RCS losing its charter principal- 3/5/08

By PHYLISS BOATWRIGHT, C-T Staff Writer

Before Principal Sam Kennington filed last week to run for county commissioner, he had explained to his Roxboro Community School Board of Directors and staff that he was ready to take the next step toward realizing a set of personal goals that are important to him. And in taking that next step, Kennington will step down as RCS principal in June.

“My goal was always to retire from public education after 30-some years,” he said. “I did that. Another goal was to move back to Person County to the family farm and build a house. I did that,” he said, adding that he always promised himself that he would “retire while I was still in good enough health and young enough to do something to give back to the community.”

Serving as director of Roxboro Uptown Development Corp. for seven years was a part of Kennington’s desire to better the community where he was born and raised.

“I have so many memories that involve the heart of Roxboro,” Kennington said, from his days as a youngster on Charles Circle.

Through RUDC, he said, “I was able to do things to make the town better.”

It was his involvement with RUDC and the quest to preserve historic buildings that brought Kennington to the charter middle and high school that he has led from start-up two years ago to maximum enrollment and a waiting list of students for next year.

He was part of a group of people who wanted to see the former Roxboro Cotton Mills building, built by J.A. Long in the early part of the 20th Century, preserved. At the time, Kennington said, “I didn’t realize all that was taking place regarding the charter school. My involvement was to help purchase and preserve the building but then, when it got to the point where it looked like the school was a go, [RCS board members] Lacy Winstead and Mark Phillips talked me into doing them a favor by being the principal.”

Donald Long, chairman of the RCS board, said Tuesday that Kennington was a natural choice to start the school.

“When Sam came on board, he told us that it wouldn’t be a long-term venture,” Long explained. “But he had a lot of experience and we needed that to help us get up and going. He has a pleasing, pleasant personality,” Long added, “so we had it all in one package. I had never met Sam,” Long said, “but had heard great things about him, and he has lived up to every bit of it.”

Walking the board, staff, parents and students through the first year of RCS “was a huge task,” said Long. “In six months, we had to get a loan, get the architectural work done, work with the historic presence” and navigate the maze of rules and regulations to get a charter school off the ground.

“By the grace of God,” Long said, “we did it in six months. Lacy [Winstead] played a tremendous part” Long said, through his dedication and determination in overseeing the work on the building. “Sam was the other part,” Long said, in overseeing the education aspects, hiring staff and working with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and its Office of Charter Schools.

“Sam agreed to give us a year or two,” said Long, “and we knew that was all we could hope for. He has done more than he ever promised and has taken us further than we ever thought possible. There have been no missteps,” Long said, “from Sam or his staff.”

Long added that the board was fortunate to have a “deep” staff of experienced teachers who enjoy their work and their students.

He said the school was also lucky to have Assistant Principal Walter Finnigan, a career educator who worked with Person County Schools before signing on with RCS in its first year.

The board will advertise for Kennington’s replacement, Long said, but he and the other board members “are extremely hopeful that Walter will apply” to lead the school next year.

For now, Long said, “We’re like the March Hare” in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, “the mad watch is ticking and there’s only one way to stop it” — by getting a new principal on board before Kennington leaves in June.

Kennington plans to stay involved with RCS as a board member, and hopes to make a successful first run for elective office as a county commissioner in November.

While at RCS, he said, “I have had many gratifying and satisfying moments.” But, he added, in helping to build a school from the ground up, “I had to rely on everything I learned in 31 years” as a teacher, principal and central office administrator.

Now, he said, “at 62, I can retire from here with a great deal of satisfaction.”

He said he owed much to his faculty and staff, to the many volunteers, the parents and students who made RCS successful.

“I will be forever grateful to the [teachers] Wanda Balls and the Beth Barlows and the Maryellen Kimbroughs and the Rose Wilkersons and the Barbara Moores and the Ann Wrenns,” he said, who were willing to “take a tremendous professional risk” to move from traditional public schools to a start-up charter school.

“They are absolute quality human beings and teachers,” he said. “And we have worked our butts off to give our kids a quality education in a safe, loving environment.”

He said he was most proud that the school was able to offer its teachers the state salary scale they were accustomed to, with the state’s retirement, health plan and leave time. Charter schools have the option of not following the state salary and benefits, Kennington said, adding that he felt that RCS was able to attract and retain the best teachers by doing so.

“They didn’t lose anything but their [local salary] supplement,” paid by individual districts, he said, adding that he had recently realized that, due to an oversight, the RCS package did not currently include teacher pay for longevity. He is working to get that benefit for teachers next year, he said.

Kennington added that he would forever be indebted and grateful to the “200 students and their parents who took a chance on us a year and a half ago. They didn’t know me, they didn’t know Roxboro Community School,” he said, “but they took a chance.”

Now, with 425 students enrolled for next year and “a waiting list that is growing every day,” Kennington said he believed the school was “well on its way. This school is much larger than one person or a few people now.”

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