The All Administrators Retreat is the district’s back to school kick-off event in which Superintendent Dr. Tim Markley will present his challenge for the year followed by two days of professional development workshops for NHCS administrators. New Hanover County Board members are scheduled to attend along with central office staff, principals, assistant principals, and directors.
”The Board looks forward to hearing what James Ford has to say regarding his equity work across the state. We are committed to improving all aspects of equity and inclusion in NHCS, so inviting Mr. Ford to speak is a great way to start the school year,” stated Board Chair Lisa Estep.
Dr. Markley added, ”Our theme this year is ’We're all about kids. All day. Every day. I'm excited about launching this new theme and focusing on student success this year such as continuing to improve in the area of equity, the graduation rate, hiring the best teachers, and having the right amount of support staff for students such as counselors and mental health professionals.”
Mr. Ford is the Executive Director of CREED (the Center for Racial Equity in Education) and Principal Consultant at Filling the Gap Educational Consultants, LLC. He was recently appointed by Governor Roy Cooper to serve as a member of the North Carolina State Board of Education, representing the Southwest Region. Ford is the former Program Director at the Public School Forum of North Carolina, an education think-tank and policy advocacy organization. Prior to this, he served as the 2014-15 North Carolina Teacher of the Year representing 95,000 public school teachers throughout the state. During his time as NC Teacher of the year, he traveled the state and country speaking before thousands of teachers, students, business leaders and policymakers about the importance of education.