Peters to be Cullowhee principal

By Lynn Hotaling

Members of the Jackson County Board of Education Monday (May 7) unanimously named career educator Theresa Peters of Fayetteville to lead the K-8 school. She is currently assistant principal at J.W. Seabrook Elementary School in Cumberland County.

Peters, who spent summers near Dillsboro as a child and received her master's degree from Western Carolina University, said Tuesday that she is "thoroughly elated" at the prospect of moving to Jackson County.

"I'm looking forward to coming there and meeting everyone," Peters said. "It's a dream come true."

Though she has 35-plus years of experience as a teacher, media specialist and administrator, Peters said she is not ready to retire.

"I love what I'm doing. I enjoy working with children, teachers and parents," Peters said. "I'm a hard worker - I think all educators are hard workers - I'll put everything I have into it."

Peters, who spent two summers (1964 and 1965) as a long distance operator in Sylva for the old Western Carolina Telephone Co., earned her bachelor's degree in elementary education from the University of South Florida in Tampa in 1965 and her master's from WCU in 1970.

Most of her teaching experience is in the Tampa area, though she taught for a year in Guam. Peters moved to Fayetteville in 1995 and returned to Tampa for the 1996-97 school year before moving back to Fayetteville's Abbott Middle School in 1997. She has been assistant principal at Seabrook since 1999.

"She has wide experience and is used to diversity," said Jackson County Schools Superintendent Mack McCary. "She's very respected as a teacher, and I'm thrilled that she will be Cullowhee Valley's principal."

McCary recommended Peters to the school board. He was assisted in the selection process by an interview committee made up mostly of CVS teachers and parents. Members were parents Linda Haggard and Larry Hammer; teachers Shirley Fouts, Carolyn Wike and Penny Graham; Assistant Superintendent Nancy Sherrill; and Fairview Principal Sue Nations.

McCary and the committee worked for a month to determine the kind of leadership needed at CVS. The committee understood from the outset that its role was not to "vote in" a principal, McCary said.

"I made it clear that their goal was not to pick a principal but to recommend finalists," the superintendent said.

Six candidates were interviewed, including three local assistant principals, McCary said. From those six, two finalists were chosen.

Hammer told school board members Monday night that he appreciated the process Dr. McCary led the committee through as they determined the values to look for as they interviewed candidates for principal.

"Everyone on the committee feels good about the process and has faith that the outcome will be successful," Hammer said.

Peters will be the third principal in Cullowhee Valley's history. She will replace Ron Yount, who announced last fall that this would be his last year at the helm of the 7-year-old facility. School system maintenance and vocational director Arlin Middleton served as Cullowhee Valley's principal from its opening in 1994 until 1998.

Back to Archive: 05/10/01.