Photo by Erin Nelson
Carrie Busby, the new principal at Mountain Brook High School, in the new fine arts wing April 18. Busby will take over for Philip Holley in June after Holley’s retirement.
Carrie Busby said that when she found out she would be the successor to Philip Holley’s role as principal at Mountain Brook High School after his retirement, she felt a peace about the opportunity, one she had never felt before.
Busby brings 22 years of experience in secondary education to her new position. She spent the last decade as an assistant principal. She took her first administrative role in 2013 at Hoover High School, where she had worked her entire career and taught 12th grade English. In 2016, she was named the state’s Assistant Principal of the Year.
She arrived at MBHS in 2018, the same year as Holley.
“Philip and the admin team had an opening and thought I would be a good fit, and he called me and asked if I would be interested in talking about this assistant principal position, and I did,” Busby said. “We discovered together we were the right fit as a team.”
Since she was Holley’s first hire, the two have worked closely together for the past five years. Busby said that their strengths and weaknesses complemented one another.
“Something that impacts how I lead has been watching the care [Holley] has for the community he was raised in, attended school in and then worked in professionally,” she said. “I’ve gotten to see firsthand, to see that, and I feel the weight of that on my shoulders.”
Mountain Brook Schools Superintendent Dicky Barlow said that during the search process, they were looking for someone who understands the culture of Mountain Brook Schools and the high standards for its students to be successful in their future endeavors.
“Carrie fits both of these qualities extremely well and will help move Mountain Brook High School forward in the coming years,” Barlow said.
Busby said she didn’t pursue an administrative role earlier in her career because balancing work and family was important to her. She took eight years off during her teaching career to stay home with her two children, who are now grown.
“Now I have time to be able to commit to a principalship, because it’s very demanding,” Busby said. “I don’t have children at home anymore, so I can devote the time I feel like I need to a principalship.”
Busby said she will also work to assist the faculty and staff in a work-life balance.
“If you help them do both, they benefit at home and their students benefit at school, if you allow them that balance,” she said. “That was modeled for me.”
Busby said she plans to work hard because there is so much legacy and expectation at MBHS, where so many families have attended the school through generations.
She describes herself as very personable and relational and said she cares about spending time understanding a situation, so she is able to best support a student or teacher.
“I want to help where I’m needed, I want to give support where it's needed, and I intend to be very present and available,” Busby said.
Instead of spending much of her time in meetings and working on master scheduling, Busby said she is excited to get out of her office and be able to meet with all the staff in their roles and find out the strengths and weaknesses of the various departments and ways that she can support them.
“The rapport I’ve built here over the last five years with staff I feel will empower me to move into this next season, not with confidence but with an understanding of what the expectations are at MBHS and the willingness to forge ahead,” she said.
Busby has continued to add to her ongoing notebook of ideas that the staff can conquer as a team and things she sees that are needed in the school that she wants to pursue.
“It could be something lofty, or something small,” she said. “Something that boosts morale or even academic vision committees.”
She said that teachers at Mountain Brook High are the best in the business and she looks forward to being able to support them. The students also have high expectations, and Busby said she is excited to be able to walk alongside them.
“Helping them navigate what will be next for them after high school, whether it’s college or learning a trade, helping them find that way is meaningful to me,” she said.
Busby holds a master’s of educational administration degree from University of Montevallo and a bachelor’s of science in education from the University of Alabama. She and her husband, Scott, have been married for 27 years. In her free time, Busby enjoys spending time at the lake and being on the water.
Busby will officially take over as principal July 1 and said she and Holley are working to make it a smooth transition.
“I’m very excited about working hard with our faculty and staff as we move into this next school year,” she said. “It is important to me that the belief and commitment to excellence is ensured from students to staff as well as parents and the Mountain Brook community at large. I welcome the challenge of leading this distinctive school which I have grown to love over the past five years.”
