Jennifer Raby thought she could only bleed Panther blue, but she mixed the color with some Warhawks silver.
The new Mount Vernon-Enola High School principal said she’s home now.
“My family’s from out here,” she said. However, her parents lived in Greenbrier while she was growing up, and she lived, ate, slept and breathed basketball as a forward on the team. “That was my identity,” she said.
Raby received a basketball scholarship to attend College of the Ozarks, now School of the Ozarks, in Point Lookout, Missouri. Her parents moved to her mother’s family farm in Mount Vernon while she was away, and she came back to live with them to do her student teaching in Clinton the first semester of her senior year.
“That was as close as I could get,” she said.
Her parents didn’t go to college, but she had an aunt who was a teacher in Greenbrier (now a special-ed supervisor), and “I had good teachers” in the Greenbrier School District, Raby said. “A teacher is the best occupation to raise a family,” she said. She and her husband, Robbie, have three daughters: Gracie, 15; Kenlie, 13; and Marlee, 10.
Raby’s first job was teaching fourth grade at Theodore Jones
Elementary School in Conway, and her principal and mentor, Ann York, was a counselor first. Raby went to the University of Central Arkansas in Conway to get her counseling credentials.
“She was a great teacher, and I was excited when she decided to get her counseling degree,” said York, who retired six years ago as principal. “That’s how I came to Conway; I was the first counselor at Julia Lee Moore [Elementary School].”
York said she thought Raby had the personality to become a counselor “and administrator, for that matter, and I’m very proud of her.”
After teaching in Conway, Raby landed a job teaching at Eastside Elementary School in the Greenbrier School District, where she taught first and third grades.
“Greenbrier was on the move; it was growing,” she said. Raby knew the counselors were nearing retirement, and sure enough, after two years in the classroom, she took counselor Tena Hixon’s place at Greenbrier High School.
“That’s when I fell in love with high school,” Raby said. “I was elementary at heart; I never thought I’d leave the little ones.”
Raby said she was motivated to make a difference in the older students’ education.
“I felt like I came to school every day with a purpose. That was my drive every day — getting those kids a higher education, or higher training, to better themselves.”
She pushed herself, too, and earned her administrative certification online from Arkansas State University in Jonesboro.
While she was working as a high school counselor, she had her third daughter.
“I had three under the age of 4,” she said, laughing.
“I was living out here [in Mount Vernon] and working in Greenbrier.”
In 2005, a fourth-grade teaching position opened at Mount Vernon-Enola Elementary School, and she said she felt that it was God’s plan for her to move.
“I felt like I needed to be where my kids are. My kids are my No. 1,” she said. The community has embraced her family, she said. “They treat my kids like they’ve been lifelong residents here.”
She taught fourth grade at Mount Vernon-Enola for just a year before the elementary-school counselor retired, and Raby was ready to jump in. She served in that position for eight years.
“It’s more of a nurturing mother, encourager,” she said. Raby was also a part-time physical-education teacher.
“I love the babies because they love you unconditionally,” she said. Still, she felt more suited to work with high school students.
Two years ago, the high school counselor left, and Raby got the job. Then-principal Chris Nail left this year to become superintendent of the Rose Bud School District, and she was hired.
“I felt like it was a natural progression. The counselor works so closely with the principal in a smaller school,” she said “You wear a lot of hats as counselor.”
She began work as principal July 1, and she will oversee 19 teachers — some of whom also teach at the elementary school — and 250 students in the high school.
Raby said the personal touch in a small school is priceless.
“Every teacher here knows just about every kid in the building. I know by name every kid in the building,” she said. “The seniors this year, I believe I had them in kindergarten.
“We just have got the best kids. Our behavior problems are mild and minor compared to other schools. We have parental support. There’s not a parent I can’t call on the phone. Our families here value education, and they send their kids to learn. Our teachers are phenomenal. They want to be here; there’s not a lot of turnover.”
She has “a big to-do list,” Raby said.
“We’re creating professional learning communities among our teachers. I want to continue the uphill climb with college readiness. I know test scores are huge, but are we preparing them for the world of work?” She said test scores are important, but they’re not always the indicator of preparedness.
“Most of our kids continue their education,” she said.
Last year, 28 of the 33 high school graduates enrolled in some sort of postsecondary education, primarily college, Raby said.
“That’s the cool thing about high school — we see the end result. We get them as seventh-graders; then we watch them walk across the stage,” she said. Faculty and staff at larger schools often miss out on seeing students grow and mature, she said.
Raby’s getting settled in her new office. “The student handbook is my first endeavor. Then I’ll go on to our teacher handbook and to making sure things are in line with that.”
Heather Blackiston, a former math teacher in the district, is the new high school counselor.
“I’m very excited about what she’s going to bring to the counselor’s office,” Raby said.
When school starts, students will be honored for their academics from the last semester, and she pointed out that basketball will start in October.
“I’ve got big shoes to fill,” she said. Nail organized the first big pep rally for the school, which doesn’t have cheerleaders.
What it does have is a new high school principal with a lot of spirit and school pride.
“I thought my blood would always be Panther blue,” she said with a laugh.
“We’re just a hidden jewel out here,” she said. “I don’t see myself going anywhere else.”
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.