Made the most

When Cory Gibson walked into Roseville Elementary School in Miami, Okla., for his first principal’s job, he was handed the keys to the school and a disciplinary tool.

Gibson said the secretary at the school provided him with a paddle. After all, at the time, the district had a document that parents could sign to have their kids disciplined by spanking or paddling.

“She said, this is how you do discipline in Oklahoma,” Gibson said. “She knew it wasn’t likely that I was going to do that. It was most likely a joke.”

Still, the opportunity was a unique one — the principal’s job opened up because the previous principal left for Spring Break and never came back. Gibson also needed to receive his licensure as a counselor because the school didn’t have one.

It was the first of three principal jobs for Gibson, who also served as principal at Lakeside Elementary School and Pittsburg Community Middle School. Then, more than a month ago, Gibson was named as the interim assistant superintendent for Pittsburg USD 250.

It’s been a long road to that point. Despite what he calls his “relatively” young age at 31, Gibson has spent about 15 years in education, dating back to when he worked as a school custodian during his high school years. Gibson has also spent time as an after school program aide, a summer maintenance worker, a Title I teacher and a classroom teacher.

After his first principal’s job, Gibson said he heard about the opening at Lakeside. He wasn’t going to apply — “I figured there would be so many interested people and there would be no way I would get it” — but friends encouraged him to put his name into the hat.

He attended a reception, as all the candidates did, where administrators looked to see how he interacted with staff and the students. That night, as the reception finished up, Gibson said then-Superintendent Gary Price walked up to him and said, “you’re it.”

He faced challenges almost immediately. After taking the job, Gibson was told that Lakeside would be the grounds for a major renovation, with all of the classes moved to one side while workers finished up the other. In the winter, workers moved the classes back to the other side of the building.

“We didn’t have the whole school until the next school year,” Gibson said.

But he persevered, and moved up to the position at PCMS. There, he said he dealt with a school that was the size of a small Kansas district, and learned how to deal with things in a larger setting.

“At both places, the staff and the students were excellent,” Gibson said. “They were all budding, and all I had to do was maybe add a little more fertilizer.”

And now there’s the move to the interim assistant superintendent’s job. Gibson said he’ll be working largely with construction — as he did at Lakeside — though he said he’ll try to stick to his roots as a teacher and principal.

“I want to make sure to clear time in my schedule to get into the classroom, to interact with the teachers and the students,” Gibson said. “That’s still an important part of this job.”

Gibson said he’ll also be able to interact with children at home, where he and his wife Jennifer have a 4-year-old, Ashlyn, and an 18-month-old, Jayton.

Professionally, Gibson said he was on the right track for superintendency, which he said was one of his goals.

“All of those jobs have led me to a great opportunity now,” Gibson said. “And there have been so many great people along the way.”

Kevin Flaherty can be reached at kevin.flaherty@morningsun.net or by calling 231-2600 Ext. 134.