Taylors Elementary Principal Nationally Recognized

Rhonda Rhodes will represent the South Carolina Association of Elementary School Principals at the 2019 National Distinguished Principals program. Rhodes, who has led Taylors Elementary School for the past six years, is being recognized for her collaborative leadership style, creating a culture of leadership, and raising student achievement scores.

Because principal leadership is key to student success, the National Association of Elementary School Principals recognizes accomplished elementary and middle-level principals from across the nation and abroad as a part of its annual National Distinguished Principals program. The 2019 class of NDPs will be honored during a two-day event in Washington, D.C. that culminates with an awards banquet on October 11.

“Today’s principals are tasked with attending to students’ social and emotional needs at greater levels, even while they give their all to drive academic success in their school communities,” said Dr. L. Earl Franks, CAE, NAESP’s executive director. “NAESP’s National Distinguished Principals program recognizes the outstanding leadership of highly successful principals and is a heartfelt ‘thank you’ to outstanding school leaders.”

Principal honorees are selected by NAESP state affiliates and by committees representing private and overseas schools. Criteria for selection of the principals require that the honorees are active principals of schools where programs are designed to meet the academic and social needs of all students and where there are firmly established community ties with parents and local business organizations. 

It is particularly fitting to acknowledge the work of principals in October because it is National Principals Month, which was established to recognize and honor the contributions of school principals toward the success of the nation’s students, and encourage awareness of their significance.