About Ruff Reader and HEMI, the dog at right

Collaborative leadership efforts would not be complete if I did not involve myself outside of the building.  Hutsell has long enjoyed a full and productive relationship within her school community and the She has been most heavily involved with the University Of Tennessee College Of Veterinary Medicine’s HABIT’s Ruff Reader Program (see photo at right).

Hemi, Hutsell's 135 pound Great Pyrenees, can be seen ambling down the hallways to his 'classes' on Friday mornings where his special education students wait to read aloud to him.

Hemi's unconditional love never includes criticism of their performance.

The UT College of Veterinary Medicine has long maintained the HABIT (Human Animal Bond In Tennessee) program and promotes the inclusion of pets in the lives of people.

HEMI is now part of the "Ruff Reader" program in Knox County Schools.

Carter is the only middle school participating in the program which is in several Knox County elementary schools.

KCS assistant principal named Tennessee's Middle School Principal of the year

HEMI, a part of the Ruff Reader program, is Hutsell's Great Pyrenees. He visits the classroom each Friday. Students (l-r) Justin Freeman, Chastity Raltson, Lacey Kiser, and Megan Boruff take turns reading aloud to Hemi while Ms. Hutsell monitors progress.

A Knox County Schools assistant principal has been chosen Tennessee Assistant Principal of the Year by the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NCASSP).

Susan Hutsell, assistant principal at Carter Middle School, was honored in Nashville at the Tennessee Association of Secondary School Principals conference and in San Antonio during the national conference. She also joined other state assistant principals of the year winners in Washington, D.C. at the 2008 awards banquet where the honorees shared their experiences in teaching and administration.

All but one of Hutsell’s 38 years in education has been with Knox County Schools. A graduate of the University of Alabama, she spent one year teaching at Butler High School in Huntsville City Schools, Alabama before moving to Knoxville where she taught science at Farragut and Karns middle. She became the first middle school assistant principal in Knox County Schools when she became assistant principal at Karns in 1975 after earning her Master’s degree in educational administration.

She has been an assistant principal ever since and has no desire to be anything else. “I don’t want to be any further removed from children than I am right now,” she said. “I love what I do. I get up every morning and I like coming to work. I love Monday mornings.”

Her love for children is reflected in her desire to be near the students and to influence as many as she can. “You can reach more children from the administrative position than you can as a teacher,” she said. “As a teacher, you have 125 students, but I can be more beneficial to more kids from where I am now.”

Hutsell’s own education lends itself to understanding the challenges of today’s global society.  “My father was in the military, so we moved about every two years. I attended  school in Vietnam, Paris, Germany, and in military schools,” she said. “Those  experiences made me much more aware of and very tolerant of diversity.  A lot of times I was the minority. I was the one who couldn’t speak the language, or I was the only Caucasian and everyone else was Asian.”

Technology and instant media have dropped life experiences deeper and deeper into the young years. “Things we didn’t even know about until high school, the kids now know in elementary school,” said Hutsell. “The most difficult thing facing middle school students today is the impact of decisions they have to make.”

 “Don’t cut your choices off,” she advises students. “Education is the ticket to having choices when they leave school. To not participate fully in every aspect of their education is to limit themselves later.”

Students today need problem solving skills – to take the facts they have and to work with them, add to them if necessary,

Relationships are an important part of teaching and learning observes Hutsell. “Teachers need to be able to develop relationships with students,” she said. She recalls a saying from one of her colleagues early on in her career: “Students don’t care what you know until they know that you care.”

Her advice to beginning educators reflects her own love of Monday mornings. “Get into a position where you love your work,” she advises. “If you don’t, move on to something else: find something within education where you are enthusiastic and love it. Your enthusiasm rubs off on everybody around you – the kids, the staff, the administration. Take what you’ve got and do the very best with those students. It’s pointless to say ‘if I just had kids that were a little brighter or a little more understanding or a little more tolerant or a little more anything. You take what you’ve got a any point in time and go with it.”

MEMBERSHIPS and other awards:
TASSP, NASSP, TAMS, Phi Delta Kappa, KCMSPA, KC Assistant Principals Association 2007
TN Association of Middle Schools, Board of Directors 12 years l980 - present
Knox County Middle School Principals’ Association, former Pres. & Treas.  l980 – present, Partners in Education, Vice President 2 years, currently on Board of Directors 2002 – present

American Red Cross volunteer & instructor l964-present,  U.T. Veterinary College HABIT Program's School Liaison Committee, teaching a HABIT Ruff Reader class l997 - present, Co-Chair for St. John's FISH Food Pantry 2005 - present, TAMS Summer Conf., Exhibits, Banquet, Program, Awards Committees, HABITAT volunteer 2002 - present

Tennessee Association of Middle Schools Teaching Team 2006
Recipient of $2,600 in grants used in part to fund Visiting Artist for special ed. 2006
Knoxville Chamber of Commerce Leadership Education Class of 2001 - present

Presenter/spokesperson for HABIT's Ruff Reader Program at UT, South College, TAMS Summer Conference, 2003 - present. Participant in Professional Learning Communities Retreat 2007, attend SACS Annual Conference 1998 - present TASSP Conference 2002, NASSP Conf., 2006, NMSA 2004,2006,  attended seminars for Language !, Data Team, Read 180