By ROB NOVIT

Senior writer

"Thrilling and scary at the same time" is how Fran Altringer described the moment when she learned of her appointment to become the new principal at Silver Bluff High School.

Looking back at the first few days of the 2010-2011 school year, she described her new neighborhood as "very manageable," in terms of having about 700 students - a situation that allows her to visit all the classrooms

Altringer spent the last two years as an assistant principal at Midland Valley High, the school she graduated from in 1990 and where she later worked as a teacher. She is succeeding Todd Bornscheuer, who is headed to North Augusta High after serving as a student-teacher, teacher, assistant principal and principal at Silver Bluff.

"Todd is very well-loved here," Altringer said. "He has left the school in a very good position through a lot of hard work. I can come in and not panic but just run the school. I also want to get to know the community."

She's among six first-time principals, a group that include Callie Herlong of Ridge Spring-Monetta Elementary/Middle School, Earl Ishmal of Jackson Middle School, John Bradley of Aiken Middle School, Debra McCord of Oakwood-Windsor Elementary School and Lloydette Young of Leavelle McCampbell Middle School.

Altringer knew she wanted to teach as a second-grader, after teacher Ann Kauffman at Byrd Elementary School gave her a chance to tutor classmates in math. Coincidentally, Altringer would take the Teacher Cadet program as a Midland Valley senior - a course initiated in Aiken County by Kauffman's husband, retired USC Aiken professor Dr. Jim Kauffman.

Altringer said her participation in high-school sports such as basketball, tennis and softball kept her busy and out of trouble. She appreciated then-chemistry teacher Barry Pitts and how tough he was on her in class. There were so many teachers, she said, who pushed her and encouraged her so that she wanted to emulate them.

After receiving a degree in secondary math from USC Aiken, Altringer taught for two years at Strom Thurmond High. In 1997 she returned to Midland Valley as a math teacher, to work in a setting "where I saw the teacher who had once kicked me out of class," Altringer said with a laugh. "That teaches you never to burn your bridges."

Three years later she joined the North Augusta High math department. She had received a master's degree in education from the University of South Carolina in 1999.

She had enjoyed working as a teacher under Midland Valley Principal Margaret Mullen, who was an influence for her decision to go into administration. As an assistant principal, Altringer learned the process of risk-taking from then-North Augusta High Principal Kyle Smith and about developing professionalism from Midland Valley Principal Dr. Doris Hickson, who recently left that position.

At Midland Valley, Altringer worked with the freshman academy.

"I really was excited about that," she said. "The group of (academy) teachers are top-notch, and we worked well together. The program has a tremendous impact on kids as freshmen."

Two years later Midland Valley has seen gains in test scores. That's crucial, Altringer said, because a failed ninth-grade year doubles the chances of that student dropping out of school. A number of at-risk students were placed in Naval Junior ROTC program and a study-assistance class as ways for them to learn structure and improve their grades. That effort has kept many of those students in school, Altringer said.

"I just want to continue the good work that's been going on at Silver Bluff," she said. "I have high expectations, and I'm real level-headed. I'm willing to get into the trenches. My major hope right now is to maintain the family atmosphere that the school has. I want to be a part of that."

She is familiar with the concept of a family atmosphere, and she and her husband, Bryan, have four kids: Andrew, 4, Aaron, 5, Karis, 8, and Danielle, 11. Andrew and Aaron are both kindergartners at Nazarene Christian Academy. Karis is a fourth-grader there, and Danielle is in sixth grade at North Augusta Middle School. The father of the house is an engineer at Cytec, a firm that makes products that go into various types of adhesives, ink and paint.

As for the mother of the house, she is also the church pianist at New Covenant Christian Center in Augusta, and has also served for the past eight years with Molly's Militia, a group that works to rescue animals from local shelters to help reduce the euthanasia rate and connect would-be pets with good potential owners.