ST. CLOUD - There will be a new face in the Lincoln Elementary principal's office this school year.

BriAnne Hern will be taking over as principal at the school. She was most recently the assistant principal at Madison Elementary from 2012 to 2016.

"Lincoln is a similar building but what I love the most about it: it's a wonderful community neighborhood school. I was just ecstatic to hear from Mr. Jett that I would be given the role as lead principal this year."

Hern was a math teacher at South Junior High for 12 years. She was also head coach for Tech Track and Field for eight years.

One thing she hopes to accomplish this year is improving math scores at Lincoln.

"Our scores did go up last year with reading. We did take a little hit in math, so we do have a math focus this year and are working on a schedule that would support making sure all students grow for math."

With growing diversity in the district, she says she will also work to make the school more culturally responsive.

"We're looking really deeply at how we can be as multicultural in our building and culturally responsive as possible. We're doing a lot of learning around that this summer."

Hern has an elementary education degree from the College of Saint Benedict and her principal license from St. Mary's University.

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