Assisting in the new year: James Price joins Cedar administration
While he was researching various schools to move to, James Price happened to visit Cedar Shoals. After seeing the work that Clarke County School District Superintendent Dr. Robbie Hooker did for the district, Price decided that this was an administrative team that he would enjoy working alongside with.
“I really saw that this is a team that I wanted to join by being under that mission and vision of Mr. Derricotte,” Price said.
Principal Antonio Derricotte has noticed Price’s crucial addition to the school.
“One of the things that I’ve been admiring about him since his time being here is that he’s trying to be receptive and build relationships with everyone. He has a big heart and really fits in with our PBIS (Positive Behavioral Intervention Supports) program,” Derricotte said.
On Jan. 10, Price officially started his job as an assistant principal at Cedar spreading his helpful personality.
“It’s been great adjusting to this school. It’s been great to just walk the halls, especially when coming in prior to this semester, I was able to see the inner-workings of the school as a viewer,” Price said.
Despite being new to Cedar, he is no novice when it comes to working in a school environment. Previously, Price has worked as an administrator, registrar, teacher, dean, assistant principal and science teacher. He has been teaching for about 8 to 10 years now.
Price graduated with a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education from Morehouse College and a master’s in educational leadership from Kennesaw State University. He appreciates that he gets to continue working in line with his background.
“I was at another school for about five years. I was there because I really wanted to see the continuous growth. Another one of my roles was four years at an Atlanta public school, so generally I love to stay in that school with that culture to really involve myself with that culture, immerse myself and continue to see the growth of that school,” Price said.
As an educator, Price considers himself a lifelong learner and believes that a school is a building of progress. Because of this, the administrative boards are kept busy.
“We have heavy loads to lift across the board. So that’s something that I look forward to doing with the team,” Price said.
Since coming to this school Price has been introduced to multiple positive aspects of Cedar’s community. He enjoys the overall familial, collegial atmosphere and the fact that Cedar has various systems of support.
“I like the fact that there are behavioral specialists, various administrators and various teachers that are there to support the teachers in the classroom. As well as the fact that each of those teachers and each of those roles are able to build the relationships and support the various students in the building,” Price said.
Price looks forward to helping build a positive culture at Cedar. He also wants to contribute to the PBIS reward system to promote positive behavior.
“Not only that (the reward system), but continuing to increase those graduation scores, increase the overall school safety, and continue working with the overall positive well-being of our school and making sure that scholars feel safe being here every day,” Price said.
