Fulton Independent announces new roles, hires

Fulton Independent Schools’ administrative team recently announced new roles for the 2023-2024 school year, for Sarah Townsend and Dr. Jean Little, who have been named principals at Fulton High School and Carr Elementary respectively, and the addition of a basketball coach and AD.

Townsend will replace Jeff Rogers, who has accepted the FISD superintendent’s role, following the retirement of Dr. DeAnna Miller.

She will now serve as Principal at Carr.

Dr. Little has been promoted, within her role at Carr Elementary.

Townsend, in accepting her new role as Principal of Fulton High School, stated “With this new role, I feel that I am coming full circle in my tenure at Fulton Independent. Many of the students who are now in the high school were my preschool students. To be able to guide them at the end of their journey with FIS is humbling. I prepared them for elementary school and now I will help prepare them for the real world.”

Townsend has been with Fulton Independent for 18 years as both a teacher and administrator. She has most recently been serving as the district Director of Student Services.

She is an alumna of Murray State University with a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Interdisciplinary Early Childhood Education and a Master’s Degree in School Administration.

She is currently completing her Education Specialist Degree in School Administration at MSU.

Dr. Jean Little has been named Principal of Carr Elementary where she has most currently been serving as K-12 Assistant Principal and K-5 building administrator for the past two years.

Dr. Little attended Carr Elementary and graduated from Fulton High School in 1988. After 13 years in the classroom, Dr. Little began working in different administrative roles in education before coming back to Fulton.

She is an alumna of the University of Tennessee at Martin where she received a Bachelor’s degree in Secondary English, a Master’s degree in school administration and supervision, and a Master’s degree in school counseling.

Most recently, Dr. Little completed her Doctorate in education leadership at University of Memphis.

In response to her promotion, Dr. Little stated, “It is an honor to be asked to serve in a leadership role in a school system that I hold so dear. I feel this is a legacy of love to give back to the school that gave so much to me and I, along with the faculty and staff, pledge to build upon the long standing educational history of Carr Elementary to offer the best educational experience we can to the children of Fulton City.”

Noah Croak has been named FHS Athletic Director and FHS Boys Basketball Coach.

From 2016-2018 he served as an Assistant Coach for Kentucky Wesleyan under Head Coach Happy Osborne.
He served at Dodge City Community College in Kansas from 2018-2019, and from 2019-2021 he worked at Tallahassee Community College in Florida under Head Coach Zach Settembre assisting in earning two conference titles, experiencing 18 players signing into Division I, including El Ellis at University of Louisville.

From 2021-2022 Croak was at Prairie View A&M in Texas, as the youngest coach in Division I at the age of 23.

He also served from 2022-2023 at Division I, Tarleton State University in Texas, under Billy Gillispie.

As a Junior College coach in three years, 20 players signed NCAA Division I Scholarships, 19 players moved on to Professional Basketball Contracts, four Conference titles were won, two of those at Kentucky Wesleyan, and two at Tallahassee Community College. He achieved four National Tournament Berths, and a College Basketball Invitational invite at Tarleton State.

A native of Petersburg, Ind., he is a graduate of Pike Central High School, and Indiana University where he earned his Bachelor’s in Social and Behavioral Science, and University of Southern Indiana where he earned his Master’s of Athletic Administration/Sports Management.

Croak has also spent time on the Adidas Gauntlet AAU circuit as well as coaching the 17U Boys with Distinxion, which is operated by the Zeller family, who have three sons who played in the NBA.