Twenty years ago, Nancy New ventured out on her own, leaving a secure career in public education to run her own business.
The result is now two thriving schools in Greenwood and Jackson that focus on individualized teaching to fit students’ needs.
The Greenwood native’s newest project, the Children’s Advisory Center of Leflore County, is set to open soon on Tallahatchie Street in Greenwood. The facility will be a safe haven for abused children during the interviewing and healing process, New said.
It’s an extension of what New said is her constant goal: Finding ways to help more children and families.
The owner of New Summit School in Jackson and North New Summit in Greenwood said her advice to other entrepreneurs to is be clear about what they want to accomplish.
“Entrepreneurs are very much visionaries, so much so that we can be too broad,” she said. “It’s good to see the whole picture, but always stay centrally focused on what is the main priority.”
New, 59, of Jackson grew up in Avalon in Carroll County and graduated from Greenwood High School. She’s the daughter of late Marshall Whitten and Mabel Whitten, who New said is still going strong at 85 after recently retiring from the Health Department.
New, who holds a doctorate in education from the University of Southern Mississippi, said she learned the value of hard work growing up in Greenwood.
She took that ethic to a career in public education. From 1975 to 1990, she was a teacher and administrator in the Rankin County School District.
In 1991 she began New Learning Resources, a learning center that provided one-on-one tutoring. Parents whose children benefited said they were interested in more intensive programs.
“I thought, ‘I can do this. I can put a small school together and work with the students one on one in small groups,’” New said.
New Summit School in Jackson opened in 1997 with New as the sole teacher and five students.
In the school’s name, “New” came from both her name and an innovative idea for teaching, and “Summit” represented her desire to lead more children to the top of their potential, she said.
New said there’s no magic formula for fixing education, but New Summit’s strategy of keeping classroom populations small and teaching to the individual has worked. She said each teacher has a group lesson ready but also has something planned for each individual student in the class.
The school grew steadily, and it presently has about 250 students counting those enrolled in summer sessions. It was so successful that some parents were driving their children the nearly 100 miles from Greenwood to Jackson every day to attend New Summit, New said.
Knowing the educational needs in the Delta and having an interest in the area’s success, she opened North New Summit School in 2004. It moved into its own building on John Pittman Drive in 2008 and has 102 students enrolled in kindergarten through 12th grade.
Both schools are accredited by the Mississippi Department of Education and Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
North New Summit’s director, Susan Floyd, said in an email that as a boss New “is the kind of leader that inspires her school family through her passion for education and positive role modeling.”
Personally, Floyd said New has always been available, offering words of encouragement.
“As you can imagine developing a school from the ground up takes a leader who can not only see her vision, but has the ability to inspire other to also see it and believe in it,” she said. “Nancy has this unique quality in her ability to inspire and motivate others, which is driven by her passion for education and her desire to help others.”
New said North New Summit has outstanding staff, students and parents.
“I really think that the school will continue to flourish on behalf of the students,” she said.
• Contact Charlie Smith at csmith@gwcommonwealth.com.
