Meet Jamie Green! Jamie is the principal at Gainesville High School, he is married to Glaucimone and was born in Portsmouth, England. Jamie and Glaucimone have two children.
“I was born in Portsmouth, England, but I’ve lived in Scotland, Wales, and four cities in England. I was in West London for a long time, then Gibraltar, Boston, and now Gainesville, Georgia.”
Jamie came to Gainesville High School from Riverside Military Academy last year.
“What an unforeseen and enjoyable journey it’s been! I was in the United Kingdom, and I left to come to graduate school in Boston. I went to Tufts University, and didn’t intend on getting into teaching, but circumstances ended up producing an opportunity to work at a public school in Boston, and I took it,” he said. “It was everything I needed in my life, and I did it for 10 years. It was amazing. It was a title one district, a rich and diverse community with 63 different languages spoken, and I was really fortunate to be apart of a school and community that transformed over a 10 year period. It was so amazing to be apart of it.
“My wife and I, right about my tenth year, decided it was time for us to start a family, and we both felt that Boston just wasn’t the right place to do that. My wife, Glaucimone, is not from Boston either, so we decided to look around and see what’s available. My parents had moved down towards Atlanta, but I was looking at schools all over the U.S., in the southeast, southwest, west coast, but I had a meeting a meeting at Riverside Military Academy. I never thought I would end up there, but it was just a great opportunity and it had some great leadership. I really liked the mission. I really felt that reaching out and helping boys that hadn’t been successful was an extension of that calling I was serving in public school.”
We want to thank Jamie for sitting down with us recently and telling us more about his life and love of Hall County.
Question: What’s your vision for Gainesville High School and where do you see GHS five years from now?
Answer: “I’m trying to lead and learn at the same time. I’m trying to learn about what the school and the community really needs, and try and lead in a few areas I’m confident we need to lead in. I think first and foremost, is just understanding that we have students that come to us with a wide variety of needs and interests, and trying to cater effectively to those needs and interests. One of the things you probably hear a lot about is wrap around services. Everyone has a different idea of what that means, but for us, what we’re trying to do is provide traditional academic services and also looking at areas we can grow to better meet the needs of our students. An example would be a college and career advisement service.
“This year, I’ve added two additional counselors, and one is specifically working on college and career advisement. Really working with kids to get them into the right school or the right dual-enrollment programs, to connect them with career opportunities, or certificate programs that prepare them for those opportunities. I have another counselor who works to meet the social and emotional needs of our students. We have a lot of students here that come to us with baggage. We’re just really owning the idea that the school has a responsibility there, because if we’re not meeting the social and emotional needs of our students, then how can we expect them to attain that academic achievement that they are really capable of? That’s basic hierarchy of needs, if those needs aren’t being met.
“We’ve reformatted our administrative team to place administrators around students, versus programs like it’s traditionally done. We just tried to get to know our students a little better. We’ve introduced an advisement period…I think that’s a big part of the focus of this year, I’ve seen this done well. The school that I spoke about in Boston, we had a teen enrichment center, we had a relationship with the Cambridge Health Alliance, where we provided doctors and dentists, and took care of that for students. That was a part of the transformation. We are blessed to live in a community that is so ready to help and give.
“As a district, we realize that first and foremost, is the relationship between a student and a teacher, or the adults in the building. If you can get that relationship right, you can harness it to get the very best out of these kids.”
Q: How many children do you and your wife have?
A: “We have two children, and they’re young. We have William, who’s 18 months, and who takes after me. Then we have Madeline, and she’s three years old. We’re busy, Maddie is at the right age where she starting to enjoy being a part of the Gainesville High School family, and coming to events. She wears us out, running laps around the basketball courts, it’s been fun.”
Q: What is your favorite restaurant in Hall County?
A: “I think my favorite breakfast spot is definitely Longstreet Cafe. They’re so welcoming, and I really like their breakfast meats. I like to go there and you get to meet some really great people there. They really help support our schools and our community. If my wife and I ever get time to go out on a date, which doesn’t happen all that often, we love to go to 2 Dog. I really love it.”
Q: What is the first movie you saw in the theater?
A: “‘Home Alone.’ I was young. Growing up I was always outside, my parents couldn’t get me to sit down and watch a movie, even if they tried. I think we had a group party or something, and that was the first time I ever went (to the theater).
Q: What is something on your bucket list?
A: “No.1 is obviously to live long enough to see my kids get married and raise their families. That’s pretty important to me. If we’re talking about travelling and doing exciting things, I would really enjoy hitting Mount Kilimanjaro and getting to the top.
“We like to get out and hike. We love the mountains, especially the North Georgia mountains, that’s part of the reason I came here to be honest, the proximity. I mean this is a hidden gem. There’s not many parts of the country that are as beautiful as this, and as close to a city, and as accessible to a major airport or beach.”
Q: Who is one of the most interesting people you’ve met since you moved to Gainesville?
A: “Ricky Young, he’s retiring this year from GHS after 40 years.”
Q: What’s something about you that most people might not don’t know?
A: “I play rugby, still. I drive down to Atlanta and I put on my cleats, and I ran around and play rugby. Everyone is much younger, and quicker, and more athletic than me, but they haven’t kicked me of the team yet. I try not to come to work with a black eye or anything like that. It’s just a great release for me.”
Q: What’s one of your favorite things about Hall County?
A: “It’s such a welcoming community, and there are few communities that are as faithful and joyful. People here live life the way it ought to be lived. Plus you’ve got the lake, which I enjoy. And the proximity to the mountains. But working in education, I think this county really values it, and supports their schools. That’s really important, so that’s something that I’ve come to enjoy in this position.”
Q: What three words mean “Home” to you?
A: “My wife, my children, and, for me, definitely Northeast Georgia.”
The Faces of Hall County is a project to showcase the amazing people that live or work in our community. If you would like to nominate an interesting person to be featured please email babernathy@gonorton.com.
