Along with the camel train of new teachers that has alighted on USD 257 this year and there are more than a dozen newbies a bright, driven, impassioned, first-time principal has recently taken the lead reins at Jefferson Elementary School.
Tiffany Koehn, who taught for five years at an elementary school in Cherryvale before earning the top gig in Iola, replaces former Jefferson principal Lori Maxwell.
If it were ever written in the stars that a young teacher would ascend in the early part of her career to the role of principal, it was a memo surely intended for Koehn (pronounced Cohen). But it wasnt fortune alone that smoothed Koehns path. Shes been rigorously prepping to be a principal from the time she felt the first vibrations of professional ambition. I knew when I was in high school that I wanted to be a principal, Koehn recalled. And while she was reluctant to confess her wish to just anyone, she felt confident opening up to her future husband, Mike, in the early days of their courtship. When I met him, Koehn said, he asked me what I was going to KU for. I said, Im going to school to be a teacher, but my goal is to become a principal.