Two Jackson principals retiring at the end of school year; replacements named

Clay Vangilder isn't going to miss the mornings of torrential downpours, blowing snow or frigid temperatures. He won't miss bundling up in his Carhartt, his hunting boots, his cap and gloves.

The principal at Orchard Elementary School in Jackson will miss the big smiles.

"Every morning, from 7:30 until a little after 8, I'd be outside where parents drop off their children. It didn't matter if it was 6 below," he said. "I'd see the children pull up in the car and they'd give me a big smile and a wave, and then they'd jump out and give me a hug."

Vangilder said those special moments, among too many others to count over his 30-year career in education, are what kept him coming back day after day, year after year.

So with all of those moments in mind, Vangilder said his upcoming retirement is bittersweet.

"If you stay at something for 30 years, there must be something good about it," he said. "You make lifelong friends with the people you work with."

Jackson will lose nearly 60 years of educational expertise when Vangilder and South Elementary School principal Bonnie Knowlan retire at the end of the school year.

Last week, the Jackson School Board approved the hires of the principals' replacements, young educators with a talent for leadership and a passion for building better schools, assistant superintendent Rita Fisher said.

Rob French, assistant principal at South under Knowlan, will fill Vangilder's vacancy at Orchard, and Jessica Maxwell, a third-grade teacher at South will take over as South's principal. Lance McClard, a fourth-grade teacher at West Lane Elementary School, has been promoted to assistant principal at South.

"We're so excited and happy for the retiring ones," Fisher said, "and we're looking forward to next year. The handing of the torch should be a very smooth transition for us."

French, who has spent all seven years of his career in education at Jackson, said he's looking forward to the opportunity to serve as Orchard's principal. He taught first and fifth grades at South before becoming the school's assistant principal. French knows he has some big shoes to fill at Orchard, but he said he has served under an excellent mentor in Knowlan.

"I've tried to soak up as much as I can from her the last two years," he said. "Both Clay and Bonnie have been so gracious in sharing their knowledge."

Maxwell, a 2002 Jackson graduate, will lead the school she attended as a girl. Knowlan was her fifth-grade teacher.

"She has been so supportive for teachers, and I definitely want to continue that," Maxwell said of Knowlan. "She's a great role model and a person to look to for what I want to continue in the school. We're going to miss her that's for sure."

After 27 years in education, the majority of those in Jackson, Knowlan said she has learned the significance of leadership. She's spent more than a decade as assistant principal and the principal at South.

"In my combination in classroom teaching and in coaching, it hit me just what a role model I was expected to be," she said. "It left a big mark to realize children of all ages looked up to me, so the way I lived my life that was important to me."

She's a grandmother now, so she said life is too short to work all the time. But, like Vangilder, Knowlan sees her retirement as bittersweet.

"I hate walking away from all the great people I work with, from the teachers to the board and administration," she said. "I've had a great experience, and I'm glad I got to spend 23 years here in Jackson; I couldn't think of a better place to be."

mkittle@semissourian.com

388-3627

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1701 S. Hope St., Jackson, MO

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