She’s the Muscogee County School District’s ‘go-to’ person

She was bused out of her home county because an arsonist burned down her school. Four decades later, she still makes the same commute, except she drives her own vehicle from Cusseta to Columbus for a behind-the-scenes job with the Muscogee County School District.

On her desk outside the superintendent’s office in the Muscogee County Public Education Center, Karen Jones has an image of a lighthouse, the school district’s symbol, framed with this declaration: “We succeed because of you and the essential role you play every day.”

Those words aptly describe the contribution Jones has made through 36 years of work in MCSD, including the past four doing double duty as the superintendent’s executive assistant and the school board’s secretary.

Superintendent David Lewis refers to Jones as the “go-to” person in the district.

“Karen is a highly valued employee of the MCSD as well as a strong advocate for public education and is a tremendous ambassador for both,” Lewis said in an email to the Ledger-Enquirer. “Serving as the administrative assistant to me and also the nine members of the Board of Education, she helps to keep us organized and focused on our respective roles and tasks. This can be difficult when working with just one individual, so I know 10 can be challenging, but she does so with her usual grace. Furthermore, she is known, liked and respected throughout the community and state, which serves our school district well.”

Lewis, whom the school board hired three years ago from Polk County, Fla., where he was an associate superintendent, said he relied on Jones to learn about MCSD – and she continues to guide him.

“She knows I like to be accessible to people and attend as many school-related activities as possible,” Lewis said. “This often results in tight scheduling, but she has a very gracious way of keeping me on schedule for my next appointment.”

Muscogee County School Board chairman Rob Varner, in an email to the Ledger-Enquirer, said he appreciates Jones remaining “delightful” during “many important and stressful situations.” Since the District 5 representative became the board’s leader four years ago, Jones has been “always there to help and never seemed frustrated with my constant questions.”

Varner considers Jones “a loyal and dedicated person who loves MCSD and is passionate about public education. She’s a true gem!”

Unofficial historian

Jones laughed as she noted, “A lot of people have depended on me for the history of the district, but I used to be the youngest one here.”

She is proud of her role as unofficial historian.

“You’ve got to know where you’ve been in order to move forward and understand the dynamics of this district,” she said

Jones has been in a variety of jobs while serving with six MCSD superintendents: Bob Bushong, Jim Buntin, Guy Sims, John Phillips, Susan Andrews and Lewis. Jones became secretary of the Muscogee County School Board in 1993, when it was converted into an elected governing body instead of being appointed by the grand jury. In 2012, during a round of budget cuts, she also became the superintendent’s executive assistant because the district eliminated that position after Wanda Cline retired.

She isn’t a classroom teacher, but Jones educates folks about MCSD policies and procedures. Like a lighthouse, she helps them navigate the school district. And with each of the dozens of phone calls and emails she answers each day, she takes the responsibility of that initial contact seriously.

“A first impression,” she said, “you can’t undo that.”

‘Ugly face of racism’

Jones is one of Mattie and Prince Jones’ five children and still lives with her parents in Chattahoochee County. “It’s a privilege and a blessing that I get to have them with me,” she said. Prince is retired from the U.S. Army and as an electrician in civil service at Fort Benning. Mattie has been a homemaker.

Jones began her schooling during segregation, when “the ugly face of racism caused division,” she said. She and her sister were among the first half dozen blacks to integrate Cusseta School.

“I encountered verbal and physical abuse because of the color of my skin,” she said. “It made me focus spiritually, and this helped me survive. This did not make me angry with any race of people. Jesus said a true Christian is identified by the love that they have among themselves. It’s easy to love those you like, but it’s better to love those that hate you.”

After the 1969 fire that destroyed Cusseta School, she was bused to Buena Vista to complete elementary and middle school.

“The blacks sat on one side of the bus, and the whites sat on the other side behind the driver,” she said.

Then she was bused to Columbus, where she graduated from Baker High School in 1976.

“It’s a freedom to be educated,” she said. “It was something that was denied people, and it’s such a critical part of life.”

With a work-study scholarship, Jones earned a secretarial science diploma in 1977 from Columbus Area Vocational-Technical School, now called Columbus Technical College. Perry Gordy, the school’s director then, gave Jones her first job in the office. She took a Trailways bus from Cusseta to Columbus each workday until she saved enough money to buy a car.

In 1980, Joan Gallops hired her as a clerk in MCSD’s payroll department.

“She set a fine example of work ethics, honesty, courtesy and conscience of the needs of everyone,” Jones said. “During a time of racial turmoil, she made me feel special.”

Other positions Jones has had in MCSD include teacher certification specialist and executive secretary for assistant superintendents Eddie Lindsey and Percy Griffin.

Jones learned school law from Lindsey. “What a teacher he was!” she said. “I felt like I was in a classroom every day. He laid the foundation for me to currently work as policy administrator for MCSD.”

She learned from Griffin the importance of showing “dignity and kindness” to everyone.

‘Taj Mahal’

Jones marvels at the changes she has worked through during her career with MCSD. The most obvious one is the school district headquarters.

The main building used to be along Bradley Drive, on the hill behind the Columbus Museum. It was in a beautiful setting, but the building was falling apart – and inching down that hill.

“It was always too cold or too hot,” she said. “Every week, somebody was in there to repair something. The roof was leaking and the tile was coming out.”

Critics derisively call MCSD’s current headquarters “the Taj Mahal,” which opened in 2009 on the site of the former Sears store along Macon Road. The Muscogee County Public Education Center’s three floors covering 96,000 square feet totaled $16,952,029, including $1,352,029 in change orders. Add in design fees, furniture, fixtures and equipment, plus the purchase, demolition, cleanup and preparation of the former Sears site, and the project totaled more than $25 million.

Jones, however, embraces the nickname for the modern facility. She recalled former school board chairman Philip Schley insisting the new MCSD headquarters should show visitors and residents how much Columbus values public education.

“Why not? It’s education,” she said. “We should take pride in it.”

Jones also fondly remembers what former school board member David Rothschild II told her while he was waiting to see the superintendent after the center had opened: “Karen, I fought so that you would have the right to work in this building.”

Despite the controversies, Jones continues to admire the hard work of school board members “who neglect time with their families and devote untold hours to make education better in Muscogee County,” she said. “It will be in this building that history will continue to be made for those who believe that education is an equalizer.”

‘More opportunities’

Although she still uses the shorthand she learned at Columbus Tech to take her own notes during board meetings, Jones doesn’t record the meetings on a cassette tape anymore. A built-in system now digitally records the meetings and stores them on CDs.

It used to take her 2-3 hours to type the minutes on an IBM Selectric. Now, it takes about an hour on a computer. Since 2008, the board’s documentation has been electronic, saving thousands of sheets of paper each month, Jones said.

Jones also mentioned this change: “I’ve seen so many more opportunities offered to students and so many organizations that are willing to make education possible for those that can’t afford it.”

The most challenging part of her job, Jones said, is seeing “apathy by those that do not have a passion, an educator’s heart, for education and learning.”

Thankfully, she said, those instances are rare, which is why she regards this as the best part of her job: “The students! When I visit a school and see students, teachers and principals excited about school, it is priceless!”

This story was originally published October 12, 2016 at 9:24 PM with the headline "She’s the Muscogee County School District’s ‘go-to’ person."