Veteran educator Shelly Buck joins South Green Elementary leadership
The 2004 Barren County High School graduate has been named assistant principal at South Green Elementary, succeeding Nathan Peters, who recently became transportation director for Barren County Schools.
GLASGOW, Ky. — For 17 years, Shelly Buck built a career helping students inside the classroom. This fall, she’ll take on a new role helping lead an entire school.
She loved teaching, spent 17 years at Gamaliel Elementary in Monroe County and built a reputation for strong classroom management, high expectations and helping students succeed.
But after colleagues repeatedly encouraged her to consider school leadership, she began to wonder whether she could make an even greater impact outside her own classroom.
“I was approached by my administrators at Monroe County in Gamaliel, and they must have noticed something in me that I didn’t quite know, and they told me that I should seek a role in administration,” she said. “At first I pushed it off, then they came to me again, so I decided to take classes to get certified.”
The decision, Buck said, came only after months of prayer and reflection.
“I had to do some praying about it, and I thought that my job would be best spent to support teachers along with students,” Buck said. “I thought that if I go back into the classroom, not seeking that principal or admin role, I would be doing myself a disservice.”
That journey has now brought Buck back home.
The 2004 Barren County High School graduate has been named assistant principal at South Green Elementary, succeeding Nathan Peters, who recently became transportation director for Barren County Schools.
Buck grew up in the Austin community before earning her teaching degree from Western Kentucky University. She spent 15 years teaching before becoming a math coach through a Kentucky Department of Education grant.
As that grant neared its end, she said she felt what she described as an “intrinsic” calling to pursue administration full time.
When she saw South Green’s opening, she started researching the school.
“So I did a little research on the internet about their test scores and their Facebook page. It seemed very inviting. It seemed students first.”
She’ll join a leadership team that is almost entirely new.
Brennan Crain
Principal Matt “Shep” Shepherd was hired in April. By the time students return this fall, nearly every leadership position at South Green will have changed.
For Shepherd, that transition brings both uncertainty and opportunity.
“A lot has changed since May,” Shepherd said. “Now, looking ahead to next year, that can bring a lot of anxiety but it can also bring a lot of hope and a lot of change.”
Throughout the summer, Shepherd has been meeting individually with every staff member, listening to their experiences and learning what they want to preserve as the school moves forward.
He also welcomes South Green families to share their needs with him.
“One thing that I always come back to is you can’t have an act of courage without some sort of vulnerability beforehand,” Shepherd said. “We encourage families to embrace the vulnerability that we are going to do everything in our powers to make sure that these children are educated to the best of their ability before they go off to middle school.”
Shepherd said Buck’s enthusiasm and willingness to collaborate stood out.
“I can already see that. We’ve only spent a couple days together. She has a very go get it attitude and has a lot of great ideas and innovations for our school system.”
Both administrators say they want South Green to remain known for its welcoming, family atmosphere. But culture is only one priority.
The school’s leadership team has already begun studying student performance data, particularly among economically disadvantaged students.
“We have seen the trends on our report card show that the economically disadvantaged are not growing as efficiently as those that are not economically disadvantaged,” Shepherd said.
The goal, he said, is to strengthen literacy instruction, improve early math foundations and provide interventions sooner for students who need extra support.
“Looking at the gaps, we see some areas that we would really like to tighten and improve and provide meaningful interventions to those that need support,” Shepherd said.
Those efforts also align with a district initiative to keep kindergarten and first-grade class sizes at roughly 18 students per teacher, allowing for more individualized instruction during the early elementary years.
“We’ve had to move from three first grade classes to six just to facilitate that,” Shepherd said. “That makes some logistical issues happen, but the overall goal is really unique and that’s another way that’s sparked curiosity.”
For Buck, those challenges are exactly what drew her to South Green.
“I can’t wait to be part of this family, and I really feel like for the future here I'm excited to be in this role,” Buck said. “I look forward to spending time with families and getting to know them and building relationships with the students, staff, families and admin.”
With much of the school’s leadership changing ahead of the new school year, South Green Elementary will host a community meet-and-greet from 4 to 6 p.m. July 7.
The event will give families an opportunity to meet the new administrative team and learn more about their vision for the school before classes resume.
