Setting the vision for Floyd County Schools
♦ New Floyd County Schools Superintendent Jeff Wilson looks to build on the work of his predecessor, the retired John Jackson, in leading the school system to new heights.
Monday was the first official workday for new Floyd County Schools Superintendent Jeff Wilson.
But over the last month or so, since he was announced as the retired John Jackson’s replacement in late May, he has been visiting schools and meeting with staff to nurture and grow the most important element of a successful school system: Relationships.
“I’ve been on the other side of that,” feeling the “angst” of working within a school system which just welcomed in a new superintendent, he said.
From early on in his life, Wilson said he knew he wanted to work with kids, finding he had a talent for teaching. But during the start of his career he went back and forth between education and child psychology. Though he eventually found his place in the former.
“I loved teaching,” said Wilson, who has also taught in higher education, worked in curriculum development and held numerous administrative posts over the last 30-plus years.
Wilson is not looking to make major changes to a “good” school system, he said, but rather find those
areas which could be tweaked to push it to be great. But to find those areas of potential improvement, he needs to have those essential relationship-building conversations with principals and staff about instruction and student growth.
“I’ll be spending a lot of time listening,” he said. “I’m in the schools to meet kids and get to know teachers.”
The role of a central office is less of the “mothership” of a school system’s operations but of a “supply ship,” ensuring educators have all the resources they need to fulfill their mission of preparing students for a changing world and market environment, Wilson explained.
“My job is to set a vision,” he said.
Wilson, who led a public hearing on the millage rate Monday morning with board of education members, has already added his personal touch to the office.
A red rotary phone, not plugged in for use, sits on his desk and is the basis of a good joke — he has a direct line to President Donald Trump, for example, or “you better not make me pick up the red phone.”
In a corner of the office, where board members meet for called meetings and work sessions, a stand holds Wilson’s guitar. Admittedly, he is not the best player, he said, but it is something he enjoys doing.
This guitar ties into an observation of Wilson’s on education — the need to differentiate true talent from simple interest. The talents of students should be the guide for them, and teachers are in the business of leading to such discovery, he said.
It’s the skillsets of individuals which are now the focus of potential employers — the soft skills of punctuality, thoroughness and creativity — rather than just having a degree, he continued.
Education is not about “pigeon holing” kids to certain careers or “opening your brain and pouring” information in, Wilson explained, but providing motivation to get kids ready to learn and directing them to the realization of its importance to their lives.
“We’re not going to be just about tests,” Wilson said, but if those are deemed as reflections of a student’s level of education and they will be judged on their performance, they cannot be completely forgotten either.
But if the focus is only on grades and test scores, what is lost in the process, Wilson asks. Schools should be a central piece of the puzzle in the complete edification of young people, he continued. Because “everything in society seems to fall back on public schools,” he said.
In explaining a more philosophical slant — also expounding on what drives student achievement and the fostering of wonderment each week, those “ah-ha” moments, — Wilson believes public schools may be one of the last vestiges of moral education — as younger people turn away from religion and long-standing institutions. However, doing this is not about telling people what to believe, but leading them to that “moral north” we all need to find.
Character education is in no way a new idea, Wilson said, but it has to be a focus of educators in the 21st century, as so much of life is under constant change and the polarization of Americans spawns a deeper divide by the day.
“We need a world where people are kind to each other,” he said, it’s the bottom line, — the moral base. “It would be great if the next generation is the one to bring back respect and caring.”
This is not to say disagreements should not be had — consolidating people to groups of similar thinking is a problem — but those opposing sides on the thought spectrum should still be able to go and have lunch afterward, Wilson said.
Floyd County Schools is where Wilson hopes to end his career, after about a decade here, and leave the school system on a launchpad for continued growth and financial sustainability, he said.
“I don’t care so much about legacy as I do impacting kids’ lives,” Wilson said.