Krystle C. Stanley was recently appointed the new assistant principal at Oak Hill Middle School.
Stanley was born in Milledgeville and stayed local her entire educational journey. She graduated from Georgia College & State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in English in 2006 and later received her Master of Arts there and a Specialist Degree in Curriculum and Instruction in 2013.
“One thing I love about Baldwin County is that it's somewhere to grow up with chances to get a higher education, whether that's at a university or a community college,” said Stanley. “I attended the public school here and got my higher education here and stayed local to pursue my career as well. That smalltown feel is something I wanted to pursue.”
Stanley began teaching at Oak Hill Middle School in 2007 as a sixth-grade English and Language Arts teacher. She served in this position for 11 years before becoming an instructional coach in 2019.
“Staying within this community as I grew up has impacted my work. I’m familiar with the students and families that I serve, especially the Oak Hill Middle School community,” said Stanley.
Her experience as a sixthgrade teacher has prepared her to become an assistant principal. Stanley feels that she understands the significance of the transition between elementary and middle school from teaching and further understands those first steps that adolescents take to make more independent decisions.
“They’re going from elementary, where they hold hands a little bit and where you have the adults making more of the decisions for them to middle school where they gain that little bit of independence,” said Stanley. “I'm familiar with that jump and can better understand the beginning of making sound decisions, better friends and life choices.”
Her experience as an instructional coach has assisted her in the more technical skills that will accompany her new position. As a coach, Stanley used data to support instructional decisions, looked at data trends, evaluated how students react to curriculum, developed or improved curriculum, and help to remediate students if needed. In addition, she served as a Positive Behaviors, Interventions and Support Coach that gave her experience in handling behavioral issues and positive interventions.
“My experiences have allowed me to look at the data and instructional sides of the school, as well as working directly with students to exhibit expectations and create a safe learning environment through promoting positive behavior, attendance, and good academics,” said Stanley. “So, I feel that I have been prepared to handle the different aspects of an assistant principal.”
As assistant principal, Stanley hopes to make families feel included in the transition between elementary and middle school. She hopes to help the parents feel at ease and assist students in building study, social, organizational and critical thinking skills that will make middle school a positive experience for them.
“I want the parents to feel at ease that their students are in good hands and offer the resources that they may need as their child is making that transition from elementary to middle,” said Stanley. “This includes things like academic resources to learn the new curriculum and the standards that their child will be learning, social emotional learning and building skills in our students that are going to help them as they go from middle school all the way to high school and adults.”
Through this position, Stanley said she hopes to grow professionally and help the community thrive. She hopes through her work, students can better themselves, achieve their goals and better their community and the communities they may move into as adults.
“I'm just honored to be in this position to be able to be a change agent and advocate for educating the future of Milledgeville,” said Stanley. “And I want everyone to know that I'm a hard worker and that dreams do come true because teaching has been in my blood since I was a little girl.”