Clay Jones’ journey to being the Pampa High School principal isn’t unlike many others who enter college after high school with what they think might be a career path.
The 2006 Pampa High School graduate initially went to Oklahoma State and majored in architecture.
“I found out quick that wasn’t what I wanted to do,” Jones said. “I was rooming with three guys I graduated with here and my (now) wife was going to Texas Tech. I was going there every weekend and it wasn’t a good deal. So I transferred to Tech.”
Jones changed his major to business but didn’t like the sales aspect of the field and found himself still looking for the career path he wanted.
“I was talking to (former Pampa coach) Andy Cavalier and he got me hooked up with James Morton, who was the head coach of Monterrey (Lubbock) at the time,” Jones said. “I went and talked to him about being around and got my foot in the door there. I loved being around the kids, being around coaches and the atmosphere they had.”
Jones finished his business degree but wanted to pursue a degree in education, and did so through Lubbock Christian University.
“At the time, they had an internship and Morton had left Monterrey and took most of the staff with him,” Jones said. “Monterrey let me start teaching there. I was 21 years old, just graduated Tech. That was really eye-opening for me. Being from Pampa, I thought everybody was like us. But it was definitely the wild west there.”
Jones stayed at Monterrey for seven years and got his masters from LCU. As he and his wife, Lacie, started growing their family, they wanted to leave the Lubbock environment behind.
“We ended up moving to Plainview and I got an assistant athletic director’s job,” Jones said. “I was the offensive coordinator and we spent four years in Plainview. That was a good learning experience for us in a lot of ways.
“There were things that happened there that I didn’t handle the way I should have, but both ways. You grow and you learn, it was our first opportunity at leadership for both of us. My wife had an assistant principal job and it was good for us to see those things. It was the first time I experienced what failure was like, and fighting through it.”
Jones said Pampa ISD saved his career in education as he was looking to do something else when he left Plainview.
“It’s interesting how things shake out,” Jones said. “I remember it was two days before we could get out of our contracts and (then human resources director) Nathan Maxwell called my wife and said they had a position for her here.”
Jones and his family had the opportunity to come home to Pampa in the fall of 2019, and they did.
Having been involved in several areas of leadership throughout his career, Jones threw his name in the hat for the Pampa High School Principal job when it opened after Hugh Piatt was named the Pampa ISD Superintendent.
“The thing I think that draws me to educational leadership is I see the fights our people do every day,” Jones said. “There’s a lot of misinformation on what our people do. Some of it’s warranted, especially when you look nationwide. Teachers (on a national scale) don’t do a real good job of promoting the profession with the labor unions making horrible decisions and educators get painted with that wide stroke.
“But I see the battles they go through on a daily basis. I know the government regulations they have to go through. When we deal with kids, we deal with peoples’ most vital things. Everything is personally charged. The thing that drew me to educational leadership is I want to be the buffer for our people to allow them to do the best we can for kids. We have a staff that cares about our kids and want to see them succeed. Does that mean we are right all of the time? No. But we sure try.”
The culture among the staff at Pampa High School is a family unit.
“The secondary world is set up to divide people into sections and departments,” Jones said. “But what we do here is our people are genuinely involved with each other, care about kids and care about each other. It’s an atmosphere you don’t see a lot in education. It’s usually ‘What’s best for my area or department?’ A lot of that is the high stakes accountability. It’s not a malicious deal but people do what they have to do.”
But Jones said it isn’t like that at Pampa High School.
“When Rex Childress (welding instructor) and one of his kids sells a welding project at a football game,” Jones said. “I feel like most of our people over here rejoice in that because they understand it’s good for all of us. It’s not that Rex’s kids did well. It’s our kids.”
When he isn’t supporting students at a sporting event, he is chasing around his own three kids outside.
“I’ve got two boys that are getting to the age where they like to do sports and my daughter loves to fish,” Jones said. “We love to fish. We spend a lot of time outdoors. On our street it’s the running joke that if we are home, our kids are outside. We like to be out and about.”
Jones personally loves to hunt and enjoys the tranquility associated with it.
“My kids aren’t at the age where they can hunt,” Jones said. “But I like being out, away and quiet.”
Jones is married to his wife of 12 years (and PHS 2006 graduate), Lacie, and the pair have three kids. About being back in Pampa? It’s good to be home.
“Both of our families still live here,” Jones said. “For us it’s home. It’s good to be home....I’m excited for the future and I think it’s cool that our kids are getting to experience some of the things we did.”
Jones said it’s an honor to be the high school principal.
“I never thought I’d ever be a part of it,” Jones said. “Even being back home. Most people the goal is to move out and go to bigger and better things. But there are worse places than Pampa, Texas. We are by no means perfect. But we are better than most.”
