Cool Principal: Mrs. Elizabeth Kackley

An amazing leader, a blessing, caring, inspiring, funny and yes even silly; are just some of the words students, teachers, and parents use to describe Oakland Elementary School principal Elizabeth Kackley. She’s our Cool School Principal of the week. She is leading the way to excellence by creating a sense of family in a fun and engaging environment.

Mrs. Elizabeth Kackley is in her 25th year as an educator, her sixth at Oakland Elementary School. “Oakland is probably the best-kept secret in all of Charleston County,” says Kackley. “The things that happen here every day are phenomenal. Our teachers and our staff go out of their way to make this a great experience for all of our students.”

She began her career as a special education teacher. “I went to college and got a job working with students with disabilities, and realized that was where my passion was, so I changed my major, changed my course, and studied special education.” Then she went on to work as a behavior support specialist for Charleston County School District and eventually moved to school administration as an assistant principal, then principal at Oakland.  

Oakland is a neighborhood school in West Ashley with 550 students in child development through 5th grade. Kackley says, “We’re probably one of the most diverse schools in the district, and it’s a beautiful blend of all kinds of backgrounds and families.” Students come from diverse backgrounds and speak more than 14 languages. 

“I’m proud of what we have in the past three report cards, out of those three, we have scored Excellent on two of the three, and good on the other one. It really is a testament that although a lot of our students may not have some of the resources and experience that other students within our district have, we still have the ability to grow our students and for them to make huge academic gains and be successful,” Kackley added.

Fourth-grade student Angel Riley says, “She’s super sweet, and she is super smart. She is inspiring. She inspires me to be happy every day.”

Principal Kackley says as leader, her number one priority is to make sure students, families, and staff feel valued and safe. She also makes removing barriers a priority. “I consider myself to be a servant leader. My job is to make the teachers and the staff here, make their jobs easier, and to make sure they are always feeling supported, and have the resources and materials and what they need to help our students be successful in the classroom. My job is to always support and be their biggest advocate and cheerleader.”  

Parent and First-grade teacher Stephanie Johnson says, “She creates a sense of family around here. We call it our pod. You always know that she cares about you as a person. Having two daughters here, I know she values her relationships with her students and gets to know them on a personal level.”

Special education teacher Latasha Singleton says, “Oh she is wonderful. She is an amazing principal. She is an amazing leader. She sets the tone for our school. I feel an effective leader needs to be positive and encouraging. She’s the boots on the ground. She gets along with the teachers and students and just does an amazing job every day.

Tricycle races, drenched in ice cream toppings, duck taped to a wall, dressing like characters, Principal Kackley does whatever it takes to create a happy environment filled with smiles for her Orcas, and students say she’s a lot of fun.

Second-grade student Brooklyn Johnson says, “She is silly and helpful. She always comes up with stuff that makes us laugh. I feel comfortable here, and everyone says hi and cares about me.”

Fourth-grade student Marley Fanning says, “I think she’s cool because every end of the month, there are fun things we get to do.”

Mrs. Kackley was also instrumental in the school’s Kindness Fundraiser Wall, which raised more than 11-thousand-dollars in ten days to go toward additional murals and fun projects for the school.

Kathryn Reynolds is treasurer for the Oakland Parent Teacher Organization. She says, “We are so blessed to have Mrs. Kackley as principal here at Oakland. She is hands-on, always game for anything we throw at her to raise funds and do fun things for the school.”

As for being named a Cool School Principal, Kackley says, “I’m excited and honored, but it’s hard for me because I always want the focus to be on the teachers, because they’re the ones that come in here and do the hard work every day. After News 2’s Octavia Mitchell said, “But you deserve it too. Principal Kackley laughed, and said, “Well thank you.”

If you would like to nominate a Cool School or educator, send an email to Octavia Mitchell at [email protected].