School trustees in Deweyville have hired a new superintendent to lead the district through the recovery from last year’s devastating flood. Keith Jones has accepted the position and the challenge of guiding the Deweyville schools during this difficult period.
Upon assuming the position of superintendent Jones is very aware of the problems he and the school trustees face in restoring the district to its level prior to the flooding last spring. Jones stated, “Our greatest challenge right now will be working through some financial issues with the rebuild. Our goal is to get through these challenges without the students having to feel the effect of us having to tighten up our belts a little bit.”
Jones comes from a family of teachers and has a Master’s Degree in Business Administration and a Doctorate. He began his career in education first as a classroom teacher in 2005 at Port Arthur Memorial High School and then as an administrator with the Bridge City school district in 2007.
Following the flooding of the Sabine River in 2016, Jones moved to the Deweyville schools to help with the FEMA grant and the rebuilding of the elementary school. Working with FEMA Jones admits is a process and the school district is moving forward following the disaster, but progress is slower than he wished it would be. Jones estimated it will be about two years before students will be attending classes in a new elementary school.
Since coming to Deweyville, Jones has seen the resilience and compassion the community possesses. He shared examples of working in the high school last year when kindergarten through the twelfth grade were all in the same facility. Small students too short to reach the water fountain being lifted up by a football player to get a drink. The gym was divided into multiple classrooms to accommodate all the students. After noticing a large stack of supplies in a hallway Jones asked why the supplies were not being used or distributed throughout the community, and he was told those were supplies donated by Deweyville citizens who were still flooded themselves in many cases that would shortly be delivered to areas across the river in Louisiana that were flooded.
The attitude of the Deweyville community is one of the reasons Jones is confident the school district will rebound successfully. He expressed his admiration for the positive approach of the community and the school district. “This is a really special town full of great people. You’ve got amazing teachers, a school board that cares about the kids and are in it for the right reasons, the campus administrators are very knowledgeable, it’s just a great place to be,” Jones praised.
The school board chose Jones this month to replace Kevin Clark as the superintendent of the Deweyville Independent School District. Clark announced in April he was retiring as superintendent.
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