Portia Tate was at home when she got the call to come to Bartlett City Hall.

The city's Board of Mayor and Aldermen had just approved unanimously Tate's appointment to the board of Bartlett Community Schools.

She will fill the remainder of the term of Jeff Norris, who resigned recently to become Vice President of Enrollment at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia.

“I am so excited. I had no idea I was being appointed,” she said. “There were 15 people interviewing, and you just never know. I feel like I’ve won a prize.”

Aldermen chose Tate Tuesday evening from among 15 candidates.

TNReady 2019: Five suburban districts have Reward schools

“We spent a lot of time looking at the applications and listening the people,” said Alderman W.C. “Bubba’ Pleasant, who nominated Tate. “The reason I went with Portia is because she was in the old Shelby County Schools system. My wife worked with her for several years, and our friendship…and dealing with each other has been over a 25- to 30-year period.”

Tate most recently served as principal at Rivercrest Elementary School in Bartlett, where she retired at the end of the last school year.

It resonated with Pleasant that Bartlett’s new municipal system, established in 2014, inherited the employees from SCS.

“So she has knowledge of the old county system, and she’s been with the municipal system from Day 1,” Pleasant said. “She’s been a teacher, vice principal and principal. I went with the life experience, the work experience and knowledge as something that I can look at in that area where she’s been very successful.”

Bartlett Mayor Keith McDonald was also impressed with Tate. 

“I’ve known Mrs. Tate for a long time, and one of things she said in her presentation to us in answering our questions is that, first of all, she wanted to listen,” McDonald said. “She knows it from the classroom side and the principal side, but now she’s going to be on the other side, learning the responsibilities.”

Tate is looking forward to the challenge of stepping into her new role.

“I’ve been in education for so long, but this is another side that I don’t know anything about,” Tate said. “I want to listen and learn, and then try incorporate things that I feel are important like safety and technology.”

She retired this past year after 15 years as principal at Rivercrest, where she also served as vice principal. Earlier in her career, she was a teacher at Bartlett Elementary and Millington Central Elementary.

Under her leadership, Rivercrest Elementary became a Rewards School for the first time in 25 years this year as part of TNReady testing.

“I’m very pleased with that. The teachers worked hard to accomplish that. It wasn’t me; they made it happen,” said Tate, a Bartlett resident for the past 35 years. “All of the schools here in Bartlett are just wonderful, warm and engaging.”

Tate will serve out the remainder of Norris’s term, through the end of next year.

“As a district, we’re in a great place,” Board of Education Chairman David Cook said. “What Mrs. Tate will bring is her experience as an administrator, which will be a whole new perspective to the board. So that will be nice.

"She’ll help with the momentum we have bringing schools into the fold because we have more Rewards Schools this year than we had last year, so she’ll bring that momentum throughout the rest of the district. So that will be a big benefit.”