Editor's Note:
This is part three in a three-part series examining Ashland City Schools’ reconfiguration effort. This story gives voice to the principals helping to lead their staffs through the district's reconfiguration.
ASHLAND — Nicole Brodie took over at Reagan Elementary School in 2017, only two years after it opened.
For the last eight years, she has run the school — but that’s about to change.
As part of Ashland City Schools’ elementary reconfiguration, to take effect at the beginning of the 2025-2026 school year, Reagan will become home to preschool through first grade students. Edison Elementary will house second and third graders.
The shift in the district’s makeup means teachers moving buildings, classrooms — ande Brodie leaving Reagan Elementary.
She and Edison Elementary principal Bricia Huckleberry will swap buildings as part of the reconfiguration effort.
“We kind of landed in our roles based on our strength and experience,” Huckleberry said. “So I started my career in preschool, then I jumped to first grade, and then … I was in kindergarten.
“So, to me, I’ve lived each of those levels. I know it, and I’m excited to make it seamless district-wide preK-1.”
As the pair of elementary principals prep for their own moves, they’re also working to prepare their respective staffs for the reconfiguration.
Collaboration serves as a main driver behind the reconfiguration
Supt. Steve Paramore and deputy supt. Linda McKibben say that opportunities for collaboration serve as one of the largest drivers behind reconfiguration.
Collaboration serves as a relatively standard practice in education, with a recent RAND Corporation study showing 43% of teachers meet with peers at their schools to discuss educational practice weekly or more often.
Time can pose a struggle. Only 31% of teachers in that same study indicated they had enough time for collaboration with other teachers.
Brodie and Huckleberry said at the elementary level, collaboration is just part of the job.
“When I look at myself, when I was in another district, I was a great teacher,” Huckleberry said. “And when I came to Ashland, I became an even better teacher because you’re learning from different people.
“The more perspectives I think that you can gain, that’s the more wisdom that you’re going to bring to what you do.”
Paramore and McKibben said reconfiguring will put each grade level’s teachers in the same building. As the district is currently organized, grade level teachers are separated between two schools.
By creating grade-band schools, all the teachers at each grade level will be in one building. Paramore said that will allow more chances to share best practices and learn from each other’s teaching styles.
Setting an example
Even as district leadership holds up the benefits of increased opportunities for collaboration, they acknowledge it can be challenging to move buildings. Brodie and Huckleberry said Ashland City Schools is a district with a lot of longevity.
The more perspectives I think that you can gain, that’s the more wisdom that you’re going to bring to what you do.
Bricia Huckleberry, Edison Elementary School Principal
In particular, at Edison Elementary School, Huckleberry said there are staff members who’ve spent their entire career in the same building, if not the same classroom.
For teachers, she said, those spaces can become second homes, which makes it emotional to move and leave behind.
Plus, knowing the change is coming has made staying present a challenge.
But the change is coming, and the pair of principals have worked to set an example about being open to it.
“I’m excited, but that’s probably because Bricia (Huckleberry) and I have worked so closely at trying to align things and just collaborating,” Brodie said.
“She’s really good at the things I’m not so good at and we really do complement each other and I think the staff sees that as well, and that kind of puts them at ease that we are collaborating to take some of that workload or worry off them.”
Paramore agreed, saying the pair’s effort to engage their staffs through culture-building activities has seemed to help staff prepare for the reconfiguration.
The two principals have attended each others’ staff meetings throughout the year. Huckleberry added she and Brodie have worked to align their systems between buildings. Forms and processes will look the same for staff.
“The only thing that’s different is maybe the neighbor across the hall or the classroom space that you’re in,” Huckleberry said.
The district has also held professional development days aimed at familiarizing elementary staffs, along with a reconfiguration day that gave students and parents at each school a chance to meet each other.
Newness to navigate
There’s still a lot to iron out as the reconfiguration looms.
Teachers will have to pack their classrooms, and the district will provide help moving their items from room-to-room and building-to-building. Paramore added the district also ordered new furniture for the first grade wing at Reagan.
That will happen in June, after graduation, which is slated for May 31. Paramore said teachers can be compensated for up to two days for their moving efforts, through Aug. 15.
Parents will navigate new transportation patterns at the two elementary buildings.
Students will be with peers from across town, and may have new faces and buildings to learn.
But at the end of the day, Huckleberry said the work of the school district is still being done. Teachers are still teaching and supporting students.
“I think once we start unpacking boxes, more emotion may come,” Huckleberry said. “But I think that’s OK because that means you love where you’ve been and what you’re doing.”