AVON — An Avon Lake alumnus is taking over as principal of Avon’s Heritage South Elementary School.

Jason Call, 32, of Avon Lake, said it felt a little strange to go from being a Shoreman to an Eagle after the Avon school board voted Tuesday night to give him the job.

Call previously taught elementary pupils in Elyria and North Ridgeville for a combined eight years and was principal for two more years at Tennyson Elementary in Sheffield Lake.

He’ll be moving to a much larger building this fall — Tennyson holds 250 students, while Heritage South houses 530 — and he said he’s eager to get into the Avon school’s halls.

“I’m really excited for this chapter in my life, and I hope it’s a long chapter,” Call said.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Westminster College in Pennsylvania and a master’s degree from Ashland University.

His wife, Jennifer Call, teaches special education classes in Amherst, and he said he has a special interest in helping children with disabilities reach their full potential.

Call said he also can’t wait to use distance-learning technology at Heritage South that lets pupils go on video field trips without ever leaving the classroom. He said the video hook-up lets children visit NASA, the Cleveland Clinic, the Cleveland Zoo or even teleconference with authors, all while sitting at their desks.

Avon Schools Superintendent Jim Reitenbach said Call will be “a good fit” for the position, which was previously held by Michelle Kocar.

Kocar helped open Heritage South in 2005 and has moved on to become director of curriculum for Fairview Park Schools. More than 20 applicants were considered to fill the job.

Reitenbach said Call was chosen because he has a great grasp on how statistics and other data have become so important to administrators, and can be influential tools in finding pupils’ strengths and weaknesses.

“He’s going to be very good with that age group,” he said.

Contact Jason Hawk at 329-7148 or jhawk@chroniclet.com.

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