"How Stands the City?" - A Final Message to Carteret County Public Schools

On October 4, 2022, I delivered my final Superintendent's Comments to the Carteret County Public Schools Board of Education. The Superintendent's Comments are a part of each regularly scheduled monthly meeting of the Board and typically highlight upcoming events and recent celebrations.

"How Stands the City?"

This is the 25th time I have shared the Superintendent’s Comments during a regular monthly meeting of the Board of Education and the last. Soon it'll be time for me to go.

It has been an incredible honor to serve as your Superintendent. Many have written, texted, and called over the last few weeks to say thanks, but I could say as much to all Cartericans. Rene’ and I are grateful for the opportunity you gave us to serve.

President Ronald Reagan and President John Kennedy each gave speeches where they hearkened back to the words of John Winthrop, a Puritan who said to his fellow Puritans before they left for the New World that the new community they would create would be a shining city upon a hill. That was, has been, and is true of our country.

I do not think it is too much of a stretch to say the same about this school system. Carteret County Public Schools is also a shining city upon a hill sending out a beacon of hope, of strength, of love, of safety, and of care.

As I entered the "city" two plus years ago, I asked three questions of everyone I encountered. I asked the questions as I met individually with administrators, teachers, and staff. I asked the three questions of people I encountered in the grocery store and of groups I had the pleasure to speak with. I asked the three questions as I attended the Town Council meetings in each municipality in Carteret County and as I attended County Commissioners' meetings. In those hundreds of conversations, I asked,

What do you love best about this school system?

What should never change in this school system?, and

What should I be working on first?

The answer to the first question was universal as time after time I heard that what was loved best about this school system was and is the people. The students, the teachers, the staff, the administrators, and the community. I heard that what makes this school system so exceptional is the people who serve here, the talented men and women who clearly love and care about the children and young people they serve.

The theme that emerged as the answer to the second question was linked to the first. I heard that the value the system placed on people should never change. I heard that the system should never fail to focus fully on the students.

Finally, as I asked the third question, I watched as people struggled to answer what needed to be worked on first because so much was going so well. I heard that the system should continue to look for ways to support teachers and staff and that the students must always come first.

This evening as my season with you begins to fulfill, I have reflected that one of the only people I did not ask the three questions of was and is myself. And so as I ponder President Reagan’s question, “How stands the city?,” I turn back to the three questions I arrived with.

“What do you love best about this school system?”

I, too, love the people of this system best. Here I have encountered incredible commitment and dedication as teachers and staff give their all for our students. I have watched as they have implemented pandemic mitigation strategies with fidelity to get and keep our students back in class as soon as safely possible. I have seen them support our students in attaining historical academic excellence with each and every school meeting or exceeding growth during the pandemic. I have seen them pitch in and cover for each other when quarantines sidelined many of their teammates. In my mind, the light that shines from this school system is the reflected light they each shine in the work they do, shining brighter together.

When I consider, “What should never change in this school system?” I also echo what I heard upon my arrival. Students should and must come first. They have always been the focus of this school system and must remain front and center. So, too, must the support for the teachers, administrators, and staff remain resolute. I am proud that together we were able to add school nurses in every school building and a School Resource Officer in all of our elementary, middle, and high schools. I am grateful that through our joint advocacy we were able to secure the first increases in the local supplement for classified and certified staff members in fifteen years and that we have been able to increase salaries for all staff members, honoring their loyal and dedicated service to this school system. Caring for our staff is caring for our students as they give deeply of themselves in service to our students, the school system must always give deeply of itself in service to those who serve our children.

Finally, “What should the school system be working on first?” All educational institutions, including Carteret County Public Schools, must continue to commit to serving each and every child who comes in the front door. Regardless of whether they are easier or tougher to love, regardless of demographic characteristics, regardless of the financial shape of their family unit, every single child deserves and is worthy of all that we have to give.

And so, as the President asked, ‘How Stands the City on this fall night? "More successful, more secure, [and as indicated by the NC Teacher Working Conditions Survey, happier than it has been]. But more than that: she still stands strong and true [on the Crystal Coast,] and her glow has held steady no matter what the storm.

And she's still a beacon, still a magnet for all families who enter seeking bright and successful futures" for their children.

With the pandemic behind us, we can say that we've done our part. And as I turn towards home and a new adventure, a final word to the amazing men and women from Cedar Island to Cedar Point that I have been blessed to serve and serve with:

My friends, we did it. We weren't just marking time during an incredible challenge, we made a difference. We made the city stronger and we left her in good hands.

All in all, not bad. Not bad at all.

God bless you. And God bless the Carteret County Public School System.

We have been, we are, and we will remain Carteret Strong!

Mr. Chair, this concludes my comments.

Photo coutesy of the Carteret News-Times, Photographer Cheryl Burke, October 4, 2022