Coaching family grooms Wesson elementary principal

By Bob Arnold

                Ann Shelby Smith, the new elementary school principal at Wesson Attendance Center (WAC), grew up in a coaching family, and, in a way, is following in the footsteps of her father, Glen Davis, who retired as Co-Lin’s head football coach following the 2024 season after 21 years to be succeeded by her older brother Micah.

                Smith, however, is not the same kind of coach as her father and brother, focusing on academics instead of athletics as an educator – an “instructional coach” at WAC for the past three years before moving into her latest role there after her predecessor Vanda Brister became Wesson High School principal.

                “I helped kids who needed to catch up, particularly in math and reading, to be successful students,” Smith explains in describing her coaching activity.

                Born in Florence, Alabama, where her father coached defensive backs and wide receivers for University of North Alabama football, Smith first lived in Wesson when Davis was the Co-Lin offensive coordinator in 1995-96 and returned when she entered the seventh grade at WAC in 2005 after he became the Wolves head coach following seven years as an assistant at Mississippi State at Starkville.

                Smith recalls a childhood mostly spent with her mom while her dad was either on the football field or recruiting talent for his teams.  If coaching athletes wasn’t her calling, she did enjoy playing basketball at Co-Lin and Delta State where she also earned associate and bachelor degrees in education after graduating from Wesson High School in 2010.  In 2014, she received an MA Degree in educational leadership from the University of Arkansas.

                “It wasn’t like I always dreamed of being a teacher, but I enjoy working with kids, and education became my career path,” Smith recounts.

“As a teacher, I am rewarded when I see a kid in a ah-ha moment after learning something.  I also enjoy the relationships with students and other teachers.”

                Smith started her teaching career in 2015 at North Shore Elementary School in Brandon with first graders and fourth grade math students, and also taught at Brookhaven Elementary School in the 2019-2020 school term before joining Wesson Attendance Center as a second grade teacher in 2020-21 and then becoming an instructional coach, testing coordinator and specialist for students who require extra help.

                Beginning this month as the WAC elementary school principal, Smith says she’ll be responsible for making the K through sixth grades “run like a well-oiled machine,” overseeing instruction, teachers, students and discipline not unlike a head coach for a sports tean responsible for assistants, players and execution.

                While the new role will be challenging, Smith will not only be drawing on the coaching examples in her family, but perhaps more importantly, “the foundation Vanda Brister and I laid as a team over the past three years at Wesson Elementary.”

                Smith lives in Brookhaven with husband, Josh, a CPA who works in Flowood.  They have two children – Jackson, 5, who is kindergarten at WAC, and Kay, 3.

What are your hobbies?

I run and work out.  I like to travel and cook, and follow sports – the Wesson Cobras, the Co-Lin Wolves, Mississippi State Bulldogs and, would you believe, the Buffalo Bills because Josh Allen won us over as fans

Are you a reader?

I wouldn’t call myself an avid reader, but I’m eclectic, following recommendations of others.  I recently completed The Wound about Vietnam War nurses.

How about music?

I am a listener, particularly to country and Christian music.  Give me a ball, but not an instrument to play.

Movies, theater, television?

I watch the Food Channel.  And Friday night is movie night, with the fare dictated by the kids.

If you won a lot of money in the lottery, how would you spend it?

Helping the needy through community organizations, particularly through Clear Branch Baptist Church, where I am an active member

How would you change the world?

Although social media has a positive impact on society and culture, we need address the negative effects.  I also want to see a cure for cancer, which affected my grandmother and father.