Rockdale Citizen

CONYERS — Honey Creek Elementary School has a new principal.

The Rockdale County Board of Education last week approved the appointment of assistant principal Kay Symons to be the new principal effective immediately. Board members Wales Barksdale and Katrina Young were not present at the meeting.

The recommendation was made by Rockdale County Public Schools Superintendent Richard Autry.

“She has proven leadership skills and has been a member of this school community for a long time,” he said. “I have the highest confidence that she will continue the tradition of excellence at Honey Creek.”

Symons has been assistant principal at Honey Creek since 2008. From 2003 to 2007, she was a special education compliance consultant for Honey Creek and Sims elementary schools. She worked as a special-education teacher at Sims from 1993 to 2003.

She’s been a teacher since 1976. She taught in Ware county until 1993 and then came to Rockdale County.

“I am honored to be selected as the new principal of Honey Creek Elementary,” Symons said. “I look forward to working with our students, teachers and parents as we continue our journey of excellence and take our emphasis on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, STEM, to the next level.”

She holds a bachelor’s degree in education in exceptional children and a master’s degree in exceptional children from Georgia Southern University, as well as an educational specialist degree in education from Lincoln Memorial University in Tennessee.

She is replacing Principal Shirley Chesser, who was approved by the school board as the director of Professional Learning for RCPS in August.