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Interview: Superintendent looks back on first year
SANFORD, Jan 23, 2010 (Sanford Herald - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
The honeymoon's over.
Jeff Moss, who took over as superintendent of Lee County Schools one year ago, said he's been pleased with his first year at the helm of the school district and is now ready for the long haul.
"A first year for any superintendent in any district is a lot like a honeymoon," he said. "There's not a lot that ends up being very controversial and then you dig in for the hard work."
Moss kicked off the new year with the 1:1 laptop initiative at the middle school level, something administrators have been excited about. He's proud of what the schools have accomplished in the past 12 months, like distance learning for high schoolers and installing Smartboards and projectors in most classrooms.
"We've done a lot of different things in a short period of time," he said. "The goal now is to nurture these programs. We provide the support to make sure it's an everyday thing."
Moss said he's been grateful for the staff's cooperation in implementing new initiatives, like the laptop program.
"They're very willing to do whatever's necessary for the students," he said. And he values his relationship with the staff.
"There's nothing a superintendent can do affect classroom instruction if teachers don't buy into it," Moss said. "It's exciting to be associated with teachers of this caliber."
He said he believes the climate in the schools is a positive one because teachers feel involved in decision-making processes.
"I do have an open-door policy. I expect the teachers to stop me and question me," he said. "I go into the school buildings and allow that dialogue to take place."
Moss also sees a positive relationship between the district, the community and the county. The community support from the sales tax, which was a big issue for the district in 2009, is one example of that.
And he's seen cooperation between the Lee County Board of Education and the Lee County Board of Commissioners, something that he hasn't always experienced in other counties.
"Here in Lee County, it appears to me that they work collaboratively together to provide a great educational program for the citizens and that's been a great surprise," he said.
In his almost 30 years in education, Moss has seen many changes, the advance of technology being one. With more students using the Internet rather than turning to encyclopedias to find information, they now need to be able to discern what is factual and what is not, he said.
And teamwork has become more important in classroom work and in careers.
"Years ago, you could decide on a career and almost work exclusively by yourself," Moss said. Now, "there's so much emphasis on team and you share and discuss jointly to come up with solutions."
One thing he'd like to see change in Lee County is the physical layout of the classroom: He believes it needs to become more interactive.
"It doesn't look any different. Rows of chairs, desks, teacher in front," he said. "That is probably the most difficult thing to change, the technology of instruction."
"At the end of the day, students should come out dragging from the classrooms, tired from the day. We need to work our students much harder than our teachers are working them," Moss said.
He has his own personal improvement goals as well. He acknowledged that better interaction with the public is one of his top priorities.
"The area that I constantly have to remind myself is keeping the public informed before we initiate a change," he said, mentioning the quick turnaround with the laptop program and how it happened sooner than he had originally expected. "That is an area that I plan on working on in the future."
Prior to working in Stanly and Beaufort counties, Moss began his career in Hoke County as a teacher working with students who had already failed two or three times.
"I had to challenge them and motivate them to stay in school," he said. The connections he made stuck with the students. If they saw him at a store or restaurant, "they would make a point to come up to me and tell me they appreciated the skills that I gave them," he said. "That is what you live for. You live for that student who remembers something you did. As an administrator, you hope you're making that kind of an impact."
Though he hasn't had much time to do that in Lee County just yet, Moss hopes to make that type of impact here in the coming years.
"I want students to know me by name and talk to me, not just about school stuff. I want to be approachable and personable for all the students in the district," he said.
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