Superintendent Catherine Truitt visited Swain County Schools on a far-west tour Friday, April 16. She was joined by Julie Pittman, educator engagement officer, from her office, and Jeremy Gibbs, western district coordinator. N.C. Senator Kevin Corbin and Rep. Mike Clampitt also joined the party that began with a visit to Bright Adventures Pre-K. Swain County School System board members also joined the tours.
“She’s really trying to get out of Raleigh and see schools and interact with teachers,” said Gibbs of Truitt.
The tour provides insight and the opportunity to thank educators after this difficult past year of a health pandemic.
“I think she really wants to direct the attention away from herself and talk to people about what’s going on in these schools that have been open all year and show support for educators who have had a grueling past year,” he added.
She also visited Smokey Mountain Elementary in Jackson County, Nantahala in Macon County and stopped at schools in Haywood County.
“My goal was to see what specifically is going on in WNC, which is a part of our state that largely has been back in school for quite some time,” Truitt said by phone later on Friday. “I was not disappointed. I saw a lot of amazing student-centered activities, a lot of teacher collaboration, and really young school leaders in our principals who are working hard to create a school climate where teachers want to be and want to stay and work.”
She added she was also impressed to see the collaboration between school leadership and the boards as well as local legislators.
Truitt was right at home joining the pre-K students cross-legged on the carpet as they studied. In Ms. Penny’s class, the students shared the Listening Skills song, an appropriate choice given Truitt’s visit where she spent the bulk of her time listening.
Bright Adventures Director Trishia Chapman led Truitt and her party on their visit to the Pre-K. They also visited Jennifer Scheid’s class where students were up engaged in the Reader’s Theatre activity. As Chapman explained, each child takes a turn writing a story and the students all act it out together, showing multiple sides of the same story.
Chapman also shared other aspects of learning at Bright Adventures, like how students engage with the Leader in Me Program and where social emotional learning is a key part of the process at the school.
Both while visiting and by phone later, Truitt spoke about advocating for greater opportunities for access to NC’s Pre-K program for young students.
“I am an advocate of early childhood education and believe 100% that universal Pre-K in NC is the right thing to do,” she said. To achieve that goal, she plans to advocate for greater funding for student Pre-K slots.
In Swain County, one of the concerns is also the facility for Pre-K, which operates in outdated mobile units.
Swain Superintendent Mark Sale has a vision for a new Pre-K building that would allow all the students to attend. The challenge is meeting that vision on local funds alone, where the tax base is so limited. Truitt agreed the state needs to step in and help counties like Swain to meet those needs.
The party then got a quick visit to the students on the playground before heading to Swain County High School.
Swain High
At the high school, Truitt got a good look at the new addition of the school and spoke with Principal Sonya Blankenship. The addition was made possible through state grant funding and included both a new, secure entrance to the building, new offices, two new STEM classrooms and an expansion for the school kitchen.
Shortly after, the party headed to the Performing Arts Center lobby where the Swain High Junior Chef team spooned out a winning lunch. The team just learned it placed third in the state.
Following lunch, Superintendent Sale presented thank you gifts and called Truitt’s visit momentous.
Swain school board chairman Gerald McKinney thanked the special visitors and shared his pride in the school system. “I am so proud of these kids, this school and this system so anything you do that helps these folks we’re so proud of,” he said.
Truitt then had some closing words before heading out, thanking her colleagues, the for organizing the trip to western North Carolina, the state representatives who joined the visit and the school system.
“This has just been an amazing time,” she said.
“I just can’t thank you enough for the incredible work ya’ll have had to do during the pandemic,” she added.
On legislative goals for the current long session, she said her office is asking for more money for school support personnel teacher and principal pay raises and more PreK slots.
“It’s not always about more money,” Truitt said. “More money doesn’t always automatically fix the problems. It’s how you use that money. We know, for example, that PreK is a good investment in the community, and what we saw today is proof positive of that. So, I will continue to advocate—I would prefer—for universal PreK certainly at the minimum we have go to have more slots for NC PreK.”