Dana Bickley Cindy Nerren
Lufkin ISD Superintendent Lynn Torres announced that Lufkin ISD will have new principals at Kurth Primary and Anderson Elementary for the upcoming school year. Karen Vinson, previous principal at Kurth Primary, will be retiring after 12 years of service to Lufkin ISD. Amy Fain, who has been with the district 14 years will be relocating to be closer to her family.
The new principal for Kurth Primary will be Dana Bickley, who previously was the Assistant Principal of Special Education at Lufkin High School. Anderson Elementary’s new principal will be Cindy Nerren, who has been the principal at Trout Primary for the past six years.
Mrs. Bickley is a 2003 graduate of Lufkin High School. After high school, she attended Stephen F. Austin State University and received her bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies and later earned her master’s degree in school counseling and principal certification from Lamar University.
With 14 years of experience in education, Mrs. Bickley has served as a teacher, school counselor at Anderson Elementary, and for the past two years, as Assistant Principal of Special Education at Lufkin High School. Mrs. Bickley and her husband, Adam, have two children who both attend Slack Elementary.
She said, “I am truly excited to join the amazing staff at Kurth Primary to support students as they learn and grow. I am passionate about helping students succeed and I am looking forward to providing them with a strong foundation of excellence.”
Anderson Elementary’s new principal, Cindy Nerren, has served 29 years in public education.
She said, “During my tenure at Trout Primary, I have built many positive and lasting relationships with students, parents, and staff members. I am excited about the opportunity to create new relationships while working with the school community at Anderson Elementary.The school has a reputation for excellence in education and it is my goal to continue to promote high expectations for all students.”
Mrs. Nerren has taught 3rd and 5th grade in Bryan ISD, Huntington ISD, and the Lufkin ISD GT program at Brandon Elementary. She spent four years as Instructional Coach at Kurth Primary, one year as Instructional Coach at Brandon Elementary, and the past six years as principal at Trout Primary.
She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Education and Master of Education in Educational Leadership both from Stephen F. Austin State University.
Mrs. Nerren has served on the TEPSA Region 7 board for three years and will be serving a second term as president-elect in the 2020-21 school year. She also is a former member of the Junior League of Lufkin.
Mrs. Nerren is from a family of life-long educators. Her dad was a former coach, principal, and school superintendent and mom taught for 32 years. She has been married to her husband Chad, a local environmental engineer, for 27 years and they have two boys, Logan, a Texas A&M graduate and project manager in Houston, and Kyle, a junior at Texas A&M University.
Lufkin ISD Superintendent Lynn Torres, said, “Both of these principals will provide outstanding leadership for their new campuses, and we look forward to the continued standard of excellence that the students and staff expect. We are fortunate to have the quality of candidates among our leadership team that are exactly the kind of caring and exceptional principals that our students deserve.”
The principals will begin work on their new campuses June 1, 2020, but will spend time in the next few days getting to know the campus and “meeting” teachers using social distancing.