Trina Petty-Rice, principal of Mark Twain Elementary in the Brentwood School District, was honored as a 2014 Exemplary New Principal by the Missouri Association of Elementary School Principals.
Each year, each of the association’s 12 regions selects a new principal who has made measurable contributions to their schools, districts and profession. Petty-Rice became principal of Mark Twain Elementary in June 2012, replacing Karen Smith, who retired.
Petty-Rice said she continues to be inspired by her students at Mark Twain and their “thirst for knowledge.”
“Daily she focuses on data and collaboration, effective communication and building a positive school culture,” Kristi Shinn, who chairs the association’s Northeast Region, said of Petty-Rice.
The fully accredited Brentwood School District is one of the smaller public school districts in St. Louis County. In 2013, according to data from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), the district had 772 students, with 30 percent of students on free or reduced lunches, an indicator of poverty.
In 2013, according to DESE, the district student body was two-thirds (65 percent) white and one-third minority, with 22 percent black students, four percent Hispanic and four percent Asian.
In 2013, the district appointed its first African-American high school principal, Edward M. Johnson Jr.
With Mark Twain being one of only two elementary schools in the district (McGrath Elementary School is the other), Petty-Rice is focused on relationship-building between students, parents and staff at both schools.
“We have these elementary schools that feed into the middle school,” Petty-Rice said. “To me, it did not make sense for the kids not to have had opportunities to get together with students on the other side of the boulevard.”
Petty-Rice said she is constantly searching for innovative ways to change the dynamics of instructional practices at Mark Twain. She welcomes feedback from her students, believing that “every single student has something to bring to the table” in planning and designing her own lessons.
She also encourages honest discussion and collaboration between teachers in developing and implementing early intervention methods, which she said are key components of academic success. One intervention method she hopes to implement next year is a “data wall” of students’ academic performance.
“We begin to put faces on a data wall where we can see who is performing at that basic level and trying to make sure that we’re moving students from below-basic to that proficient and advanced level,” she said.
She said that other teachers and staff have been supportive, including Cheryl Miller, a counselor at Mark Twain.
Miller said that Petty-Rice often takes a “kids-first” approach.
“Everything she does always goes back to how it impacts the kids and how this will affect their education and their future,” Miller said.
Miller said that Petty-Rice came to the school full of fresh ideas from her experience in the Ladue School District, where she previously worked as a technology coordinator.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in early childhood and elementary education from Oakwood College, a master’s degree in computer teacher education from Fontbonne University and a master’s degree in educational leadership and administration from Maryville University.
Petty-Rice is also active as an educator within her church. She is chairman of the board at the Early Childhood Development Center at New Horizon Christian Church, where her husband, the Rev. B.T. Rice Jr., serves as senior pastor.
