Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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26 UCW NOVEMBER 7-13, 2018 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Hope Mills News & Views NEWS Top principal Tucker seeks to share story of education needs by EARL VAUGHAN JR. Michael Tucker hopes to use the platform he's been given as Cumberland County's principal of the year to share the challenges faced by public education in 2018. Tucker, principal at Stoney Point Elementary School and an educator in the county school system since 1999, was named winner of the annual honor as county's principal of the year late last month. A native of Harnett County and a 1993 graduate of Triton High School, Tucker earned his college degree, teaching credentials and a master's in school administration from Fayetteville State University. He served as a classroom teacher at various county schools before moving into administration in 2009. He took over at Stoney Point in July. One thing Tucker isn't sure the public is aware of is the level of responsibility the principal has for everything that goes on at the school. "If you're in a large school or small school, you're responsible for just about everything that takes place in that building,'' he said. "You're going to get the praise if it's successful or the criticism if it's unsuccessful. "There are so many layers with this job.'' One of the biggest challenges is making the education experi- ence the best it can be for both students and teachers but draw- ing the line when it comes to deciding what may be a good thing to do in the classroom and what's going too far. "Teachers want to do things that are fun and creative,'' he said. "We sometimes have to be the bearer of bad news and say this might not be appropriate or we can't use these kinds of resources in the classroom.'' Tucker said he hopes his rec- ognition as principal of the year in the county will provide him opportunities to speak out not about the challenges in his job, but the difficulties faced by the teaching profession as a whole in North Carolina. He said he's supervised teachers in schools both large and small and there's been a common thread wherever he's worked. "There are many teachers who teach as a full- time job but they have another job outside of teach- ing,'' he said. "They may be waiting tables. They may be working in retail. They might be doing some- thing else.'' He said all are doing it for the same reason: to supplement the income they are getting as teachers. "It's disappointing they have a full-time job with 24/7 responsibility but they have to supplement their income by having a second job,'' he said. "That's something I don't think a lot of people are aware of.'' Students also face shortages in the classroom because of budget shortfalls, Tucker said. Many schools are shifting from costlier printed textbooks to cheaper digital options, but Tucker said some- times the shift isn't as smooth or seamless as it should be. "There may be gaps between the resources teach- ers have to actually provide that instruction,'' he said. "They might not have access to laptops or digi- tal tools.'' But Tucker said the story he wants to share isn't a total tale of woe when it comes to public schools. "There's a lot of good things going on in public edu- cation in North Carolina and around the country,'' he said. "I think we are trying to trend in the right direction, but there are a lot of areas that need to be brought to public awareness so we can try to affect a change.'' Michael Tucker has been an educator in the county school system since 1999. EARL VAUGHAN JR., Senior Staff Writer. COMMENTS? EarlUCWS- ports@gmail.com. 910-364-6638. South View cafeteria manager honored for hurricane help by EARL VAUGHAN JR. Tina West said she prefers to do her work in the shadows, avoiding the limelight as much as possible. But it was hard to overlook her efforts during Hurricane Florence, and recently the man- ager of the South View High School cafeteria was honored by the local Red Cross at a meeting of the Cumberland County Board of Education. West, who has been manager of the South View cafeteria for about eight years, was recognized for her volunteer efforts providing food to the evacuees who stayed in the shelter at South View during Hurricane Florence. West and her family literally moved into a storage closet at the school for nearly a week, sleeping on air mattresses so she could be on-scene as much as possible to oversee the eating needs of the 317 peo- ple who called the South View gymnasium home for as many as nine days. "Basically, we made sure they had at least two meals a day,'' West said. She tried to make sure all the meals were hot and got an assist from cafeteria managers from neighboring schools. There were some challenges. The gym was powered by a gen- erator when the electricity went off, but there was a day when the generator went out. West lost power to the freezer at the school and had to trans- fer food from there to the freez- er at South View Middle School next door. Once the generator came back on, she moved the food back to the high school. Breakfast and lunch were the main meals she and her helpers served daily. With the help of donations, they were also able to serve dinner on occasion. "We had one teacher who bought pizza for din- ner,'' West said. "A gentleman who runs a local body shop bought cheeseburgers and chicken sandwiches.'' West also tried to interact with the evacuees, especially one group of elderly ladies, a couple of whom lost everything to the storm. "They just need- ed someone to talk to,'' West said. Chad Barbour, assistant principal at South View, said West's performance during the storm came as no surprise. "She does an excellent job,'' he said. "She's been named cafeteria manager of the year by the county. "She does a lot of things she doesn't seek credit for. She feeds a lot of children from getting food donations. She'll send backpacks of food home and coordinates all this herself.'' Barbour said he played a small role in South View's Hurricane relief efforts and praised the school staff, including West, for the job it did. "The hours were difficult on the folks,'' he said. "Our custodial and cafeteria staff stepped up, took charge and ran it. Our school resource officer played a big role in providing security and things like that. "It's leadership philosophy. Get the right people, put them in the right place, and get out of their way.'' Tina West helped feed 317 hurricane evacuees. Photo by Linda Buie.