DISTRICT ANNOUNCES NEXT KME PRINCIPAL

Dr. Sara Williams’ career in education is coming full circle. 

Her first year as a teacher was at Kosciusko Middle Elementary School, where she taught third grade. Fifteen years later, she will return to the school as its principal. 

“I feel really blessed and really humbled to be given the opportunity,” said Williams. “It’s where I started my whole educational journey, and I’m very excited to get back there and work with the kids and teachers and work on building that family and community there.”

Williams was hired as the middle elementary school’s next principal Monday during a special called meeting of the Kosciusko School District. The position became vacant after the school’s current principal, Will Anderson, accepted a position in ministry. Anderson will remain principal for the rest of the school year, and Williams will begin her new role at the start of the 2023-24 school year.

Kosciusko Middle Elementary School consists of second and third grade students.

“It’s a big day in our school district. There’s nothing more important than hiring the next leader of a school. I think we’ve got the right one to lead our students, our teachers and who knows the community well,” said Dr. Zach Bost, Kosciusko School District’s superintendent. “What Dr. Williams brings is a wealth of instructional leadership. She is really sharp. She’s an instructional leader who is relational and understands the community, and that makes her a perfect fit for that position.”

Williams is a Kosciusko native. She graduated from Kosciusko High School in 2001.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education with an emphasis in math and social studies, a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction, a specialist’s degree in instructional leadership and a doctorate degree in educational leadership. 

Williams is in her 15th year working in the Kosciusko School District. She is currently an assistant principal at the junior high school. Other positions she has held in the district include teaching third, sixth and seventh grades, algebra I and II teacher, and her current position as instructional specialist at the junior high school. She has also taught algebra classes for Holmes Community College. Williams was named the district’s Teacher of the Year for the 2020-21 school year.

“I always knew I wanted to be a teacher, even as a little girl,” said Williams. “I was your average B-C student in school, and so I always wanted to find a way to help people understand that even if you’re not a straight-A student, you are still smart and you still have a lot to offer. I wanted students to know there was something special about them no matter where their grade fell. I knew a few years ago that I wanted to get in leadership. I felt like I could help more kids in a leadership role.”

As principal, Williams said she wants to focus on building relationships.

“I want to spend time building relationships with my teachers and the students there,” she said. “I’m a big family person. I’m very dedicated to my family, and I feel like school is an extension of my family. … I just really want to be a supporter of the teachers because I know what it’s like to be in that position. I know what it’s like to be preparing for a state test and all of the pressures that come along with that. I want to be there to support them in all of their endeavors.”

Williams and her husband, Toby Williams, have been married for almost 20 years. Together they have three children, Alyssa Costilow, who is married and has a son; Gracie Williams, a senior at Kosciusko High School; and Isabelle Williams, who is a seventh grader at Kosciusko Junior High School. 

“I feel like our community needs our school. Our school is so important to our town, and it gave me so much growing up, and I just want to give back to it,” said Williams. “I had some really great teachers and administrators, and I just want to be that for somebody else.”