Alumna Amanda Summers graduated High School with a scholarship from the Poplar Bluff School Foundation reserved locally for future educators, then in 2006 became a teacher at Oak Grove Elementary, where she attended as a young girl.

“It was Poplar Bluff or bust,” Summers commented, sharing how she did not apply anywhere else but the school system from which she graduated and where her now teenage children attend.

This year, Summers will serve as principal of the Early Childhood Center, having spent the past year there as an integrated special education teacher. She succeeds JoAnne Westbrook, who retired after directing the program for nearly 20 years starting at the former Kinyon building.

“She has taken the time and went above and beyond to learn the intricacies of our building and culture, along with demonstrating her dedication and vision,” Westbrook stated. “She is very approachable and her genuine love for children shines through everything she does.”

In addition to leading the building, Summers has been appointed to take over Westbrook’s district-wide duties as Title 1 director. While Summers admitted she has much to learn regarding federal reporting, she noted that she has an aptitude for organization, and has been fortunate to receive training on the various guidelines from Westbrook during the transition.

“If you want to grow, you don’t grow by staying where you’re comfortable,” Summers pointed out. She has served in an advocacy capacity for her building as a teacher ambassador under the district’s instructional coaches since the team was established in 2018, presenting regularly at regional conferences such as Missouri Model Districts and Missouri Learning Forward, and internally at workshops including PB Connect and iThink Summer Academy.

The majority of Summers’ career has been spent at the Kindergarten Center, teaching in the classroom for eight years, then serving as a reading interventionist for three. She earned her master’s degree in elementary administration from William Woods University in Fulton in 2010, and her bachelor’s in elementary and early childhood education from Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau.

“My heart has always been in those early years of early childhood education,” Summers explained. “They are little sponges, growing in so many different areas—social, emotional, fine motor, gross motor—and I’m enamored by the high energy and how much they love to be at school. We’re providing literally the first experiences all day long, every day.”

In 2019, Summers was named the district Teacher of the Year. In a series of testimonies from parents at the time, she was said to strike the “perfect combination of gentleness and encouragement.” With her career trajectory starting at the elementary level for several years, then to kindergarten for the balance of her tenure and now preschool, she is able to combine the academic rigor of the higher grade spans with an intrinsic nature to nurture new learners.

“I always wanted to be a mom, walking around with my baby doll,” she revealed. “Teaching is my ministry. It’s important for every child that comes through to know they are loved and cared for, before we can teach them anything.”

Summers said her goal is to maintain and then build upon the “reputation of excellence” that the Early Childhood Center has become known for. She feels fortunate to work in the newest facility across campus, connected to the Kindergarten Center to eliminate a grade-level transition, and designed specifically for preschool-aged students for the first time in the district's history. The Kindergarten Center also has a new principal in Christy Young, whom Summers says she has always “rooted for” and is excited to collaborate with.

“There is so much research out there that tells us, for every dollar spent, $16 will be recouped throughout the course of a child’s education career, they will complete a higher education, have higher economic stability, fewer remediation services, less dependency on welfare, fewer crimes, better social skills, better critical reading skills,” Summers outlined. “I don’t want to knock anyone that doesn’t send their child here for one reason or another, but I’m just a big proponent of early childhood education, and I very strongly believe in what we do as professionals.”

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Cutline: Amanda Summers succeeds long-time Principal JoAnne Westbrook as director of the Poplar Bluff Early Childhood Center.