Dr. Bill Harlin

With over 20 years of experience, Dr. Bill Harlin is an accomplished educator in secondary education.  He began his career at Centennial High School in Franklin, TN teaching AP European History, standard US History, and World History Honors.  He served as a Gifted Education consultant and a Department Chair for Social Studies during his time at CHS.  In 2006, he became an assistant principal at Brentwood Middle School in Brentwood, TN and later became the principal at Brentwood Middle in 2009 and served until 2015.  Following his first stint at Brentwood Middle School, he opened Nolensville High School in Nolensville, TN in 2016 and served as principal of NHS until 2021.  In 2021, he returned to his previous role as principal of Brentwood Middle School.  In addition to the positions that he has held throughout his career, he holds a doctorate in Educational Leadership from Lipscomb University.

Dr. Harlin has used his leadership skills to help students sustain high academic growth at a high achieving school through the practice of professional learning communities. He uses his strength of context and relationship building to develop and enhance school culture in existing schools and to start it from scratch in forming a new school. Dr. Harlin has navigated 2 major building projects in which schools have moved into brand new buildings during his career: one for a brand-new school and one in an existing school. Each time he used these moments to build mission and vision at each place, develop school culture, establish internal systems to grow students and student programs, build or rebuild staffing, and create connections with the greater community. 

Through Dr. Harlin’s journey, his schools have achieved numerous TN Reward School distinctions at Nolensville High School and Brentwood Middle School.  Most recently, under his leadership, Brentwood Middle School was named a National Blue Ribbon School for the 2023 school year.  During that year, Dr. Harlin was named Williamson County Principal of the Year in November of 2023.