Packham wants to grow with students and staff at Helderberg Christian
WESTERLO The Helderberg Christian Schools new administrator is excited about her new role within the school and the upcoming school year.
Jacqueline Packham was hired to teach at Helderberg Christian in 2004, and has over 25 years of education experience. She was recently hired as the administrator for the private non-denominational Christian school. Packham previously taught all subjects to fifth- and sixth-graders.
"I’m looking forward to this coming school year and growing with the students and staff," Packham said. Helderberg Christian currently anticipates 42 students will attend this fall, she said. The school is housed in the old Westerlo public school, which it leases from the Berne-Knox-Westerlo school district.
Packham replaces the schools founder, Diane Hannay, who resigned after 10 years to move to Oregon with her family.
"She was much loved. Everyone is sorry to see her go," Packham said, adding that the staff and students are going to miss her very much.
"The mission of Helderberg Christian School is to provide a program of academic excellence integrated with a view of the world from a Christian perspective," its mission statement says. "The school shall serve as an extension of the Christian home, established to train each student in the knowledge of God and the Christian way of life based upon the Bible."
Packham said she continues to see the Lord working at the school. Her vision for the future of the school is to help its students become responsible and upstanding citizens, and to help its students grow both academically and spiritually.
Packham has had kids over to her Greenville home, she said, the girls sleeping over and watching a movie and having dinner. She plans to have a picnic with the sixth-graders.
Packhams gift is in administration, she said, and she plans on being available to staff members and students and having an open relationship with parents.
"I’m a very hands-on administrator," she said.
The biggest difference between her teaching position at Helderberg and being the schools administrator is that she will now be very involved in the schools budget, she said.
Packham has worked at Greenville schools and was formerly the administrator of Greenville’s Hosanna Christian Academy. While at Hosanna, a few students were "below average" and she tutored them during and after school, she said.
The Helderberg Christian School is made up of seven teachers and one administrator. Mariann DeDeo was hired to replace Packham. Seven members make up the schools board of directors. Before moving to its current location, the private school was in the Westerlo Baptist Church.
