Principal Ashley McNair

FOLEY - Ashley McNair just kicked off her first school year as principal of Foley Middle School. She takes the reins after former principal, Danny McDuffie, retired at the end of the last school year. McNair, former assistant principal at the school, brings with her knowledge of the school and excitement for its future.

“Coming to this position from the assistant principal position is a huge positive for us as a whole staff,” she said. “I got here in 2010 as a science teacher and a coach, so knowing where we were 11 years ago and how much work we’ve put into growing Foley Middle School, the academic success of our kids, bringing the community in and all of the things that we’ve been doing, I don’t want to come in and just clean slate, start all over. We’re just continuing to build on some of the solid foundations that we already had.”

McNair said she and McDuffie came to FMS the same year - she began at the start of the school year after being hired by Branton Bailey, now principal at Elberta High School, and McDuffie came on board as principal in October 2010.

“Basically I’ve only worked for Danny, and I’ve always been on his leadership teams,” McNair said. “Once I moved to the assistant principal position I was fortunate that Danny really gave me a lot of leadership roles at that point, particularly over the last year and a half … He really just gave me a ton of opportunity to learn and grow as an administrator and to take a lot of projects on my own and run with them, and that has made this transition a little smoother.”

McNair says while there’s still much to learn in her new role, she’s acquainted with things such as Title 1 budgets, the school improvement plan, and behind the scenes ins and outs of the school system. She credits McDuffie as a mentor and guide on her journey as an administrator, preparing her to take on the title of principal. The lessons she learned from McDuffie are some she plans to implement now.

“I think that it’s important as a leader to find the strengths of your staff and let them lead in those areas that they’re good at, because at the end of the day it doesn’t matter how good I am if my staff is not great,” McNair said. “Our staff is ultimately what runs this school, and I am very fortunate that we have such a strong faculty.”

Beginning as principal in a school she’s familiar with, McNair said there are plenty of things she’s already looking forward to during this school year. Coming up in fall, the Leader In Me committee will visit FMS to perform a Lighthouse review, and McNair said the goal is to become an official Lighthouse School by the end of fall. She’s also looking forward to reconnecting with the community and parents, while continuing to form bonds with the other feeder pattern schools. She says younger students have an easier transition to new schools by interacting with the older students, while older students continue to maintain a connection to their community by mentoring the younger students. Because, at the end of the day, it’s about the students.

“We’re excited about the opportunities at Foley, we’re excited for our kids that are coming in, and we just really want the kids and the families to know that they belong at Foley Middle, that they are part of Foley Middle, they are the Foley Middle family,” McNair said. “So that whole idea, that sense of belonging, we want kids to want to be here, and we want kids involved in whatever it is that they’re passionate about. We’re starting the school year off with a book called ‘How to Find Your Tribe,’ so we want everybody here to find their tribe. The idea behind it is you don’t have to change who you are to fit into a tribe, we want you to be your individual self but find your group that’s going to make you successful.”