It’s official.

 

Come Oct. 16, Bridgeport High School will have a new assistant principal. And they didn’t have to go far to find a replacement for the soon-to-be-retiring Mary Frances Smith.

 

Current advanced math teacher Renee Mathews will fill the position. Mathews was the recommendation from the school, including the administration and the BHS Faculty Senate, and was approved by the elected members of the Harrison County Board of Education at Tuesday’s meeting.

 

For Mathews, it’s another rung in the ladder she has climbed since arriving first to teach as a half-time educator at the school in 2005 before assuming full-time duties at BHS two years later. Now, she finds herself soon to be in the administration.

 

“I don’t think I could have been happier anywhere else. I have been blessed by students, parents and co-workers. All of them have empowered me to be better at what we do and I hope to and plan to continue the tradition of success here at Bridgeport High School,” said Mathews.

 

BHS Principal Mark DeFazio was pleased with the board acting on the recommendation. In most cases, approval is a formality.

 

“First of all I’m very excited and happy for her,” said DeFazio. “I think it’s a perfect fit for Bridgeport High school for various reasons.

 

“One, she’s been a teacher here and has the respect of our faculty and, two, she has the respect of our student body and has been very much involved with the growth of our students as leaders, particularly on student council,” DeFazio continued. “She has an excellent rapport with our students. From an administrative standpoint, she’s very much aware of our high expectations academically. She’s a (math) department head and is involved with the scheduling process and also part of the curriculum leadership. She’ll fit in very well.”

 

Mathews teaches advanced math classes at BHS and has taught nearly every type of math the school has offered in her 12 years there. While she got her Master’s Degree locally from Salem, Mathews’ path to Bridgeport is one that is far from ordinary. She’s from Lytle, Texas and has her undergraduate degree from the University of Texas at San Antonio.

 

Her spouse is also not from the area. In fact, their presence in Bridgeport is a result of his time being stationed in Kosovo as a career military man.

 

“He was looking for a place to work on his Master’s for PA (physician’s assistant) school and Alderson Broaddus was one of the places. We visited it and reviewed our options and this is where we’ve moved and we haven’t left,” said Mathews. “We don’t want to move.”

 

Mathews and her husband Urlin have two children in 8-year-old daughter Georgia Faith and 6-year-old son Tripp. Both are students at Johnson Elementary.

 

It’s her impressive teaching background in mathematics, as well as her involvement in programs such as student council and the Teacher Cadet program (where she works with students who are looking at becoming educators), that said is the only downside to the hire, said DeFazio. He said it will be a chore to replace her.

 

“She brings a lot to the table as a teacher and I’m sure it’s going to be the same in her new position,” said DeFazio. “I really and truly hate to lose her as a teacher, especially math because she taught upper level classes is fantastic at it. I told her I hated that, but we see this as a long-term process as opposed to a short-term process and over the years she’s going to be instrumental in maintaining the high expectations we have here.”

 

As good as she is at teaching math, Mathews said it never came easy for her. She said as a student she spent hours studying and leaning on a mentor to get through. She said ultimately she wanted to see kids who weren’t “brilliant in math” to get able to succeed.

 

“That was my calling, and I knew it. I wanted to see students succeed and I still have that desire now in the classroom,” she said. “When I leave teaching, I’ll still want that success for the students, but with a different type of challenge.”

 

With Smith’s retirement coming Sept. 15, some have wondered why Mathews doesn’t start sooner than the middle of October. DeFazio said there’s a reason for that.

 

“The reason is so that we can keep her in the classroom until end of the six-weeks. We want to be fair with our kids who are with her now and have time to be able to find someone certified to teach everything she teaches,” said DeFazio. “It’s not an easy position to fill, but no matter what we’re going to make it work. I think everyone knows that no matter what we won’t turn our backs on our students. Meeting their needs is first and foremost in every decision made.”

 

Now Mathews will be in the classroom knowing her teaching days are numbered and her administrative days are ahead. She’s glad to have had the opportunity to serve in that capacity and believes, as does DeFazio, it will be beneficial.

 

“Working with this staff, having the benefit of 12 years teaching here and the interaction with my co-workers on a daily basis, is an advantage,” said Mathews. “It’s beneficial from different aspects, but I’ve had the opportunity during my time here to sit down and have professional conversations and I look forward to continuing to have those conversations. I think we have a mutual respect for one another’s knowledge and that should benefit myself, our staff and most importantly the students.”

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows Renee Mathews with her family, while BHS Principal Mark DeFazio is shown below. Family photo courtesy of Renee Mathews.