Welcome to Pine Tree High School, home of the mighty Pirates!  I am beginning my ninth year as principal of Pine Tree High School and I love the opportunities available to our PTHS students!  Go Pirates!

I started my educational career in Richardson ISD as a math teacher, English teacher and tennis coach.  After living in the Dallas area for ten years, my family moved to Longview and I taught math at Pine Tree High School for nine years before becoming one of the assistant principals at PTHS.  After four years of being an assistant principal, I moved to Pine Tree Middle School as principal. I was the principal at  Pine Tree Middle School for three years before returning to Pine Tree High School as the principal.

Mrs. Chandler is beginning her 13th year in education and her second year as an administrator at PTHS.  She is a second generation Pirate and extremely honored to be working in her alumni district.  Mrs. Chandler has worked in Mt. Pleasant, Sherman, Jacksonville, Marshall, and Longview ISD prior to returning to Pine Tree.   She has taught a variety of subjects including: Pre-AP W. Geography, AP World History, U.S. History, Sociology, AP and IB Psychology, IB Theory of Knowledge, and Dance. For nine of those years she served as a varsity drill team director.  Mrs. Chandler earned her Bachelor of Science in History from the University of Texas at Tyler in 2005 and her Master's in Education from the University of Texas at Tyler in 2015.  She and her husband have two children both of whom attend Pine Tree schools.  They enjoy spending family time together and home remodeling.  Mrs. Chandler hopes to continue the Tradition of Excellence that Pine Tree ISD has set for each and every student that walks the halls as a Proud Pirate.  Mrs. Chandler may be reached at [email protected] or 903-295-5031 ext. 209.

Educating children has been my passion since the age of 18.  My love for working with children started with my participation of summer camp at the YMCA as a youth counselor and has grown from there into 25 years of service in public education.  My belief is every child can learn given the proper circumstances.  What is more important though, is what we are doing with the children that don’t learn.  My charge is to find the way for all students to succeed whatever that may look like for each individual.
     I moved to the United States when I was 5 years old from Europe.  In my 13 years of formal education I lived between Texas, New York, and Louisiana due to my father’s work in the petroleum industry and during holidays and summer breaks visited my family in Europe.  I was fortunate to be able to gain experiences from these regions of the globe.  I graduated from Mercy Academy in New Orleans, Louisiana and received my first degree from Brazosport College and continued on to The University of Houston where I received by Bachelor of Science and began my public school career in 1992.  I was a teacher in the general education setting for three years and developed a passion for helping students with special needs and learning disabilities.  In 1996 I returned back to school and earned by certification in Special Education and continued my career helping students in many different roles for the next 11 years.  During this time I served as a lead teacher for the Special Education department at several different grade levels K-8, a Content Mastery Center Coordinator and a Campus Special Education Coordinator.  I moved to East Texas in 2003 and with the encouragement of a past administrator returned to school again to obtain my master’s degree.  I graduated from The University of Texas at Tyler with a Master of Education in Educational Leadership in 2006 and continued my educational career in administration that year.  In the past 11 years I have served as a campus principal and an assistant principal in grades PK-12.  I am a lifelong learner and plan to complete my Superintendent Certification in the near future. 

To those returning I would like to say, "WELCOME BACK!"  To those new to PTHS, I say, "WELCOME ABOARD!"  I am excited to be here and look forward to the opportunity to serve you and your students.  We ARE going to have a great year!  Attitude is Everything.

I have taught for Pine Tree for 16 years with this being my first year as an administrator.  I began teaching in '01, and started out with only math classes.  I ended up adding an all level certification in art and taught art for several years before returning to the math classroom.  I taught math, art, and PE at ExCEL and served as their lead teacher.  It was at ExCEL that I was encouraged to get my masters degree and pursue an administrative position.  I am nervous leaving the classroom, but excited for the opportunity to serve students and teachers in a new capacity.

I am excited to begin my 21st year at Pine Tree ISD.  I am a graduate of Pine Tree High School and continued my educational studies at Southern Methodist University where I received a Bachelor of Arts in political science.  I also hold a master’s degree from Stephen F. Austin in educational leadership.  I began my career teaching English and social studies at Pine Tree High School.  I served as an assistant principal for the high school and elementary campuses and principal of the elementary campus.  I am now happy to serve as the academic dean at the high school campus.  I consider it a privilege to work with the outstanding faculty, students, and families of our community.

IT’S GREAT TO BE A PINE TREE PIRATE!  GO PIRATES!