FORT SMITH (KFSM) — A new principal will be walking the hallways at one local high school starting this fall.
Keri Rathbun was named the new principal at Northside High School in Fort Smith. She comes from being the principal at Kimmons Junior High for the past year. Before that, she was the assistant principal at Kimmons for five years and also spent three years as a counselor at Northside.
Rathbun said she loves to work with high school students because she likes to help them seek out their future after graduation. According to Rathbun, “I’m just very excited and very honored to be in this position. This is a great opportunity for me.”
During Rathbun’s first year as principal, she plans to learn about the school and carry on the same traditions and improving graduation rates. As far as changes in the near future, she doesn’t plan on any during her first year on the job. “As a new principal at Northside I want to come in and listen, learn, watch and be reflective each month on which direction we need to go towards in the future,” said Rathbun.
Rathbun is replacing former principal Ginni McDonald who will be the new Director of Secondary Education.
School officials are currently working on hosting an alumni appreciation event to be held in August to introduce Rathbun to the community.
