Perrin welcomes new principal

PERRIN – Coming back to where you started can have rewards sometimes.

After spending a year in Jacksboro, April Richardson came back to Perrin last year, where she had taught for more than a decade, to take a counseling position. This year, Richardson moves up the chain once again, taking over as principal at the junior high/high school campus after Karrie Wilhoit decided to go back to the classroom after one year as principal.

Richardson said she left Perrin because she wanted to see what a larger school felt like. When the counseling position came open, she decided to come back and be with her two kids that were still attending school here, Brigham, who will be a senior this year, and Kennefy who is entering 8th grade.

With two kids in her school might make things complicated for the new principal. She says with her children it won’t be.

“It’s difficult not to be hard or lenient or make it seem like I’m favoriing them,” Richardson said. “We have found a balance before when I was teaching and we will do so again. Brigham is in the top half of his class and Kennedy is the same. It was hard when I was a teacher. It was hard when I was a counselor. We will make it work. I hope notto see either f them too much.”

Having spent a lot of time in the community is both a positive and negative to Richardson.

“I definitely understand the community and what has been going on here in the past and present more than someone fresh coming in,” Richardson said. “Still, when you know everyone it can be hard but I need to make decisions that are for the betterment of the whole school, not just a few.”

Richardson is doing a counselor’s work presently, getting schedules ready for the upcoming school year but contends not wanting to do a lot of counseling.

“I assume being a principal is going to be a full-tme job,” Richardson said with a chuckle. “When I got back here the (scheduling) job had already been done, so I want to make sure the same is true for the counselor we just hired.”

Richardson said she has goals to expand the dual credit program at the school and wanting to keep up with the larger schools despite being small.

“I want our students to be ready for life after school here,” Richardson explained. “Not all students are going to go to college but we need to make sure they can get some certifications here so they’re ready to go into the workplace if they choose to.”