PULASKI COUNTY, Ark. -- The Pulaski County Special School District is excited to announce new leadership at several schools for the 2022-2023 school year. PCSSD hired and reassigned new leadership for 13 schools as well as two District office administrative positions.
EMPLOYEE | SCHOOL, TITLE | EMPLOYEE | SCHOOL, TITLE |
Stacy Bottoms | Cato Elementary, Principal | Susan Caldwell | Pine Forest Elementary, Interim Assistant Principal |
Talasia Smith | Crystal Hill Elementary, Principal | Zondria Campbell | Sylvan Hills Elementary, Assistant Principal |
Dr. Yvette Dillingham | DRIVEN Virtual Academy, K-5 Administrator | Angela Saine | Sylvan Hills Middle, Interim Assistant Principal |
Karen Townsend | Chenal Elementary, Assistant Principal | Damian Patterson | Sylvan Hills Middle, Assistant Principal |
Tracy Bailey | Crystal Hill Elementary, Assistant Principal | Laconya Isaac | Sylvan Hills Middle, Assistant Principal (8th Grade Lead) |
Andrea Johnson | Maumelle Middle, Assistant Principal | Charlotte Wallace | Sylvan Hills Junior High, Assistant Principal |
Evan Forte | Maumelle Middle, Assistant Principal | Timothy Hopson | Sylvan Hills High, Assistant Principal |
Monica Ring | Maumelle High, Interim Assistant Principal | Kelly Devun | Sylvan Hills High, Assistant Principal |
Teresa Thomas | Maumelle High, Assistant Principal | Dr. Suzette Bloodman | Learning Services, Director of Humanities & Learning Services |
Marcelle Goins | Mills Middle, Assistant Principal | Samantha Honea | Learning Services, Facilitator of ESL/ELL |
Charles Rimmer | Mills University Studies High, Interim Assistant Principal |
Stacy Bottoms is replacing Shyrel Lee who retired at the end of the 2021-2022 school year. Bottoms has worked at Crystal Hill Elementary for the past 15 years, 13 years as principal and two as an assistant principal. She has been in education for 28 years all of which have been in PCSSD, 13 of them as principal. Her parents were teachers and administrators in PCSSD and she is a product of PCSSD schools, having attended Sherwood Elementary, Sylvan Hills Junior High and graduating with honors from Sylvan Hills High School in 1989.
Talasia Smith will step into the leadership role as principal at Crystal Hill Elementary. Smith served as assistant principal at the school for the past three school years, but has been with PCSSD for 27 years. She’s worked in PCSSD her entire career, starting as a kindergarten teacher at Robinson Elementary where she worked for 12 years.
Maumelle High will have two new school leaders who will step in to work with Jason Young in his second year as principal at the school. Teresa Thomas will transition from Sylvan Hills High where she served as an assistant principal for the past three years. She’s worked for PCSSD for eight years, one year at LRSD and 13 years prior to that in the Dallas Independent School District. Monica Ring will also join Maumelle High, moving from her position as an instructional coach at Sylvan Hills Middle to interim assistant principal. Ring has worked in PCSSD for seven years having previously worked in Jacksonville North Pulaski School District and at Pulaski Academy.
At Maumelle Middle, two new assistant principals will join principal Preston Echols to lead the school next year. Andrea Johnson, former assistant principal at Mills University Studies High, and Evan Forte, a PCSSD alum, will join the team at Maumelle Middle. Johnson, as previously mentioned, worked at Mills University Studies High and has been with PCSSD for 17 years. She also worked for four years in the Pine Bluff School District. Forte is a PCSSD graduate having graduated from Mills University Studies High in 2014. Forte taught at Southside High and North Little Rock High, but most recently served as Interim Dean of Students at Little Rock Southwest High school.
Kari Townsend will move from Maumelle Middle to the Robinson feeder at Chenal Elementary as assistant principal. She’s worked for PCSSD for 16 years, the past two years as an assistant principal at Maumelle Middle. Before middle school, she was an assistant principal at Pine Forest Elementary in Maumelle. Susan Caldwell will join the staff at Pine Forest Elementary as an interim assistant principal. Caldwell has worked in PCSSD for 19 years, most recently as an instructional coach at Sherwood Elementary. Her two children also attend PCSSD schools. Another instructional coach, Tracy Bailey, will be promoted to assistant principal next school year. Bailey will move from Robinson Elementary to Crystal Hill Elementary to serve alongside Talasia Smith and Dennis Dewitt to complete the leadership team. This is Bailey’s 27th year in PCSSD when she began teaching in the 1994-1995 school year. She grew up learning about PCSSD as some of her family members worked and taught in the District when she was younger. Bailey worked in three out of four feeder patterns, and joining Maumelle will round out all four feeders!
Moving from the Maumelle feeder to the Sylvan Hills feeder, Kelly Devun will join the admin team at Sylvan Hills High School. Devun has worked with several school districts in Arkansas; however, PCSSD has been home for the past 13 years. She served most recently as assistant principal for Pine Forest Elementary and Maumelle Middle before that. Timothy Hopson will also move from the Mamuelle feeder where he served as assistant principal at Maumelle High. Hopson has been with PCSSD for 13 years and prior to that, he worked as a teacher and assistant principal for LRSD. He will join Devun as an assistant principal to complete the administrative team at Sylvan Hills High.
Over at Sylvan Hills Junior High, Charlotte Wallace will join Yvone West and Michelle Camp to round out the administrative team. Wallace worked in Putnam City Schools in Oklahoma City for three years before coming to PCSSD. She’s been with the District for the past 21 years.
Sylvan Hills Middle will have three new assistant principals for the next school year. After six years, serving as assistant principal at Maumelle High, Laconya Isaac will join the team at Sylvan Hills Middle. She will be the lead administrator for the 8th grade. Isaac has been with PCSSD for 21 years. Angela Saine is also leaving the Maumelle Feeder for Sylvan Hills Middle, her first year with PCSSD was spent as an assistant principal at Maumelle Middle for the 21-22 school year. Previously, she worked in LRSD for 16 years and is a proud PCSSD parent thanks to school choice! Finally, Damian Patterson will transition from Sylvan Hills Elementary to Sylvan Hills Middle. Patterson split time between Mills Middle and Sylvan Hills Elementary for the most recent school year. In his eight school years with PCSSD, he’s worked at two high schools, two middle schools and an elementary school.
Wrapping up the Sylvan Hills feeder, Zondria Campbell will join Britney Hickman at Sylvan Hills Elementary as an assistant principal. Campbell worked for PCSSD from 2007-2016, but most recently worked for Legacy Traditional Schools in Texas. She also worked for NLRSD and Hot Springs School District.
Moving across the river to the Mills feeder, Marcelle Goins will move from Sylvan Hills Middle to Mills Middle as an assistant principal. Goins has worked in PCSSD for three years, prior to that he worked in the Watson Chapel School District. Just down the road from Mills Middle, Charles Rimmer will join the leadership team at Mills University Studies High. Rimmer will join PCSSD for the first time next year after having worked in Sheridan and Barton school districts.
Dr. Yvette Dillingham will step away from the brick-and-mortar building leadership and join the virtual instructional team at DRIVEN Virtual Academy. Dr. Dillingham will lead the elementary grades at DVA as the K-5 principal. She’s worked in PCSSD for 17 years, serving as principal of Oak Grove and Harris elementary most recently. Leslie Ireland will continue to work with DVA as the secondary (grades 6-12) administrator.
The learning services department will have two new additions for next school year. Samantha Honea will join the team as the Facilitator of ESL/ELL. She’s worked in PCSSD for eight years and has taught at seven different schools in the District! Prior to joining PCSSD, Honea worked in Texas and Pennsylvania as well as LRSD and eStem locally. The Director of Humanities and Learning Services is a new position that will assist in curriculum development to be filled by Dr. Suzette Bloodman. Dr. Bloodman worked most recently as principal at Forrest City Junior High and worked in the Pine Bluff School District for seven years prior to that. She also worked for 22 years in education in St. Croix, part of the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The first day of the 2022-2023 school year is Monday, August 22, 2022