In a unanimous vote, the Limestone County School Board approved the hiring of Deborah Kenyon as Tanner High School’s new principal earlier tonight. Kenyon has served as the school’s assistant principal since December, 2017 and will replace Louis Gordon, whose first-year probationary contract was not renewed earlier this month.

Kenyon, who received the news this morning, said “Education is my passion. I have always been an advocate for children, and I’m honored to continue as their instructional leader.”

The Decatur native has been an educator for 17 years. In addition to serving as a classroom teacher in the Baldwin County School system, she also held the position of Instructional Transformation Specialist and Curriculum Leader while there.

Before that, she was a licensed social worker for the State of Alabama, working for the Morgan County Department of Human Resources, and later, as the Executive Director for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Morgan County. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in sociology from Athens State University and a Master’s degree in secondary education from the University of North Alabama.

Dr. Tom Sisk, Superintendent of Limestone County Schools, said he recommended Kenyon for the position based on her strong academic background.

“One thing we learned from the (Tanner) community is they want a strong, robust academic environment for their kids,” he said. “I have confidence in her ability to work with the community to heal and to focus on the most important thing—the kids at Tanner High School.”

Kenyon said she is ready for the challenge.

“My personal mantra is ‘all means all,’” Kenyon said. “It takes everyone working as a team to make sure that all students’ needs and strengths are met so that they will be successful.”

The system will start looking for a qualified candidate to fill the assistant principal position Kenyon left vacant tomorrow. The position will be posted on the Alabama State Department of Education “Teach in Alabama” website. For more details go to https://bit.ly/2lBwnGG.