Willoughby Names Julie Vincent as Principal at Smithville Elementary School

Smithville Elementary School is getting a new principal.
Julie Vincent, who for the last year has served as assistant principal at Northside Elementary School, will become principal at Smithville Elementary School, effective July 1st.
Director of Schools Mark Willoughby made the announcement Wednesday. “Julie Vincent will be our new principal starting July 1 at Smithville Elementary School. Karen Knowles will be the assistant principal there. We’re excited. During the transition there, I am sure that Ms Vincent will be bringing some new ideas and new thoughts to Smithville Elementary. We have already received several positive comments,” he said.
Dr. Bill Tanner, who had been principal at Smithville Elementary for several years, will be re-assigned to another position in the school system.
Vincent, who once taught at Smithville Elementary, said she is excited to be returning to the school. “I am very excited. I love Smithville Elementary School. When Darrin and I first moved here, about seventeen or eighteen years ago, I started teaching here in the special education department so its like coming back home again. I’m real excited to be over here at Smithville Elementary,” she said.
She began her teaching career in DeKalb County at Smithville Elementary teaching resource in the special education department and then moved to Northside Elementary, after that school opened. “I later moved to a fourth grade classroom, then to a third grade classroom. This year I was the assistant principal at Northside,”she said.
Untitled from dwayne page on Vimeo.
A native of Maine, Vincent received her bachelors degree in Vermont. She later married and moved to Missouri. The couple lived there for a couple of years before relocating to DeKalb County. “From my bachelors degree, I went to Tennessee Tech and got my masters degree in early childhood special education. I then went back and got my Eds in instructional leadership,” she said.
Vincent is married to Darrin Vincent of the very popular and award winning duo Dailey and Vincent. The couple have three children, Zachary, a senior at DCHS; Victoria, a sophomore; and Chandler, an eighth grader at DeKalb Middle School. Zachary plays on the Tiger basketball team. Victoria is a basketball cheerleader and Chandler plays basketball on the Saints team.
Asked if she had any special changes planned for the school, Vincent said she just wants to build on the success already established there. “Right now I’m just trying to get my feet on the ground. I’ve got some ideas that I am excited about. There’s a lot of great things that’s already taking place here at Smithville Elementary. I am just looking forward to enhancing some of the good things already happening,” she said.
“I am going to miss being at Northside, ” said Vincent. “They are a wonderful family over there. I am going to miss being over there, being with Dr. Redmon and the rest of the staff. But I am excited to come over here and get reacquainted with some old friends here and make some new ones,” she said.