Principal

Marcia F. Carmichael-Murphy, Ed.D.|Dr. Marcia Carmichael-Murphy is a Louisville native and a proud product of Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS). Due to her life experiences as a foster child of Color, Dr. Carmichael-Murphy came to believe that safety-net programs and access to a quality education are the keys to self-sufficiency and self-actualization. She desires to support students in the holistic way that she was supported.

Dr. Carmichael-Murphy began her career in 2002 after graduating from Spalding University with a B.A. in social studies. Her first teaching assignment was in a World Civilizations classroom at Pleasure Ridge Park (PRP) High School. From 2003 to 2012, she taught and served at Doss High School in various capacities. She was a social studies teacher, department chair, Small Learning Communities coordinator, and interim assistant principal. In 2012, she had the opportunity to work for the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) as an Education Recovery Specialist serving Western and Iroquois High Schools. In this role, her interest was ignited in the Turnaround work done in Priority Schools. Shortly after the ending of the of the School Improvement Grant, she served at The Academy @ Shawnee as the Academic Instructional Coach to carry on the Turnaround work. During her time there, she was able to effect instructional change that increased student achievement and fostered systems that supported instructional growth of teachers.

In 2014, she became the College Access Resource Teacher at Fern Creek High School and later accepted a position there as assistant principal. In 2018, Dr. Carmichael-Murphy was honored to become the principal at Coleridge-Taylor Montessori Elementary. The tenets of the Montessori Framework speak to her philosophy of teaching on multiple levels, specifically providing a developmental and instructional scope and sequence, offering students choice and agency, providing opportunities to explore their world, and space to develop self-regulation. She is excited and thankful to lead a school of so many passionate and innovative professionals as they support students from our community. She is married and is the mother of 4 children—a high-schooler, a middle-schooler, and two CTM students. She is a proud supporter of JCPS and the fact that all of her children attend JCPS schools.