Sisters Kristy Reese and Kimberly Gibbs make their rounds every morning, greeting students and staff in their roles as principals of Kimberly Elementary School and Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School. Reese and Gibbs are both Atlanta Public School alumnas, and now the sisters returned to APS after moving away and taking jobs in other districts.
Gibbs recalled her early childhood and said it instilled a passion for teaching from the very beginning.
“Our father was a teacher,” Gibbs said. “I won’t necessarily say that it was a motivation. I always wanted to be a teacher; back in every high school they had specialized in a particular career path. I went to high school in 1994. It actually merged with George High School (now South Atlanta). In my senior year, I did half my day at an elementary school, and I spent the rest of my day at my high school finishing up my coursework. I knew that that was a passion of mine, going into college and choosing it as my major.”
Reese’s early childhood also served as a contributor to her role as an educator, reflecting on memories with her father and her later journey as a high schooler.
“I was probably four or five years old, and I would take my doll babies, and I would set them up, and they were my students,” Reese said. “My dad bought us this little desk, and I had it set up [to write] papers. When I was in high school, I went to North Atlanta High School. I was part of a program that was allowed to go and do my internship in the school. I got to do my internship at Morris Brandon Elementary School. Then I was a senior in high school, and then I knew ‘this is what I’m going to do.’”
Gibbs credits the APS community as a contributing factor in her motivation to enter education.
“One of the things that I remember about being a student is the caring adults around me,” Gibbs said. “I remember always, no matter what school I was in, that I had this mom away from my mom that I could talk to. As a leader now, I always try to position myself with my students. I tell the students even if they come to my office, ‘I will respect you. If you tell me the truth, we will work through it, even if it’s an ugly truth, tell me, we will apologize.’ I just always felt like school was a safe place for me, emotionally and academically. I always felt like the teachers and the staff cared about me, and that was probably the most impactful part of being in APS.”
Reese said that having a sense of community and family outside of her household allowed her to feel a sense of camaraderie with fellow students.
“Growing up, we had parents that were present, a mom and dad in our household, but we were also in a dysfunctional situation, as far as some of the things that went on in our household,” Reese said. “We had each other – four sisters – but it was always good to go to school, and like Kim said, feel safe and feel like you had somebody you could count on, that you could trust.”
In her role as an educator, a full circle moment has occurred for Gibbs.
“It’ll be the place where I started as a child, and the place where I end my career,” Gibbs said. “As for me, I actually moved away. I moved away to Delaware. That’s where I actually finished college, and I started teaching in Delaware. I just moved back three and a half years ago, and when I moved back, APS was the place that I knew I wanted to come to work.
Nia Cannon works with Gibbs at King Middle School and highlighted their working relationship.
“My professional relationship with Principal Gibbs is the strongest I have experienced in my 18 years in education,” Cannon said. “She serves not only as my principal, but also as a mentor who has supported my professional growth through consistent feedback, coaching and leadership development opportunities. Her guidance has contributed to my growth as an instructional leader and has strengthened my capacity to support teachers and students effectively.”
Cannon described Gibbs leadership style as energetic and student-centered.
“Principal Gibbs leads with a balanced, student-centered leadership style rooted in compassion, trust, and accountability,” Cannon said. “She consistently gives staff the benefit of the doubt, maintains a true open-door policy, and prioritizes relationship-building as a foundation for instructional improvement. Her leadership approach promotes psychological safety, which in turn supports teacher retention, collaboration, and continuous improvement.”
Throughout her career, Reese has interacted with a multitude of people from the past but also from the present.
“It just [gives] me a sense of pride,” Reese said. “I ran into a lot of parents who were classmates. I have a few in my school now, or grandparents, even for that matter. So, I think it’s the real deep connection to community and just having an authentic understanding. We know what their experience is, because we’ve been part of that experience.”
While in middle school, Gibbs had the chance to run for class president. The bonding throughout the process with her sisters gave her a sense of confidence.
“It was probably middle school because I was government president in eighth grade, and it was fun,” Gibbs said. “My sisters had all gone to that middle school, so by the time I got to eighth grade, they were all in high school. It was a campaign, and I felt like the staff and the students were pulling for me to be part of that. My ELA teacher in eighth grade really helped me, and she actually ended up coming to my wedding when I got married later down the line.”
With the role of being an educator comes the role of also serving as a sister, Reese said.
“It’s usually frustrating, and we may bounce ideas off each other,” Reese said. “They’re like, ‘Oh, I’m gonna steal that idea and, well, I’m gonna do this. I’m gonna make my idea better by doing this,’ You’re not trying to outdo the other one. You are looking for ways that your staff really love coming to you, coming to school. She’ll say something that she’s doing at the elementary school, and I’m working middle school, she’ll help give me ideas of how, so that’s typically what it is. Our staff probably have very similar stories about a lot of work I am going to do.”
The frustrations of the job are frequent, but for Gibbs, she believes the purpose outweighs the bad days.
“I do not feel that every time I pull into that parking lot, I have a smile on my face,” Gibbs said. “And I don’t always have a great day. There are days where a parent is upset about something, and the first person they see is you. They take it out on you sometimes, and then every day is not happy, enjoyable. It doesn’t take away from the fact that every day that I come here, I love my staff, I love my students, even the ones that cut up sometimes you love them just a little bit more. It is like the best job ever.”
