Sheri Petitte
Ridgedale Elementary School

Voted best prek-12 principal in morgantown in 2o21

After 15 years teaching at St. Francis Central Catholic School, Sheri Petitte switched to public education and, simultaneously, earned a master’s in educational leadership. When the principal position opened up at Ridgedale Elementary in 2015, she took the leap. Ridgedale has grown from 360 students to about 500 since Petitte came on, so she’s overseen years of classroom and other construction. Petitte is hands-on—she knows students’ names and spends her days in classrooms and at events.
“We’ve worked very hard as a community to develop the culture that makes the school a place that everybody wants to be,” she says. One sign it’s succeeding: the monthly awarding of the coveted Sir Attends-A-Lot trophy to the classroom with the best attendance. “You’d think we were handing out gold coins!” Petitte is proud of the Ridgedale community. “Most rewarding is to see the success of not only the students, but also the teachers and other staff—they have grown so much professionally,” she says. “We can’t do it without any of them.”

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Morgantown magazine started Best of Morgantown in 2011 to let our readers recognize and celebrate the excellent dining, shopping, and services that make Morgantown a great place to live. We awarded the winners for the first time in 2012, and the competition has since grown to 101 categories. Click here to learn more about BOM.