Principal
Dollie Cottrill
Growing up in a small community in east central Mississippi, who would have thought that I would become a principal of an elementary school in Virginia, Not I. But when I first visited Price's Fork School, it felt as if I had come home. The community is so much like the one in which I grew up. Back home, community members have lived in the area for generations and have strong family ties with one another. They live next door to one another or just down the road. This interweaving of families and lives in the Price's Fork community was so familiar to me. The school was even built the year that I was born!
My journey to Price's Fork began with my first two degrees from the University of Mississippi. Even then I had no idea that my college training would lead me to work as a principal. My training was in journalism and library science. After working in Mississippi as an elementary librarian for seven years, we moved to Lewisburg, West Virginia. A position as a high school librarian became available in neighboring Alleghany County, Virginia. I enjoyed that position and the people with whom I worked for seven years. The offer to enroll in a leadership program at VA Tech was offered to me by the Alleghany County School Division. Through my coursework and opportunities in that program, I began to see the principalship as a way to help families and children. When I completed the program, I was fortunate to find an assistant principal position at Margaret Beeks Elementary in Blacksburg. This was a perfect place to begin to gain experience in understanding how schools work. After working at Beeks for three years, it was my good fortune to have the principal at Price's Fork take a position at the School Board Office, leaving the prinicipal position at Price's Fork open. I was interviewed and accepted the position in 1993. It has been a joy to work in this special community! I come to school each day happy and thankful that I am allowed to work with a special group of teachers within a special community of people.
When time away from school is
available to me, I enjoy reading a good book, quilting, and spending time with family and
friends. Case, my only daughter, has recently completed her degree in psychology at
Clemson University in South Carolina.
