Buchanan serving as Liberty assistant principal

Carmen Buchanan has been named assistant principal at Liberty Middle School.

“Mrs. Newton made me feel welcome and made learning fun,” Buchanan said. “At that early age, I knew that I wanted to teach. I wanted to make a difference.” She also credits her parents, Wayne and Linda Taylor, for teaching the value of education.

She has worked at Liberty since 1993. Buchanan has taught language arts, social studies and performing arts and served as instructional coach.

“Every student that has come through my classroom made an impact on me in some way. I believe in building positive relationships with students (and) finding a way to connect with them,” Buchanan said.

Buchanan feels humbled when students remember her “in the grocery store or mall and run up to me with their arms out to hug me yelling, ‘Mrs. B!’ I just hope I have made half the impact on them that they have made on me.”

Buchanan earned a bachelor’s degree at Athens State University and a master’s degree in instructional leadership at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

She rates Liberty’s teachers as “the best faculty in the world. No matter what comes our way, we make the best of it. We are a family.”

Liberty’s staff is excited about the collaborative atmosphere created in recent years, she said. That attitude is “growing this year as we go to teams of teachers teaching the same students.”

“Our students come first. We make all decisions based on how it impacts our students,” Buchanan said. She takes prides in “a strong, positive school culture and an outstanding academic atmosphere. From the time you walk in the door at Liberty and are greeted by our receptionist, Maria Mangieri, you feel welcome.”

Buchanan acknowledged coaches and sponsors who work tirelessly for extracurricular options.

Her husband Craig works with Ben Porter Real Estate. Their children are Taylor, a freshman at James Clemens High School, and four-year-old Braylon.