The Durham Public Schools Board of Education has announced new hires for several leadership positions at both the school and district level.
Kenneth Barnes, a retiree from DPS who previously worked as a teacher, principal and administrator has been named interim principal of Southern School of Energy and Sustainability, a magnet high school. He served as Southern School’s principal from 2008 to 2014. Barnes earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from North Carolina Central University and an educational specialist degree from N.C. State University.
Ayesha Hunter has been named senior executive director of employee relations. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Winthrop University and master’s and educational specialist degrees from South Carolina State University.
Linda Tugurian has been named executive director of elementary curriculum and instruction. She has worked for DPS since 1994, working first as a teacher at R.N. Harris and Forest View elementary schools before joining central services in 2014 as a science curriculum specialist and then executive director of K-12 curriculum and instruction. She earned a master’s degree from Cornell University and a doctoral degree from N.C. State University.
Gabrielle Hall has been named executive director for middle school curriculum and instruction. She comes to DPS from the Alamance-Burlington School System where she served as principal of Western Alamance Middle School. Hall received a bachelor’s degree from UNC-Greensboro and a master’s degree from the University of South Carolina.
Crystal Taylor-Simon will be the district’s new executive director for high school curriculum and instruction. In her most recent post, she served as principal of Middle College at Durham Technical Community College. She earned a bachelor’s degree from UNC-Chapel Hill and two master’s degrees from East Carolina University.
April Washington is the district’s new director of exceptional children’s pre-K. She has served as a pre-K instructional coach with DPS for the last 10 years, and has a bachelor’s degree from Appalachian State University and a master’s degree from UNC-Chapel Hill.
Articles in The 10th Street Journal are generated by AI and reviewed by human editors.