Episode 07: Tim McDowell

What lessons, memories, and insights come from spending nearly four decades in public education?

In this episode of Insights on Education with Dr. Anthony Dixon, Dr. Dixon sits down with the man, the myth, the legend...Tim McDowell. Before entering retirement, Mr. McDowell discusses his 37 yearlong career with the Berkeley County School District and the impact it has made on his life. 

Making a Positive Difference at BCSD

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Welcome to Insights on Education. I'm Dr. Anthony S. Dixon, and today we have a special guest, a legacy here in Berkeley County, our very own Tim McDowell, who's currently our chief of operations. But Tim has served Berkeley County as a teacher, a coach, a high school administrator, assistant principal principal, and now he's finishing up 37 years as chief of operations here in Berkeley County School District. And we're here today to talk about his legacy, his experience, and just some memories and reflecting on his time in Berkeley County School District. Welcome to McDowell. That was his last hurrah, right? Yeah, it's going out blazing too.

SPEAKER_00 0:50

I've calmed down something.

SPEAKER_01 0:51

You've calmed down something? Yeah. How many years has it been? 37. 37 years.

SPEAKER_00 0:56

37 years.

SPEAKER_01 0:57

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 0:58

So did you go to undergrad for education? Was that the first time? I did. I went to um actually, I went to West Liberty State College in West Virginia. I was going to wrestle. I was a lightweight back then, so I was going to wrestle 118 pounds in college, and it was too much running, so I dropped out of the wrestling. And my dad was the, at that time it was called the Treasurer Business Manager for our county's board of education. He was the Marcy Abrahamson of my county growing up. Unfortunately, I lost my dad when I was in ninth grade. He passed away. And so my mom raised five kids. I was the youngest of five. And thought, my brother was a teacher. I'll jump into education. My great-grandfather was a superintendent. And so I think it was just in our blood to do that. So yeah, I was in education. And unfortunately, I did the five-year route of education instead of the traditional four years of college. You were exploring. I was exploring. I had a few semesters here and there. But got out, graduated, and then thought I would be hired in West Virginia. And at that time we had coal mines and a lot of the power plants kept laying off, and I would get, you know, riffed. You would they oh we keep you on as a substitute. And so I decided to move to South Carolina. So I wasn't going to do that. So that's what brought me down to South Carolina.

SPEAKER_01 2:23

And here you are. Here we are. 37 years later. Can you believe or did you ever imagine you would stay here in Berkeley County for 37 years?

SPEAKER_00 2:33

No, I mean I look back at that and I thought about that a lot. You know, I started at Westview Middle, um, prayed a lot back then. Like, is this really me? Am I going to do this? And I loved it. I mean, from the get-go, I had eighth-grade social studies at Westview Middle School. And then now my wife, uh Cindy, she taught, she came in the second year. Um, I tell everybody she chased me down. That's what kept you here. And so Cindy, who's sort of the low country, yeah. So we got married, and that kept us fairly grounded. We taught the same school for 10 years. Um, different grade levels, so um, I was involved in coaching a lot, so I didn't get to see her on a daily basis, but you know, we drove separately and you know. Did you get married while you were at Westview? We did, we did, and that was kind of nice because we kind of racked up on the uh the wedding showers, and obviously Cindy and I, you know, we have two daughters, Abby and Sarah, and um they both were born when we were teachers at Westview, so the baby showers and things like that. All those things rolled in together. So that was a Westview uh kind of thing back in the day.

SPEAKER_01 3:37

You've made a legacy at Westview because Ms. McDowell, I mean, just retired a couple years ago from Westview, or last year maybe. Yeah, and I mean she taught my son, she's taught so many, she's going back today for a grad walk.

SPEAKER_00 3:52

Grad walk, and so she still stays uh connected to that school, but she was there 34 years, uh seventh grade science uh for the first half maybe of her career. Then she dropped down to sixth grade science uh to end the career. So 34 years at one school, pretty impressive.

SPEAKER_01 4:09

Berkeley County, then and now, what schools, just the schools that you were teaching in? So what schools have you had to do?

SPEAKER_00 4:16

Yeah, I was I was I taught 15 years before I decided to go administration. So um I was 10 years at Westview and then five years at Goose Creek High School. Goose Creek High School. I was coaching at Goose Creek at the time, and the principal at the time was John Fulmer. Hey, why don't you come over here, be around the athletes, blah, blah, blah. So I moved over to the high school. Loved it. But um I had good times at both schools. I had, you know. You've done a lot in this district. Yeah, I've been to a few schools, and uh I touched a lot of a lot of students. Uh it's it's crazy how many, you know, when I got into administration that I came back, students came back around with, you know, uh seeking jobs, whether it be in maintenance or the classroom or aides or front offices, how many of my former students have I touched somehow to help you know get them with that? So that's kind of neat. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:10

So you've held the role of teacher, you've held the role of coach, you've been an administrator, and you've come to the district rankings. So from teacher to district leadership and all the things that you've done in between, what have you learned in all of those roles?

SPEAKER_00 5:28

You know, you you have to be open to change. Um, you can't just settle in and be, you know, there's always, I mean, we can see it today. The the family dynamics have changed, um, curriculum has changed, um, our State Department and you know, their guidelines have changed, obviously, you know, administrations have changed, but you have to be, you know, open and you know ready to take on the initiatives or the goals that that are set forth and just go after them. I mean, with a passion. But you know, I've always been able to do it with um laughter. Um, I can reach out to somebody. Um, I even was talking to a couple of my employees yesterday. Never burn a bridge. I mean, you may need somebody, somebody's hand, somebody's help, you know, along the way. And you know, over 37 years and different principals, different leaders, you know, roll up your sleeves because change is inevitable, but you know, we need it. Our our children today in the schools have changed so much and what we have to offer them more of support, service, wraparound services. So I would stick with change.

SPEAKER_01 6:42

And 37 years you've seen a lot of change. From you said, like you said, you had different leaders, you've um different types of students, their their backgrounds, their family structure, dynamics. Berkeley County probably from getting a month's corner to getting a Westview primary or Westview Middle does not look like it did 37 years ago. And so if we just stick to change, what has changed the most in education since your first year here in Berkeley County School?

SPEAKER_00 7:14

I think the communities, you know, looking at our schools versus, you know, say 20 years ago, 30 years ago, the support we had from the parents, the community, that we are doing the best we can and we are doing the right things for the child in the classroom to where today it seems like we're under fire, whether it be political, um, whether it be social media, post, you know, that seems to catch fire and answer all the questions instead of coming and asking whether it's a district official, whether it's a principal of school, whether it's a classroom teacher, you know, we're gonna put our personal business out for the world and let them decipher what the true answer should be rather than seeking the actual truth. So that has definitely changed a lot. That has definitely changed a lot.

SPEAKER_01 8:05

Access to technology, access to communicate to other people, whereas when you they had to come to the school, we probably had to make a trek to, you know, not a trek, not like 10 miles in the snow.

SPEAKER_00 8:20

But you think, I mean, yeah, you talk about change, whatever, but look at the students, you know. I would say even when you were starting out as a teacher, when I was a teacher in the classroom, we handled our own classroom discipline. Yes. You know, and now it's quickly, da-da-da, it escalates, you know, to the district level. And so again, that falls back to, you know, your your family support system and things of that, that you know, you make a call home, they take it serious. And so, you know, that that that's changed a lot too, I see. Well, it has changed, definitely.

SPEAKER_01 8:51

Um what has never changed about great schools and great teachers and great leaders in Berkeley County?

SPEAKER_00 8:59

Without a doubt, I mean, I can think you're welcome. I mean, you don't walk into a school in Berkeley County and not feel that you're welcome. Um, whether you're being a student, first time in there. And it's neat that I've seen the elementary side because I was a middle school, high school teacher, coach, administrator. So I always played in big kid land, and then coming up here and I was uh, you know, a principal evaluator for an elementary principal. I've never walked the halls of an elementary school during a regular school day and see that. And I mean the kids tug on your jackets, you know, you wear a tie in an elementary school, and they think you're the president of the United States. I mean, it's the greatest feeling in the world. So, but I'm thinking what has stayed consistent is our, and we say it all the time today, is our family, you know, how we treat one another, how we're greeted, you know, and our expectations. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:50

Still have the small district feel. How many schools were there? Do you remember when you were when you started?

SPEAKER_00 9:59

I mean, I could probably say I can tell you the ones that were added on. Obviously, the Phillip Simmons area, the Daniel Island schools, um Kane Bay Schools. Kane Bay Schools, you know, came on, you know, and I, you know, I was part of the opening of Kane Bay High. Um Timberland. Timberland was built, yeah. Timberland came on. Uh that was that was coming on, so that was added. So yeah, I mean, looking back, probably what 40 schools then? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:25

So um this is a shift then from change. You said it a few minutes ago that you're positive and you got the positivity. We call it the woo factor. The woo factor, too. Tim McDowell. So you're known for that energy and that positivity. Um, like that's your kit lifting strength. Like it's number 34 for many people, but for you, it's in the top five. Um, has you have you always been woo? 100%, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:51

Yeah? All my life. Yeah. How's it helped you? I don't know. I mean, you know, if you ask my wife, uh, you know, and the kids, you know, Tim's always the life of the party, or I'm gonna initiate a conversation, or I can go play in that mud puddle and enjoy myself just as much, you know, doing things. But I think if you look at it, you know, as our gallop strengths, and we talked about that. The first time we met, you know, I was the only one in that corner by myself because my strengths were completely opposite of cabinet strengths. I'm like, what am I in for? Um, but I look back and you know, I look it back when I was an athletic director at Kane Bay High School and I was dealing with maintenance a lot. It was a new school. There were a lot of busted water pipes and irrigation systems. But I would go out there and roll my sleeves up and help the plumbers, or you know, I'd get the um blower and clean out buses or pick up trash during a baseball game just to kill time or whatever. But people see that and what you're doing and your actions you take, but then I just go over and set it down and talk to somebody on the bench, and you know, what's going on? How's your life? What's the job like, whatever. But I I don't know if I make people feel at ease, but I can tie in a joke, you know, and just bring that aspect. So if you had to meet with me as a principal, you had to meet as a coach with an athletic director, an assistant principal, or even here at the district office, I think I could put that person in that chair at ease kind of quickly just in conversation. Conversation.

SPEAKER_01 12:19

I know from experience in the last four years of us working together, like there's been some pretty intense moments. I mean, the daily operations of not just the superintendency, but schools can be intense at certain times. And so when I'm like, like you just said a few minutes ago before we started, like your blood pressure is through the roof. Like when my blood pressure is through the roof, I don't know how many trips I've made down, you know, telling my secretary and um Miss Glaze, like I need to go and um take something to Mr. McDowell. Like I go there, and it's probably for nothing, but I leave out, like feeling like a little bit more calm, relaxed, like, hey, you can handle this. That's it. Yeah, and so you are known for that. I think everybody on cabinet um knows you for that and realizes that's what you bring to the team. I mean, among some other, a whole bunch of other positive traits and um areas, but I think they all depend on that and they're gonna they're gonna miss it. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:23

But I'm not gone, you know. I I live, you know, 10 minutes away, so you know, I'll I'll still be here and substituting. Yeah, that's well, uh Miss Washington wants me to, you know, hey, you can help with uh some of the principal evaluations, or you can be a mentor to some of the new principals, which I have no problem. I mean, I've got more stories and I share those with a lot of people, but I you can dwell on a lot of experiences. What went right, what went wrong, what could you have done better?

SPEAKER_01 13:52

You just pull that story out right at the right time with the situation, and it and it fits, right? What is one moment in your career that you'll never forget? Good, bad, indifferent?

SPEAKER_00 14:03

I have I have a couple. Okay. You know, I think, I mean, I I think when I was a principal and one of my students got accepted to one of the uh academies, I've never, I've always seen it, but that was a I mean a major moment. And he was going to the Air Force Academy. I'm like, you know, this is big. This is really big. Because then you had the senator come and present the proclamation or whatever they do, because they had to have, you know, a signed uh confirmation from them. That was pretty neat for a student. Um, you know, hiring a former student of mine, um, David Carter, to be the band director, that was pretty neat. David was like one of my all-time favorite students at Goose Creek. I had him at Westview Middle. I taught him at Goose Creek High School. He went to Carolina, was in the band at Carolina. I'd be at home football games at the University of South Carolina. I'd see him, I called him DC, yell his name out. He'd come over, hug, you know, how's everything going? And then I had the opportunity to hire him to be the band director at Kane Bay. Um was a pretty pretty neat. And obviously, you know, we had the dark moment. I lost a student at a campus. Um that's the only time that's ever happened in the school district, unfortunately. And I still stay in contact with that family. I mean, that was a bond you don't want to have, but we kind of rely on each other for healing. Um, you know, January 20th will live in my mind. There, I mean, obviously a lot of people, staff members at Cain Bay's mind. But that that incident um, you know, really sticks with me. I mean, I can flash back to that time, no time. But I mean, there's good and bad. I mean, you do something 37 years, you're dealing with a lot of adults, a lot of children, a lot of employees. I mean, you're gonna have a roller coaster up and down, right? But there's far more good. Oh my goodness, yes. Yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 15:53

So and I mean, I don't think people realize how connected, you know, we become even in such a short time, like at a school. If you're there a year, you become with the families, the teachers, the community. Um, and so I can imagine a span, you know, like yours, how deep those connections go in the same district, 37 years. Like you said, you taught David Carter at Westview. Eighth grade. Eighth grade, and then you had him again in high school, and then you were able to follow him throughout college and bring him back to Cain Bay.

SPEAKER_00 16:29

Yeah, he played at my daughter's wedding. I invited his band to play at my daughter's wedding after he left Cain Bay. You know, he went, I think he's at Coastal Carolina, got his doctorate now, and so yeah, he plays with a uh a band. He does some gigs on the weekend. So I texted him, hey, you know, can you come? Can you play at my daughter's wedding? And sure enough, he did. You build these bonds. You build these bonds, life, life, yeah, life bonds, friendship, and it's kind of neat. You know, I live in a small neighborhood nearby, Pimlico, and I think I have 18 former students that live in that neighborhood, but they're parents, they have children that go to our schools, and so um I either had them at Westview Middle, um, Goose Creek High School, somewhere, Timberland, Kane Bay. Um, and that when I was a teacher at Goose Creek, I used to use the word all the time, accountability. And so these two grown men with children, every time they drive by or see me cutting grass or walking my dog, whatever, roll down the window. Accountability! Accountability. So they do it. I mean, that was the late 1990s, so yeah, maybe that ingrained they need to be accountable in life.

SPEAKER_01 17:32

So this is um a hot topic. Um and you said over the course of from teacher to district level, it's like in that many years, it has to be roller coasters and ups and downs, but you then said the good far outweighs the challenging experiences. How have you enjoyed your experience in Berkeley County School District? You've been here 37 years. Right. I I hear people, you know, we we have um different sides of the spectrum that talk about their experiences. And I can't, one thing you always have to do is respect someone's experience and honor their experience and try to, as a leader, try to develop a culture by what you hear from others' experiences, but from someone who's been here 37 years, not a jaded experience, but what has been your experience in Berkeley County?

SPEAKER_00 18:28

I mean, I never traded for the world. I mean, Berkeley County School District has taken care of me for 37 years. I mean, not I mean, yeah, whatever, but I mean emotionally, I mean, think about it. I've spent more time in the Berkeley County School District buildings than I have my own home, you know, or with my children, uh with my wife. I've been part just ingrained, just ebb and flows and just you know, being everywhere. I mean, you I'll never, I mean, I'm just grateful for the opportunity that way back when a principal named Lewis Quick at Westview until working with you. I mean, you kind of zig and zagged all the way through. So it's been neat. So it's been a good experience for you. Oh my god, yes, yeah. 100%. Never traded. I loved it. And I I mean, and even to this day, you know, you've asked me, like, you're sure you want to do this? You know, and you know, A, I I'm kind of going out, you know. No, I'm going on a high note. Um, I still feel pretty good, feel pretty healthy. Yeah. Usually, you know, my wife and I enjoy our granddaughter. I mean, Lucy has now controlled our lives, but right, yeah, it's it's a good thing. It's a good thing.

SPEAKER_01 19:40

All right. So you have um your hands are in a lot. Um you have four divisions or four departments, huge departments under your division. But uh, and we're gonna talk about that a little bit, but I do want to think about who has been your biggest influence as a leader, or what has been your biggest influence?

SPEAKER_00 20:04

Cabinet or overall?

SPEAKER_01 20:05

Just overall. You're this is about your your career, your legacy. There's a lot of Does anybody come to mind or any experience come to mind that has influenced you the most?

SPEAKER_00 20:15

I mean, uh, there's just so many pieces and parts. I think that long of a time, an individual has it. I mean, I could just go back to, you know, my middle school principal, you know, Dr. Lavinia Turner. I mean, she's the one, hey Tim, I see something in you. You know, you seem to be department chair and you helped Stratford with scheduling, you helped Goose Creek with scheduling. I wasn't a guidance counselor, but I would help do the roll-up ninth grade scheduling all the time. So at that time, you could give vouchers. You know, if you had a student teacher at your school, the principal gets an extra voucher to hand off to a teacher to take classes. So, you know, she gave me some vouchers and I was started taking classes at the Civil Administration, and then I transferred over to Goose Creek High School. John Fulmer saw the exact same thing. He gave me some vouchers to take, so it kind of helped pay a halfway pay through my master's program. But those two kind of kicked me, you know, to do that. But you know, you you look at different roles of leadership. Look where you're at right now and how you try to be laser focused on student achievement. We've got to bring up student, and we're not gonna do the next thing coming around. We're not gonna unhitch from the post, we're not gonna do these things, we're gonna bring everybody together. It's gonna be unified, and everybody sees the common goal. And slowly and surely our results are showing the efforts of your goals and sticking to them. All right. We may throw different strategies in you know along the way, but taking your leadership and saying, we're not changing the course, we're going straight. And we've all attached on that, whether we be district level or you know, directors or you know, you name it, it affects every division in this district to stay forward and laser folks. On what you've laid out, and we haven't veered off that path. So that we haven't seen that. I said eight superintendents, we haven't seen that before. I mean, I've been part of them, but I've never seen us all stay focused on one thing, and if you don't, I mean, it's not if you don't like it, we're still doing it. It's got to show success in your eyes, but we're not gonna give up on something so quickly that it's the next thing down the pike. What do you want your legacy to be? Um I look back at it, what do I want my legacy to be? Um someone who cared. Um I mean, obviously the passion that I have for the kids. Um, you know, I've been involved in athletics a long time, almost my entire career at Berkeley County, whether it be coaching or, you know, it's a principal rooting them on, a school level athletic director, um, district level. I mean, I've been to the national conferences, state conferences, the friendships I built, but you know, just seeing people succeed, everybody can't be a star athlete. You're not gonna win a state championship every year. Um, it's so rare to get to that, but have fun doing it. Um and so I hope younger coaches see and feel that passion. That don't take the fire out of a student, a student athlete. Uh be open to communicate. I mean, that parent, yep, I mean, that's their child. That's the only thing they're gonna support. But don't shut yourself off from a parent. I mean, you're the coach, but be open, be transparent. I mean, that's I mean, to get through that. That's the coaching part. Um, legacy, I hope I did enough things right that some of these, you know, I I look at Lindy, I say Christensen, Balichek, she's getting ready to become the principal at Berkeley Middle. Lindy was my student in eighth grade at Westview Middle School. And so um I've been friends with her family. I used to take her brother fishing in a John boat on a pond. Um, Corey now runs the pit stop in Sangary. But you know, I told Lindy, and I've walked I watched Lindy come through. She went to Goose Creek High School. I watched her become a teacher, then a coach. She worked in technology. Um and so part of her interview when she interviewed uh for assistant principalship, and I told her, you know, last week or a couple weeks ago at the board meeting, I'm still here. I'm only a phone call or text away. If you need, hey, what would you do here? Um so I think leaving, you know, I know I can re I can still call Tim or hopefully I did things right along the way. Um I never burned a bridge. I I've said that a couple of times. You know, I can still walk into my former schools, Westview Middle, Timberland High School, Goose Creek High School, Kane Bay High School, and still feel that I'm part of that school. And I haven't been in those schools in years, but I still feel the connections, you know, that I made there. So hopefully I did the right thing. Um, you know, I'm I'm dealing with attendance appeals right now, lots of them. Um it's attendance appeal season. Uh the parents want to go to different schools, but now I have my former students call me on the phone, and sometimes I have to deny a parent's appeal that was my former student, but trying to I justify it. So, you know, that legacy of what I built, that relationship what I built, um kind of eases the bridge. So you use the woo. Use the woo.

SPEAKER_01 25:24

There we go. Use the woo. There we go. So not only athletics, we talked about the security piece. And just for the record, another part that we'll be missing is like who's gonna read the weather maps.

SPEAKER_00 25:39

I thought about that. I forgot about that. You know, and I don't know if people realize it, but you know, you're talking about four o'clock in the morning.

SPEAKER_01 25:50

What's up with the clouds?

SPEAKER_00 25:51

Um, yeah, I have a sheet in my office at home with every zip code of every town in Berkeley County. And what I do is I get on certain NOAA weather stations, I type in the zip code of Kane Hoy, I'll type in the zip code of Hand to Hand, Pineville, Cross, uh Latson, get wind speeds, how much rain, about when's the rain gonna hit, and you know, ice and things of that, you know, and and I I don't know. I've thought about that. Who I don't know. Yeah, I'm still working that out. So when we sit together for the people out there, when we sit together, you know, we it's like a chess game or uh um poker game because we have the other district superintendents that you communicate with, yep, and then you're kind of holding Tim's cards here, and Katie's like and Katie gets involved. But yeah, I th I actually thought about the other day.

SPEAKER_01 26:42

We were going through certain things with my always happens at the first week of school, and where will you be the first week of school? Yeah. Are you gonna be in Berkeley? Yeah. Or are you gonna be somewhere enjoying retirement?

SPEAKER_00 26:56

I don't know, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:57

Just like thinking about it.

SPEAKER_00 26:59

But you have to change the street. It's a tropical storm. Yeah, it's gonna be a tropical storm, you know, and I've done hurricane shelters. You know, I I was stuck in a school for a week straight at Kane Bay High School, you know, Hurricane Matthew.

SPEAKER_01 27:09

Kate Hoy.

SPEAKER_00 27:10

Yeah, I mean, but to go and do those weather, people don't realize what goes the district, and you know, they wait for the call from Katie. I'm like, Katie gets all the credit in the world, but it's you and I in the background doing all the work, and we can't wait to hear Katie's voice. You know, and Katie gets it. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:28

You told them that, you told Teacher Forum that though. You did stand up. They said that to me this week. We're like, we now know that Tim, and they even said, you don't even do it, Dr. Dixon. You told us yourself. You talked to Tim. I was like, well, we all talk to each other, but yes.

SPEAKER_00 27:44

They'll do the printouts of every every zip code. Here's what it looks like for the next 24 hours. Because also, you know, being over transportation, the number one thing I look at with Tyra is wind speed, because we have state laws that you know sustained wind of 30 miles an hour is going to ground a bus, and people all freak out and oh, it was when I went to school, blah, blah, blah. Well, the state law says wind can blow over a school bus going across the bridge. And so I got to look at sustained wind speeds, wind gusts. Now I'm not a meteorologist. I did take meteorology in college, though. I loved it. Um I took three classes in it. Really?

SPEAKER_01 28:22

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:23

It was pretty cool. We used to fly in a little uh little airplane, and we had to chip in on gas. So they we two or three of us could go on the, we met at the airport on the weekend, the instructor, the pilot, and then we'd take off and fly over and look at the uh the creeks, the rivers, the the coal mining where they would do uh strip mining and things of that. Um then we'd land the next guy get in. I think it was like eight dollars a person on Saturdays, but it was part of our our classes, and so it's pretty neat.

SPEAKER_01 28:52

Alright, I'm gonna do a rapid fire retirement questions. Got it. You get I'm asking them quick. Got it. Or as quick as I can. And you just boom. All right. Early morning school arrival or late night board meeting? Early. Favorite school cafeteria lunch.

SPEAKER_00 29:10

They don't have it anymore, but it used to be called chicken bowl. Chicken nuggets, mashed potatoes, cheese, and gravy.

SPEAKER_01 29:14

Chalkboard, dry erase board, or smart board?

SPEAKER_00 29:17

Oh, chalkboard.

SPEAKER_01 29:18

One word students would use to describe you.

SPEAKER_00 29:20

I don't know. I just likable?

SPEAKER_01 29:23

Okay, one word staff would use to describe you. Dependable? Hardest part of education. Failing a student. Most rewarding part of education.

SPEAKER_00 29:32

Shaking your hands across the stage in graduation.

SPEAKER_01 29:35

If you could teach one class tomorrow, what would it be? U.S. history.

SPEAKER_00 29:41

Best advice you ever received. Stay stay true to yourself. I can remember John Fulmer saying that a lot. Stay true to yourself. He was a bulldog though. He was a manager principal versus you know instructional, but if he said it, you remembered it. What will you miss most? The day-to-day interactions with people. I'm a pee- I mean I sing in the hallway outside my office. Um what one I won't miss. Oh attendance appeals. A hobby you finally have time for. Oh my god, I got a bunch. Um I love hunting, deer hunting, turkey hunting. That'd be fun. Golfing. Will you still wake up at school hours? That will take a while. Because even on weekends, you know, I'm wide awake at 5 30. Um I'm a bit I'm a morning person to begin with.

SPEAKER_01 30:26

So one thing people don't realize about educators that we care.

SPEAKER_00 30:34

We put in uh a lot of time to get it right. One message to teachers and staff. Believe in yourself. I mean, you've got a support system around you, rely on that support system, uh, trust your instincts, always use common sense, common sense, common sense, and accountability. Be accountable. Be accountable. One message to students. Um what you're getting yourself into. Think. I kids don't think anymore. Think about it. Things are gonna be tough, but you know, look what you're getting yourself into. Um I used to tell the kids in high school show me your friends, I'll show you your future. You know, think before you do things because kids make some stupid mistakes nowadays. Are you really retiring? Am I really retiring? That one we haven't turned that chapter yet. On paper it says it. I don't have a job out here, I'm not going to Volvo and and being, you know, the instructor driver. I thought about that. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 31:32

Who cried more when you announced your retirement? You or me? You didn't.

SPEAKER_00 31:41

I cried going up the steps. You just didn't see it.

SPEAKER_01 31:44

Okay, good. Thank you. I felt bad. I felt it was gonna be embarrassed.

SPEAKER_00 31:47

I was not gonna I didn't hopscotch and you know, you didn't you didn't run. No, it was like, you know, I've because I felt under pressure. I, you know, Amy put out the, you know, you gotta fill out this form by February 4th or something. I'm like, am I really gonna make this decision this year?

SPEAKER_01 32:05

You and Lucy, what what are you gonna what are you looking forward to with your granddaughter?

SPEAKER_00 32:09

Well, you know, she comes to my house Tuesdays and Thursdays, and and so Cece, that's Cindy, watches her, and I I miss out. I get FaceTime here at work, or I get a phone call, hey, we're going to ice cream or we're going to the park or we're going for, you know, and I'm like, okay, okay. So just being that time. Present. And she just started talking the last couple weeks. So Lucy, you know, and now it's bye-bye, pop pop. So you get them talking now and say that, it just ah, so well looking forward to that.

SPEAKER_01 32:39

Well, you have been the woo of the team. You've given 37 great years to Berkeley County School District. Um, you created a legacy, you've made a positive difference, not only for the students in this district, the families, parents from year to year to year, but for me personally. I uh have enjoyed working with you. You absolutely deserve this. I will be calling you on weather days, so keep your zip codes together. But in the words of Lucy, bye-bye pop pop.

SPEAKER_00 33:15

Bye-bye pop pop.

SPEAKER_01 33:16

There you go, sir. Enjoyed it. We would like to thank Mr. Tim McDowell, Chief of Operations and Legacy here in Berkeley County School District, who has spent 37 years making a positive difference with faculty and staff and students and families in Berkeley County. And we would thank him and we appreciate him for his service. This is Dr. Anthony Dixon with Insights on Education.