New principals optimistic in new year

By: Morgan Montgomery

In the 2020-21 school year, Olathe South has two new administrators, head principal Dr. Dale Longnecker and assistant principal Mrs. Rachel Jetton. Prior to Olathe South, Dr. Longnecker had experience as a head principal. “I just came off 30 years in the Missouri side, just over in Park Hill, just across the river, in Missouri. But I was 30 years of Park Hill, I taught for eight. I taught algebra and computer science. And then I was an assistant principal for eight years. And then I was the head principal for 14 years. Park Hill South is a little smaller than Olathe South,” Longnecker said. Mrs. Jetton had no prior experience as an administrator, however, she was an intern. “I started teaching [math] and coaching right out of college and I was in that role for six years and then last year I was an intern,” Jetton said. While she continued to teach Falcon Flight Crew and coach cheer, most of Jetton’s days last year were spent in the front office. “I was a 504 case manager and did numerous things up here just to try to actually get the experience” Jetton said. Though Jetton loved teaching, she wanted to have more of an impact. “I wanted to be in a position where I could touch more kids and help them develop and grow and just have more of an impact on our community,” Jetton said. Jetton earned her master’s in school leadership before spending last school year as an intern. “At that point, I knew ‘this is where I wanted to be’. I just felt like I had done what I needed to in the classroom and I just wanted the opportunity to reach more students and reach more of our community. And luckily I got to stay at South, which I’m so invested in because I’ve been here since I graduated from college, so this is like my home.” Jetton said. Longnecker just arrived at South over the summer and is loving it thus far. “The people, the staff, the climate, the Falcon family, that whole kind of culture piece, I love that, building a healthy school climate is so important. And to be able to come into a place that had that going on, that was awesome. Everybody’s incredibly friendly, the whole community. Just when you get into that the kids are great. The staff’s been wonderful. Olathe South is an awesome place,” Longenecker said. Starting at a new school hasn’t been easy for Longnecker, but he’s working it out. “Often the kids don’t even know who I am. You know, I walked down the hall, and I chat with [the students and they] just think some crazy old man’s talking to [them]. It’s been hard starting a new job as an old person. And you’ve got to learn all these new names and faces and new kids. And there’s a lot of new people. Everybody’s got a mask covering up their face. So that really doesn’t help things as you move into [a new school],” said Longnecker. For Jetton, the best part of being an assistant principal is helping to guide the students. “I would say the best part is watching kids, as adults, we have all made mistakes and we remember those mistakes that we made back when we were in high school and now it’s a whole new level because of social media. There are just so many things that weren’t around when I was in high school, and I’m not that old...I love mentoring them and helping them navigate this thing called life, which is so, so complicated, and helping them make decisions,” Jetton said. Although Jetton has achieved her goal of being assistant principal, she’s not stopping there, as she hopes to someday be a head principal. “[Being a head principal is] one of my long term goals for sure. I’m excited to learn under Dr. Longnecker because he has been a principal for a very long time, and he has such great ideas, so I would hope to become a head principal at some point,” Jetton said. The hardest part for Jetton is the negative connotation that comes with being principal. “One thing is, I hate that some students feel like they only go to their principal when they’re in trouble. When I show up in a classroom, everyone’s looking around thinking, who’s going to get in trouble and I’m not used to that, so my goal is to let students know that you’re not only going to see me when you’re in trouble, I want to celebrate with you when something great happens,” Jetton said. The hardest part for Longnecker has been trying to deal with the learning gaps created by COVID. “There’s going to be learning gaps, we’ve had to adjust our curriculum. So like algebra 1’ is not gonna have all the same stuff that it did last year. And they pare it down to just the essential things we’ve got, the district had a really good plan on that going into it, you know, what our priority standards are. So those are all predefined. But as we move forward, there’s going to be learning gaps this year is not going to look like last year. And so when we get to next year and start to build off those classes, that there’s going to be hiccups as we move forward. Like, oh, we didn’t get as far in this class. And so the next class has to pick it up. And we’re gonna have to manage that for a couple years,” Longnecker said.

Both new principals are dealing with challenges, but they’re facing them head on and powering through the year, despite the circumstances.