When former iAcademy at Athens Elementary principal Cindy Davis was named the new principal at Athens Intermediate School May 19, the Athens City Schools system was left to find a replacement at Athens Elementary.

The school board officially named Amanda Tedford, the assistant principal at Athens Middle, as the new iAcademy principal at Thursday’s meeting.

“I am super excited about joining the Athens Elementary School community,” Tedford said. “The school has a phenomenal group of students, teachers and parents, and I can’t wait to be a part of that.”

Tedford said she has been with the Athens City Schools system for eight years, including time at Athens High as a teacher and instructional partner. She has been assistant principal at Athens Middle for the past two years.

Tedford is originally from Decatur. She graduated from Decatur High School in 1996.

“I taught in Atlanta at the beginning of my career, and I took some time off to raise our children,” Tedford said.

According to her online bio for Athens Middle, she received her bachelors degree from Vanderbilt University, masters from Georgia State and specialist degree from the University of West Alabama.

Tedford said she applied for the position at iAcademy after Davis made the switch to Athens Middle. Tedford said she would like to build on a lot of the “great things they are already doing” at iAcademy.

“I would like to enhance our computer science innovation academy and build relationships with parents and the community,” she said. “We are a project-based learning school, so I want to dive into that aspect. I want to continue to grow that part of the learning experience for the students.”