This year, CHS9 introduces two new assistant principals to the school and one of them is no stranger to Coppell. CHS9 assistant principal Jessica Lynch graduated from Coppell High School in 2006 and Texas Tech University in 2010. 

She then went on to teach at multiple districts, including Frisco ISD and Northwest ISD, before returning to Coppell ISD to teach English at CHS and as a ESL facilitator at CHS9 since its opening in 2018. 

Both of Lynch’s parents have deep roots in Coppell and are also CHS graduates. Her father, Clay Phillips, former Coppell city manager from 2008-17, and her mother Terry Phillips, former secretary at CHS from 2000-18, inspired her to be where she is today.

“I come from a family where leadership is important to us,” Lynch said. “Making sure we’re serving those around us is ingrained in me. Helping everyone around me succeed was an important part of how I was raised.”

Lynch knew she wanted to be a teacher at a young age and remembers when she would pretend to be a teacher with her friends. 

“When Mrs. Lynch said she wanted to become a teacher she always had an eye out to teach back here in our hometown,” Clay Phillips said. “Kind of the same way that I wanted to serve my hometown in fire service and city management. It’s a pretty meaningful impact to serve the community that you were raised in and she believes that.”

Before becoming assistant principal, Lynch worked closely with the administration and thus is familiar with the position, although she says figuring out new processes has been a learning experience. Lynch finds that with her new position she is able to help more teachers and families closely and help more students become successful than she was before.

“Lynch has been a part of our campus since we opened,” CHS9 assistant principals secretary Christi Cox said. “We all knew that she was going to move up, she’s super talented. We really just thought that we would eventually lose her to a job like this. So we’re very excited that she was able to move up and use all of her talents but still stay on our campus. Our entire school culture is already benefiting from her leadership.”

Lynch is excited about her new role and the opportunity it provides her to serve the community.

“There will be things that will continue to surprise me and I will continue to learn and grow from that,” Lynch said. “But it’s been fun so far. I love our team, our campus and our teachers. We have the best of the best here and we’ve added quite a few new staff members this year [who have] all been really awesome additions to our campus. They’re here to serve so it’s going to be a great year.”

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