McKinney, Texas – The quickly approaching new year will bring new surroundings for Assistant Principal Grace Harris.

Currently serving at the McKinney Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Placement (JJAEP), Harris will join Dr. Mitch Curry, principal, and Assistant Principal David Warren to round out the administrative leadership at Scott Johnson Middle School when school resumes after the holiday break. She’ll fill the position that will be vacated with the December retirement of Dr. Robert Waite, current SJMS assistant principal.

“We’re super excited to have Grace on campus,” says Curry. “She brings a lot of knowledge and wisdom and melds with our campus. She knows what we need, and she just has all the tools that we’re looking for.

“We’re not always trying to look to match what we already have. We don’t want someone to emulate myself or Mr. Warren. We want somebody with a new, different, fresh perspective, and we’re really excited about what she’s going to bring to our campus,” says Curry.

Curry crossed paths with Harris in 2014 when she was a participant in the Aspiring Administrators Institute, a McKinney ISD program that develops leadership talent from within the district.

“That’s actually where I first met her,” says Curry. “I think that’s where people really took notice of who she is, the way she works and her empathy for kids—all kids.”

Dr. Melinda DeFelice, MISD assistant superintendent for secondary student support adds, “Grace is smart, poised and motivated and will be an incredible asset to Johnson Middle School.”

Harris has spent the past year and a half serving as assistant principal at the JJAEP, and prior to that she served as a special education first grade teacher at Burks Elementary for 3 years. Before her arrival in MISD, Harris was a special education math inclusion teacher at W.H. Atwell Middle School in DISD for 5 years.

“I am beyond excited to have been selected as the new assistant principal of Scott Johnson Middle School,” says Harris. “I am proud to be joining an amazing group of people who work together to bring out the best in every student. I can’t wait to begin building relationships within my new ‘village.’ I believe that together we can set high expectations and exceed our greatest school-wide goals.”

Harris earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology and her master’s degree in educational administration from the University of North Texas.

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