Principal's Message

      We have had a fast start to the year!! Our students and staff have been working very hard! Our teachers continue to hold our students to an extremely high level of expectation. Being newly appointed as Principal, I wanted to take a minute to let you know a little bit about me: I have been in education for 17 years. I am married to Emily and we have two daughters, Madeline and Charlotte. I taught 8th grade history here before moving to West View Middle to serve as their Assistant Principal. I am excited to return to East Ridge! I believe it is the best school in the county and together, we will work to make it the best school in the State! Speaking of “new” faces here at The Ridge this year, we have a School Safety Officer named Adam Watson. He has been in law enforcement for over eight years. He served as a School Resource Officer in Jefferson County before coming to his current position. He and his wife, Lauren, are happy to be part of the East Ridge family. Officer Watson, Miss Jefferson and I, along with our entire staff are dedicated to keeping our campus safe and free from any danger. Always feel free to contact any of us with safety concerns. This year’s ROAST ON THE RIDGE was held on October 20. I would like to thank all those who attended or supported us in any way. It was a huge success for our school and our community. Big thanks to the efforts of the coordinator, Ms. Hannah Clark, and to our amazing PTO for making the event such an awesome success! We were able to raise some much-needed funds for our school. I would also like to thank Alex Martin, owner of Big Al’s Bent Creek Barbeque, for smoking all the meat for us! It was DELICIOUS! Our Beta students have finished their school-level competitions and are now preparing for the STATE competitions in Nashville on November 20-22. Good luck, Beta Bears! Thank you for all your hard work! Special thank you to our teacher sponsors as well. Our fall sports teams have had very successful seasons! The varsity volleyball team finished FIRST in both the regular season and SECOND in the tournament! The JV volleyball team finished FOURTH in the regular season and FIRST in the tournament! Great job, ladies and Coach Shelton! The Cross-Country team, under the direction of head coach, Ashley Wilder, has been extremely successful as well. Ben Carrier, Austin Resendiz and Kara Hotel qualified to run in the STATE meet! Finally, the Football Bears showed great improvement all season!!! Thanks to head coach, JJ Sims and assistant football coaches: Cavette Cooks, Josh Collins, Kevin Bryan, and Robert Griffin! Basketball tryouts have just ended, and we wish those student-athletes and coaches a great season! As always, please feel free to contact us in the office if you have any questions or concerns. Let’s achieve excellence together!!

Nick Darnell