BATESVILLE — As educators move up the ladder into administration, many have said they miss the classroom. For Kim Poole, Southside Elementary School’s new principal,- it’s just a way to impact more children.
“I think I will miss the classroom,” she said, “but I look at it as my classroom has gotten bigger.”
Poole has taught several age levels throughout her 20-year career in Batesville’s Southside School District — most recently second grade — and she said she has always loved the younger students.
“I’ve always been drawn to the elementary age group,” she said. “I have taught middle and junior high English, and they are a different type of student. I enjoyed them, … but my big thing was that I wanted to keep my kids with me the whole day so I could have a bigger influence.”
Poole graduated from the nearby Midland School District in Pleasant Plains.
“I knew that I’d have a career with children,” she said. “I felt a strong calling from the Lord to be a positive influence.”
After college and a couple of years in Olive Branch, Mississippi, she moved back to north-central Arkansas and said she has thoroughly enjoyed her time teaching at Southside schools.
“It’s always student-centered at Southside,” she said. “It’s progressive, looking at how we can make their lives better. We are always asking, ‘What can we do to make students’ lives successful when they leave our district?’”
Poole’s long career has allowed her to see the follow-through of that vision.
“Since I’ve been there so long, I’ve seen lots of children go out and be successful,” she said. “In fact, some teachers here used to be students of mine.”
Poole has many stories and memories from the past 20 years. One of her favorites was from her time teaching eighth grade. She said she caught some boys throwing spit wads, and their punishment was to stay after class and sweep them up. When they were done, one of the boys asked if she wanted him to put the broom in her closet or leave it out so she could get home.
“When I tell this story, people laugh so much,” she said. “I just had to laugh at him. At that age, they are so raw. They just say what they feel.”
Of course, most of her students don’t assume she rides a broomstick to work. It may be years later, but she said she has heard from many who tell her she has had a positive impact on their lives.
“Sometimes you don’t know the impact you have on them,” she said. “When they come back to you years later and they tell you how much you impacted them, it makes you realize how much of an impact you had in them.”
As principal, Poole said, she is excited to extend that impact to more students and teachers. In the first year, she plans to observe a lot and see how other teachers work.
“I’m really looking forward to getting in the classroom and being more of a listener and watcher the first year,” she said. “Now I can see what other people do. I’ve heard so many people tell me how wonderful our teachers are, so I’m excited about seeing that from a different perspective.”
When she’s not at work, Poole likes to spend time with her husband, Chris, and three children, Maddie, Tori and Grayson.
“Outside of school, I’m just their mom,” she said. “We do a lot of softball and dance, and everything we do, we try to make them feel special.”
Poole also teaches Sunday School and leads the curriculum at Central Avenue United Methodist Church in Batesville.