The Sutton Elementary School Site Based Council unanimously named Krista Thompson the next principal of the school. Thompson will be replacing Danna Johnson, who will retire at the end of the school year.
“I am humbled and honored to be chosen as the next principal at Sutton Elementary,” said Thompson. “I am excited to be a part of a school community with such a great tradition of excellence. I am fortunate to have been able to learn from so many great leaders, including a wonderful mentor like Danna Johnson and I look forward to continuing that tradition.”
Thompson has been in education for 18 years and has served Owensboro Public Schools for the past eight years. She has served as assistant principal at Sutton Elementary for the past year, but has taught first and third grade during her time at the school.
Thompson is also the first participant of the Wallace Foundation’s Leader Tracking System, a leadership development pipeline partnership between the Foundation, Western Kentucky University and Owensboro Public Schools, to be named principal in Owensboro Public Schools.
“Our district has been participating in this program in coordination with the Wallace Foundation that is already allowing us to develop in-house talent to become administrators in our district,” said OPS superintendent, Dr. Nick Brake. “Krista was identified as a leader in our district and the program provided her with feedback on performance and helped prepare her for this role. Being able to develop in-house talent to become leaders in our district allows students to be familiar with administrators and sustain a successful education environment for many years.”
During the interview process, Sutton Elementary School’s Site-Based Council sent out a survey to Sutton Elementary parents and members of the community to help identify the qualities they wanted to see in their next principal.
“Parents were looking for someone who was a great communicator and would be able to communicate with parents easily,” said Madison Strobel, a parent representative on the council. “They wanted someone who was well-versed in early childhood experiences and open to diversity in the school. Krista is the ideal candidate for this position because of her role as assistant principal and her experience in the school that helped prepared her to be the next principal.”
Thompson will take over principal duties effective July 1, 2019.
