BY DAVID MAMARIL HOROWITZ

david.horowitz@bgdailynews.com

In his 30 years working at area schools, Delvagus Jackson has seen thousands come and go. Students who would support their families with blue-collar jobs; those who became doctors or lawyers or business owners; and everyone in between. Many went down the wrong track before finding a better path – and some would apologize for it.

Jackson, the principal of Parker-Bennett-Curry Elementary School, said he’d tell the latter the same thing: “You were a kid, and just because you did those things then, that really doesn’t dictate your future. You can make a change.

“And I hope that my students, all the people I’ve encountered, would say that I haven’t given up on them.”

On Jan. 6, he’ll become the director of alternative programs and safety for the Bowling Green Independent School District. The BGISD Board of Education had approved creating the position last month.

The district announced Jackson’s appointment earlier this month. Days later, it followed up that Kelli Brooks – who had retired from BGISD after a decade as a principal and 16 years as a teacher at W.R. McNeill Elementary School – will fill his shoes as interim principal.

The appointment of Jackson assigns to an experienced teacher and administrator the oversight of BGISD’s alternative educational programs and all school safety initiatives. These alternative settings include the Home Hospital, the Warren County Regional Juvenile Detention Center; the Crisis Stabilization Unit and the Compass Academy at the Bowling Green Learning Center.

In addition to nine years heading Parker-Bennett-Curry, Jackson served 11 years as assistant principal at Bowling Green Junior High School; previously, he spent a year as assistant principal at Franklin-Simpson Middle School and eight years as a high school math teacher at Warren County Public Schools. Jackson said his most relevant experience comes from his time as assistant principal at BGJHS – where a guide indicated consequences for various actions, one consequence being the alternative to suspension program (ASP).

“We kind of had a say as to which students would go to that placement (…),” he said about his time at BGJHS. “One of the things we tried to do was to bring the families, the parents, into that and then to reintroduce the student back into the regular school setting … You’ve gone, you served your consequence. Let’s put this in the past. Let’s start new. And so, we would set up some opportunities with our counselor …

“We’re responsible for making sure that when they come back to … the regular education setting that they’re ready to pick up and move forward. We’re hoping that they get whatever help that they need – but we’re responsible for them.”

Previously, the responsibilities of Jackson’s new role fell under the purview of BGISD Director of Pupil Personnel D.G. Sherrill. When the board approved the new position, BGISD Superintendent Gary Fields told the Daily News that some of Sherrill’s responsibilities had increased, and the role’s creation is “a way to get some of those responsibilities in the hands of someone who can devote all their time to those things.”

For Jackson, 53, the position came at what he had believed was the tail-end of his career in education, as he had expected to leave his position as principal within two years.

“But who knows, with this next role, what I’ll be able to do? I am excited about this opportunity,” he said. “It’s bittersweet.”

Jackson added that there are also students he was close with who ended up in the juvenile center, whom he hasn’t been able to visit due to his responsibility as principal.

“Maybe they’re no longer there … but any individuals who are there, I’ll be able to go and lend a helping hand and check in on them,” he said.

Jackson’s priority will be to sit down with leaders at the alternative settings, listen and figure out how to best support them.

“I know I’m gonna step into a system that’s already good, with caring individuals,” he said. “I’m always keen for how we make it better.”

His approach will be similar as the district’s head of safety. This, he said, again means listening – in particular, to custodians and secretaries, those largely in charge of keeping the doors locked.

Jackson also plans to work on ensuring all custodians and secretaries are on the same page about security.

“What I’ve learned in all the trainings I’ve had over the years in regards to school safety (is) a locked door is the best offense – and the people who are responsible for that are we as the adults, but a lot of that falls on the custodians to do daily walks and make sure doors are closing properly,” he said. “Our secretaries, all of them are charged with receiving gatekeeper training … They’re in the front line of defense as well.

He also wants to coordinate emergency plans for visitors, especially substitute teachers; this, he said, means ensuring there are commonalities across schools’ emergency plans. Because schools have unique emergency plans, a substitute teacher or someone else who visits multiple schools may have difficulty keeping track of multiple emergency plans, he said.

“There’s five elementary schools; if you were subbing in all these schools, and we all had different responses to things, it would be very hard for you to ensure kids’ safety,” he said.

He also hopes to streamline the district’s coordination with emergency response agencies. This, for instance, could mean ensuring similar emergency response codes between schools and the agencies, he said; it could also, for example, mean incorporating technology such as a GPS that law enforcement can use to access buildings effectively and zero in on an emergency’s location, he added.

“There needs to be one common plan, and that needs to be shared with whoever’s going to be responding,” he said.

He’s well aware of his new role’s importance.

“Every parent’s child is priceless to them,” he said.