Nichols Career Center names next assistant director

Jefferson City Public Schools announced Friday that Travis Plume will be the next assistant director of career and technical education for Nichols Career Center.

Plume will succeed Cody Bashore, who will be the director of Nichols after current director Sharon Longan retires in June.

Plume has been with JCPS since 2011, according to the school district's news release.

For the past six years, he has served as the counselor at Nichols, where he coordinated the marketing and student services for 11 high schools: Blair Oaks, California, Fatima, Jamestown, Jefferson City, New Bloomfield, Russellville, South Callaway and Southern Boone school districts, plus private high schools Calvary Lutheran and Helias Catholic.

Plume also taught biology and Advanced Placement biology from 2011-2013 while serving as a student council sponsor at Jefferson City High School.

He co-created the "integrated agricultural biology class" with Nichols' agriculture instructor.

Nichols is expanding its agriculture program offerings in the 2019-20 school year to include new courses for high school students in agriculture leadership; floral design; food science; landscaping/turf maintenance and management; and vet science - and JCPS middle school students will also be offered exploring agriculture courses at their schools by the career center.

JCPS said Plume was also "integral in the initial iPad integration" and a member of the Professional Learning Communities Leadership team.

Plume was a classroom teacher and leadership team member for Belle High School from 2003-2011, and before that, was the admissions representative for State Technical College in Linn from 1999-2003.

"As the assistant director of career and technical education for NCC, Plume will provide instructional leadership to staff including: the planning and delivery of professional development activities; guide and support teachers to ensure that all district, state and federal expectations are met; utilizing and analyzing student achievement data as a means to impact instructional decision-making; and providing curriculum support," according to JCPS' news release.

"Travis' career and technical education experiences, combined with his commitment and loyalty to both NCC and JCPS, creates the perfect recipe for ensuring the continuity of our NCC leadership," JCPS' Director of Secondary Education Gary Verslues said in the news release.

"We are excited to have Travis continue on our NCC leadership team, building upon the successes of NCC's programs and activities," Verslues added.