Principal named at FIS
Dr. Chris Henderson at Farragut Intermediate
Farragut Intermediate School welcomes its new principal — Dr. Chris Henderson, who currently serves as principal for Halls Elementary School.
On the wake of current principal Reggie Mosley’s retirement in June, Henderson has been appointed FIS principal effective July 1.
Henderson said he is honored to be chosen for the position at FIS.
“It’s a new challenge and I’m excited about it,” he said. “Again, it’s an honor to be at one of the premier schools in the county.”
“I’ve met Chris,” Mosley said. “I think Chris is a wonderful young principal. He has been in administration for eight years now and has done some wonderful things at his school as it relates to technology. I think that is one of his strengths — working with technology — and that is a strong attribute to bring to our school.
“He will do well here,” Mosley added.
“We were part of a One-to-One Initiative a few years ago, where we wrote a technology challenge [grant] application and was one of 11 schools that were awarded it, so we got a lot of technology and pursued a lot of personalized learning and we worked to identify student learning needs and addressed those gaps,” Henderson said.
Henderson said he has a lot of ideas for FIS, but added until he gets to know the school and talk to teachers and parents to see what already is going on, he does not want to come into FIS with a sweeping agenda of his ideas.
“I want to see what’s happening and what the next steps are,” he said.
Henderson, who also was a teacher at Halls Elementary, applied for the principal position at FIS.
“It’s been wonderful [at Halls] with the people and the place but [being a principal at FIS] is a really good opportunity,” he said. “It’s a great school, a great community. We live out this way [in Lakeridge subdivision].”
However, the decision to apply for the principal position was a tough one.
“My wife and I talked and we prayed and we talked and we prayed,” Henderson said.
“It was hard because I spent a lot of time there so I developed a lot of strong relationships with the families, teachers and students,” he added.
“But, it was just decided it was such a good opportunity. It was a new challenge that would be a good thing.”
Henderson joined Knox County Schools in 1999 as a teacher at Spring Hill Elementary after graduating from The University of Tennessee. He taught at Spring Hill until 2005.
“I decided to go back to school to pursue a doctorate in administration and started in the educational administration and policy studies program,” Henderson said.
While in that program, he moved over to Halls Elementary as assistant principal, which he served for three years, then served as assistant principal of Karns Elementary School starting in 2008.
“Then Miss [Nancy] Maland, who was principal at Halls Elementary, became the elementary school director [in 2009] and I went back to Halls as the principal,” he said.
Henderson holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education, a master’s degree in elementary education and Doctorate of Education degree in educational administration and policy studies, all from UT.
