Meadowview Christian School is welcoming their new headmaster Renee Callen to the school this week.

The Meadowview board hired Callen earlier in June after a one-month process of reviewing potential candidates following the resignation of previous headmaster, Miriam Anderson, who managed the school for eight years.

Callen is coming to Meadowview from the Alabama Department of Education in Montgomery as being a project manager for programs focused on reading assessment among other things.

“Working for the state department I was able to get the whole picture, but I am so excited to be returning to where it really happens — in the school,” Callen said.

A native of Selma, she was educated in Selma public schools and is a great believer in the public system, but said she also believes in families and students having a choice. She graduated from Judson College in Marion and went on to receive two more degrees, including her masters in education, at Auburn University Montgomery. She has 32 years of educational experience, 20 of them spent in the classroom and the other 12 holding administrative positions.

“I have benefited of all the newest initiatives from being at the state department,” Callen said about initiatives like Alabama Math, Science and Technology initiatives and others. “And putting these experiences together and bringing them to the private school system, I think it will be really positive and I am excited.”

She wants to focus on developing the early childhood educational program at Meadowview Christian by brining in more hands-on learning, building and more project-based learning, and “bringing back the things other systems don’t have time for,” she said.

“We are going to do so much with growth and improvement, I don’t think anyone will be able to beat what we are going to be doing in our early childhood area,” Callen said.

President of the Meadowview board, Steve Johnson said when he first announced the new headmaster that she would be a positive administrator to lead Meadowview into the future with the best chance for success and years down the road.

“One thing we think that will be an advantage for us is that with the last two headmasters, they were both great people, but neither one of them lived in Selma,” Johnson said about the headmasters who commuted each day. “This individual does live in Selma. They have not necessarily worked in Selma for the last several years, but they still live in Selma — so that will be good to have someone here locally that knows the families and the families know them.”

Overall, she said she is excited about the opportunity to bring something unique to the school and offer things at Meadowview that bring in new aspects of education to the table.

“I’m excited because this is a new opportunity for me and for Meadowview, because Meadowview offers a unique chance for children and parents and families to have not only a good education, but an education that allows the faculty to bring into the curriculum Christianity, and moral education character education as well,” Callen said. “A strong school only helps the community in long-term ways, and so we are growing children and character, and we want these students to be as strong as they can be so we can make the community a better place.”