No, it’s not the kind of bacon you were thinking.

The public school system of Bullitt County elects a new superintendent.

Jesse Bacon as been chosen by the Board of Education as the new superintendent of Bullitt County.

Ever since September of 2017, the Board of Education has been on the hunt for a new superintendent. The question on everyone’s minds that keeps up to date with the ongoings of the public school government is ‘who can fill the shoes of Keith Davis?’. The Livewire staff, as soon as the news came out that the Board would be voting on the superintendent Thursday afternoon, immediately got together to organize an interview with Bacon.

The first thing that the staff wanted to do was educate the student body on who Bacon really was. As the principal of Simons Middle School in Flemingsburg, KY, there isn’t much that the Bullitt County student body knows about him. The main thing that he wants students, staff and faculty to be aware of is that he is open to opinions and comments. “I think the students will find me, hopefully, easy to talk to and somebody that will listen to them,” said Bacon.

When Bacon was chosen to be the future superintendent, he was excited. “My family is extremely excited to become a part of the Bullitt County community. This is a tremendous opportunity for me to be a part of such a fantastic school district,” said Bacon.

What initially drew Bacon to Bullitt County was the close community and the area. “I hear great things about the community,” said Bacon. He praised his predecessor, Davis, as well. “I’m really excited to get in and learn about how he’s been able to sustain that and move the district forward,” said Bacon.

One of the things that Bacon wants to focus on for Bullitt County is listening to the stakeholders. He wants to figure what areas in the county that the government and the Board can work on in order to improve. Bacon states that his mantra as an educational leader is looking for how the school can improve for the future. “Something I feel really, really passionate about is to listen to what people have to say,” said Bacon.

As the principal at Simons, Bacon has been prepared through his many executive positions and mentors.

Coming from Flemingsburg, not many of our students are familiar with Bacon. Something that he wants everyone to know as he begins to prepare for his new position as superintendent is that he is willing to listen. As someone in a position of power, that is monumental for students. “I want to be in the schools, I want to be able to interact and talk and be at extracurricular activities,” said Bacon.

Going from being in charge of one school to 25 is quite a drastic change. It’s also very difficult to be able to maintain a close relationship with every faculty and student body within those schools. The first thing that Bacon wants to do is get into those schools and talk to the faculty and staff within them. “The biggest thing I want to do is just get there and listen,” said Bacon.

With his years of experience in the public education force, Bacon feels that he has been preparing for quite a few years for this role.

His one specific goal for the county is to keep moving forward. He wants to look for the weaknesses and how to fix them. For him, that will be the main goal.

Education is one of the most important things for students, parents, lawmakers and teachers. Our esteemed schools are what prepare our future generations and how they act. For Bacon, he wants to give students the biggest opportunity for success. He wants all community members to be involved in school decisions, especially students. “Everybody has a stake in this, everybody has a role,” said Bacon.

For any person in power, their stances are important. With recent events in Kentucky and Florida, everyone’s minds have been on safety. He, like most administrators, believe that student safety is the number one priority. “We have to take a good look at our procedures, the processes that we have in place and make sure there’s no gaps in them and that we have protocols when things happen, that action is taken very quickly to ensure that all of our students and staff are safe,” said Bacon.

As a publication and as students, the Livewire believes that student voice and student press is a priority. Having a superintendent that cooperates makes a student journalist’s life easier. Without a cooperative superintendent, this means they could halt our publication at the snap of a finger. “When we, as educators, listen to students, we ultimately help students succeed. I think, for a long time in education, students probably have the least amount of voice in the way things are done,” said Bacon.

Bacon, much like Davis plans to use social media to connect with the students and staff of Bullitt County. “I think social media is an extremely powerful tool. I think in education, we’ve waited far too long to utilize it and we’ve got to have multiple ways to get our message out,” said Bacon.

Bacon is very excited to go to each school and meet with their students and staff and get to know them. “I look forward to meeting with them and working with them as we try to figure where we want to go and where we want to take Bullitt County Schools,” said Bacon.

The Livewire staff wishes him luck in preparing for his new role and we look forward to working closely with him in the future.