Marble Cherokee County Schools leaders have been frequently criticized about a perceived lack of transparency and responsiveness to the public, their peers in Cherokee County government as well as their own staff and faculty.
One thing that they’ve been very good at is taking surveys to get the pulse of the state of Cherokee County Schools.
Two surveys, a recent one conducted statewide about teacher working conditions, and one from May 2022 asking about faculty and staff preferences for a new superintendent to replace then-retiring superintendent Jeana Conley, shed insights about the school system.
Superintendent
In May 2022, Cherokee County Schools asked staff and faculty to respond to a “County Schools Superintendent
Search Staff Survey” ahead of Conley’s leaving. The published survey, a copy of which was obtained by the Cherokee Scout via a Freedom of Information Act request, filled more than 46 pages of responses to questions along with supplementary comments.
The survey included the full range of Cherokee County Schools employees, including staff, faculty and administrators.
The end of the survey asked for any additional comments about hiring a new superintendent. More than 90 comments were submitted that expressed some kind of concerns and preferences. Most commented about skills and experience, but about a third expressed opinions about where the new superintendent should come from.
Of them, 22 said the next superintendent should be someone from outside the area, compared to five who said the next superintendent should be a local hire.
Two said the new superintendent should be a man. None said the new superintendent should be a woman, although three suggested local women by name and two said the new superintendent should be like Conley.
One said, “I think you will probably have several good people apply but I hope we get someone local who understands our community and knows the direction we need to go and not let sports be before the classroom. I think our kids deserve the best in the classroom.”
Another said, “We need to have an ‘outsider’ with experience who can come in to our district and see the whole picture,” one said. “Favoritism and the buddy system has no place in leading a school system. Rules and policies need to be followed for ALL employees. Men tend to have less drama than women.”
“The candidate should not be a principal from our schools,” another said. “It should be someone who has no ties to our community and can come in with no connections to staff members and start with a clean slate.”
Others included:
- “A fresh set of eyes, from outside the county, would be beneficial for the community as a whole, the staff, and the students.”
- “Preferably a male for the next Superintendent.”
- Other data points included:
- 41.08% of respondents were also parents of Cherokee County students.
- Of 18 personal traits, just over 75% wanted the next superintendent to be supportive; just under 71% wanted honesty; 52% wanted competence and, conversely, 48% didn’t think competency was an important trait; and just over 41% wanted the superintendent to be caring.
- The least popular traits included: ambitious (5.4%); creative (6.67%); determined (3.49%); and independent (2.54%).
- Experience as a superintendent or assistant superintendent was not as important as experience as a principal or teacher.
Regarding where the newly hired superintendent comes from, almost 41% said working or living in North Carolina was “very important,” 34% said working or living in the western region was “very important,” while just shy of 26% said working or living in Cherokee County was “very important.”
Top priorities for a new superintendent and school board were employee morale, followed by improve student performance, financial accountability and transparency.
The lowest priority was “increasing partnerships in the business community.”
The question about leadership priorities drew a flurry of additional responses – 225 in all – that were all over the map, although staff and faculty morale was the most common concern.
Following the survey, the Cherokee County Board of Education hired Dr. Keevin Woody, a male assistant superintendent from Tennessee.
Teachers
Another survey, just released, sought feedback about teacher working conditions. It included only faculty of Cherokee County’s 13 schools, with a 98.48% response rate – 259 out of 263 responded, with four members of the Murphy Elementary School faculty failing to respond. All other schools had 100% participation rates.
Here are some takeaways:
- Retention: 93% said their school is a good place to work and learn; 84.5% said there is an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect at the school; 84.5% said they felt comfortable raising issues and concerns that are important to them; 86.8% said they look forward to work each day; 75.2% said they wouldn’t want to work in any other school; 90.3% said they are loyal to their school; 88% said they would recommend their school to parents; 87.6% said they are an important part of their school; and 90.3% said they are proud to work at their school.
- School leadership: Most answers fell between 80% and 89%, including sets clear expectations for instruction, communicates a clear vision, knows what’s going on in their classroom, helps teachers improve instruction, helps teachers set goals, ensures teachers receive coaching and support to implement new practices, makes decisions based on the best interest of students, looks out for the well being of faculty, effectively manages daily school operations, and makes reasonable and justified decisions. For “Encourages teachers to use new knowledge and skills obtained through professional development,” 93% agreed. On the low end, under “Creates a culture of trust in the building, just 76.8% agreed, although that still outperformed the state average, 75.5%.
- Teacher leadership: Here, teachers graded themselves and consistently gave themselves high marks – no category fell below 90%. Categories included communicating school’s vision to students, empowering students, establishing safe and orderly environment, taking responsibility for all students’ learning, use a variety of assessment data through the year to evaluate progress, and use data to organize, plan and set goals.
- Student conduct: Teachers reported a number of issues in this category that closely reflect statewide trends, including bullying (41.3% said it was an issue); cheating (30.9%); drug and tobacco use (34%); physical conflict among students (36%); disrespect of teachers (50.6%); and tardiness and skipping classes (51.7%). Local schools performed better than the state averages in cyberbullying, gang activity, student possessing weapons, and threats of violence toward teachers. Gang activity was 2.7% locally, compared to 11% statewide.
- Safety and well being: Almost all areas, including safety issues addressed quickly, reporting bullying to a teacher, and knowing about emergency plans, were 89% or better. Two areas fell short: Students arrive at school with their basic needs met – school supplies, clean clothes, food, sleep (60.6%); and school provides adequate services to help students with social, emotional and mental health needs (84.1%).
- Facilities and resources: The state of Cherokee County facilities is a frequent topic of discussion, but in nearly every area, local schools reflected statewide averages except one: building maintenance (such as lead, asbestos, pest control). The stateside response was 73.6%, while Cherokee County outperformed the state average with 65.9% saying it was an issue, lower than the state average.