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April 17, 2009

Meet Lamar's new headmaster

By Jennifer Jacob Brown

jjacob@themeridianstar.com



Shane Blanton's passion about educating our children is highly evident, to say the least.

If Blanton's three college degrees, one of which is in Educational Leadership and Research, his nearly completed PhD in the same subject, and his nine years as headmaster of a private school in Port Gibson don't make his passion blaringly obvious, the vigor and depth with which he talks about the subject certainly do.

"I care about kids," he said. "I care about our future, and we need to be into making sure we can take care of our kids."

Blanton, who grew up in Meridian but has lived in other parts of Mississippi for many years, will take over the post of Lamar School headmaster in July. He said his goal at Lamar is to "set up and push forth a vision that really makes it unique — that when you look at it, you say wow."

Blanton is a strong believer that standardized tests are not the answer to problems in education, and that a well-rounded education with strong academic foundations is key to success.

"I'm not preparing kids for a test," he said. "I want them to be prepared to be young men and young women that are capable of articulating what they believe."

Blanton believes it's important for a school to provide a cohesive education from early elementary through high school, giving students a strong fundamental education in math and language early on that will help them to better understand a broader range of subjects as they advance through school.

He said he wants to prepare children grammatically from a young age, going from there to teach them to articulate, and then to apply the concepts they've learned.

"I think discipline is key," Blanton said, "great structure and academics that focus on the basics... your fundamentals must be in place before you can move on."

Provided that fundamentals are in place, Blanton believes education should include experience-based learning through things like travel, sports, and community service.

He is excited about coming back to Meridian and taking the post at Lamar, but what he is most excited about, he said, is the education his four boys, ages 6 to 13, will receive.

Blanton comes to Lamar with an impressive resumé, having completed a $20 million capital campaign, developed an annual giving program, planned and supervised a campus revitalization project, and increased enrollment by 300 percent during his previous job as headmaster of Chamberlain-Hunt Academy in Port Gibson. He is currently pursuing a PhD in Educational Leadership and Research from the University of Mississippi, with an anticipated completion date of August 2009.

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