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Dr. Sheila Kahrs, principal of Haymon-Morris Middle School, announced last week as one of the three finalists for the 2009 Georgia Middle School Principal of the Year, was selected as Georgia's top principal at the middle school level.
While Dr. Kahrs was told the announcement will be made in the coming weeks, she got a surprise at her Tuesday afternoon faculty meeting when a parade of guests entered the media center just after 4 p.m.
Educational professionals including some of her professors and mentors, representatives from the National Association of Secondary School Principals, her husband, Dr. Jim Kahrs, fellow Barrow County principals and Professional Development Center staffers including Superintendent Dr. Ron Saunders, retired teachers who worked with Dr. Kahrs, fellow members of the Winder Rotary Club paraded into the faculty meeting.
The Principal of the Year recognition program is sponsored by MetLife and the National Association of Secondary School Principals.
The Georgia Principal of the Year will represent Georgia in the national competition for principal of the year. The national program recognizes principals that excel in educational leadership, resolving complex problems, developing self and others, and community service.
Dr. Kahrs has been in school administration in Barrow County for the last 11 years and has been in education for more than 20 years, and she was almost speechless as the announcement of her selection was made.
Dr. Kahrs was nominated by her faculty and staff, and she said that was a great compliment which made the honor even more special.
She acknowledged the push and encouragement she received from mentors to pursue administration, which is something she had vowed not to do. On a Friday, however, her mentors had persuaded her to be open-minded to what she could bring to educatoin by using her advanced degree and leadership skills. The following Monday, Jerris Hayes, then a principal, asked her if she would consider an administrative position within the Barrow County School System. He asked her to be his assistant principal at a new school and she was also asked to remain at Russell Middle School as an administrator. She said she looked to her mentors who encouraged to take advantage of any opportunity to open a new school. She has done that at Westside Middle and at Haymon-Morris Middle.
Dr. Kahrs also thanked her family for support through the years and for those mentors who supported her career as well as her husband's.
Dr. Jim Kahrs expressed the pride of the family, himself and children, Sarah, Susan and James, in the recognition bestowed on his wife.
The honoree also thanked her fellow Rotarians in attendance. She shared how much pride she takes in being a Rotarian. She said her husband had been a Rotary in New York. After attending a funeral of a dear family friend and educational professional in Oconee County at which a large group of men and one woman, fellow Rotarians who served as honorary pallbearers, Dr. Kahrs said she knew the good work of of Rotary across the world would be something she would be proud to join.
Dr. Jim Kahrs was honored by the National Association of Secondary School Principals in 2001 and earned a trip to Washington D.C. Dr. Sheila Kahrs may have a chance to take her husband back to a similar ceremony in the coming months.
