By Kayla Kaufman
Youth Correspondent
After 25 years at Carbondale Middle School (CMS), Jennifer Lamont will retire as its principal at the end of this school year. Lamont has had a highly successful career, and is adored by the CMS and Carbondale communities.
Lamont’s enthusiasm for education and dedication to the middle school have provided a long-lasting impression on students and staff. In a line of work that has increasingly seen teachers and administrators leaving the profession, Lamont’s career is inspiring, certainly in this reporter’s eyes.
Over the years, Lamont has enjoyed working closely with CMS families, expressing to The Sopris Sun, “It really felt like being a part of something.”
Prior to her employment with CMS, Lamont worked at Aspen Middle School. In 1998, she purchased a home in Carbondale and applied for a job at the middle school as a special education teacher, which was in line with her major in college. After a brief 20-minute interview, she was hired.
In 2011, after working as a special education teacher for 13 years, Lamont moved on to become the school’s assistant principal. Merely two years later, she was promoted as its principal, a position she has excelled at alongside Assistant Principal Heather Fox and a talented teaching staff.
Building relationships with students has been a guiding light in Lamont’s career, perhaps not in small-part due to Carbondale’s tight-knit community. Naturally, and luckily for her, fulfilling the leadership role at CMS inevitably brought about that camaraderie between herself, her colleagues, her students and their families. Lamont’s friendly nature and caring disposition also imposed a level of respect and trust among the administration at CMS.
Lamont leaves her position after having navigated many challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as many great successes, for instance, when CMS was awarded the Colorado Succeeds Award in 2018.
Something unique about CMS is its environment, Lamont told The Sopris Sun. She hopes students will remember “the feeling when you are in the hallways.”
Under Lamont’s leadership, CMS has made school more enjoyable for students by providing not only a healthy learning space but additional fun activities such as spirit weeks, dances and music accompanying the class-bell.
Community members have expressed gratitude for Lamont’s service to the thousands of students who have walked the halls of CMS during her tenure. They wish her a relaxing retirement and hope she’ll enjoy whatever endeavors she’ll pursue next.
On a personal level, Lamont stated that her upcoming transition, leaving CMS, is sure to be difficult and that the change is drastic. “I take my life in summer and semesters,” she said in jest.
Lamont plans on taking time for family and friends. She will visit her three daughters on the East Coast this summer, enjoy more skiing next winter and plans to eventually make her way back to CMS to substitute part-time.
She is confident that CMS will be in good hands under the guidance of Michael Logan, who will take the helm as the next principal of CMS, beginning the 2023-2024 school year.
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