PRINCE EDWARD – New elementary school principal Amy McCurdy knows something about large schools.

McCurdy, a Henry County native who grew up in public schools, is coming home to Virginia from Georgia's Gwinnett County where she worked as an assistant principal in a K-5 1,866-student school.

She started as a teacher, in the first and fourth grades, then transitioned into a support role-as an early intervention program teacher then an instructional coach before being appointed as an assistant principal for the past two years.

The Gwinnett County school is roughly twice the size of Prince Edward Elementary, one of the largest in the area.

McCurdy offers that she “loved it,” adding that it was very diverse, had 97 percent free and reduced lunches, was a huge Title I school, had a very transient population with a lot of homelessness and was a high English language learner population.

“…Just a wonderful community,” McCurdy says. “Just really close-knit.”

Her parents, sister and brother-in-law all live in Henry County and it was her mom who first ran across the advertisement for the principal's position at Prince Edward.

“…We came and visited and just fell in love with the area,” McCurdy says. “I mean, it's just beautiful. It's…a different pace…Everyone in the community that we've met has just welcomed us with a smile and we're just very excited to be relocating…”

McCurdy's oldest son, Andrew, graduated and will attend Georgia Tech where he will major in chemical and molecular engineering. Her youngest, Kahlil, who was adopted at four months, will start sixth grade next year. Her husband, Jeff, is an avid outdoorsman and has already explored some of the opportunities here.

McCurdy graduated from Averett University with a pre-law degree. Both parents are retired educators, she cites, “so something kept drawing me back to education. I think it's just…in your blood.”

She adds, “Actually, I think adopting Kahlil is what really pushed me into education. When he was two-and-a-half, he was diagnosed with partial fetal alcohol syndrome and we knew that he was gonna learn differently from other children. And I, just at that point, went back and got my masters degree from the University of Phoenix in early childhood education, you know, thinking that I may have to home school him at some time if he wasn't successful in public schools.”

While he's still classified as a special needs child and has an IEP, he's like any other child, she says.

McCurdy says she will be finishing her EDS in Educational Leadership from the University of West Georgia in July.

She officially begins at Prince Edward July 1.

“We are excited that she's joined us in a key leadership position. She brings valuable experience and from a school with similar demographics. And we're delighted her family's moving here and we look forward to their being an active part of the community,” commented Division Superintendent Dr. David Smith.