With a new school year just days away, Baldwin County Public Schools brought educators from across the district together for its annual teacher institute, a back-to-school welcome event meant to get teachers ready for the year ahead.
“It’s a great opportunity to get back into it, get excited for the year, and kind of all start on the same page,” Summerdale Elementary teacher Schuyler Murrell said.
“Our teachers are fired up. They’re ready,” said BCPS Superintendent Mary McRae. “They’ve been working all week to prepare the rooms, prepare the schools.”
Baldwin County Public Schools is the largest employer in Baldwin County and the third-largest school district in Alabama. McRae said pulling off a smooth start to the school year takes coordination across the entire district.
“When you have over 4,500 employees, teachers and bus drivers, it takes all of them and everybody working together for a common goal,” McRae said.
“We are so excited to have them back,” Summerdale Elementary teacher Mia Quinn said. “It’s going to be a great year, and we’re going to have so much fun.”
For at least one family in the district, teaching is a multigenerational calling. Robertsdale Assistant Principal Mark Glassford has spent 31 years with the school district, and his daughter, Lily Dalrymple, is beginning her third year as a teacher.
“That’s what Glassfords do,” Mark Glassford said. “We teach kids and take care of kids.”
“I grew up watching my dad, and my grandma was a special education teacher as well,” Dalrymple said. “It really is a calling. I love my kiddos.”
Whether it’s their first year in the classroom or their 31st, teachers across Baldwin County said they’re ready to make the upcoming school year one to remember as students prepare to head back to class.
New Permanent Superintendent, Familiar Face
This year’s institute, held Aug. 7 at the Foley Event Center, also marked the first system-wide gathering under Superintendent Marty McRae in his new role as permanent superintendent. McRae, who has spent his entire 36-year career in Baldwin County Public Schools, served as interim superintendent after longtime Superintendent Eddie Tyler retired before being named to the post permanently.
“My job is simply to service,” McRae said. “I provide what our teachers and our schools need for them to do what they do so well, and that’s to educate our kids and taking care of all their needs, so I’m going to keep doing what I’ve always done, being a service to our schools and to our community.”
The event also featured a guest appearance from Gerry Brooks, a Lexington, Kentucky-based public speaker and veteran educator known for the humorous videos on teaching life that he shares with more than 972,000 followers on Instagram. McRae said Brooks’ message of connecting with students resonated with what he hopes to see from teachers districtwide this year.
“Being a part of our kids’ lives makes a big difference, and all our teachers, they understand that there’s a lot more to being a school teacher than just academics and education,” McRae said. “We’re being mentors. We’re showing them how to react to things, so just taking care of our kids in the best way that we can so that kids are happy when they come to school. We give them that happy time, that happy space that they may need in their lives.”