PEARCY -- Jason Selig began his duties as Lake Hamilton Junior High School's new principal, as well as "a new journey, a new chapter in life," on July 1.
"It's going to be challenging, but one that I want to accept and that I'm excited about," Selig said.
After graduating from Hot Springs World Class High School and Henderson State University, Selig began his 16-year long career in education at the El Dorado School District, where he worked as a math teacher and football and basketball coach.
From there, he moved to Hot Springs Oaklawn Magnet School, where he stayed for eight years, most recently serving as principal of the school.
He is currently attending Arkansas State University classes to earn an education specialist degree for superintendent.
"I knew that I needed to get some upper experience as well as far as the administrative role went," Selig said.
"I feel like people get stagnant if they stay in a role too long, that they need to move around. You need to gain other experiences to see things in a different light."
He and his wife of 11 years, Lynlee Selig, have two children, incoming Lake Hamilton Elementary School third-grader McKinley and 1-year-old son, Bentley.
Selig said both he and his family have been well-received in the district.
"I've been treated well. It's been a great transition. It's a family atmosphere, so I'm excited about that. My family was welcomed out here very quickly. The staff's been amazing, very accommodating. They go above and beyond, just as my staff did at Oaklawn. I've been here since July 1 and I can already see that."
As principal, Selig will be over 700 eighth- and ninth-graders and a staff of about 60, he estimated.
He said that one of the aspects of the job he most looks forward to is building relationships with faculty and staff.
"It's something I want to continue to do; build relationships out here. Relationships are probably the most important thing you can build, because you've got to build trust among your staff. This is a collective effort. It's not a top-down approach. It's not me making all the decisions. I want it to be a collective effort with all our staff because it takes a team to do what's best for kids."
While faculty and staff relationships are important to Selig, he said building relationships with students is just as important.
"Obviously junior high is a different battle because you're in between worlds, so to speak. You're in between the high school realm of things and the middle school. It's a challenging time for kids, which does make it a challenging time for all the adults and all the staff in the building, making sure that we're doing what's best for kids and giving them an outlet for someone to go to, to advocate to, to talk to and confide in. You have to build relationships with the kids, too. They have to know that they can trust us. They spend more time with us than they do with their own families. So it's very important that we make sure that we build that trust with them and that relationship."
As for goals, Selig hopes to continue to build the professional learning community at Lake Hamilton, collect and take staff feedback to heart and celebrate.
"I think a big component of what we do on a daily basis needs to be celebrated. You've got to celebrate your staff and celebrate your kids. I don't think we do enough of it in education," Selig said.
Above all, though, Selig said he intends to make students the number one priority.
"I want to make sure that we first and foremost put them first, that we're here for the kids, and the decisions that we make on a daily basis have the kids' best interest at the center of them. We want to do what's best for kids. Period."
As for the rivalry between Hot Springs and Lake Hamilton school districts, Selig said he would encourage both schools.
"Oh man, that's going to be tough. I think it's a healthy rivalry. At the end of the day, they're all kids and I want them all to succeed no matter what they do in life."
Local on 07/15/2019