Sunday Sitdown

JOHN EMERICH

CROCKETT ISD SUPERINTENDENT

By Greg Ritchie

Messenger Reporter

The Messenger continues its Sunday Sitdown reports where we speak with our local pastors, educators, local businesspeople, students and interesting people of all walks of life in Houston County. To see the full video interview, see our social media pages or click on the link below. The Messenger would like to thank Cutshaw Chevrolet in Grapeland for sponsoring this week’s edition.

What exactly is the role of a school superintendent?

“Some of that has changed, since COVID. My top priority as a superintendent is protecting both the physical and the emotional safety of our students. I don’t know if that was always the case as a superintendent, but it is certainly the case now. We have to worry about physical safety – there are bad people in the world intent on harming other people. That has to be something always on the forefront of our minds. And of course with COVID and the emotional issues that caused for everyone. Along with that is to provide the best academic environment for our students and get them where they need to be academically. The third priority would be trying to promote a strong character in people. One of the best ways to do that is to try and be that example for both the employees and the students. To practice good ethical behavior myself and make that the model for teachers, students and the community.”

What are some of the challenges for Crockett schools?

“A Title One School is a school where 40% of the students are economically disadvantaged. Over 90% of our students are economically disadvantaged. For years and years studies show poverty is the largest factor that impacts kids and their learning. So that is a large influence on our kids and something we have to overcome. The best way to overcome that is having a good teacher in your classroom. And just like every school across the country we are dealing with a teacher shortage. We continue to try and have the best paid teachers in our area. We partnered this year with NIET (National Institution for Excellence in Teaching) to build time into our schedule every week so our teachers can receive professional development. I am proud of that and we will see the dividends of that over time.”

What are some of the programs in Crockett schools we may not hear a lot about?

“Our extra curricular activities are very important. There are very few students in school because they just love English or they love math. Whether it’s band, FFA, athletics – that’s a hook for kids and the education is sometimes what they have to do to be able to participate in those other things. Life is like that for adults sometimes, too. Many superintendents in the state complain about the letter grade we are given each year which doesn’t take into account all the good things we do for students outside of a one-day test. We have drastically increased our dual-credit offering. A student can now finish high school with an associates degree – paid for by the district. We have expanded that program and several hundred of our kids are now getting college credit for these classes. Some of our students will finish high school with up to 60 hours of college credit. To help parents by giving students basically two years of free college – and it gives students a leg up and shows them they can ‘do college’ and maybe they will continue.”

Where do you see Crockett schools three or five years from now?

“We want to continue our academic performance. We want to continue on our path to improve that. And I realize how much that reflects not just on this district or on myself, but it reflects on our community. We made big progress last year and the programs we are putting into place are long term and we will see that improvement. Five years from now we will have a much different five year history than we do right now. We will continue to work on our vocational program. I have seen throughout my years in education sometimes the focus is on trying to get every student to college and sometimes it’s more about being realistic and making sure there is a good education in other fields as well. Our board just voted and we are going to offer a cosmetology program in the future which was one of the most requested training from surveys we conducted with parents and students. Construction will start on that very soon. College isn’t for everyone and it is important to train students on how to get different jobs. I myself left college after a while to work before I decided to go back. Our fiscal responsibility is on track and set to stay on track. And the biggest part of that is so we can pay our staff. Not what they are worth – because they worth way more than I could every pay them – but reward them as much as we can for the work they do and stay competitive.”

Greg Ritchie can be reached at [email protected]