumelle High, a position he’s held at various secondary schools within the district over the past nine years. He was a classroom teacher for five years before assuming administrative responsibilities.
Mary Carolyn Bailey will split time as an assistant principal between Mills Middle and Mill University Studies High. Bailey spent several years as principal at Robinson High School before working in the PCSSD central office for the past two years. Dr. Gabriel Jackson will also join the team at Mills University Studies as an assistant principal, replacing Teresa Moka who will now serve as principal at the school. Jackson has worked in eight different school districts across the state over the past nearly twenty years. Most recently, he was the K-8 Educational Director at Arkansas Lighthouse Charter Schools in Pine Bluff.
The following administrators were hired as permanent assistant principals (formerly listed as temporary assignments) for the following schools:
Sylvan Hills Middle - Sir Withers
Sylvan Hills Junior High - KaRon Branch
Mills University Studies High School - Charles Rimmer
We look forward to an exciting new school year with these administrators leading schools for the 2023-2024 year. School resumes on August 14, 2023.