Jameson named principal for new PB school

The Poplar Bluff R-I School District made movements last week in setting up administration for the new Mark Twain School scheduled to open next school year.

School board members hired Corey Jameson, current teacher at the Graduation Center, to serve as principal for the school, which will serve as an alternative school for the district. They also approved the search for four additional positions for the school.

The school will take over the current Early Childhood Center campus on Main Street when the new Center is finished.

Jameson worked for Missouri Division of Youth Services starting in 2002 until he joined the school district in 2015. He said that move came from a realization that those in the system were coming from public schools and the desire to get to them before they entered it.

This move to the alternative school, he said, comes from that same goal. He spent most of his career working with at-risk youth and realized many of them needed somebody to help earlier in their lives.

“They have these obstacles in life and they need somebody to help them get past it,” Jameson said. “I have an opportunity to intervene in their lives earlier before they become part of that system. I hope to have a positive impact on their lives and steer them in the right direction ahead of time.”

Dr. Scott Dill, superintendent, said the goal with the Mark Twain School is to create opportunities for students who are either “not thriving” or “in some cases being stifled” in the traditional school setting. This won’t only include disciplinary struggles, he said, but a variety of reasons a student might need a different academic setting either short-term or long-term.

“We’re crafting an alternative education for the students that need that,” he said. “It will look different for just about every kid that’s there.”

The position opened after the January board meeting and remained open for about four weeks before administration narrowed the candidate pool and conducted interviews. Dill said a couple dozen people applied for the position and it was a strong candidate pool. The experience Jameson brought to the table relates to several aspects of the new school, Dill said.

“He has been very successful in his current assignment,” he said. “That experience will, of course, be a component of the work he’ll be doing. It’s not the entirety of the work he’ll be doing. It’s one aspect of the programs we’ve been looking at. Looking back in his resume, his experience with the Division of Youth Services, again, is another aspect of the process.

“We wanted somebody who was able to meet the needs of a diverse group of learners based on where they are at and move them forward, facilitate a journey for them.”

The goal of hiring somebody at this point is for that person to be involved with programming and staffing decisions for the school going forward. In that vein, the board approved last week the opening of two teacher, a secretary and a paraprofessional positions for the school that applications are currently being accepted for.

At the January board meeting, Dill said, he anticipated needing 17 positions for the school with 12 moved from other schools. Jameson’s principal position was included in that 17. Dill also said the school should be able to house between 120-140 students.

“I wanted the individual who will be primarily responsible for living with these decisions to have a voice in making these decisions,” he said. “I’m very pleased to have Mr. Jameson as a part of that conversation and to have his voice at the table when we’re making some of these initial decisions.”

Jameson said he has some ideas for how he’d like to see the school run, but he’s waiting to see who they get in those roles before moving forward with them. He said the goal is to work as a team for some of it.

“My goal is to meet every individual student’s educational needs where they’re at and then move them forward toward graduation,” he said. “To keep those kids in school, have them invested in the school system, have them feel like they’re part of the school and valued as students we’re here for and we’re not giving up on.”

Dill said he’s excited to move forward on this project with Jameson in that role.

“I think, in Mr. Jameson, we found an individual with the right heart and the right mind set about this work and is willing to meet our kids where they are at and take them where they need to be,” Dill said.