Jefferson City Superintendent Announces Retirement
Jefferson City superintendent Brian Mitchell announces his plan to retire at the end of the year. This he says, after spending more than 25 years in the missouri education system.
With recent remarks on district morale and the announcement of a law suit by a former teacher, Dr. Mitchell says his retirement has nothing to do with that, just simply that it was perfect timing to start his dream of owning a family business, in the environmental science field.
“The reason I’m retiring is because my family has had the opportunity to build a new business in the environmental sciences industry so it’s completely taking us out of education, but it’s an opportunity that we had to make a decision to either do it now or most likely not have that opportunity”, says Dr. Mitchell.
The Superintendent has spent more than 25 years as a missouri educator, with an emphasis on early childhood education, work on the academy’s secondary level, literacy and preparing kids at they graduate, for the work force.
“In spite of all of the great things and the great people I get to work with throughout the community, it really came down to a legacy issue that I can build something with my family that I can pass to my kids and their kids”, says Dr. Mitchell.
Representatives from the Missouri National Education Association wished Dr. Mitchell well today and said they hope to continue to have a strong working relationship with the next superintendent. Communications Director Debra Beckman says, “everyone wants it to be the best school district it can be, for the students and we just want to be able to keep those lines of communication open and listen to the concerns of educators”.
Board officials say that they wish him well and that they look forward to completing this year strong and soon selecting a some to fill his place.”At the october board meeting we will lay out a plan of how we proceed now, it’s an opportunity for us to seek a fantastic superintendent whether from jefferson city, throughout the state or the country”, says Doug Whitehead vice president of the board.
Superintendent Dr. Mitchell says he made his announcement at the beginning of the year to give the board enough time to be able to find a good replacement.
