Durham Public Schools Personnel Updates - August 2024
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Durham Public Schools has some new faces – and some familiar faces in new roles. Here’s a quick rundown of recent changes in our local public school district:
Central Services
Dr. Kengie Bass, a former school principal, has been appointed as the district’s director of magnet and choice programs.
Gabrielle Hall comes to DPS from Alamance Burlington School System to serve as the executive director for middle school curriculum and instruction.
Dr. Ayesha Hunter joins DPS as the new senior executive director of employee relations, with an eye toward teacher and staff retention.
Crystal Taylor-Simon, most recently the principal of Middle College at Durham Community Technical College, has accepted the role of executive director for high school curriculum and instruction.
Dr. Linda Tugurian has been named to the new role of executive director of elementary curriculum and instruction. She has worked for DPS since 1994, starting as a teacher at R.N. Harris and Forest View elementary schools. She joined DPS central services in 2014 and served as executive director of K-12 curriculum and instruction.
April Washington, a pre-kindergarten instructional coach at DPS for the past 10 years, is now the district’s director of exceptional children’s pre-K.
Merrick-Moore Elementary School
Deborah Brown has been named principal, coming from Hertford County Schools, where she was selected as 2024-2024 Principal of the Year.
Southern School of Energy and Sustainability
Kenneth Barnes, a DPS retiree, has returned as interim principal after the retirement of longtime principal Jerome Leathers. Barnes previously served as principal of Southern from 2008 to 2014.
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