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Everitt: Success in education lies outside the box
3/22/2008 12:17 AM   0 comment(s) on this story E-mail this story to a friend


Senior writer
As a high school student in the early 1970s, said new Aiken school Superintendent Dr. Beth Everitt, two separate encounters put her on a path toward a career as an educator.
In her senior year, she told Sunrise Rotary Club members, an English teacher assigned a book report. Everitt simply "didn't want to do another book report." She went to her teacher and asked if she could do an alternate project. To her surprise, the teacher enthusiastically agreed.
"I did a painting of Ernest Hemingway and talked about his life," Everitt said. "I thought this is what education could be like. This was a teacher who was stepping out of the box."
A year earlier, she agreed to tutor some special needs students and was distressed to find them crowded in a room next to the boiler room.
"I never saw them in the hall. They must have had a different entrance," Everitt said. "That was a profound experience. They were not dumb kids; they just needed extra help."
Everitt went on to become a special-education teacher and coordinator, as well as a principal and district-level administrator. From 2003-2007, she was the Albuquerque, N.M., superintendent.
She wants the Aiken County School District to focus on three primary objectives - to teach kids to read, to link learning to life and to help students develop a love of learning.
"We have to prepare kids to take tests," Everitt said. "But we can't take the joy out of learning. We need kids to want to come to school."
Some children enter school and are already two to three years behind their peers. If they aren't reading well by middle school, they'll lose hope and drop out. The district must identify those kids early and help them, Everitt said, but parents and the students themselves must meet them halfway.
Every child needs a caring adult in his life. If it isn't a parent, that person can be a teacher, a community resident, a Rotarian, Everitt said. New career-oriented initiatives are aimed at getting kids to think about the future and how they can get there. Technology is providing exciting ways to deliver instruction. But a love of learning doesn't just happen, said Everitt.
"Somehow after some kids get older, the joy of learning leaks out," she said. "We have to keep that spark ... and there are various ways to do that. Art, music, ROTC and athletics are not extras. All of you (Rotarians) are still learners - reading and sharing your excitement. We have to keep that for our kids."
Contact Rob Novit at rnovit@aikenstandard.com.



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