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\u201cI tried to avoid education because that\u2019s what my parents were doing, and I just thought, \u2018Why would I want to do that?\u2019\u201d Walters said. \u201cBut then I woke up one day and thought, \u2018I can feel it. I\u2019m going to be a teacher.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Walters\u2019 parents taught him a valuable lesson through their example about working in this field, which has carried through his career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey don\u2019t get riled up or overwhelmed easily,\u201d he said. \u201cThey taught me that it\u2019s not benefiting anybody for me to walk the halls in a panic or let them see that I am overwhelmed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He followed his inherited calling to Harding University, where he majored in English. There, he met his wife, Emily, a lovely young lady who was also studying to be an English teacher. Today, Emily teaches ESL at a middle school in Lebanon, and their four children attend Wilson County Schools. Daisy is a senior at Lebanon High School, John Price and Annalyn are in middle school, and Lewis is in kindergarten.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After teaching high school English in Arkansas, the couple moved to Tennessee to live closer to his wife\u2019s family. Scott taught at Mount Juliet High School, where he also served as assistant principal for three years. He then spent a year at Wilson County\u2019s central office as a supervisor of high school secondary curriculum. While he quickly discovered that was not his passion, it did give him a valuable perspective, seeing things from the outside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere were so many things I felt like the schools could have been accomplishing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Scott began his career as Lebanon High School\u2019s principal with big ideas for its future. He wanted the Lebanon High community to feel the same pride and excellence he had witnessed at Mount Juliet under Principal Mel Brown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI wanted people at Lebanon High to think they\u2019re great the same way Mount Juliet did, and I wanted them to have a principal who is really passionate about their school and who is going to stick around for a long time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Scott made significant changes over his 11 years and continues to seek growth opportunities. Lebanon High School now offers all career-technical education pathways available in Tennessee, including cosmetology, culinary arts, and health professions programs. The school has dramatically expanded work-based learning opportunities, and a new partnership with Wilson Bank & Trust allows students to intern in finance. Dual enrollment programs with Cumberland University and Tennessee College of Applied Technology give students college credit while still in high school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe have a lot of seniors who have done a good job knocking out all of their graduation requirements,\u201d Scott said. \u201cSo we have tried to push them towards spending time getting out of the building and making money, honing their skills, or developing a future career.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Scott said his four assistant principals, athletic director, and school counseling team help manage the daily decisions and problem-solving. Because it is a large faculty, the administrators divide teachers into smaller groups, each with a designated point person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe wanted to create something small when it just feels so big,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Scott\u2019s wife, still teaching middle school, keepshim grounded with her classroom perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019ll come home and tell her that I dealt with a situation, and maybe I was frustrated, and Emily will say, \u2018Oh no, no, no. You are in the wrong here.\u2019\u201d Scott said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He places great value on his teachers, knowing they are the heartbeat of the school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLebanon High School\u2019s success is 100% due to the teachers that we have in this building,\u201d Scott said. \u201cIf I want credit for anything that\u2019s been done, it\u2019s that I hired great teachers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He believes the school represents diversity, community, and dedication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSometimes, in this county, this school gets underappreciated, but I just think it is the best. The school is great, and the people who work here make it a wonderful place to work and go to school,\u201d Scott said. GN<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" IN 2015, Wilson County Schools was hiring for five principal positions at various schools, but their intention was to place those candidates at whichever location administrators thought was the best fit. Scott Walters, however, had a very different goal in mind when he interviewed. \u201cI told them, \u2018I only want to be at one place, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":23547,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cover"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/goodnewsmags.com\/lebanon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2026\/04\/3-2-1024x683.jpg\")
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