Lenker Retiring Today As Carteret School Chief

By Jannette Pippin, The Daily News, Jacksonville, N.C.

Jun. 30–BEAUFORT — The operation of a school system can come with difficult decisions.

But as retiring Carteret County Public Schools Superintendent David Lenker neared his final day on the job, the difficulty was leaving those decisions behind.

“The closer I get the more it becomes apparent to me that I’m going to miss the responsibility of making all those decisions,” Lenker said Thursday from a bare office that will be occupied by a new superintendent next week.

“I feel like it has been rewarding to make these decisions that affect children in a positive way and I’m going to miss that.”

Lenker retires today after 32 years in education, the last 12 at the helm of Carteret County’s school system.

He has watched students who were kindergartners when he arrived go on to graduate, and their achievement in the classroom has been the focus from the start.

The clear message from the Board of Education when he arrived was to do what’s right for the kids and help students at every grade level to reach their full potential.

Lofty goals were set by the school system as Lenker began his tenure. While students in Carteret County were doing well at that time with around 60 percent performing at or above grade level, the bar was set to bring that percentage up to 90 percent.

And for each school year, there was to be a full year’s worth of learning and less remedial work.

“We set what we thought were really high goals at the time — getting to an 80 and 90 percent success rate — and trying to take the attitude of getting it right the first time; giving the kids a whole year’s worth of benefit for a whole year’s worth of school,” Lenker said.

Students overall have met those marks, meeting state standards for academic growth from year to year and posting test scores that put 80 and 90 percent of students at or above grade level.

Lenker said many factors play into the achievement, including quality teachers and a strong curriculum. Another significant factor he said is reduced class sizes.

To lower the numbers and get the most effect, the school system took a new approach. Rather than use limited funding to lower class sizes across all the grades at once, it put its focus on the elementary grades.

Working across the board, there was no benefit; reducing a class by one or two was not enough, Lenker said.

“We did make a conscious decision,” he said. “There’s only a certain amount of money; we’re not going to spread it over everybody; we’re going to emphasize it here in kindergarten, first, second and third grade. If we have these kids ready at grade level in third grade, they are going to be more successful everywhere else.”

The idea was to make substantial gains at the lower grades and work up.

“As we got more money, we were able to reduce class size on up the line,” he said.

Class sizes that were once close to 30 students are now about 20 students.

The result isn’t the size of the class, Lenker said — it’s the students’ achievement.

“What we have to do is reduce class size so the teachers can have more effect on the kids,” he said.

While proud of the successes, Lenker is frank about the challenges the school system faces.

“I think we are just doing a tremendous job in elementary school, but we need to look at where we are going in the middle schools and high schools in terms of effectiveness,” he said. “We need to find better way to connect with the middle school and high school students and make things relevant for them.”

According to the latest state figures, about 70 percent of Carteret County students who entered ninth grade in 2002 went on to graduate in four years or fewer.

It’s slightly above the state average but still too high, he said.

“We need to keep them interested and that translates into a higher graduation rate,” he said.

Lenker has been credited with building a team during his tenure. He says he’s only one part of that team and the success of the school system belongs to them all.

“I had lots of help. There are good people here who made the difference,” he said.

And he’s certain incoming Superintendent Brad Sneeden is the person to provide the leadership to make it happen. Sneeden, a former Craven County educator, has been serving as the associate vice president for Leadership Development for the Center for School Leadership at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

“I think a successful superintendent has to listen and mull things over, and I think he’ll do that. He has the kids’ interests at heart,” Lenker said.

While Lenker’s official retirement date is June 30, he will stay on for two weeks to help Sneeden with the transition.

Contact staff writer Jannette Pippin at jpippin@freedomenc.com or (252) 808-2275.

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