December 14, 2018—The fall 2019 semester of Excelsior Springs High School will have a new principal.
Current vice-principal Christen Everett will take the reins on July 1. She said she looks forward to leading the school she loves.
Everett
“I always tell my husband these are my people,” she said. “I really love the staff here, but I also really love the students here. I just think we have a great student body that I’m just excited to get the opportunity to lead.”
Current principal John Newell recently accepted the superintendent position at the East Buchanan C-1 School District located in the St. Joe area.
He said he describes the job opportunity that will take him from the Tigers as bittersweet.
Newell
“Excelsior Springs has been good to me,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed being here.”
He said ESHS provided the opportunity for him to grow and become a better educator. He said he still cares deeply for the students and the staff he will leave behind. It always comes down to the people, he said. Even with all the recent changes, he said the staff remained willing to go above and beyond to get the job done.
Everett began working at the high school in 2002. As a journalism teacher, she said she taught English classes as well as newspaper, broadcast and yearbook classes for approximately 10 years. She then transitioned to the intervention coach position. This job provided her with the opportunity to see how she would like a more administrative role within the high school, she said. This position led building wide positive behavior support and interventions. She said she then earned her specialist degree in leadership with the goal of leading the Excelsior Springs High School.
She moved into her current position three years ago. She said the opportunity to lead her own building excites her.
She wanted to lead at ESHS, she said, because of the connection she feels there. She said she just feels at home.
Future plans include allowing the high school programs to stabilize, she said.
“We’ve had lots of changes and I think the vision is to slow down, shore up what we’re going, not adding new things to the plate, not adding new initiatives, just taking what we’re doing and do it better and better,” she said.
Bother Everett and Newell said they describe ESHS as a special place. Everett said they have some of the most caring students. The school always receives compliments, she said, when they take students out into other communities or host guests at the high school. She said she credits this to the diversity of the students. Because the students come from all areas and different situations, she said they just show acceptance to each other.
She said she believes this partially comes from the example set by the staff. When students see staff treating each other with respect, kindness and humor, she said the behavior trickles down.
Newell said the behavior of the ESHS students and staff sets them apart from other school districts. He said he definitely knows he will leave a good spot and that will be difficult.
“One thing that I think maybe sets the students apart from other places I’ve been is just the level of compassion and caring for each other and their ability to, even though there’re 800 kids here, to support each other and be a cohesive group,” he said.