OISD Hires new math teacher & coach for Olney High School

Jalissa King’s decision to teach mathematics and coach girls’ basketball and track at Olney High School in the upcoming school year was partially a family affair.

Ms. King comes to Olney from Portales, New Mexico where she was a junior high school history teacher, and basketball and track coach. King earned a mathematics degree from Wayland Baptist University. She taught math for seven years in Muleshoe, Texas before returning to her hometown of Portales to teach history.

Ms. King said she visited Olney when her brother Caleb King was hired by the Olney Independent School District as a coach and teacher. “We moved him (Caleb) down here, and when I walked around the school I met and talked to people about the school and I got really excited,” she said. “It seems like a very out-of-the-box thinking district willing to try new things and has a very strong emphasis on academics. I’m really excited about working in a district like that.”

Ms. King has a master’s degree in Cross Culture Studies and works with a group called the Propel Foundation, whose mission is to work with communities, some of which are in Africa, to help solve education, nutrition and health issues. Ms. King travels to Uganda each year to help these communities through the Propel Foundation, although her latest trip took her to Israel.

Over the next few weeks, Ms. King will spend her time in Mesa Verde helping with an archeological dig to learn about the Pueblo people and their culture.

Ms. King said she loves to travel, and it is a big part of who she is.