The Asheville City Board of Education unanimously appointed three experienced teachers to new roles as directors during its regular board meeting in early June.
Susanna Smith will be the new Preschool Program Director. Dr. Sherry Hicks will be the new Career and Technical Educator Director. Ian Nelson will be the new Director of Testing and Accountability. Each is an existing ACS employee. The appointments are effective July 1, 2019.
Superintendent Dr. Denise Patterson made the recommendations to fill positions being vacated by staff who were either promoted within the district or have taken new jobs outside of ACS. Each director position is vital to the system, which serves 4,454 students from pre-K through 12th grade at 10 schools.
ASHEVILLE PRESCHOOL PROGRAM
Susanna Smith will be the new Preschool Program Director.
“I have watched the preschool program grow for the past 22 years,” said Smith. “I am looking forward to continuing that growth and being an advocate for our youngest learners and their families.”
Smith has been in education for more than 20 years and currently serves as the Operations Manager for the district’s Preschool Program. As the Operations Manager, she oversees the licensing compliance at each of our four sites to ensure each maintains five-stars, the highest rating from the North Carolina Division of Child Development. Additionally, she supports her staff through data analysis, mental health support, the NC Preschool Pyramid as well as curriculum and assessments.
She began her teaching career as an Early Head Start Teacher/Home Visitor with Asheville City Schools Preschool in May 1997. She became the Early Head Start/Preschool Health and Disabilities Coordinator in June 2007. Smith has also served as the preschool’s Early Head Start/Preschool Education Coordinator and the Teaching and Learning Facilitator.
Smith was selected as the 2004-2005 Asheville City Schools Preschool Teacher of the Year. She served as an adjunct professor in Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College’s Early Childhood Education Department from 2005-2006.
Smith earned a bachelor’s degree in Education as well as a master’s degree in Education from Appalachian State University. She is currently pursuing her master’s in School Administration from Western Carolina University where she is a Transforming Principal Preparation Scholar.
She also holds a North Carolina “M” Teaching Certificate as well as Level III Administration Certification through the North Carolina Division of Child Development and Early Education.
Smith is a member of the National Association for the Education of Young Children as well as the North Carolina Association of Educators.
When Smith is not at school, she serves as the secretary of the Local Interagency Coordinating Council and enjoys spending time with her family. She is married to Jason Smith and has two children; Ella is 13, and Josiah is 10. Their family can often be found on the baseball field, at the archery range or volunteering at Biltmore Church of Christ.
CAREER and TECHNICAL EDUCATION
Dr. Sherry Hicks will be the new Career and Technical Education Director.
Dr. Hicks currently serves as the CTE Department’s Instructional Management Coordinator and is “honored to give back to ACS because, from 1st – 12th Grade, this district gave [her] the educational foundation [she] needed to be successful.”
“I am thankful for the opportunity to help students nurture their career aspirations and also to help guide students who are undecided or in the process of exploring new career fields,” she said.
As the Instructional Management Coordinator, Dr. Hicks provides support for teachers pertaining to the use of the CTE computerized instructional management system, coordinates
End of Course testing, monitors data from WorkKeys assessments and assists with implementing the CTE curriculum.
Prior to her current role, she served as the district’s Career Development Coordinator / Special Populations Coordinator where she facilitated work-based learning opportunities and ensured that all students received appropriate accommodations throughout the semester. Additionally, she was Asheville High School’s Grades 11 and 12 Assistant Principal and the administrator over the CTE Department from August 2016-January 2018.
Dr. Hicks began her career in education as a Life Science Teacher at Houston, Texas’ Hambrick Middle School in 2007.
She is an active member of the North Carolina Career & Education Association and the Association for Career & Technical Education. Additionally, she is a Board Member of the Asheville City Schools Foundation, Delta House Life Development, Inc. and the YWCA of Asheville. She is also actively involved in the Asheville Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
Dr. Hicks earned a bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as well as her master’s degree in Human Services from Capella University. In 2009, she earned a Post Master’s Certificate in Diversity Studies. She received her PhD in Education with a specialization in Leadership in Education Administration from Capella University in 2014. Her dissertation examined the ascribed experiences of alternatively trained teachers during their first three years of teaching in economically disadvantaged schools in the Southwestern United States.
Additionally, she holds a School Administrator II licensure as well as a Career Development Coordinator licensure from the State of North Carolina.
Hicks is excited about this new opportunity and the direction our CTE Department is moving towards.
“I am excited about the new direction that CTE is taking by putting more emphasis on career development and exploration at the middle school level and adding programs to expose elementary students to careers and the world of work.”
Outside of school, Dr. Hicks enjoys reading, sewing, traveling with her husband, Edgar, and step-daughter, Dari as well as spending time with her family. Her son, Patrick Poole, is a rising Senior at Stephen F. Austin State University.
TESTING and ACCOUNTABILITY
Currently serving as the Curriculum and Instruction Department’s Director of Secondary Education, Ian Nelson will also serve as the new Director of Testing and Accountability, where he’s looking to “use data as a means to increase our support of all students and all educators.”
“I want to shift our data on its head and really begin to collect asset-based data to systematically learn more about all our students and serve them more effectively,” he said.
As the Director of Secondary Education, Nelson coordinates and delivers professional development, collaborates with secondary teachers and administrators to implement programs, brainstorms with Professional Learning Communities to examine data and come up with solutions, helps facilitate secondary summer enrichment opportunities as well as creates systems to analyze academic data across the district. Prior to his current role, Nelson has served as the Secondary Curriculum Coordinator, the Secondary Curriculum Specialist and as a High School Math Coach. He began his tenure with Asheville City Schools in 2008 as an Asheville High Math Teacher.
In 2005, Nelson started his career in education as a Math Teacher at The Putney School in Vermont.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in Math from Davidson College as well as a master’s degree in Teaching from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
When Nelson is away from school, he enjoys spending time with his wife, Sarah Nelson, and riding bikes.