Hall County School Superintendent Will Schofield has announced his intent to recommend Keri Smith as principal of the new Sandra Dunagan Deal Elementary School. He will make a formal recommendation to school board members at their June 12 meeting.
“We are pleased to have Keri Smith help open up our new elementary school and lead the Sandra Dunagan Deal team. She has such a wide range of leadership and early literacy experience, as well as an incredible love for students and their learning. These are exciting times for the communities of Riverbend and White Sulphur,” says Schofield.
Riverbend and White Sulphur Elementary Schools will consolidate in the fall of 2024
to form Sandra Dunagan Deal Elementary School. The facility is located on Ramsey Road off Highway 365. It was built to serve up to 1,000 students.
The new school was named in honor of the late Sandra Deal, the former First Lady of Georgia.
‘It is an honor’
Smith is currently the principal of Riverbend Elementary School and has served in that position since July 2022. She is a product of the Hall County School District and has served as a teacher, instructional coach, and administrator for a total of 20 years. She says she looks forward to an opportunity that many educators never get to experience—opening up a new school.
“It is an honor to have the opportunity to serve as the new principal of Sandra Dunagan Deal Elementary,” says Smith. “I look forward to working closely with all stakeholders at Riverbend Elementary and White Sulphur Elementary in the 2023-2024 school year to prepare to unite these two longstanding community schools. Together, I am confident that we will make Sandra Dunagan Deal Elementary a wonderful place to serve the students and their families.”
School’s namesake
In addition to serving alongside her husband during his lengthy political career, Sandra Deal served as a teacher for the Hall County School District for many years. She worked at Tadmore Elementary, North Hall High School, and North Hall Middle School.
Later, as First Lady, she was a staunch advocate for students and childhood literacy. Deal crisscrossed the state of Georgia reading to students in every school district, much of that time while battling cancer.
Deal passed away on August 23, 2022. Three months later, Hall County broke ground on the new school building that now bears her name.
