Longtime Friendship Leads to Teaching, Coaching at LKMS for Poole, Thomas

During the planning phases of opening a new middle school, which included splitting the staff at West Jackson Middle School, science teacher Austin Poole was asked if he would lead the middle school baseball program at the Legacy Knoll Middle School. Interested in the opportunity, he stepped outside of the meeting to make a quick call to his friend Isaac Thomas. 

“They’re asking me to be the head middle school baseball coach. Are you going to come help me coach?,” Poole recalls of the conversation. 

Poole admits he knew he needed the baseball mind of Thomas, his friend since 2016, to help build a new program. Thomas agreed to the opportunity. But what transpired in the following months off the diamond is something Poole was hoping Thomas would realize: He was great with kids and needed to be a teacher.

Thomas was in the final months of finishing his college degree and, along with coaching baseball at LKMS, joined the Public Relations Department for the Jackson County School System. With the initial goal of making an impact in the lives of students in a support role, Thomas soon realized his friend was right. 

Thomas wanted to be a teacher and make a direct impact on students’ lives in a classroom setting. He joined LKMS as a long-term substitute teacher a few weeks later, passing the GACE exam to teach middle school mathematics over spring break. He was then offered a full-time teaching position in the spring semester, set to begin in the 2024-25 school year. 

Fast forward to today, Thomas and Poole are both sixth-grade teachers. Poole teaches science and Thomas mathematics. 

They both know the important role they play as male influences teaching rigorous core classes at the middle school level.

“I think, especially with our student-athletes we coach, our expectation for them is higher in the classroom than it is on the field,” Thomas said “Our expectations are higher in the school because we put that as the priority.”

Poole and Thomas first met when Thomas’ older brother became the youth pastor at a local church, attended by Poole who was a college freshman at the time. Thomas and Poole connected through the church and for their love of ultimate frisbee. Conversations evolved with Poole encouraging Thomas to attend the University of North Georgia and for him to join the ultimate frisbee team at the university. 

For three years the two played on the same team and became close friends. That continued into life post-college, with Poole landing a job at West Jackson Middle School. The entire time, Poole admits, he was encouraging his friend to look into education. 

“I don’t think a week went by when I didn’t hear him say ‘You should come teach at the middle school,’” Thomas said. “It definitely had a big impact. So when he called me to come help with baseball and get that inside look of what that looked like, and with what it looked like with him teaching and coaching, I got to see how great it was. It made a big impact on me wanting to be a teacher.”

Both admit they hold their students to a higher standard in the classroom. Both know the importance of a high-quality education and want to fight the stigma that male teachers join education just to become coaches.

“It helps having male teachers at the middle school level, building relationships with kids,” Poole said. “The harder level of courses, for me, is I hate the stigma of male teachers are just there to coach. My first job is to influence kids in the classroom and try to lift them up. It is easier for them to make connections, especially for the kids in sixth grade we teach every day, when they come in and they know this is someone who is buying in on both levels.”

Poole and Thomas have fully engrained themselves into the LKMS culture. Along with their teaching duties and preparing for their second season as baseball coaches, they also serve as the cross country coaches at LKMS. Thomas also serves as an assistant softball coach, and Poole sponsors clubs within the school.

“They are building our legacy of promoting academic excellence, athletic excellence and being amazing models for students to emulate,” LKMS principal Dr. Miriam Ledford-Lyle said. 

Looking ahead, Poole and Thomas are both enrolled in Master degree programs and are eyeing their Specialists degrees as well. Both are committed to perfecting their craft as educators, but acknowledge the opportunity for professional growth inside the fast-growing Jackson County School System. 

“We talk about a pretty good bit about that stuff, especially where we want to be in education, our career paths, what our faults are, and even at one point talking about where we are going to get our Specialists (degree) together,” Poole said. 

As for future plans, Poole said he would love to work in administration one day, acting as an assistant principal, while Thomas says the role of an athletic director is one that intrigues him when he thinks about a 30-year career in education. 

“I think to be the fastest growing, when you hear that from the outside you probably think ‘oh, it is not close knit or as connected’, but it really is a family inside the building and outside,” Poole said. “All the kids we teach and coach, getting to know them and their families, getting to know the other teachers, everybody is like a tight knit group working together. It is very different from anywhere I have ever been.”

Added Thomas: “In Jackson County, everybody has an opportunity to earn a spot in anything they want. If you are willing to work hard, you’re dedicated to do something. Especially in the school, as a teacher, as a student, a student-athlete, if you’re willing to put in the work and show you want to do something, Jackson County is the place to be.”

Despite spending a great deal of time together at work, Poole and Thomas still hang out in their off time. Over the summer, the two joked about staying up too late playing the newly released College Football video game, the first one released in over 10 years. As for who is the better player, it depends on the day. 

“It is pretty 50-50,” Poole laughed. “It depends on what we are playing. We take turns carrying each other.”

Thomas and Poole admit the video games take a back seat, especially during the school year, as the two are focused on the multiple tasks on hand, like teaching, coaching and making an impact in the lives of students.