by Courtney Price

DENVER – Several Lincoln Charter School staff members will start off the school year in new roles, Chief Administrator Dave Machado announced in a recent newsletter.

Jonathan Bryant, who has served as dean of students and athletic director for five years, will focus on the high school as assistant chief administrator. “The school is growing… and we’ve added a few administrative positions to fill in some focus areas we need to work on,” Bryant said.

The N.C. Department of Public Instruction changed requirements for curricula, which Bryant said, is requiring more oversight.

“Our Lincolnton campus has only ever had one administrator and they’ve gotten to the point where they need more than one,” he said. “Last year we had just a shade over 1,400 students across all three campuses. This coming year we’ll have over 1,500.”

The increase in students will fund the additional administrative positions since schools in North Carolina are funded based on the number of students enrolled, he said.

“We always want to be getting better at what we do, and that usually means needing more hands on deck,” he said.

Other staff members who will also take on new roles include:

• Christina Williams. She has been named dean of students for the middle school. Williams has been with Lincoln Charter for 10 years.

• Daniel Schmitz. He will serve as assistant principal at the Lincolnton campus as well as the school’s athletic director. Schmitz has been with the school for 5 years.

The school also welcomes new teachers this year:

• Amanda Choren, high school math

• Lisa Haag, science

• Paul Thomas, world history

• Michael Thorton, high school computer classes

• Katie Siegel, high school and middle school computer classes

• Ricky Joseph, seventh grade

• Jessica Poole, seventh grade

• Avrol Black, kindergarten

• Jodi Kahler, second grade

• Kellie Meehen-Kenning, first grade