‘Proud Principal’ John Jorden Preparing To Call It a Career
Joselyn King Trending
WHEELING -- Just like his sweatshirt says, Ritchie Elementary School Principal John Jorden is a "proud principal" -- a title he has earned after 40 years in education.
Jorden is retiring at the end of the school year and looking back on his successes with an ever-present positive attitude.
"I try to stay positive and I am not faking it," he said. "I am positive, and I am visible. I am not the principal who stays in his office every day and reads email. I'm tackling the problems by being with them in class. I make it a goal to visit each classroom two times a day and see what is really happening in the classroom."
Principals did not do that "back in the day," Jorden continued.
"They stayed in their office, and you never saw a principal in the classroom," he said. "Today, principals are more visible."
He has mentored all the new principals in Ohio County Schools for the past 15 years and tells them the same thing.
"Be visible, and be in classes," Jorden said.
In 2019, Jorden was selected Elementary School Principal of the Year by the West Virginia Association of Elementary and Middle School Principals.
In 2023, the school was named a National Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education under Jorden's direction.
"That's the thing that makes me most proud," he said. "Ritchie is all about teamwork and team effort, and that was not an individual award for me. It took all of us to obtain that award.
"When you're selected as one of two schools in the state (to get the award), and one of only about 300 in the country - that's pretty awesome."
Jorden is a Wheeling native who holds a masters in education from West Virginia University, and a bachelors in elementary education from the former West Liberty State College.
He was hired in 1995 to teach at Elm Grove Elementary, and later moved on to Madison Elementary and Triadelphia Middle School. He would later be named assistant principal at Triadelphia in 1997.
He would first serve as principal at Ritchie Elementary from 2000 to 2011, then would move to Middle Creek Elementary for a year before being named director of human resources for Ohio County Schools in 2012.
In 2013, Jorden returned to Ritchie Elementary as principal.
He said the biggest challenge he encountered in his profession was the change from classroom teacher to assistant principal.
"That was a big change. I was a teacher who never had any classroom management problems. I really didn't," Jorden said. "The kids loved me, and I loved teaching.
"When I became assistant principal, I would see or have to deal with problems I never had in my classroom. I had to learn to deal with that."
Jorden disagrees with those who say parents have changed in their attitudes over the decades.
"My Ritchie parents are amazing," he explained. "They are no different now than the parents I dealt with 25 years ago when I started in administration. They all love their children."
Jorden said just as he emails teachers each week, he also sends out regular phone messages to parents reminding them of upcoming events at the school. One recent message told them state testing was to take place that week, and this resulted in perfect attendance at the school on five of the six testing days.
"If anything, parents are more involved in their child's education now because of social media," he continued. "They still care about their kids. They still look out for their kids."
When the school year is over, he plans to enjoy spending time with his grandchildren. This week he only has one grandchild, but his daughter Chelsea -- a teacher at Madison Elementary School -- is set to give birth to his second grandchild next week.
That grandchild is scheduled to be born on Jorden's birthday.
Other than that, he plans to golf, do "more golf," and travel. There will be trips to Myrtle Beach, and to the gulf side of Florida.
"That's my plan now," he said. "Then I'll just take some time off and relax and enjoy some leisure time, and just see what comes next."
Jorden is quick to note there is one thing that won't change. For years he has tutored local students in both West Virginia and Ohio on how to achieve higher scores on their American College Testing (ACT) tests. That will continue.
"I am proud to say I have helped kids obtain thousands and thousands of dollars in scholarship money," he said. "On the West Virginia side, parents call me because they want their kids to get the Promise Scholarship. I've tutored over 100 kids who have gotten the Promise Scholarship.
"On the Ohio side, they just want the scholarship money. They want the higher score on the ACT test."
Jorden expects other options will come his way. Meanwhile, he is going to miss being at Ritchie Elementary.
He said the reality of pending retirement didn't hit him until just this past Sunday, when he sent out his last weekly email to teachers.
"The weekly email gives them praise for what I've seen in the classrooms the week before, and it lists what we're going to do in the following week. It gives them encouragement.
"As I was typing it, it was like, 'That's your last weekly email.'"
The teachers seemed to really like the emails, and actually have contacted him when they come late on Sunday nights, Jorden continued.
"I hope whoever replaces me continues, because the teachers love the emails. It keeps us all on track," he said.
Jorden said he realized it was time to retire when he looked at current students in the school and realized, "I taught their grandparents."
Students working on the school's yearbook recently asked him what advice he would give to his younger self.
"Forty years goes really fast. Enjoy every moment of it," he said.