April 24, 2023

Greensboro, Ga. – The Greene County School System is pleased to welcome Crystal Parten to the district leadership team as the Director of Teaching and Learning. In this role, she will be primarily responsible for curriculum choice, planning, alignment, and implementation, all of which are crucial to a school district’s essential function of teaching and learning. 

Parten said she is looking forward to her new role, especially the collaboration with the instructional team: “I believe that this position relies on listening and responding to students, teachers, and administrators as it relates to curriculum resources, assessment, professional learning opportunities, and more,” Parten said. “I am most excited about collaborating with the instructional coaches and teachers directly on literacy initiatives, effective instructional strategies, lesson design, and student engagement.”

Parten comes to Greene County from the Central Savannah River Area Regional Educational Service Agency (RESA), where she served as a K-12 Content Literacy Specialist and K-12 Social Studies Specialist, among many other responsibilities. In these roles, she researched, prepared, and delivered professional learning in literacy, social studies, history, inquiry-based learning, disciplinary literacy, and more for the twelve school districts in the RESA’s service area. 

Prior to her RESA service, Parten served as a history and social studies teacher at the high school level and has served as an adjunct history professor at Gordon College, Georgia College, Valdosta State University, and Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College. 

Parten comes from a family of educators; her parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents were all teachers.

“Growing up in a family like mine provided me with incredible insight to public education at an early age,” she said. “My greatest strength in the classroom was making history come alive for students, and I try to do the same thing with professional development for teachers. I try to ensure that any time I deliver a message - whether it is a lesson to students, a PL for teachers, or in a one-on-one coaching session, I remember my audience and make the message as accessible as possible.”

Parten received a specialist degree in educational leadership from Valdosta State University in 2016, a master of arts in history from Georgia College in 2009, and bachelor’s in history from Valdosta State in 2006. 

“Mrs. Parten was unanimously chosen by our interview team based on her leadership skills, experience as a k-12 literacy specialist, and exposure to a variety of approaches to teaching and learning,” said Dr. Chris Houston, GCSS Superintendent. “We are excited to add her expertise to our team.”