Father Steiner, pastor of Holy Rosary Church and Academy is proud to announce the appointment of Mrs. Kimber Halliburton as its newest principal.
Kimber Halliburton began her career as a special education teacher in Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) at J.E. Moss Elementary School in 1988. While serving as a teacher in MNPS she taught in both general education and special education classroom settings. Mrs. Halliburton then departed MNPS for an opportunity to teach in her home parish where her children attended school. She taught 4th grade at St. Henry School for nearly 6 years. Kimber served as a classroom teacher in both public and private schools for nearly 14 years prior to accepting a school administrative role.
In 2000, Kimber returned to MNPS. She served as the lead principal of the following schools: Lockeland Design Center in East Nashville, Bellevue Middle School, Harpeth Valley Elementary School, and Waverly Belmont Elementary School in the 12th South area of Nashville. She was tapped by two different MNPS Superintendents, Dr. Pedro Garcia and Dr. Jesse Register, to open and staff 2 new schools building the academic programs while overseeing renovations and construction. She started Lockeland in 2004 and as a result of her leadership and a team of talented teachers, Lockeland ranked 1st academically in the district on state assessments after the school’s first year in both Reading and Math. Lockeland outperformed all 73 elementary schools in MNPS.
At the end of her career in MNPS, she opened Waverly Belmont which is also a top performing school in MNPS. Mrs. Halliburton has served as a school leader for 17 years in various capacities as a principal and as a network lead principal overseeing 6 schools in MNPS. She also served as a Superintendent of Schools in Tennessee and Mississippi before retiring and returning to her children and family in Nashville. Under her leadership in Washington County School System, the district received “Exemplary Status” scoring a 5 out of 5 which is the highest ranking from the Tennessee Department of Education. The county became the highest-ranking county school system in the First Region of Tennessee. While serving in Madison as Superintendent, the district went from a 15th ranking to ranking 4th in the State of Mississippi for overall academic performance on state assessments.
Kimber earned her Bachelors degree in Elementary and Special Education from Middle Tennessee State University and a Masters in Educational Leadership from Trevecca Nazarene University. Mrs. Halliburton is currently working on her Doctorate degree in Leadership and Professional Practice at Trevecca and is scheduled to complete her coursework in June 2020 and dissertation in June 2021.
She is also a graduate of the Principals’ Leadership Academy of Nashville (PLAN), a collaboration between MNPS and Vanderbilt University to help groom top leadership talent. She also served as a mentor principal for PLAN, shepherding assistant principals who demonstrated talent to lead as executive principals in the future in MNPS. She was also among the first group of Nashville educators to travel to China with the Education Leadership Learning Exchange. Her international studies offered her an opportunity to develop diverse thoughts and practices in how to best educate students.
Kimber has been married to her husband, Frank Halliburton, for 32 years. They have 3 children: Alex, age 30; Raegan, age 29; and Olivia, age 22. Each of the Halliburton children is a proud graduate of Father Ryan High School. Alex is a Senior Project Manager/Electrical Engineer in Nashville; Raegan is a Blue Ribbon award-winning teacher in MNPS; and Olivia is a soon to be graduate of UT-Knoxville heading to Belmont School of Law on an academic scholarship this fall. Mrs. Halliburton is extremely excited to return to Catholic education to serve her church, continue to live out her Catholic faith, and lead Holy Rosary Academy toward continued excellence. The Halliburton’s are parishioners at St. Matthew Church in Franklin.