Dr. Troy Knechtel, New Director
Dr. Troy Knechtel named University School director
JOHNSON CITY Dr. Troy Knechtel is the new director of University School at East Tennessee State University.
Knechtel comes to ETSU from the Central School District in Rancho Cucamonga, California, where he was principal at Coyote Canyon Elementary School, a K-4th grade school with an enrollment of nearly 800. Prior to that, he was principal of Pomeroy Elementary School, a K-6th grade institution in the Milpitas (California) Unified School District. He also spent two years in Alaska as principal of Glennallen Junior/Senior High School in the Copper River School District.
In addition, he has held assistant principal positions at Moreland Middle School District and San Jacinto High School. Prior to entering administration, he spent 13 years as a math teacher and coach in the Beaumont and San Jacinto unified school districts.
Knechtel received his B.A. degree in business economics from Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California, followed by an M.A. degree in curriculum and instruction at Chapman University in Moreno Valley (California), where he also completed requirements for administrative services credentialing. In 2010, he was awarded his Ed.D. in educational leadership from Azusa (California) Pacific University.
He has held adjunct faculty positions at Concordia University, National University and California Baptist University.
We are extremely pleased that Dr. Knechtel will be assuming the position of director of University School, said Dr. Bert C. Bach, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs. He is an experienced principal and academic leader who comes to University School with broad administrative experience in elementary, middle school and secondary schools. A strong academician who has extensive experience with all socioeconomic levels, Dr. Knechtel met in the eyes of the search committee that supported his candidacy all criteria that ETSU had posted in the listing for this important leadership position.
University School is governed under the auspices of the ETSU Claudius G. Clemmer College of Education. In 1996, the school became the first K-12 laboratory school in the nation to implement a year-round calendar. In recent years, University School has been the recipient of numerous awards recognizing superior academic achievement.
U.S.News & World Report recently ranked University School sixth in the state, placing it as the top high school east of Knoxville in Tennessee.
The following article was printed in the Johnson City Press:
Troy Knechtel plans to continue University School traditions as new director
July 9th, 2015 9:38 am by David Floyd
Excellence is something most schools can only aspire to, but University School has a long history of meeting and exceeding expectations.
The institution is consistently ranked among the top schools in the United States and achieved a 100 percent graduation rate in 2013 and 2014.
Troy Knechtel, the school's new director, plans to preserve and, if possible, improve this legacy, drawing on the suggestions provided by administrators, teachers and parents.
"In this first year or so, I'll be doing a lot of asking questions, a lot of listening," Knechtel said. "I need to be talking to people on the university side, I need to be talking to folks at the Washington County school district side and just gather all this information of just the climate of what's going on and where we are."
ETSU and University School were founded at around the same time, with University School acting as an internship site that helped prepare prospective teachers for careers outside college. Since then, the schools have developed a symbiotic relationship, allowing grade schoolers and college students opportunities to partner with programs offered by both institutions.
"There's all kinds of possibilities for having people that are studying different things at the university to come work with our kids," Knechtel said. " ... Or we could have our kids come over and observe and see what (college students) are doing."
Before moving to Tennessee, Knechtel worked as the interim youth minister at a California church, where he discovered that he had a passion for teaching kids.
This passion eventually inspired him pursue a career in education. The principal and assistant principal at one of Knechtel's first schools encouraged him to earn his administrative credentials, allowing him to work as a school administrator, but Knechtel told them he wanted to wait.
"I said, 'I don't want to just jump right in with it,' " Knechtel said. " 'I need to spend more time in the trenches to know what it's like to try different things so that when I get to an administrative position, I feel like I have something to offer my staff.' "
Knechtel and his wife moved to Johnson City from Southern California to be closer to their son. Knechtel initially hoped to receive a job teaching in higher education, but he was delighted when the saw the description for the job he now holds at University School.
"Their job description almost read like my resume," Knechtel said. "That they wanted somebody with K-12 experience, with a math background, who had worked in year-round schools, who had worked with smaller schools. As I was reading, I just thought, 'This is incredible. This sounds like this job was tailored made to what my background has been.' "
Knechtel worked 13 years as a teacher before eventually moving into an administrative position. After multiple years performing various roles in the field of education, Knechtel went back to school to receive his doctorate.
While he does have thoughts about how University School could improve, Knechtel said he's very aware of the long history and pride that has made the school a well-respected institution and hopes to meld his beliefs with the suggestions given to him by teachers and parents.
"How do I infuse my beliefs into what's already established to try to raise it to the next level?" Knechtel said. "That's what I'm going to try to do, but I'm not doing anything towards that until I spend more time talking to (teachers and parents)."
Knechtel believes learning should have a strong critical thinking component, teaching students how to defend their opinions rather than making them receptacles in which information is placed and then retrieved.
"Learning to me is when somebody can demonstrate, they can explain, they can debate with you what they believe, what they think, how they did something whether it was a math problem or if they read something and they felt like this is something the author said," Knechtel said. "I think that is authentic learning."
2015 Johnson City Press
Welcome, Dr. Knechtel!