Several people had recommended I interview Mr. Jason Michael Roberson, principal of Newton County Elementary School, so it was an easy decision to do so.
When he realized he needed to make a change of school positions, Mr. Roberson sent out several resumes. He said, “I told the Lord, ‘Wherever I’m supposed to be, all I ask is this: Whoever calls me first, let that one be from God.’” On Memorial Day weekend, 2016, he got the call from Newton County School District Superintendent, Mr. J. O. Amis, and the very next day he received two more calls from other schools! He says, “I know the Lord brought us here!”
Mr. Roberson was born July 12, 1974, to Mr. and Mrs. Rodney Roberson in Mt. Vernon, Ill. Larry and Teresa Sims, his mother and stepfather, were his parents from age three, and he grew up in Carthage. He says that he did not ever experience the negative side of a split family, as all involved — including half-brothers and half-sisters — were congenial.
As a youth, Jason received a valuable education while working in chicken houses and the Sims Appliance store in Carthage, the family businesses. His mother, a homemaker all through Jason’s school elementary and high school years, became a nurse later. He said he developed a strong work ethic, sense of responsibility, and the value of a hard days’ work. At the age of 15, with his step-father’s guidance and assistance, he bought a 1988 truck and made the car note himself each month.
Jason attended Leake Academy from first through 12th grade, graduating in 1992. He played baseball from the age of six all the way through high school. A science teacher who greatly influenced him there was Mrs. Ann Crapps, who pushed and encouraged him because she saw his potential. He said, “I couldn’t sit still and be quiet,” but Mrs. Crapps saw past that.
He spent the years of 1993-1999 in the Mississippi Army National Guard, while attending Mississippi State University, earning degrees from there in 1999 in Forestry and Business Administration.. He spent one year in New Orleans working for the Bayou Tree Service, but he realized he needed to do something different. After earning his Master’s in Education at Louisiana State University in August 2002, he also earned an endorsement to teach gifted students. He then taught middle school one year at Baton Rouge.
Mr. Roberson was hired by the Mississippi Choctaw Tribal Schools, where he taught TAG and biology for a year and a half. He earned his Specialist in Administration degree from MSU in 2005, with Pi Lambda Theta honors, and a 3.8 GPA. After serving as Choctaw Central High School assistant principal from 2006-2008, he served as principal at Standing Pine Elementary from 2008-2016. In this position, he lead his school to be recognized as Renaissance School of Excellence during the 2013 school year, which is only the fourth school worldwide to receive this recognition.
Mrs. Crapps, his high school science teacher, would be proud of his accomplishments as an educator. His resume enumerated many accomplishments in the various positions in which he has served. He also excelled in his years in the Mississippi Army National Guard, receiving awards while working and exercising his skills in leadership.
Mr. Roberson is a single parent, having his son, Jase Lafayette Roberson, now six, with him at NCES. Two of his criteria for moving from the Carthage area were “a successful school district,” and to be within “a 50-mile radius of Carthage.” Then the call from Mr. Amis helped him realize he should come to Decatur. In 2016, he left a school of about 130 students to become principal in Decatur of a school with about 830
students!
A decision he made as a seven-year-old child helped bring him here, as he “felt a tug” when he and his stepfather read scripture and talked. Then, standing in the pew, he said, “The Holy Spirit talked to me, and I knew it was time to make that step.” He became a Christian, and he says, “There are times I am not as close to God as I should be. But then He reminds me.”
Mr. Roberson told me of a vivid memory when he reenlisted in the Guard at the age of 37. (He had finished the first six years at age 25.) He said, “We try to do thing on our own, but this experience helped me learn to lean on and trust in God.”
He had entered Officer Candidate School, and the first two weeks included a Land Navigation exercise that he had to pass in order to stay in the school.
He, and others, were placed in a wooded area of “hundreds of acres,” with a compass and a map, and were directed to find seven specific points. I exclaimed, “You cheated! You had God!” to which he exclaimed back, “I did!”
But first, he had to stop relying on himself. He thought, “This is something I ought to be able to do.” But he realized he was lost in the woods. Amazingly, what would he find, on a bush, in this vast area, but a camouflage bandanna imprinted with the Soldier’s Prayer, Psalm 91!
Before long, he realized, “Lord, if it is Your will for me to be an officer in the Mississippi Army National Guard, I’ve got to find this first point!” He looked in a direction, walked about a hundred yards, and found the first point, without the use of the compass!
He says of that experience, “So, ever since, I lean on God’s guidance.” And there’s more to that story. He turned the bandanna in, only to find that another man had reported he had lost it. The verses that have meant the most to Jason Roberson come from that Psalm: “Because He hath set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.” Psalm 91:14, 15
“I have found, professionally and personally, if I will just ask and seek guidance, from God and others, such as co-workers on campus, then I’m much better off.”
Mrs. Janine Vincent, the pastor’s wife of Clarke-Venable Baptist Church of Decatur, where Mr. Roberson is now an active member, is also the parent liaison for Newton County Schools. She said of him, “Mr. Roberson can be found daily putting the interests of NCES students first and maintaining an open door policy for parents and guardians, while being supportive of his teachers and staff. The excitement on campus is electric and provides an environment conducive for academic excellence.”
He declared, “The day my child was born, God was there. When I was lost in the woods, God was there. And the Lord brought us here.” He went on to say, “Jace graduates in 2030 from Newton County High School, and I plan to be here!”
You may contact me at lagnesrussell@gmail.com or 601-635-3282.
