Hartselle Junior High principal named district middle school principal of the year

Hartselle Junior High School principal, Dr. Robbie Smith, has been named the District Eight middle school principal of the year. Smith won the title after having been nominated by her peers, and will be in a selection process to be named the state middle school principal of the year.

Smith has served as the principal at Hartselle Junior High for six years, and has worked in education for 26 years. She said she was humbled by the announcement, and that it spoke highly of her staff at the school and throughout the system. “I will tell you it’s not about me. It’s about the work that goes on day in and day out in the classrooms here. It’s everybody here that wants to take care of students. The custodians taking care of keeping things clean and orderly. The cafeteria workers making sure that they are well fed. Here there is just a general love for each other and for the kids. It may have my name on it, but I really view of a reflection of everything going on in Hartselle City Schools,” Smith said.

Smith was nominated by her peers for the award, and said the nomination came as a huge honor. “What a great honor when your peers step out and recognize you in a manner like that. It is very humbling and flattering, and it makes you feel really good to know that you are seen in that light,” Smith said.

As principal at Hartselle Junior High School, Smith is a leader for students during a pivotal time in their lives. She says that teaching middle school students is full of challenges and blessings. “It is a challenging age. They have so much going on. Our kids are under a lot of pressure today. This is the age it really starts honing in on them. From social media to what they see  things portrayed by hollywood or wherever They have a lot on them from outside influences. Then we are trying to do high quality standards, but the great thing is at this age they are so much fun. They still like to do things like dress up and be silly. They are not too cool for school yet. In Hartselle the parents send us great kids. They are involved and very school oriented. It really is a great age. I have done elementary and I have done high school and I love them all but this is a fun age because you are trying to help them find their way and find their path but you can also have fun and laugh and joke around,” Smith said.

To Smith, a principal is far more than the authority of the school, to her relationships are the most important aspect. “I think the definition of a principal is to be the lead learner.  I am always trying to learn new things whether it be how to best teach math or how to build better relationships. We have gone from a time when I was in school when the principal was the hard nosed disciplinarian, you never laughed with the kids or talked with the kids. I think today or in my philosophy at least, I need to be a supporter and a cheerleader. The relationship piece is the most important piece to me” Smith said.

Being a principal is not always what Smith envisioned for herself. She said originally she wanted to be a veterinarian, but then she got into coaching and wanted to be able to continue to influence kids’ lives. “I was a basketball player in college so I had a huge passion for the sport and wanted to coach. Early in my career I saw the movie Dangerous Minds, and she was in a very challenging school and challenging kids but she knew they had the potential within them, that there are all these factors to get through to them. Once I saw that, I knew that it was what I wanted to be. I wanted to be her. I wanted to make a difference and help kids find their potential whether it be in sports or school or whatever,” Smith said.

Smith said that it has been her goal since starting to continue to build relationships with students and to make some impact on them. “Working with kids everyday definitely helped to achieve that goal. I hope and I pray I have made a difference somewhere along the way. I am friends with a lot of former students. And it’s a great joy. It’s almost like as a parent you move from the parent relationship with your children to more of a friend once they are grown. It’s the same thing when you go from being their teacher and coach to knowing them as an adult with their own lives. So that means a whole lot that they have allowed me to be a part of their lives,” Smith said.

Prior to being principal at Hartselle Junior High, Smith worked in a variety of systems in different roles. She worked as the guidance counselor at Danville High School and worked with the distance learning program in Madison City School system before beginning her career as an administrator. I had the opportunity to go to Madison City for their distance learning program for the state. It’s a great program, but I absolutely hated the job. Because it was sitting in the corner everyday all day on the computer. Now I communicated with some great people and great teachers, but I need that interaction. So I spoke to our elementary and secondary directors in Madison City and said if anything opens in a school, I would like to find my way back back. I needed to be around people. So an opportunity came available at an elementary school and from there it was like the snowball mounted. I will always be grateful for them for giving me the opportunity, I am just not a desk person. I needed to be back around the heartbeat of the school. So then it just kind of grew. I went from an assistant to an interim to a principal then here,” Smith said.