The Kingsville Independent School District board of trustees met Thursday to choose a new King High principal. New King High principal named Jerrod Barton, the new H.M. King High School principal, said he is looking forward to working in a larger school district with a diversified population. Barton begins his first day on the job this week.

The announcement of the new H.M. King High School principal was revealed after a lengthy closed session held Thursday noon during a special meeting of the board. The decision to hire him as the new high school principal resulted in a four to three vote by the Kingsville Independent School District board members.

Voting to hire him were Joe Trevino, Melissa Windham, Annabelle Garza and Larry E. Garza, board president.

Romeo Reyes, Corando Garza and Juan Garza replied “no” during the vote call.

Emilio Castro, superintendent, said he is pleased to have Barton join the KISD staff.

Jerrod Barton “We are very excited to have hired him as a new principal for the high school,” Castro said Friday. “He should be starting this week.”

“He is a promising young man, and we are looking forward to some great things from his leadership,” Castro said.

“It is an honor to be chosen to work at H.M. King High School and to get to know and work with the staff, students, and community,” Barton said Friday.

“I believe in treating every student individually, and prepare them for success after high school,” he said referring to his philosophy of education.

His style of management is leading by example. “I want everyone to be proud of all KISD students and becoming the best school district in the nation,” he said.

He is ready to meet the challenges of being a high school principal here.

“Every school has challenges,” he said. “I think it is imperative we work together as a community to make these challenges successful and realize it is a journey and not a destination,” he said.

Barton was employed with the Sealy Independent School District, a 3 A district. Sealy, Texas, is located near Katy and 50 miles west of Houston. Barton served as principal of Sealy High School where he supervised over 95 employees including administrator, counselors, clerks, secretaries, and other staff. As the high school principal, his campus duties encompassed many responsibilities in all aspects. He managed the campus budget and activity accounts.

His other experiences as a high school principal include hiring campus personnel and was involved in appraising teaching staff. He also developed and led the campus site-based decision-making committee. Barton served as supervisor for many extracurricular and co-curricular activities and programs ranging from FFA to the National Honor Society.

He collaborated with the superintendent concerning campus and district level large construction projects.

Barton also served as assistant principal at West Middle School from 2007 until 2009 with the West Independent School District in West, Texas. His many duties included being responsible for the logistical details of the school day including areas that ranged from master schedules to maintenance needs.

He supervised and appraised teacher performance. Barton also disaggregated TAKS data to find areas where students needed academic remediation and collaborated with the principal and teacher leaders to develop an intervention plan to remedy these problems. He also participated in the budget development process at the campus level.

Barton’s district wide duties as West Middle School included being a member of the superintendent’s Executive Leadership Team and District textbook coordinator.

He served as classroom teacher with the Belton Independent School District from 2002 until 2007. Barton, who graduated from Belton High School in 1996, taught physical education classes. He served as principal and assistant principal during their absences. He was chairman of the Site Based Decision Making committee and Student Council sponsor.

Barton is currently working on a Doctor of Education Administration, K-12, degree at Texas A&M University College Station, Texas. He received a Master of Educational degree from the University of Mary-Hardin Baylor in Belton, Texas in December 2002. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in exercise and sports science in May 2001.

He and his wife, Kristy, have a four-year-old son, Rowling.