By Kira Walters, Staff Writer
Editor’s Note: While the members of Dare County Schools’ Central Office are so crucial to the function and success of each school, in a recent class discussion, Nighthawk News realized that many students don’t know the inner workings of Central Office leaders’ day-to-day jobs. Staff Writer Kira Walters reached out with questions and was invited to sit down with members of Central Office recently at their office next to Nags Head Elementary School to highlight some of these employees:
Assistant Superintendent/Communications Director Keith Parker
Editor’s Note: Between the time he was interviewed for this story and it being published, Keith Parker accepted the Superintendent position at Elizabeth City-Pasquotank Public Schools and will be leaving Dare County effective June 30.
What is your job like on a day-to-day basis? “I am transitioning into this new role as Assistant Superintendent, but my job is really focused on two things. Primarily when I serve as the Communications Director, I manage our website presence and social media presence. I work with the schools and teachers to help promote our schools; I also work to support our middle and high school principals. For me, anything ranging from a curriculum, what the teachers are teaching in school to a test we take to the technology we use. I work with Holly (King), the Director of Technology, on those things, so I focus mainly on middle and high school.”
What jobs did you have previously that led you to Central Office? “I started out serving as a high school social studies teacher and then I became an elementary and middle school principal and then I came here as the Communications Director.”
What major responsibilities does your job entail? “I work with all of our communications, so the website is a big part of what I do and making sure that we have accessible information on the site for parents and for our community. If we have press releases or there’s something that the community would want to know about or major events, then I’ll work to get those available to the press and to the public. A majority of my job, as I mentioned, is working with middle and high school principals, just making sure they get support and coaching to make sure that the schools are running as best they can for the students. I also work with principals to try to provide teachers with the resources they need to do their job well and that they have the standards and curriculum that they need to fully understand what they should teach and I help to support those roles. So that’s a big scope of the job, but I would also say for all of us, myself and my colleagues, we have our identified areas of responsibility, but we always are willing to jump in and oftentimes do participate in a lot of other things as the need arises. Some things are very predictable in schools, but then some things are very unpredictable, so we all sort of take a role in just trying to serve what is needed at that particular moment.”
What do you enjoy most about your job? “Problem-solving. When you’re a teacher, you have so much impact in your classroom. You can show up one day and decide to do something and, if you do it right, then you have the ‘me’ impact, but also sometimes as a teacher you are not able to impact classrooms in the rest of the school. I remember thinking when I was a teacher that there were things in the school that I could say, ‘Hey, this could get better. We can improve a bit,’ but as a teacher my scope was more limited. In this role, you don’t have an immediate impact on a single classroom, but you can problem-solve and find solutions to problems that impact multiple classrooms.”
What do you want students to know about how your job affects their education? “One thing we are really trying to make a conscious effort to do in our work is to provide experiences where you and your classmates can be prepared to do what you want to do. We really are trying to create more opportunities than just exist within the four walls of your classroom, where you do get outside of school, you do try something new for the first time, and we’ve had conversations about the value of taking a class you never thought you would take to help you think in different ways. If you can’t read, write, and get along with other people, it doesn’t really matter what your SAT score was or how you ranked in your class, you could struggle with life.”
What is your favorite memory from when you were in school? “I remember my English 4 teacher my senior year. She was a little short lady and she was just an amazingly intelligent woman – she could speak Italian and Latin. She was just so intellectual and academic that we kind of felt like we were in a university when we were in her class. She was so kind and she was really just an amazing person.”
School Nutrition Director Kelleta Govan
What is your job like on a day-to-day basis? “I’m the School Nutrition Director. It changes day-to-day, but my top priority is to make sure that we have food and supplies in school to feed the kids. We have set prices and items so, if we forget a pizza, we should know what code it is. We’ll make sure that’s happening and, of course, communicate with the managers and school-based staff. I visit schools to see what’s going on in the cafeterias, data communication with vendors, making sure orders are coming in. We’re always in contact with our distributor and vendors to make sure we’re getting what we should be getting. In addition, we pay bills and just make sure the program is running as smoothly as possible. All of our food is based on federal guidelines, so even though kids may like french fries, the federal government sets those regulations so we really can’t sometimes.”
What jobs did you have previously that led you to Central Office? “I actually started right out of high school here, subbing and just filling in as needed. And then, of course, as positions opened up I moved into different roles. I was a receptionist, I’ve worked for our school program, I’ve worked in maintenance. I’ve kind of been all around and I finally found a home with the school nutrition department. I was there as a bookkeeper for 20-some years, and then I transitioned to the director and I’ve been the director for probably about seven years now, so I’m working on 31 years here.”
What major responsibilities does your job entail? “Mine is of course to operate the school nutrition program and to make sure we are following federal and state guidelines. School nutrition has several programs; we have a breakfast program, a lunch program, after-school snacks and we do a summer program. The government sets everything from how much we serve to what we’re serving in all those programs. Also, I work with the school nurses to make sure we have carb counts for kids that may have diabetes or other health concerns. We provide calorie and carb counts on all of the products we serve down to the ketchup packets. I work for school health and the wellness policy and to make sure we provide and give access to healthy meals. We also handle allergies, make sure that we’re aware of the allergies that kids have in the schools.”
What do you enjoy most about your job? “It’s such a variety, we always have things going on and changing. It’s never one thing every single day, so the most important thing is getting into schools and serving our customers, and our customers are the students. They are first and foremost and we are there to serve them.”
What do you want students to know about how your job affects their education? “Of course, we all know students can’t learn if they’re hungry. Meals have a positive impact on student health and academic performance.”
What is your favorite memory from when you were in school? “I remember being in science class and, it’s probably illegal now, but we had this machine and everybody would join hands and one person would touch a nail and they would crank the machine and the electric current would travel through everybody. Another one I remember involves food. I remember being in school and having french fries and these big chocolate chip school-baked cookies and you just couldn’t wait to get to lunch.”
Elementary Education Director Kelly Flora
What is your job like on a day-to-day basis? “On a daily basis, I wear many hats. I oversee all five elementary schools and support our administrative teams and teachers with curriculum and instructional best practices. I also oversee the NC Pre-K Program, the Academically and Intellectually Gifted Program (AIG), Read to Achieve, provide professional development opportunities to elementary staff, and work closely with Children and Youth Partnerships. I also spend time in buildings offering support where needed and assisting families with questions on any topic from Pre-K through fifth grade!”
What jobs did you have previously that led you to Central Office? “I was a classroom teacher (in both Virginia and North Carolina) for 18 years in first and second grade before entering administration. During my time in the classroom I was trained in the Reading Recovery program and obtained my AIG certification. I was an assistant principal for two years and a building principal for two years before becoming the Director of Elementary Education. I have been the director here in Dare for almost four years.”
What do you enjoy most about your job? “I am a people person so I have to say being in buildings and working with students and staff are what I enjoy the most! I also love curriculum and instruction, so being able to share ideas with others and discuss best practices in education is also a highlight.”
What do you want students to know about how your job affects their education? “What we do in the elementary world builds a strong foundation so that when you are in high school you can expand your understanding of more challenging concepts. We lay the groundwork for learning. Your attitude about school is established early on, so one of our elementary missions is to make your education both meaningful and engaging to inspire you to become a life-long learner.”
What is your favorite memory from when you were in school? “I remember my teachers most of all. Ms. Mars, my fourth-grade teacher, and Ms. Tammy Meade, my English teacher in 11th and 12th grade, really made an impact on my life. I also have to give a shout out to Ms. Liz Stublen, who was the first principal I worked for right out of college. She taught me so much about being an educator. Each of these women made me feel loved, valued and they all had the best sense of humor! Laughter is so powerful. They also kept me in line when I wanted to go a bit sideways. I still speak with them regularly and I never forget to tell them how much I appreciate their hard work and how much their influence shaped me into the person/educator I am today. A great teacher can change the lives of so many kids. It is the people in education that truly make the difference.”
Stay tuned for Central Office introductions in the coming weeks here at NighthawkNews.com.
Sophomore Kira Walters can be reached at 24walterski77@daretolearn.org.
