She just did what came naturally in whatever she did as she utilized her gift of leadership with
a heart for education. But her gifts were obvious to her longtime friend, Charlotte Matthews,
who worked as a literature teacher at TCHS at that time. When a position in her department
became available, Charlotte convinced Jennifer to apply. “She told me that through the ‘Teach
for Georgia Incentive,’ anyone with a bachelor’s degree could start teaching as long as you
took a couple of college courses and passed the Praxis within a certain amount of time,” said
Jennifer.
In 2002, the same year that she married her husband, Jason Irvin, she started teaching
literature at TCHS, and she had her teaching certification within the year. But Jennifer
110 Toombs County Magazine
didn’t stop there. When she realized how much she actually enjoyed
teaching, she continued with her education. Over the next months
and years, she received a master’s degree in Curriculum, an Education
Specialist degree in Teacher Leadership, and her Doctorate of
Educational Leadership. She also added several more state teaching
certificates to her list of accomplishments.
Jennifer taught high school Literature at Toombs County High
School for the next ten years during which time she would serve as
Department Chair. She was chosen as the Teacher of the Year in 2010
and recipient of the STAR teacher award on two separate occasions.
She was also named among the top 10 finalists in the Georgia Teacher
of the Year program. In 2013, Jennifer took the administrative role as
an Assistant Principal at TCHS.
The following year, she accepted a position as Principal at Wheeler
Correctional Facility, the largest prison in the state of Georgia with
approximately 3,000 inmates. Once again, it was a career path she
never imagined for herself. “I never saw myself working in the prison
system,” said Jennifer, “But I figured the experience would look really
interesting on a résumé. I thought I could do this for a year and move
on to a job as principal of a school.”
What she hadn’t planned on was loving the work. The fulfillment
of teaching people hungry to learn was almost a culture shock after
teaching high school students. “Kids go to school because they have
to or their parents will get in trouble,” said Jennifer. “It’s sad to say,
but many kids don’t want to learn. They don’t even want to be there.
These inmates choose to come. They want to change the odds for
themselves. They want to be able to walk out of those prison doors
with job skills. Ninety-five percent of those incarcerated will return
to society. The whole purpose of education in the prison system is
to enable the inmates to get a GED and vocational trade so that they
don’t come back.”
Governor Deal had good reason for concern. Georgia is the eighth
largest state, “but we are the fourth largest prison population,” said
Jennifer. There are plenty of theories of “why” if you’re just looking
for something to blame: cycles of poverty; single mothers raising children alone; felons for
father figures; lack of education that prevents moving up the pay scale or even to procure a job.
“When you can’t read and write, it’s hard to fill out a job application,” all of which “wears down
morale. They don’t think they can succeed. That's what I hear so much. So many say, ‘I just
didn't know that I could learn. Nobody told me I could succeed.’”
It didn’t take long for someone to notice just how efficient and effective Jennifer was at
her job. When former Assistant Commissioner for Inmate Services, Buster Evans, came to
tour Wheeler Correctional Facility, a privately-owned facility by Core Civic, and observed the
effectiveness of having principals in the prison education program, “he was so impressed, he
went back to our Commissioner and said, ‘I want to do this with the Georgia Department of
Corrections,’” said Jennifer. “They created positions for the Southeast, Southwest, and the
OPPOSITE PAGE
Jennifer gets great
support from her
husband Jason,
who runs Beckum
Automotive, and
their son Logan.