STOCKTON: At the start of the 2021-2022 school year, Lincoln High School had the privilege of greeting their new Assistant Principal, Mr. Leonard Jones.  Mr. Jones was not shy about getting involved immediately with the students at the school. Bonds of trust were established with the student body within the opening weeks of school and have grown ever since. The Trojan student body knew they had a valuable resource to talk to in Mr. Jones.

Mr. Jones grew up right here in beautiful Stockton, California. He is a member of the 2009 graduating class from Edison High School. After graduation, Mr. Jones’ collegiate career took him to Sacramento City College, Benedict College, and finally Arkansas State University. After graduating from Arkansas State University, Mr. Jones taught for a year in Arkansas before heading to the Bay Area. In San Jose, Mr. Jones was a teacher and an assistant principal in the East Side Union School District for six years, and prior to joining the Trojans he worked in the Stockton Unified School District for two years. In just his first year at Lincoln High School, Mr. Jones has already made himself a prominent figure in our school’s community.

For the past several school years, Lincoln has operated with four assistant principals, one vice principal, one athletic director, and one principal because providing enough support for 3,000 students is cumbersome. Well, this year we only have three assistant principals and the extra work load has been seamlessly picked up. Every school has its own unique personality, and it took awhile for Mr. Jones to find his “comfort zone.” With the help of his colleagues and the students, Mr. Jones quickly picked up on the dynamics that make Lincoln so special. In fact, one of his biggest supporter is Mrs. Cunningham, a social science teacher on campus. “Mrs. Cunningham has made all the difference in the world,” said Jones. “Talking to such a seasoned Trojan, I learned the ropes on how things operate on campus. Mrs. Cunningham is a tremendous resource.”

Mr. Jones was an integral part of implementing a new video series into our school. The second semester reset video series was a new idea created by our administrative team that debuted the week students returned back to campus after Winter Break. The two week video series reminded the students of rules that we might have forgotten, newly updated safety guidelines, and some pretty cool school fun facts. Inside the video series, Mr. Jones was asked to focus on our peer mediation program and the Multilingual Center. Both of these programs are very important to students on campus, but they can both be easily overlooked. “I truly think the students really paid attention and bought into the type of school that we want to become,” said Mr. Jones. “I think the reset video series did a great job of opening up quality lines of communication between the students and faculty.”

Mr. Jones’ biggest hope for the upcoming school year is for our campus to continue our trajectory in helping one another by uplifting each other every day. “I want the Trojan community to continually grow as a family and appreciate the diversity and different perspectives that we all have to share,” said Jones. “There is so much potential in each one of us and we need to facilitate that growth.” As a graduating senior, I can already predict that the foundation laid this year with the second semester reset video program is allowing Lincoln to regain our form prior to March 2020. Things are looking up for the Trojans and Mr. Jones is a big reason why.