STAFF REPORT
Glasgow News 1
Veteran educator and Barren County graduate Susan Pace has been named the new principal of Eastern Elementary School in the Barren County school district. She was selected by the school’s Site-Based Decision-Making Council and introduced during a Thursday morning press conference at the school.
Pace told reporters she has taught in the classroom for 23 years, working with students in first, second, third, fifth and sixth grades. She said the majority of her career has focused on math for fifth- and sixth-grade students.
“I am excited to be at Eastern Elementary,” she said. “It has a great reputation. This is my first administrative position. I am nervous but I am excited and I am ready to get started.”
Pace said spent her first five years teaching in Hart County schools before moving to Barren County. She spent the last 16 years at Hiseville Elementary.
Pace earned her Level 1 and Level 2 instructional principalship degrees from the University of the Cumberlands to prepare for the role.
She said her years in the classroom will help guide her leadership, because she remembers what it is like to be a teacher. She emphasized that her decisions as principal will focus on keeping students at the center of the process and serving students and their families.
Pace said she focused on her student-centric plan during the interview process with Eastern Elementary’s Site-Base Decision-Making Council.
“I think the thing that sets me apart from other candidates is the fact that I focus on decisions made that are student centered,” she said. “I want the student to be at the center of the decision making. That is what we have been called to do is to serve students and their families. And I want to do that to the best of my ability.”
Her goal is to build on the work of outgoing principal Erika DeVore, whom she credited with doing an outstanding job at Eastern. Pace said she hopes to continue that progress and “make great things happen” for students and staff at the school.
Key Facts
• Susan Pace has been selected as the new principal at Eastern Elementary in the Barren County school district.
• The school’s Site-Based Decision-Making Council chose Pace for the role.
• She was introduced Thursday morning during a press conference at Eastern Elementary in Glasgow.
• Pace has 23 years of classroom experience, much of it teaching fifth- and sixth-grade math.
• She has spent the last 16 years teaching at Hiseville Elementary.
• This will be Pace’s first administrative position.
• Pace is a Barren County graduate and says becoming a principal has been a 10-year dream.
• She says she plans to keep students at the center of all decisions and build on Eastern’s strong reputation.
• Erika DeVore previously served as principal at Eastern Elementary.
