Riverside Preparatory Academy welcomed Lt Col Jonathan Pooley as its new Commandant of Corps of Cadets Friday. Pooley assumed his position following three-year Interim Commandant LTC Adam Carter.
“Whether a boarding or day cadet, my role is to make sure [cadets] have a safe and secure environment in which they can flourish and develop their personal and leadership skills, so they can be the best versions of what they are,” Pooley said at his swear-in Friday afternoon.
Pooley, who was in the British Army, was on assignment at Fort Benning in 2016 when he began to visit Riverside and build a relationship with the school system. His former colleague from the United Kingdom, Jamie Green, who is now the principal at Gainesville High School, was the Dean of Academics at Riverside at the time, Pooley said.
“We visited back and forth since 2016 and the President [of Riverside] asked me in 2020 if we’d like to come over [to work at the school]. My wife and I said yes, absolutely, and as we flew back it was February of 2020, so we flew back into the COVID storm and had to wait all that time to get through COVID. Then [we had to wait for] the American bureaucracy of a visa to finally arrive here this year,” Pooley said.
Pooley worked several roles at educational boarding facilities in the UK at five different boarding schools, he said.
“I’ve been working in boarding education for 30 years and we don’t have singular roles within those organizations, we are always multi-role and that’s the biggest difference between the US and the UK and that’s the advantage I hope to bring to Riverside,” Pooley said.
Pooley served as a House master and biology teacher in his previous school role. Pooley’s wife, Annette, served as a House mistress and English teacher. Pooley was also a sports coach and Contingent Commander where he conducted military training for around 450 cadets, he said.
“I’m hoping that we will encourage more students to come and take up the opportunities of visiting the US. I mean, that’s what’s excited us about being here in the US, exploring this amazing country,” Pooley said. “With such a diverse geography and culture, it’s going to be a really exciting time for my wife and I and we want to encourage families abroad to look to put their children to Riverside to get that same experience.”
