It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s Superman Jason Bennett.

Bennett, former assistant principal at Vicksburg High School, is the new principal at Bowmar Elementary School and will be known as Superman for the school’s Leader in Me Superhero theme this year.

“I’d always seen myself one day going to elementary. It was something that peaked my interest,” he said.

A Warren Central graduate, Bennett has spent all 12 years of his career in education at Vicksburg High starting as a social studies teacher and a track, cross country and soccer coach and eventually becoming the assistant principal.

Bennett had considered making the switch to elementary school at some point and felt like it was something he wanted to pursue.

“I felt like eventually I would be in an elementary somewhere. It’s just the way personally I felt I’d be good in elementary,” he said.

When the position at Bowmar opened up, because the former principal took the position as principal at the new River City Early College High School, he decided to apply for the job since the opportunity to lead a school like Bowmar is rare.

“Bowmar’s a great school and it doesn’t come open very often,” he said.

The transition going from older to younger students won’t be problem for him, he said. Bennett is more focused on learning the new curriculum.

“It’s totally different,” he said.

Bennett isn’t looking to make any major changes at the school this year.

“I’m not coming into a school that’s broken; it’s not a turnaround, so I can have a lot of conversations and listen to a lot of people and tweak some things as I go along that I see,” he said, but as for now he plans to keep the course.

He is making a few minor cosmetic changes in his office, adding another kindergarten class at the school and working on implementing a positive behavior strategy called Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports program, or PBIS, that will mesh with the Leader in Me initiative.

“I think they go hand in hand,” he said, adding PBIS could take the form of large scale field trips every 9 weeks for students who earn them by not having any discipline problems.

Bennett has spent time this summer staffing the school by filling in a secretary and teacher positions.

“We are fully staffed,” he said.

He has also been impressed with the teacher’s commitment over the summer.

“I have a handful of teachers who here everyday,” he said.

“They love what they do. They love being up here.”

He is looking forward to getting to know the students, his favorite part of his job as an educator, and kicking off this year’s Leader in Me Superhero theme at Bowmar.