New Clack Middle School principal Jonathan Patrick sees several similarities between his old role as a pastor of a small community church in Brownfield and as the leader of a middle school campus, not the least of which is tending to the staff and students he’s been selected to guide.

“This is all about having the shepherd’s mentality,” said Patrick, who holds master’s degrees in educational leadership and Christian education from the University of Texas-Permian Basin and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. “Good teachers have that mentality. They’re mindful of the ones in the room and how they’re acting. They’re perceptive about the kids’ moves and tending to the heart of the kid as well as the head of the kid.

“I’ve been intertwined in the church and school communities for quite a while now, and there are many similarities between those two worlds,” said Patrick, who pastored the church from 2008-17 while also serving as a teacher and coach in the Brownfield ISD. “Working with people in an educational or church setting is very similar. The administration end of the work is similar. And then, of course, the teaching part, whether adults in a church or kids in a school. It’s all about reaching people.”

Patrick – who served as the K-12 principal for the Dawson ISD before coming to Abilene in 2020 – succeeds Dr. Chris Bailey as principal at Clack. Bailey is now the district’s executive director of behavior and student supports. However, he also took on the role of helping Patrick make the transition from assistant principal at Abilene High School to principal at Clack after the announcement was made in late May that Bailey would be moving to the district office and Patrick would be moving over to Clack.

“The transition from Abilene High to Clack was a good one,” Patrick said. “The administration downtown and everyone at Clack made the chaos manageable for me. (Abilene High principal) Emme Siburt was great about allowing me to close things out at Abilene High and move away, and Dr. Bailey was great about meeting with me on a few occasions to help me get my feet in the water at Clack.

“The administrative team at Clack helped me by hanging around and helping me get up to speed on what I needed to know,” he said. “I love that we kept all three assistant principals (Joshua Parker, Justin Rosenquist, and Monica Ford) because that continuity through this change will be key to our success.”

Patrick has a particular goal in mind for Clack regarding his time – however long that might be – at Abilene’s west side middle school.

“I want Clack to be the standard for the middle schools in town,” he said. “We’ve got four great middle schools in town with great leadership at the other three. The other three principals have all offered help, and I’m looking forward to working with them. This is nothing against any of the other middle schools. But in my time at Clack, I want others in the region and area to look at Clack and as what’s going on and why it’s working so well.”

To make that happen, Patrick said, he will lean on his experience in all three levels of education to lead the campus in the best direction.

“Middle school is a microcosm of the elementary and high school levels, and you have to lean into that,” he said. “At the elementary level, they want to play and be on the go and active, and you have to be ready for that. In high school, those kids have settled in a particular direction, and they’re more like adults in that they want you to let them make their own decisions. Middle school is the transition between those two levels. They’re big enough and old enough that you can relate to them as little adults, but they’re still young enough to want to play, engage, and be active.

“Working in that age range is a sweet spot for me because it’s where most of my teaching and coaching experience has been centered,” Patrick said. “I love the opportunity for influence and to show them they’re growing up and becoming young men and women, and we’re going to have fun helping them get there.”