Pat Jeannot will be taking over the duties of principal at the largest school in the South East Cornerstone Public School Division when classes resume next September.
Jeannot will be travelling down the highway from Oxbow to Estevan when he begins the new job at the Estevan Comprehensive School. He is currently completing his third year as vice-principal at Prairie Horizon School, a pre-kindergarten to Grade 12 school with 380 students. The job at ECS entails administering to a school that features students from Grade 9 to 12 and an enrolment of about 850 students with over 50 teachers plus support staff .
Born and raised in Langbank, Jeannot completed a degree in education at the University of Regina, focusing on middle years curriculum, and has more recently completed a master's degree in educational administration.
Beginning his teaching career in 1987, Jeannot first taught in Carievale, in a kindergarten to Grade 8 school before transferring to Oxbow where he taught in a Grade 6 to 12 alignment. In 2003 he assumed the leading administrative duties in the Oxbow elementary school and when a new school facility was completed in 2010 which encompassed all grades in one building, he accepted the vice-principal's role.
Jeannot said he applied for the ECS position after he learned that current principal Mike Little was about to retire and after discussing some of the details of the job with him.
"I like change and I've had a bit of that over the years so a different environment sounded interesting. I believe I have developed more administrative skills, so I decided to explore the possibility," he said.
Jeannot said he is familiar with Estevan since his youngest son plays hockey with a number of Estevan kids, so he knows a few of his students-to-be already.
"I won't be coming in to make any huge changes. We'll look at what is working in terms of staff and community, but my personality is not one where I expect to come in and do anything radical. I like to think things through. I want to get to know the staff and the community first and we'll see what goes from there. I do know I'm entering a pretty good situation there, no big issues. I don't know a lot of the staff there, but that's OK. I'll check out the lay of the land before trying to implement any changes."
From a family perspective, Jeannot said his youngest son is currently enrolled in Grade 10 in Oxbow and his wife Jody teaches a Grade 4 class in the school as well, so they will maintain a home in that town for the immediate future.
"So at the start, I'll be commuting, and that's not all that bad. It'll give me a little thinking time, too," he said. The couple's oldest son is enrolled in the University of Regina, also pursuing a degree in education.
