FERRIDAY — Starting Monday, Buddy Givens will be the new headmaster of student activities at Delta Charter School.

Givens said he is eager to get started.

“Delta Charter is a school that is really situated to do great things and I just want to be a part of that experience,” Givens said.

He is a veteran teacher and administrator in area schools.

Givens received a master’s degree from the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg. Givens went on to teach at Robert Lewis Magnet School for seven years in Natchez.

Following his time at Robert Lewis, Givens taught at Vidalia Junior High School for two years, then at Monterey High School to serve in an administrative capacity for four years.

His next job took him to the central office in the Concordia Parish School District.

Craig Jackson, one of the school’s founders and board members, said Givens had been “on his radar” for the job.

“Every time we talked I could tell he was really excited,” Jackson said.

Givens said accepting the new position was difficult because he originally believed he would work in the Concordia Parish School District until he retired.

However, after much thought and prayer, Givens said he decided to make the move to Delta Charter.

“I really felt led to go to Delta Charter,” Givens said.

However, the job is different than the one Clovis Christman, the school’s first headmaster, took on.

“Our organizational chart has changed some,” Jackson said.

Jackson said Givens will be in charge of student activities, and Monica Miller, Christman’s former assistant director, is in charge of administrative duties.

“The board is his boss, and the board is her boss,” Jackson said. “They just have separate but equally important duties.”

Givens said he is looking forward to helping the school grow academically, saying there is already a “good foundation.”

He’s particularly interested in helping the school raise its performance score, a score which ranks a school based on student achievement, academic indicators and measures of career and college readiness.

Givens officially starts Monday. The first full day of school for students is Sept. 1, giving Givens time to settle in before the first bell rings.

“We’re in a pretty good position for him to get acclimated without having everything going on immediately,” Jackson said.