Chaplin native returning home as principal of Old Kentucky Home Middle School

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

Jesse Simpson speaks to an Old Kentucky Home Middle School teacher following the site-based council’s unanimous vote to hire him as the school’s new principal. Simpson is native of Chaplin and a 2000 graduate of Nelson County High School.

Monday, June 16, 2014, 7:15 p.m. — Chaplin native Jesse Simpson was named the new principal of Old Kentucky Home Middle School Monday afternoon by a unanimous vote of the school’s site-based council.

The announcement was attended by several of the school’s teachers and his friends and family, including his mother, who taught him while she was a teacher at the old Chaplin Elementary School.

Nelson County Schools Superintendent Anthony Orr complimented the council on their selection. “The council had a clear vision of what they wanted in a principal, and Mr. Simpson is their choice,” he said.

For Simpson, the move is a welcome homecoming.

After college, he taught science at Nelson County High School for five years and served as defensive coordinator on the football team. For the past three years he has been teaching at Central Hardin High School.

“I’m very glad to be home,” Simpson told the council and guests after the meeting. “We plan to build a house in Chaplin, and I plan to make Old Kentucky Home my home. This is where I want to be.”

Simpson, who said he had been in Chaplin helping bale hay prior to the council meeting, credits his farm upbringing for helping instill an appreciation for the value of hard work.

“You have to work hard to be successful at anything, and I hope to emphasize that point throughout the school building and to our students,” he said.

-30-