The two men recommended by the TSBA to be interviewed for the new Greeneville City Director of Schools took part in a public forum Tuesday.
Dr. Jason Horne and Dr. Matthew Drinnon were each given ten minutes to introduce themselves to around 50 people gathered at the NPAC.
An hour long question and answer session resulted in around a dozen questions from some of those in attendance.
We will have more on the question and answer portion of the forum coming up on this site later.
Listed below are those who asked questions of the candidates, including the youngest of the group, Tusculum View 5th grade student Kalina Maximoff.
#1 – Randy Shelton, GHS business teacher and wrestling coach – “Thinking back to your time as a teacher, what are some of the lessons you learned and how will you bring those lessons into your leadership with Greeneville City Schools?”
Horne “I think the the biggest lesson that I learned was that people need grace, people need time, people need coaching, people need development. I came to this school system in my 4th year and I had a lot of people helping me. And that’s what they need. I think the other thing that I learned as a teacher is how important a teacher is in a student’s life, that it makes all of a difference. I think that the ability to change the student’s life as a teacher is absolutely one of the most magical things that we do as educators. And we can’t forget that. And as District leadership, we have to support that and make sure that happens.”
Drinnon “I think what I learned from my time in the classroom is it’s about your relationships, the connections with students. I think I’ve brought that into my role, making sure that you’re making those connections. It didn’t matter how much I knew about the content if I couldn’t make that connection to get the student to want to do what I was trying to offer. And so I bring that in the leadership role because I want to try to connect with teachers, principals and the community. I learned it’s really about our relationships. You have to know the content, you have to know what you are teaching, but you really have to be able to forge those strong personal connections. But Dr. Horne is right, that transformative power once you do that is incredible and that’s what makes teachers want to do what they do.”
#2 – Heather Boegemann, Highland Library Media Specialist Teacher – “Based on recent history in the system, how can we be confident you’re not going to jump back to another job and what do you see as your first steps and biggest challenges”.
Drinnon on the job “I’m looking at the possibility of accepting a position in which I am going to sell my home that I’ve owned for 18 years and make that move. I think I only have one of those left in me. But at the end of the day if you know who I am and I say, no, I’m not looking for a position, I’m not looking for a training round for the next position. That’s a fair question. That’s a question that you have to ask. I’m only looking to make one more move. I’m 29 years into public education. I am deeply interested in this position in this community and want to be a part of that.”
Horne on the job “This is where I live, this is where I want to stay.”
Horne first steps and biggest challenges “So in my first 30 days, I want to go to every single building that we have, listen and ask three questions, what are we doing well, what are we not doing well and what else can we do? I’m already pretty involved in the serving processes we have every year. I’m already involved in that type of listening, but I think that in the director role, right now I see mostly things in the operation side. And so I really want to hear what everybody has to say. And I think it’s important what our principals have to say. I think it’s important what our cooks have to say, I think its important what everybody has to say. The great thing is that a lot of people know you. A bad thing is that a lot of people know you. And so I think overcoming that for maybe somebody that knew me 15 or 16 years ago who might not have seen me in this role, I’ve got to convince them pretty quickly that I earned it. And so I think listening is my 30 day plan for sure.”
Drinnon on first steps and biggest challenges “My challenge is a little bit of the opposite because I don’t know a lot of folks who are working here and living here. I would like to have open houses in our schools so that community members have that opportunity to get to know me as well, because it’s important for parents, it’s important for people that we are serving to have access. I don’t know everybody that’s on our leadership team. So my first step would be to get to know that leadership team before I branch out to make sure that I’m making connections and building those relationships to see what those concerns are. But within the first 30 days as the position is set and start May 1st, you are still going to be in a budget cycle. Budget decisions made at that point will for the next school year. And so I think it’s really important coming in to get a good grasp of what are the needs of the school system for 2026-2027, what challenges will we face for the 2026-2027 school year and what challenges will be faced particularly in the budget cycle. That is going to be the number one priority to make sure we have that right.”
#3 – Jeff Taylor, Greene County Partnership President and CEO – “As our community and family structure continues to change rapidly, how do you plan to increase engagement in our school system?”
#4 – Amy Previtera, Highland Kindergarten Teacher– “What is your strategy going to be in assuring all students in school have equitable resources?”
#5 – Tamara Clouse – Federal Programs Finance Specialist Greeneville City Schools – “Currently our district offers after-school and summer programs mainly for students who need academic intervention. What are your thoughts on expanding opportunities to include enrichment, academic support and childcare programs that would be accessible for all students I our district?”
#6 – Ellen Lipe – Chief Financial Officer Greeneville City Schools – “What would you do to encourage gifted students?”
#7 – Dr. Vicki Kirk – “How do you ensure the community continues to support our school system?”
# 8 – Matt Hensley, Ph.D – Chairman, Greeneville City Schools Education Foundation – City Council Member – “As Tennessee’s education landscape continues to evolve with the growth of school choice and voucher programs, strong relationships between school leadership and city officials are essential. What steps, specifically, would you take as director to build trust, maintain open communication, and foster a collaborative and innovative partnership with the Town of Greeneville to ensure Greeneville City Schools remains not just a choice but THE choice?”
# 9 – Amanda Waddell – “how do you feel your experience as Assistant Director will benefit you in this role and what are some ways you feel you might need to grow to be successful in this new role?”
# 10 – Isabella Brenington – Eastview Third Grade Teacher – (inaudible) but related to technology
#11 – Heather Fay – Highland 4th-5th Grade ELA Teacher – There are areas of our community that are seeing an influx in new housing and families. With already overcrowded elementary schools, how are you planning on facing the increase in population to ensure equity? Are you willing to be courageous in redistricting if needed?
Drinnon on overcrowding “We have some schools using mobile units and other schools with an abundance of available space. We are having those conversations but it’s often been said “if you don’t want to be a director or be on the board any more remember “people don’t like change.” We are discussing combining Morristown East and West as one high school and I would have never dreamed of that happening because South Cumberland is a dividing line. What’s best for the community is the conversation you’ve got to have. We need to have smart conversations for what’s best for the kids and what’s best for the town.”
Horne on overcrowding “I believe use of mobiles is a terrible waste of money. We have software that predicts what our class size is going to be. Having a good binary behavior, working with the board and community , explaining, asking for their input and asking all the right questions. I think if you do it the right way then you’re not going to be burned in effigy in the town square and so you just need to be ready.”
# 12 – Jeff Taylor – “What should school systems stop doing to improve the school system?”
# 13 – Kalina Maximoff – Tusculum View 5th grade student – “Would the students notice any change in their everyday school day?”
INTERVIEWS TODAY
Today, both men will be involved in separate interviews with School Board members at the City School Central Office.
BACKGROUNDS
DR. MATTHEW DRINNON
Dr. Matthew Drinnon is currently the Assistant Superintendent for Administration for Hamblen County and has been since 2025. He’s a former Human Resources Supervisor for Hamblen County from 2022 to 2025, an elementary principal from Hamblen from 2012 to 2022. He was a middle school Assistant Principal of Hamblen County from 2011 to 2012, a curriculum coordinator at Cocke County High School from 2010 to 2011 and a high school teacher in Cocke County in 2007 to 2010. He was also an elementary teacher in Hamblen County from 2000 to 2006, a middle school teacher in Hawkins County from 1998 to 2000 and a high school teacher in Kentucky from 1996 to 1997. He holds a Doctorate degree. Dr. Drinnon has 14 years experience as a teacher, two years as assistant principal, 10 years as a principal, four years as a central office and one year as an assistant superintendent.
DR. JASON HORNE
Dr. Jason Horne is currently Greeneville City Schools Assistant Director of Schools for Administration, and has been since 2024. He’s also an ETSU adjunct professor, and he has been since 2015. He’s a former secondary supervisor for Campbell County from 2018 to 2024 and was the founding Principal of TOPS (Tennessee Online Public School). He was also virtual learning coordinator and instructional technology coach from Greeneville from 2009 to 2011. He was a teacher in Greeneville and Campbell County from 2003 to 2012 and English Language instructor in France from 2002 to 2003. He also holds a Doctorate degree. Dr. Horne has nine years’ experience as a teacher, six years as a principal, eight years in the central office and two years as assistant superintendent.
