Principal takes on a new challenge: Middle school
Bethanie Hale, formerly principal at Retta Brown elementary school, announced last week that she will be leaving the elementary school to take on a new challenge: middle school. She has been named the newest principal of Washington Middle School.
“It was a really difficult decision to leave. I treasure and value each student that’s gone to Retta Brown and each teacher that I had on my faculty; every positive thing that we did while I was there wouldn’t have happened without the staff I had and the students and their families,” Hale said. “But I like to challenge myself as an individual, and I felt like this is definitely a great way to do that, so I’m really excited about joining the Washington staff.”
Hale has worked in the El Dorado School District since college at several of the schools in the system. Starting as a paraprofessional at Hugh Goodwin while she was still in college, Hale taught math and science at the elementary level at Northwest,
Retta Brown and Yocum before moving to the administrative side of education as assistant principal and then principal at Retta Brown.
“Actually, I got my Associate’s degree here at SouthArk, and when I finished that, I did a maternity leave at the high school for nine weeks. I’ve also been at Barton,” Hale said. “Washington is the only building I haven’t been in.”
Leaving Retta Brown will be hard, Hale said, noting some of the school’s recent accomplishments, which include improving the school’s state report card, which measures each school in Arkansas’s quality; incorporating the arts into student learning; bringing Camp Fire El Dorado into the school for monthly social/emotional lessons; and implementing popular programs for students like Retta Bucks and Retta Families.
“Retta Families is something I really enjoyed this year, and the kids loved it. … It was a little chaotic to get it organized, but so worth it. The teachers liked getting to have those conversations with smaller groups of kids,” Hale said. “We took Polaroids of each kid and teachers randomly drew out kids; every staff member had so many kids that were their families at school. Once a month they would get to have breakfast with their Retta Families, so it’s another adult in their life who is consistently checking in on them on a regular basis. It’s usually not their regular teacher.”
The turnaround in their state grade, plus all the new programs, has left a big impression on the families whose children attend Retta Brown, Hale said.
“I feel like the community now sees Retta Brown in a much more positive light,” she said.
While moving to middle school will come with its own challenges, Hale is looking forward to facing them, she said. She said she will start by taking the lead from Washington’s current staff and faculty members to learn what’s working at the school.
“I just want to come in and talk to the staff and parents and students and teachers and get the feel of how they think things are going and go from there. I’m not saying that some things might change; some things will probably stay the same for a while, but it’s hard to know before I get there,” Hale said. “My first goal will be building relationships.”
For Hale, relationship building is key, whether she’s working with other adults at the school or students.
“Relationship building is key, whether your four or 40,” she said. “I’m really excited that I’ll have some students I’ve had in the past. Every grade level is different, but they’re all still kids and they all still need love and support.”
She noted that this week is teacher appreciation week, a good time to thank the teachers in one’s life for the help they’ve provided or are providing to one’s children.
“I know Washington has great staff members and I’m ready to work alongside them to provide the best education we can for all of our students that come through the school,” she said.
The start of the 2020-2021 school year will be Hale’s first opportunity to meet Washington’s students in person due to the statewide closure of all schools through the remainder of the current school year because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic; Hale said she is excitedly waiting for that day.
“The reason I got into education was to make a difference, and I feel like Washington is an opportunity to make a difference for even more students,” she said. “I’ll be available if they (parents or students) ever have concerns or questions. I hope we have a great 2020-2021 school year.”
The principal position at Retta Brown has not yet been filled, per a spokesperson for the El Dorado School District.