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Julia Koch to head new Blair Oaks middle school
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By Bob Watson
bwatson@newstribune.comEducator has been with Jefferson City School District since 1989
After nearly two decades in the Jefferson City Public Schools, High School Assistant Principal Julia Koch will start the next school year in Wardsville - as the first principal of Blair Oaks' new middle school in Wardsville.
“When you're an administrator,” Koch explained Monday afternoon, “having a chance to open your own building is just a rare and incredible opportunity - and that's what they've laid out before me.”
Her new job will pay $2,000 a year less than she now makes.
Blair Oaks Superintendent Jim Jones said Monday that Koch was so enthusiastic about the opportunity during her interview with him and Blair Oaks' school board that he “thought about quitting my job and taking hers. ... She brings an immense amount of experience at the middle school as well as the secondary level.”
She was the top choice among 23 applicants, Jones added.
“We don't think we could have gotten us a better candidate than Julia,” he said.
Blair Oaks voters last year approved a $5.9 million bond issue to build the new middle school, which will open to students in January 2009.
Elementary students from the fifth and sixth grades will join seventh and eighth graders from the high school in the new building.
Koch will spend part of her Spring Break this week “meeting some teachers and students, and just kind of get a feel for the high school and the elementary school. I figure I have to blend both of those two together, and I would like to see them in action.”
Koch began working in the Jefferson City District in 1989 as a Simonsen Junior High School English teacher. When the two middle schools opened in Fall 1993, she taught language arts at Lewis and Clark Middle School.
She went to the high school as an assistant principal in 2006, after working six years as the district's assistant program coordinator for the Out-of-School Suspended Classroom program at the Knowles Family YMCA.
Koch said Monday it wasn't easy deciding to leave the Jefferson City District.
“The high school staff is incredible, and I really enjoy them and the students and their parents,” she said.
Koch didn't apply to succeed Richard Pemberton as Jefferson City High School's principal, when he retires this summer.
But she had applied for the Blair Oaks' High School principal's job in 2006, when former teacher and coach Gary Verslues ultimately was hired.
“That was one of those rare things where you walk out of the interview,” she recalled. “You don't get the job but you still have such an appreciation for the interview process and the people involved.
“It was so amicable, that I'm thrilled to get another chance at it.”
Koch earned her bachelor's degree from Central Missouri State University, Warrensburg; her education specialist's degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia; and master's degrees from CMSU and from Lincoln University.
She has two children - a high school freshman and a seventh grader.
“When you're an administrator,” Koch explained Monday afternoon, “having a chance to open your own building is just a rare and incredible opportunity - and that's what they've laid out before me.”
Her new job will pay $2,000 a year less than she now makes.
Blair Oaks Superintendent Jim Jones said Monday that Koch was so enthusiastic about the opportunity during her interview with him and Blair Oaks' school board that he “thought about quitting my job and taking hers. ... She brings an immense amount of experience at the middle school as well as the secondary level.”
She was the top choice among 23 applicants, Jones added.
“We don't think we could have gotten us a better candidate than Julia,” he said.
Blair Oaks voters last year approved a $5.9 million bond issue to build the new middle school, which will open to students in January 2009.
Elementary students from the fifth and sixth grades will join seventh and eighth graders from the high school in the new building.
Koch will spend part of her Spring Break this week “meeting some teachers and students, and just kind of get a feel for the high school and the elementary school. I figure I have to blend both of those two together, and I would like to see them in action.”
Koch began working in the Jefferson City District in 1989 as a Simonsen Junior High School English teacher. When the two middle schools opened in Fall 1993, she taught language arts at Lewis and Clark Middle School.
She went to the high school as an assistant principal in 2006, after working six years as the district's assistant program coordinator for the Out-of-School Suspended Classroom program at the Knowles Family YMCA.
Koch said Monday it wasn't easy deciding to leave the Jefferson City District.
“The high school staff is incredible, and I really enjoy them and the students and their parents,” she said.
Koch didn't apply to succeed Richard Pemberton as Jefferson City High School's principal, when he retires this summer.
But she had applied for the Blair Oaks' High School principal's job in 2006, when former teacher and coach Gary Verslues ultimately was hired.
“That was one of those rare things where you walk out of the interview,” she recalled. “You don't get the job but you still have such an appreciation for the interview process and the people involved.
“It was so amicable, that I'm thrilled to get another chance at it.”
Koch earned her bachelor's degree from Central Missouri State University, Warrensburg; her education specialist's degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia; and master's degrees from CMSU and from Lincoln University.
She has two children - a high school freshman and a seventh grader.
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silverfox wrote on Mar 19, 2008 8:53 PM:
Ms. Koch is a great person. Those kids are gonna be fortunate!! "