Dr. Craig D. Rigell
Craig D. Rigell has been Director of Schools for the Athens City School System since July1, 2000. Before joining the system, he served 25 years with the Oak Ridge City School System, first as a science teacher at Jefferson Junior High, then vice principal for 10 years at Robertsville Junior High School. He served as principal for the last 12 of those 25 years at Willow Brook Elementary School.
Dr. Rigell was born in Gainesville, Florida. He attended high school in Baltimore, Maryland, before coming to Tennessee in 1965 to attend Maryville College, where he graduated in 1969. Following his U.S. Army service as a medic and teacher in the X-Ray school at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, he and his wife returned to East Tennessee. He worked at Blount Memorial Hospital where he developed the curriculum and taught surgical scrub technician classes before joining Oak Ridge City Schools. Dr. Rigell earned his MS in Curriculum and Instruction in 1980 and his Doctorate in Educational Leadership in 1999 at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.
Dr. Rigell is married to Ann Little Rigell. They have two children, Allen, who is a 2001 graduate of Emory University in Atlanta, and Ginny, a teacher in Maryville, Tennessee. His hobbies include sailing and snow skiing, which he also enjoys teaching.
The Athens City School System is fortunate to have such a dedicated Director of Schools who believes in the motto, "Children First."
