Jimmy Jordan Retires From PAGE
(Editor’s Note: Jasperite Jimmy Jordan, former principal at Jasper County High School served 21 years for the Professional Association of Georgia Educators (PAGE), and he retired last month. The following article is reprinted with permission from PAGE.)
With a six-foot-two stature, a sonorous bass voice, and an eager-to-engage personality, it’s hard to miss Jimmy Jordan when he enters a room. He’s missed, however, when he leaves, which was the case when PAGE bid him farewell as he retired earlier this year.
For 13 years, Jordan was Membership Services Representative for the district that includes his beloved Jasper County, and for eight years, he was Director of Membership.
Those two decades saw tremendous growth at PAGE, which nearly doubled in size. But asked to identify what brings him the most pride from his time at PAGE, he needs just two words: Teacher pipeline.
“To quote Barbara Mandrell, PAGE was teacher pipeline before teacher pipeline was cool,” said Jordan with his trademark humor. “We were the first to jump on the teacher shortage and helped bring it into focus for a lot of people.”
PAGE had meetings with the Georgia Department of Education, the Governor’s office, and the Georgia Professional Standards Commission, and in concert with the strategies policymakers established to reinforce the teacher pipeline, PAGE:
•Pioneered sending staff attorneys into college classrooms, new teacher orientations, and schools for Code of Ethics training
•Fixed its attention on Future Georgia Educators (FGE) for high school students and expanded the popular FGE Days
•Developed teaching modules for college students to help them prepare for their first year in the classroom and beyond
•Increased the number of Membership Services Representatives to augment endeavors throughout the state
•Recruited Membership Services Specialists to form the backbone of the organization’s data component
“We followed (former PAGE Executive Director) Dr. Allene Magill’s philosophy of putting boots on the ground, and the growth followed,” Jordan added. “We give educators the information to succeed in the profession. All the PAGE executive directors I’ve worked with — Barbara Christmas, Dr. Magill, and Craig Harper — have always given the Membership team everything we’ve needed to get the job done.”
Jordan now turns his attention full-time to his family (his wife of 52 years, children, and grandchildren), his skid steer, golf, fishing, and Monticello Presbyterian Church.
