Scott Cinnamon is the new principal at Cordley Elementary.

Schwegler Elementary first-year principal Jared Comfort.

Debbie Tann is the new principal at Quail Run Elementary.

One has a commercial driver’s license and filled in for a bus driver once while she was a principal in Kentucky.

The other two were Kansas University classmates in the School of Education.

But all three new principals at Lawrence elementary schools – Debbie Tann at Quail Run, Jared Comfort at Schwegler and Scott Cinnamon at Cordley – say they will lean on each other and work with teachers to try to meet students’ needs this year.

“We’ve already collaborated on a few things. It’s just been nice,” Comfort said. “They’ve been very willing to share ideas, and they each bring a lot of strengths to their positions.”

Tann agreed: “I can tell that I’m in good hands and in good company being one of three new principals here.”

Collaborative appears to be a key word, as the three principals mentioned collaboration or a similar concept when describing their leadership styles.

KU classmates

Each has strong classroom backgrounds, although it will be the first head building principal job for Comfort and Cinnamon.

Comfort has taught three grade levels in Topeka. For the past two years, he was an assistant principal in the Topeka district. He has lived in Lawrence for several years and did his student teaching in Lawrence schools while earning two degrees at KU.

At Schwegler, several new teachers are coming onboard this year, and Comfort said he has met and brainstormed with most of them throughout the summer.

“I know this staff is an extremely strong staff,” Comfort said. “The school also has a lot of community support.”

Cinnamon comes to Cordley with only two new teachers in the school and a strong parent network to fall back on, he said.

He grew up in Overland Park, earned two KU degrees and has taught second- and third-grade classes for the last eight years in the Blue Valley school district.

“It seems Lawrence is very much a part of that atmosphere of a lot of collaboration and working together,” Cinnamon said. “That team atmosphere is something that I bring to the school.”

The college classmates both have stories about what hooked them into education. For Comfort, it was seeing how far his first-grade class came his first year of teaching. For Cinnamon, it was reading a quote about educators “aiming high” that helped him make a decision to pursue elementary education.

Comfort replaces Angelique Kobler, and Cinnamon takes over for Kim Bodensteiner. Both Bodensteiner and Kobler have been promoted to district administrative positions.

Principal and bus driver

Quail Run’s Tann grew up in Kentucky and has worked since 1988 in several roles, including teacher and principal’s role at a laboratory school affiliated with Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond. She moved to Kansas this year with her new husband, who runs an electric company in Lenexa.

She replaces Paulette Strong, who retired after 21 years in the district. Tann also said she comes to a school with strong support from staff and parents.

“I hope to see us develop that even more in looking at enrichment for all of our students, and looking at their futures and their goals as human beings and citizens in our world,” she said.

The first day of classes, Aug. 15, will come soon enough, and all three say they plan to be very visible. It’s a time to meet parents and start learning students’ names.

Tann said one story illustrates her style. One day in Kentucky, a bus driver failed to show up to take first-graders on a field trip to a pumpkin patch. So she grabbed her jacket, maneuvered the bus pedals in her high heels and was able to get the class there safely.

“I loved it. It was a great day,” she said.

Does Tann see that happening this year?

“From what I understand in Lawrence, they have that covered very well,” she said.