Anthony Jones named Associate Principal
at Ames Middle School

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 19, 2011    

For more information contact
Kathy Hanson
Ames Community Schools
515.268.6651
kathy.hanson@ames.k12.ia.u

AMES—Anthony Jones is Ames Middle School’s new associate principal. Jones is assuming the role of instructional leader for eighth graders and at-risk students, and will also provide administrative guidance for athletic staff and booster organizations.

     "This is the job that could draw me back to Ames,” said Jones, who earned his doctorate in educational leadership at Iowa State University in 2010 and had relocated to Tennessee.

     Jones, 38, brings his wife Tyanez, an exercise physiologist, and three of his children back to Ames. Trinity, 11, is a sixth grader who will be settling in at Ames Middle School; Taniah, 7, is in second grade; and Ashton, 5, is in preschool.  An older son, Anthony Jones, Jr., 17, is a high school senior in Indianapolis, Ind.

     Jones credits the rapport he formed with Principal Jeff Anderson and Dean of Students Theresa Schleisman during his internship at Ames Middle School five years ago as one factor in his selection from among 27 candidates.

     Superintendent Tim Taylor said besides impressing an interview panel of administrators, teachers and parents, Jones may have cinched the role when a group of Middle School students “kidnapped him” during a tour of the facility.

     "We thought he got lost in the building somewhere and we sent out a search party,” Taylor said. “We found him an hour-and-a-half later, still enjoying himself with the students.”

    After gauging the “school climate and culture,” Jones said his goals are to enhance the middle school’s family atmosphere and boost the foundation that gives it a positive reputation in the community.

      I want to make sure every student feels welcome,” he said.
Jones succeeds Renee Rockow, who retired earlier this year.

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