SALEM R-80: New assistant superintendent steps into office from St. James

Copeland has been working in education since 2007. Shortly after getting out of college, Copeland was a business owner. He owned his business for about 10 years, which equipped him with an amount of experience that lent itself well to a career in education as a business teacher in Newburg. In that role, he was able to share his knowledge and experience with students for about eight years.

Moving right along, Copeland was able to climb up the career ladder in education, working as assistant principal in St. James. He worked as an assistant principal for a year before he climbed even further up the ladder—becoming head principal at Lucy Wortham James Elementary and serving in that role for eight years for a total of nine years as an administrator.

As for the differences between the school districts of St. James and Salem, Copeland stated that there aren’t many—both are actually quite alike.

“I think St. James and Salem are a lot alike in the size of the district, as far as the number of students,” said Copeland. “[Salem] is a mostly rural community that is very dedicated to the school district and willing to get involved.”

Copeland is a relatively new face to the Salem community, but he’s not new to the rural Missouri community, living between St. James and Rolla. Since the beginning of July, he’s enjoyed his time working within the Salem R-80 school district, sharing that people have been incredibly welcoming to him in his role as the new assistant superintendent.

As for Copeland’s goals as assistant superintendent, he shared he wants more than anything to support the staff.

“Primarily I want to be of support to the administration,” Copeland shared. “I want to be able to help them, as far as being able to provide professional development and give staff what they need to provide the best learning environment for students.”

Since the beginning of July, what he’s seen within the administration and the school district has been incredibly promising. He’s taken away nothing but good things that have made him hopeful for the upcoming school year.

“So far, I’ve seen people that are very dedicated to education—they’re more than willing to learn and have a growth mindset,” shared Copeland. “That’s been something that really stuck out. They’re really dedicated to students being the number one priority. You can’t ask for anything better than that in a school district.”