It has been a year of highlights for Sale Elementary International Studies Magnet School, and things just keep looking up, Principal Nancy Bragg said Friday, on her way home from the state Department of Education’s board meeting in Jackson.
During the meeting, Bragg was named Mississippi’s 2012 Administrator of the Year for her leadership, community involvement and ability to inspire teachers.
She was named the Columbus Municipal School District’s Administrator of the Year in April.
Though she had received the district award previously, the state recognition was a new experience for Bragg, who has been an educator for more than three decades.
“It was pretty monumental to hear my name called out,” Bragg said. “It gives our school great recognition. We’ve had a wonderful year this year at Sale. We’ve been recognized on several levels, and this just tops the cake as far as I’m concerned.”
She credited faculty and staff with the school’s success, saying she is humbled by the state honor, but it is an honor for them, as well.
Sale is the only school in the district to rank as high-performing based upon state accountability models. The school was listed on academic watch the previous two years.
Colleagues say part of Bragg’s success is her devotion to children and her ability to form strong bonds with them and their parents.
“Mrs. Nancy Bragg and her staff never, ever give up on a child,” CMSD Superintendent Dr. Martha Liddell said Friday. “No matter how much help they may need or how accelerated the student is, they always find a way to push them to the next level. Part of Nancy’s honor in Jackson today was her school’s accomplishment as a high performing school. The entire Falcon family is so proud of Mrs. Bragg and her faculty and staff. They are a team of fantastic educational leaders who are an inspiration for the Columbus School District.”
“She is always looking for the next step, the next way to make things better,” said Dr. Sue Jolly-Smith, dean of the College of Education and Human Services at Mississippi University for Women. “Children are front and center.”
Bragg has 17 years’ experience as a school administrator, beginning in 1996 as principal of Hunt Intermediate School. She became principal of Sale in 2002. She has an education specialist degree in curriculum and instruction from Mississippi State University and is a graduate of Millsaps Principals’ Institute.
The Mississippi Administrator of the Year program, mandated by Senate Bill 3350, is open to elementary and secondary school principals, as well as vocational-technical directors. Entries are limited to one from each of the state’s 152 school districts.
The state selection committee then chooses four finalists, interviews them and makes a final selection. The state administrator of the year receives a $5,000 salary supplement and participates in presentations and activities to improve education in the state.
Carmen K. Sisson is the former news editor at The Dispatch.
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