JC Thomas has been named Mason County Middle School principal.
Thomas, who has served as the MCMC assistant principal for about two years, will begin his duties as principal on July 1. He will take the place of Justin Moore, who has been named the district assessment coordinator and director of innovation.
Thomas said he attended Tollesboro High School until it closed. He finished his senior at Fleming County High School.
“I was a Tollesboro boy,” he said. “I went there until the school closed. When that happened, I went on to Fleming County High School and graduated from there. For college, I went on to Morehead State University.”
According to Thomas, he received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from MSU.
“I received my teaching certification for K-5 education, my principal’s certification and my certification in director of pupil personnel from MSU,” he said.
After graduation, Thomas taught first grade at Straub Elementary School for three years, second grade at Straub for six years and spent seven years teaching fourth grade at Mason County Intermediate School.
“Elementary education is where I’ve spent most of my time,” he said. “I’ve been assistant principal at the middle school for two years, so it’s still a little new to me, but I’m getting used to it.”
Thomas said he did not always know he wanted to go into education, but realized it might be a possibility during his senior year of high school when he began helping with the Big Brother/Big Sister program through Comprehend.
“I love working with kids,” he said. “I started helping with that program as a senior and I had several teachers who helped spark that love of teaching in me.”
Though excited, Thomas said he is also a bit nervous about embarking on his journey as principal.
“I’m about 80 percent excited and about 20 percent nervous,” he said. “I just want to do what’s best for the kids.”
As far as goals for the school, Thomas said he hopes to continue to improve on several implementations currently underway.
“We’ve already had a lot of change,” he said. “I don’t want to throw anything new at anyone. We have a lot of things that were implemented that I want to keep improving on. We do plan to work on safety in the school. Safety is our number one priority for the students. We hope to have a second barrier at the front of the school, upgrade the exterior doors and upgrade the camera system.”
