Monelison Middle School gets new principal

The Amherst County School Board officially has tapped Tracey Richardson as the new Monelison Middle School principal.

Richardson, who has previously served as an Amherst County High School assistant principal, got the nod during a school board meeting last week. Richardson comes to the division from neighboring Bedford County. Prior to being selected as Monelison’s new leader, Richardson was an assistant principal at Jefferson Forest High School in Bedford County.

“It’s so wonderful to be back in Amherst County,” she said during the meeting, adding she was looking forward to the opportunity.

Richardson’s two daughters and husband accompanied her to the Thursday evening board meeting.

On Friday, Richardson moved out of Jefferson Forest and into Monelison. She takes the place of former Principal Kathy Pierce, who is now the principal of Central Elementary in Amherst County.

In a phone interview Monday — Richardson’s first official day on the job — she said she has felt welcomed by the division’s administration. She said as a Jefferson Forest graduate with a daughter attending school there, it wasn’t easy to move on.

“It was a little hard to leave, but I tell you what I fell in love with the people out here,” she said of Amherst.

Richardson, who started her career in education more than 10 years ago, has taught social studies at E.C. Glass High School in Lynchburg, and social studies and English at William Fleming High School in Roanoke.

She has two bachelor’s degrees, both from Virginia Tech, and two master’s degrees. Richardson is currently working on a doctorate, also at Tech. As a college student, she had not pursued education; she was an accounting major.

“Then I took an African American history class as elective, and it changed my life,” she said, explaining she ended up with a history minor.

She later went to work at a bank and said she hated it. She went back to Tech and got a bachelor’s degree in history — she found teaching was her true calling.

Richardson then earned a master’s in curriculum and instruction from Tech and later a master’s in administration from Lynchburg College.

Now, as she gets ready for her role at Monelison, Richardson said she’s excited for new challenges and to work with a new age group.

“I love working with younger students,” she said. “I’m also the type of person who likes learning new things. Just this opportunity to come to a new level was inviting for me.”