wenty-year educator enjoys small-school feel
Jason Brown still believes there’s a lot of positives within education and wants to do everything in his power to provide any and all opportunities to students.
Brown took over as the High Plains Community Schools’ new superintendent July 1 and has spent the first month on the job learning his way around HPC’s three communities ahead of the 2024-25 school year, which is set to begin Aug. 14.
Brown is entering his 20th year as an educator across multiple Nebraska schools. Brown is a Pleasanton grad, growing up on a farm just on the outside edge of town.
“I always thought I wanted to farm, but my Dad told me I needed to go to school and get a degree,” Brown said.
Brown’s tall frame, all 6-foot-8, provided an opportunity to play basketball in college at McCook before eventually graduating from UNK.
He stayed on with the Lopers as a graduate assistant while getting his master’s degree in special education while also working at Kearney Public Schools with students who were in wheelchairs or had high needs.
“I loved that,” Brown said. “It was a calling to me. I really, really enjoy working with kids who have special needs. It’s something I’m really involved with and still am to this day, even as an administrator.”
While he was studying at UNK, Brown did a lot of observation hours, some of those at Zion Lutheran where he noted his love for education really blossomed.
Brown would be on hand for multiple days a week and it was something he was slowly, yet surely hooked on.
“Watching kids learn and grow was a real trigger for me,” Brown said. “I also wanted to be involved in athletics as coaching really tugged at me, too.
“Every kid has a talent. That’s the joy and challenge of teaching is finding a way to pull that out of kids. Every kid has a niche and that’s what makes them successful to steer them down that path. That’s fun.”
For the first 10 years of his professional life, Brown was a physical education, health and coach at Leigh as well as Stanton.
From there, he was encouraged by a colleague to pursue a path down administration. Once he had the necessary classes, Brown earned a job at Maywood and was part of building a successful cooperative between Maywood and Hayes Center.
“I wasn’t there long and they were needing a new superintendent,” Brown shared. “I was asked to get my superintendency. I never dreamed I was going to be doing this job.”
After five years there, Brown and his family wanted to move closer to family in Central Nebraska, taking the superintendent position at Bertrand, where he’s spent the past four school years before joining HPC.
One of the challenges with working at a school like High Plains is the cooperative aspect within the three communities. Brown’s prior experience with setting up a sports cooperative at Maywood-Hayes Center gave him many of the tools he believes necessary to be successful.
“It was a huge challenge bringing together Maywood and Hayes Center together for a co-op,” Brown explained. “They needed each other badly. The numbers were low and wouldn’t have had some activities without the other. We made it work and the key to it is doing what’s best for the kids.”
As High Plains is set to begin its 25th year meshing together Hordville, Polk and Clarks, Brown is excited to continue the Storm tradition.
“There were growing pains but the main focus is always doing what’s best for the kids,” Brown said. “You just want to give them all the opportunities. It’s tough because no community wants to lose its school or identity. But we have to find ways to work together and give every kid that opportunity. High Plains has done a great job of that and we will keep moving forward.”
As Brown began looking for a possible new destination, he was immediately intrigued by what High Plains had to offer.
He noted the school’s solid reputation and solid academics while also receiving a ton of support from its communities as reasons why he pursued the HPC opportunity.
“I’m excited to get to work with this staff here (at HPC),” Brown added. “They have a good mix of experienced and new staff. It will be a lot of fun to do that.”
Even with all the negativity surrounding education over the past several years, Brown remains optimistic and comes to work every day with a smile on his face.
He puts the kids of his school district first and wants only what’s best for them. He wants the teachers under the HPC umbrella to just worry about being the best educator they can be and he will take care of any outside noise.
“It seems like in the last few years we have to validate everything we do, especially in the rural schools,” Brown said. “It seems like everyone wants to take something from us. But, what makes this job exciting is the kids. The kids are awesome, have bright futures and have so much to give.
“It’s a product we’re all proud of and one that’s built on responsibility and respect. Our kids have high accountability and we want that to be representative of High Plains.”
Brown continued by explaining that no matter what decisions are made in the Unicameral as it pertains to education, he’s most worried about providing a true and solid education to the youngsters of HPC.
Simply put, he wants the teachers to teach, the bus drivers to drive bus and coaches coach the teams.
“My message to the staff is not to worry about any of that. I want them to take care of the classroom because they do a great job,” Brown pointed out. “I’ll take care of all those other things.”
Brown is married to his wife, Abby, who is an educator at Riverside. They have two daughters, Emma and Mykel, who are set to be a senior and 7th grader at HPC this fall.