Principal

Phone: 919-989-6039

Email:

Degrees and Certifications:

Mrs. Tamara Poland

Welcome to Polenta Elementary School home of the PUMAS.  For those of you visiting our website for the first time, please allow me to personally welcome you and introduce myself.  My name is Tami Poland and I am proud to call myself a Polenta PUMA. I am from the small town of Pikeville where I attended Wayne County Public Schools.  My family has lived in the Clayton area since 1999.   All three of our children have attended Johnston County Public schools with two of them being graduates of Corinth Holders High School.  I have a daughter that graduated from App State in Boone, NC and another that attends UNC- CH.  My son currently attends the North Carolina School of Science and Math in Morganton, NC. In our spare time, we like to watch movies and play games together. 
 
I received my undergraduate degree in Elementary Education from UNC-Wilmington as a NC Teaching Fellow recipient.  I taught in Wake County for 3 years before coming to JCPS in 2000.  I have taught Kindergarten, third grade, fifth grade, and sixth grades and loved every minute of it. I began my administrative career in JCPS in 2016 at Cooper Academy where I served for four years as assistant principal.  Afterwards, I served as the assistant principal at Meadow School.  I am honored to be chosen to serve as Polenta's Principal.  
 
Polenta staff are innovative, creative, and constantly searching for ways to meet the needs of all learners.  We are passionate about helping every child succeed.  I am passionate about supporting students, staff, parents, and our community.  Welcome to an incredible place for your child to learn here at Polenta Elementary School.  

Assistant Principals

Phone: 919-989-6039

Email:

Degrees and Certifications:

Mrs. Candace Westbrook

My name is Candace Westbrook and it is an honor and privilege to serve as one of the assistant principals here at Polenta.  I am a Johnston County native and have lived here all my life.  After graduating from Smithfield-Selma High School, I attended the University of Mount Olive.  I began my teaching career in Wayne County as an Elementary music teacher and later in Johnston County at Riverwood Middle School.  Over the past twenty two years, I have had the opportunity to learn and serve in a variety of places, including Duplin and Johnston Counties serving as a school administrator.  

My husband Scott and I have been married for 26 years and we have two wonderful sons. In our free time, our boys keep us very busy spending time with them since both of them play year-round sports.  On any given weekend during the fall, you will find our family at all ECU home football games, GO PIRATES!

As a leader, I  believe in bringing all stakeholders together to share leadership by involvement with the school environment.  I look forward to building relationships with students, parents, staff and community members throughout the school year. As Tom Peters once stated, “Leaders don’t create followers, they create more leaders.”   It is my belief that every person can be a teacher, every place a classroom, every experience is a lesson and every child a promise.

Phone:

Email:

Degrees and Certifications:

Ms. EmEm Thompson

     My name is Emem Thompson and I am excited about joining the Polenta Puma family as one of the assistant principals. I was born and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina. I received my undergraduate degree from UNC-Greensboro in Elementary Education. I then continued to complete my Masters in Elementary Education at Campbell University. I have been exposed to all grades in a variety of ways but spent majority of my teaching career in Kindergarten in Durham. Before coming to Polenta, I served as an Intervention coach in Wake County. I graduated from NC State as a Principal Fellow with a Masters in School Administration last year. I have been in education 13 years and am honored to be starting my administrative career off at Polenta.
     My husband Tony and I have been married 10 years and have been blessed with four beautiful children, two of which will be joining me here at Polenta. My oldest two boys will be in third grade and kindergarten. I also have a daughter who is 3 and another son who is 11 months old. In our free time we love going to the park, movies, and taking road trips to the beach. We are very musical; I love to sing and my husband is a musician.
     As a leader I strive to be excellent on purpose by leading forward with love in a capacity that empowers, appreciates, develops and ignites an unwavering passion towards learning through commitment, collaboration and consistency amongst all stakeholders. I aim to build sustainable relationships where everyone is respected, supported and challenged to be the best version of themselves. I am looking forward to a wonderful first year of building relationships with students, staff, families, and the community!