Pat Stueck retires from EJCHS

East Jackson Comprehensive High School will get a new principal soon. Principal Pat Stueck retired this week and the Jackson County Board of Education approved the move Monday night. Hundreds of other public education employees in Georgia also retired this month to take of advantage of better state retirement benefits than will be available later.

Assistant superintendent Rise Hawley will take over at EJCHS as interim principal. The system plans to have a new principal formally named in time for the 2013-2014 school year.

Stueck was named principal at EJCHS in 2005, two years before the high school opened in 2007. She has been the only principal at the school. Before that, she was assistant principal at Jackson County Comprehensive High School for 10 years.

“The most rewarding experience of my professional career, which started in 1967, has been the opportunity to open East Jackson High School and work with an amazing group of students, teachers, and parents,” Stueck said. “I can’t imagine opening a school in a more supportive community.

“I’d like to thank Jackson County for allowing me to serve them and work with their children on a daily basis. My husband and I will continue to support the East Jackson High School community. We have established a fund for the purpose of supporting East Jackson students in their endeavors. The fund currently has $15,000.00 in it, and we will contribute to this fund annually throughout our retirement.”

Stueck’s long career in education began n New York and took her across the country to Florida, California, Indiana, Rhode Island and eventually to Georgia. She was also an instructor at UGA and worked at the Georgia Department of Education in Atlanta for eight years.