Pictured from left are Chad Bongiovanni, newly-appointed director of student support services, and Leslie Melquist, newly appointed Jefferson Middle School principal. The Jamestown Public Schools Board of Education held its re-organizational meeting where the new Jefferson principal was announced. P-J photo by Jordan W. Patterson

Leslie Melquist will be the new face of Jefferson Middle School.

“I’m looking forward to being a part of their school community,” Melquist said.

Melquist was appointed as the new Jefferson principal by the Jamestown Public Schools Board of Education at Tuesday’s regular meeting.

Melquist will take the place of Chad Bongiovanni, former Jefferson principal who was appointed to the new position of director of student support services within the Jamestown Public Schools District. Both appointments were approved during the meeting.

“I’m very grateful for the opportunity to continue to working with the staff at Jefferson and continuing on to the hard work that (Bongionvanni) has been doing with their staff,” she said.

Melquist previously served as an assistant principal at Jamestown High School since 2014.

She has also served as the assistant principal at Persell Middle School, a biology teacher at JHS, and a science teacher at Jefferson and Persell.

“I’m going to miss the kids and the families and the staff at the high school,” she said about leaving JHS behind for the new opportunity at Jefferson.

Bongiovanni previously served as the Jefferson principal since 2016 and as the assistant principal prior to his appointment.

He also taught as a general education teacher at Love Elementary School and served as a district-wide instructional coach. During the meeting, he thanked the district, the board and several administrators for allowing him to “grow as an educator.”

“It was very difficult for me to leave Jefferson,” Bongiovanni said after his new appointment. “The past four years have been wonderful. I have absolutely loved working with the students, the parents and the families. We’ve been able to come along way and get a lot done. I’m very much looking forward to this new opportunity, but Jefferson will always be near and dear to my heart.”

The director of student support services position was created at the Tuesday’s meeting along with the coordinator for student support services. Bongiovanni will handle some duties previously managed by the director of pupil personnel services.

The position of director of pupil personnel services previously held by Bret Muscarella was eliminated. Muscarella was appointed to the director of special education during the meeting.

Tina Sandstrom, JPS chief director of schools, said she was confident Melquist, in her new role, will “continue to lead Jefferson into the future as the principal.”

The board also approved the appointments of Meridith Rohlin and Olivia Ruiz as ex-officio student board members. Both students are entering their senior years at JHS and will serve on the board in their roles until June 30, 2020.

In other news, the board adopted the collective bargaining agreement between the district and the Jamestown Teachers Association. Dr Bret Apthorpe, JPS superintendent, said the district used a “win-win” approach when negotiating with JTA. The five-year contract has more than 50 different changes from the previous one, Apthorpe said.

“I can literally say that these 18 months of work have been extraordinarily positive,” Apthorpe said.

The superintendent thanked the board for its support of the district’s approach to the negotiations. He also thanked the JTA negotiations team for its role in the CBA.

Apthorpe said the JTA team took the negotiations “very seriously” and was as committed to the win-win approach as the district was.

“That’s so important to a healthy school culture,” he said.