Breckenridge Texan

Breckenridge Independent School District trustees voted to fill three key positions in the district during their regular meeting Monday night. They approved the hiring of a new junior high principal, high school assistant principal and Elementary Director of Learning for the 2018-2019 school year.

Junior High Principal
Mary Perkins was hired as the new principal at Breckenridge Junior High School. She has been the principal at Gilbert Intermediate School with Stephenville ISD since July 2014. Before that, she was the assistant principal at Mineral Wells High School and assistant principal at Travis and Lamar Elementary schools in Mineral Wells. She was also a sixth grade and first grade teacher in Mineral Wells ISD.

Perkins has a master’s degree in Education Administration from Tarleton State University and a Bachelor of Arts in Education from California State University in Fresno.

“She’s very enthusiastic, extremely knowledgeable,” BISD Superintendent Tim Seymore said.
“She’s going to be a good fit for our junior high, I believe, to carry on the stuff we’ve put in place over there in the last two years and to continue those good things but bring her own twist to it.”

Perkins said she is very strong in curriculum skills and improving students’ needs and likes to work with teachers and kids and help teachers find ways to help the students improve.

“I’ve never worked this age group, particularly, so that’s going to be a fun new challenge,” she said. “I know that junior high kids are a special group of kids, and I’m very excited to get to know them.”

Elementary Director of Learning
Corey Boles was hired as the new BISD Elementary Director of Learning. The position was created as part of the BISD reorganization announced by Seymore on Friday, May 11. Boles, who will serve under Molly Johnson, the Chief Learning Officer, and will have the specific responsibilities of instructional improvement (Texas Teacher Evaluation and Support System) and student testing at the elementary level.

“Corey is an expert instructional leader,” Seymore said. “At the junior high, she was a great teacher and she had great ideas. She helped other teachers all the time with their instructional strategies. So, that’s what she does. She’s a reading specialist. Clearly at the elementary level, that’s always one of our focuses. She has been an elementary teacher, so she’s got good experience at the elementary level. But she also knows what they need at the older levels, so she brings a lot to that position. So we’re thrilled to put her in that position.”

Boles taught eighth grade English and Honors English from 2009 to 2017 at Breckenridge Junior High School. She was a kindergarten teacher from 1998 to 2008 at East Elementary. She was also an ESL teacher for Pre-K through third grade and a Dual Language Kindergarten teacher for the English part of the program in BISD.

Assistant High School Principal
Trustees also approved the hiring of Jennifer Brown as the new assistant principal at Breckenridge High School. She was a counselor and coach at Miami (Texas) ISD from 2014 to 2017, and for the past year, she’s been a technology instructor and coach at Graford ISD.

“She brings a wealth of knowledge and experience from various backgrounds,” Said BHS Principal William Paul. “The committee had a lot of great candidates, but she really stood out, so we’re fired up to have her.”

Brown’s previous experience includes serving as a counselor and assistant principal for Pampa ISD, an academic adviser for Clarendon College in Pampa, counselor for Canadian ISD, teacher/coach for White Deer ISD and as a training and development coordinator for Halliburton in Pampa.

Story by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan

Cutline, top photo: Mary Perkins, BISD’s new junior high principal, visits with William Paul, the new Breckenridge High School principal, at Monday evening’s school board meeting. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)