Here comes the sun! Principal Dr. Sunny Scheafnocker is a familiar and beloved face in Hardin Valley. She is the head of Mill Creek Elementary as they begin their second year as a school but the first as a full K-5th grade.
Adam: Where were you born?
Dr. Scheafnocker: I was born in Knoxville.
Adam: What was your elementary school mascot?
Dr. Scheafnocker: I went to Brickey Elementary here in Knox County in first grade. My parents got divorced when I was in first grade, and I moved around quite a bit. After first grade, we moved to Atlanta, and then to Arkansas. When I was a freshman in high school I came back to Knoxville to live with my dad and went to Halls. So I was a Brickey Bear and a Halls Red Devil.
Adam: Where did you go to college?
Dr. Scheafnocker: I went to UT where I got my bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education. I was an intern at Fountain City Elementary, where I was then hired and taught fourth grade for six years. During that time I went back to get my EDS in administration and was then hired at Hardin Valley Elementary as the assistant principal.
Adam: You were a fast riser.
Dr. Scheafnocker: Well, there’s a story there, but yes it all started there. I’ve been in administration since.
Adam: Do you want to share that story?
Dr. Scheafnocker: When I started my teaching career, the principal at the time was Judy Rehder. She’s retired now, but as part of the EDS program you have to shadow a principal. It was natural for me to shadow her because I was already there at the school. She started giving tasks to me and I worked with the staff during my plan time. I came in early and stayed late, so I could complete the hours. After I finished my EDS she insisted that I put in my application. I told her, I wasn’t ready and didn’t want to leave the classroom. I will never forget what she told me, she said, “If you were ready to leave the classroom, then you need to leave the profession.” So that resonated with me, and I thought she was right, because if I don’t want to be in a classroom, then I don’t need to be in the profession at all. I remember crying because I didn’t want to leave my classroom, and then got the job at Hardin Valley Elementary. I have been in administration since.
Adam: How long have you been in education?
Dr.. Scheafnocker: I started in 2002, 22 years.
Adam: In the elementary level, did you get involved in any sports or clubs?
Dr. Scheafnocker: I did not. But while I was at Hardin Valley, we started a lot of clubs. We started the gardening club, the STEM program, and the robotics club. The cross country has taken off. While I didn’t start that, I was part of it.
Adam: Are there any clubs or sports at Mill Creek that you’re excited to see?
Dr. Scheafnocker: I would love to see the same programs here. I would love to start some of these programs in the near future.
Adam: Why did you get into teaching or education?
Dr. Scheafnocker: I’ve had really good teachers. I’ve had some amazing, awesome teachers who poured into me personally, which brought out the best learning for me. When I was little, I can remember that I loved going to my dad’s office, and he was a telephone guy. He worked in the First Tennessee building. He always had supply catalogs and I would get to go through them and pick out what I wanted. He would then go to the supply closet and I would get the supplies I had picked out. I loved playing school with Post-Its, envelopes, and things like that. That’s not about teaching, but I loved that. I remember the back-to-school shopping and being so excited for all the supplies. And still, I was at Target yesterday, and guess what I did? Not that I needed anything, but I went walking through the school aisle just to see what was out. But there’s not one story or one moment, It’s just something I’ve always known would be my path.
Adam: Do you have any heartwarming stories?
Dr. Scheafnocker: Oh yes. I’ve got several. I recently went out to eat at Aubrey’s, and one of my former students was our waiter. He was in my second grade class when I was doing my internship, and then he was also in my fourth-grade classroom at Fountain City. He’s now an adult who is in his early thirties. He recognized me and ended up paying for our dinner. That was almost 20 years ago and he still remembers, so that means I’ve had an impact on him. Another thing is that I’ve been in education for so long, that I’ve already had one of my former fourth-grade students come and work for me as a teacher. The fact that they chose education as their profession is very sweet and endearing. Earlier this summer I went into Firehouse and the high school students who were working recognized me. They said, “Didn’t you used to be at Hardin Valley Elementary and were doing those crazy things during coupon books?” I was like, “Yes, yes” and you know they remember. I recently had a dad who was a parent at Hardin Valley reach out because his daughter was at Carson Newman in education, and he would love to see her come back home and teach in a Knox County school. She has reached back out to me to see what the best path is to get into my school or a school in the area. Things like that make me feel good.
Adam: What would you do if you weren’t in education?
Dr. Scheafnocker: Well, my father and I had a big debate about this because I wanted to go to Atlanta for culinary school. I love to cook, and he could not fathom the idea of me leaving him. He said, “ You’re going to UT and that’s that.” So I knew culinary school was out because UT didn’t have one, or they didn’t at the time. So I went to UT with an education path. But looking back, I would not have survived being a chef because I’m an early-to-bed kind of girl, and chefs are up all night, and I can’t do that.
Adam: When you say early to bed, what time?
Dr. Scheafnocker: About 8:30 on a school night.
Adam: Nerd.
Dr. Scheafnocker: Okay but listen, I get up at 4:30 in the morning, and I’m out the door at six. We’ve got five kids. They’re self-sufficient for the most part. We/they prep everything the night before. When school’s not in session, I stay up until about 10:30.
Adam: How do you express that love of cooking now? What are your dishes? Do you get to play or are you just in survival mode?
Dr. Scheafnocker: No, I hardly get to play, I’m just in survival mode. But my husband loves to cook and that’s his love language. I get to do a little bit of cooking now, but not much.
Adam: Who was your favorite teacher when you were a student?
Dr. Scheafnocker: A first-grade teacher at Brickey. Her name is Alma Williams. I will never forget her because that was the year that my parents went through a divorce. I remember I was a struggling reader, really having a hard time. I remember trying to decode words. I was thinking in my head, everybody else is getting this and I’m not. She was so patient and kind. I’m still friends with her on Facebook and we message back and forth periodically. She’s probably my all-time favorite teacher.
I see teachers now at school, and these are my very best teachers, they’re going to the baseball games, going to the plays, they’re dropping food off at the house when mom’s got cancer. Things like that, they’re invested in these kids beyond just the classroom, and that’s what makes the difference because if there’s no relationship, there’s no learning or limited learning.
Adam: Which educator or admin have you learned the most from?
Dr. Scheafnocker: Tod Evans. He is a legend. He’s retired. He was the one who hired me at Hardin Valley Elementary, and I worked under him for almost six years. He is one of those greats that people still talk about, and because he was so solid in his beliefs, the things he would say were hilarious, but the truth. He made a huge, huge difference in so many childrens’ lives and adults.
Adam: What was his role for KCS at that point?
Dr. Scheafnocker: He was the principal at Hardin Valley who hired me. I worked directly under him. He taught me everything about administration.
Adam: Have you earned any professional awards?
Dr. Scheafnocker: As a teacher, I was awarded Teacher of the Year, for two years at Fountain City. I was also 40 Under 40 one year.
Adam: What personal accomplishment are you most proud of?
Dr. Scheafnocker: My kids, and getting my doctorate. Even though that’s kind of work-based, it was a personal goal. We didn’t have the money, so I had to pay for college with student loans. When my father passed away, he left me some money with the directions that I was to get my doctorate and pay off my student loans.
Adam: Do you have siblings?
Dr. Scheafnocker: Yes, I had a sister who passed away early when I was in college.
Adam: What do you wish every parent knew?
Dr. Scheafnocker: Probably the impact that social media has on children. I’m seeing that right now when monitoring my own children’s accounts. I see social media, even though it’s elementary, I see it impacting us. It’s not necessarily from the kids’ standpoint of what they’re putting out there, but what the parents are writing and what they sometimes will say about teachers and how hurtful that can be. Anything we put out on social media should always be something positive. The impact of social media impacts everything. In some instances, parents feel like they can write things on social media instead of coming directly to the school. I would say 80% of the time when there’s an issue, and parents are mad about something, they will post it on social media and never once contact the school. It then causes problems within the community, and filters into the school. So that’s coming from my vantage point, but seeing how social media impacts the kids, and what kids say about other kids, especially at the middle school and high school level. That is something parents need to know.
Adam: What do you wish every student knew?
Dr. Scheafnocker: That they are loved. Knowing that there is an adult in the building that truly cares and loves them.
Adam: What is the difference between a good teacher and a great teacher?
Dr. Scheafnocker: Relationships
Adam: Just that simple?
Dr. Scheafnocker: Yes, when we hired teachers hiring last year, Kristi Whited and I weren’t only looking for the quality of teaching skills, we were also looking for character and work ethic. We were looking to see if they were truly passionate about the classroom and the kids. We can help you learn to teach, but we can’t teach you to love a student. That’s what we’re looking for.
Adam: What improvement would you most like to see made to public education?
Dr. Scheafnocker: There are lots of things I would like to see improved. I feel like in the big, big picture, we spend a lot of time teaching skills, but we are not always teaching real-world skills. For instance, in fifth grade, they offer BizTown as an option for a field trip. It’s hard because teachers are hesitant to participate because there’s so much pre-teaching that needs to be done. We are not teaching the kids how to fill out a checkbook, or how to check their balance to see if they have money in the bank. We don’t teach that at the elementary level, but I love that field trip because it’s real world. Teachers don’t feel like they can do this unless they can teach that curriculum after testing. There’s so much focus on testing and those skills, and not real-world skills.
Adam: The push for academics over life preparation.
Dr. Scheafnocker: Academics do prepare us for life, but there’s so much focus on the testing piece. I wish we were not giving so many assessments, they are taking away from instructional time. Two teachers come to mind as examples of how to teach the curriculum while incorporating life skills. Two of my top 10 best teachers I have hired. Whatever they touched was gold because they had a relationship with every single student. They were teaching life skills along with the needed academic requirements. To go back to that question, one thing that I would change is the amount of testing. Testing is great if it’s beneficial and timely and gives us information that we can change what we’re doing with the student
Adam: More efficient testing.
Dr. Scheafnocker: Yes, and less time taken away from instruction.
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Adam: Mill Creek is a new school. What is something that you feel like your school could use? How could your community help you?
Dr. Scheafnocker: I don’t know that there is just one necessary thing, but I can tell you some things that I’m envisioning. We’ve got two amazing playgrounds. The one that parents can’t see is in the courtyard in the back. It’s wonderful, but it’s only half of the courtyard. We weren’t supposed to get a playground on this field, it was brand new. Knox County gave us $350,000, which is a lot of money, but once you start ordering equipment, it doesn’t go as far. I was able to get two playgrounds with the money. One on the side that parents can see is what we call the preschool playground, it’s for ages 2 to 8, and the one in the middle is for ages 7 and up, and they love it. But it’s hard because now we’re going to have 800 students to only use these two playgrounds. I would love to have a track installed with a basketball court or something similar inside the courtyard for the upper grades to have access to because we don’t have that right now. Also, we’re lacking landscaping. One of the local landscapers donated five trees this past year, and he had those planted. It was awesome. We’ve been watering and loving those, but we have no other landscaping. That is not my specialty, but we need more. There’s no shade. And I feel like if we planted more trees, it’s not going to be instantaneous shade, but we will have it eventually. Another thing is that the school is a blank pallet right now. We’ve put up some murals, but we need so much more. Those cost a lot of money and we just don’t have extra right now for these things.
Adam: And you would like more murals?
Dr. Scheafnocker: Yes, and not necessarily murals, but things painted on the walls that make it more welcoming. These would not be things that would impact academics, but help the culture of the school.
Adam: What hobbies do you have?
Dr. Scheafnocker: I have five kids, Adam. I don’t like it when I get asked this question because I don’t know that I’ve got a hobby. But the nerd in me loves to go antiquing and dig into antique stores. I love redoing furniture. Right now I’m working on a dresser that we painted. We bought it from an antique store, I’ve chalk-painted it, and redone the hardware on it. I love doing that.
Adam: Would the kids get it, do you sell it?
Dr. Scheafnocker: No. I usually don’t sell it. We’re redoing our bedroom right now, and this is going to go in there. The furniture that you can buy at a furniture store is typically not high quality, it’s particle board, unless you want to pay thousands upon thousands. What you can find in an antique store is typically solid wood so I will purchase it and redo it.
Adam: The heavier it is, the better it is.
Dr. Scheafnocker: Yes
Adam: What is a good way for a student or parent to spoil you?
Dr. Scheafnocker: Spoiling the staff.
Adam: That’s good, but what could a student or parent do to spoil you?
Dr. Scheafnocker: No really, when I have a happy staff, I’m happy.
Adam: I believe you.
Dr. Scheafnocker: No, I’m very serious. We had the best time this past year, and I got this idea from Lynn Koman. We had gift cards donated to the school in small amounts. $5, $10, whatever, and we played games throughout the year with the staff winning those. They got so competitive. I mean, it was hilarious. We put them on teams and hunted turkey feathers during Thanksgiving. We had leprechauns in your pocket where they had to go around and find the leprechauns. The stuff that they were doing was hilarious. But they loved it, and it’s a culture builder, which makes me giggle.
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I worked with Sunny as a literacy tutor at Mill Creek last year. She is the real deal. I think one of the best things about her is she makes everyone in the building feel seen and valued no matter how big or small their role is in that building.
This was such a great article focusing on an amazing leader! Mill creek is lucky to have Sunny!