10 minute read
16
16
WWW.GREENWOODARLIFE.COM | AUGUST 2020 |
Advertisement
Greenwood Life
Greenwood SCHOOL native leading the charge in EXCELLENCE
STORY BY Scott Cutlip
PHOTOGRAPHY BY Sharla Derry
Suzy Wilson, a 1981 graduate of Greenwood High School, has spent the last eight years as assistant superintendent of Greenwood Public Schools, after years of teaching and being a principal. Along with Superintendent John Ciesla and the rest of the Greenwood school administration, she has helped teachers, students and parents through an unprecedented time as Greenwood and the rest of the country respond to COVID-19.
Wilson was born in Fort Smith to Myra and James Burgess. James was a dentist, while Myra was a stayat-home mother. Wilson’s parents and some of her siblings still live in Greenwood.
After high school, Wilson went to Westark Community College, where she met Don Wilson, a Southern California student who was on the 1981 National Championship basketball team. The two married in 1983. Don graduated with a degree in business, working for Pradco Outdoors and retiring recently after 35 years, before a second career as a sales consultant with Farm Bureau. Suzy left college to work in retail management for fifteen years.
“I came from a world of retail where everything was service oriented,” she said. “I did a lot of management work. And when I came into education, one of the things that made me successful was that service orientation from the retail world. Every student and every parent kind of is my customer.”
Wilson then went back to college, attending Arkansas Tech University and in 1996 receiving a degree in elementary education. After graduating, Greenwood hired her to teach
Greenwood Life
| WWW.GREENWOODARLIFE.COM | AUGUST 2020 17
Suzy Wilson ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT OF GREENWOOD PUBLIC SCHOOLS
kindergarten the day before school started.
“It was the best experience of my life,” she said. “For the first two to three weeks, I told my husband I think I would do this for free.”
After six years of teaching kindergarten and first grade, she started attending the University of Arkansas to receive a Master’s in Educational Leadership, which she completed in 2003.
“I was thrilled to be able to have some leadership opportunities in starting the first pre-K program in the school district,” Wilson said. “I was the director of that for four years. We have, I think now, the best pre-K program in the state.”
Wilson juggled administration duties of the pre-K program with teaching classes full-time, which she said prepared her for the next stop in her professional career, when Dr. Sarah Turner, the principal at Westwood Elementary, suggested Wilson take an assistant principal job at the school.
“Dr. Turner was a great mentor to me,” Wilson said. “She ran a very tight ship, with loads of experience. I learned a tremendous amount from her. I was there a year, and Dr. Turner said, ‘I’ve watched you this year. I’m ready to retire, and I really hope the district will
Suzy Wilson’s most recent family photo. [Courtesy Photo]
18
WWW.GREENWOODARLIFE.COM | AUGUST 2020 | Greenwood Life
put you in as principal at Westwood.’” Wilson was principal for three years.
She received an Educational Specialist degree from Arkansas State University in 2013 before taking on her current job of assistant superintendent.
According to Wilson, COVID-19 was one of the biggest tests of her career, along with that of everyone in Greenwood. Wilson said in hindsight the state might have shut down too quickly at the time. “We learn from the past, and so it helps us to learn some things we can do better,” she said.
After making all classes online for the remainder of the Spring semester, the school district is going into the start of a new school year with a new plan.
“We have plan A, which is business as usual,” Wilson said. “We have plan B, which is a modification. We have plan C, which is further modification. And we have plan D, which is going back online.”
The school also has to change some of the traditional aspects of returning to school, including the district kickoff and rally. Wilson said if they’re able to go with plan A, it would go on as normal. Otherwise, they would have to move the event or cancel it. The teacher’s appreciation banquet has
Suzy Wilson and her husband Don are seen. [Courtesy Photo]
Greenwood Life
| WWW.GREENWOODARLIFE.COM | AUGUST 2020 1 9
Suzy Wilson ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT OF GREENWOOD PUBLIC SCHOOLS
been postponed. Because of the huge financial hits businesses have taken, the district also decided to cancel fundraising.
“We’re going to make do with what we have,” Wilson said. “We know in the future when things go back to normal, we’ll be able to resume, and our community will support us like always.”
Greenwood has developed its own online learning program, as opposed to using another, like other districts are. Wilson pointed out that the schools will also face excessive cleaning, as well as cutting down cross-traffic between classes. Teachers will move in and out of some classes, as opposed to students moving. Classes are currently scheduled to begin August 24.
The Wilsons have two children. Tyler, a standout quarterback at Greenwood and the University of Arkansas, spent some time in the NFL before becoming a commercial developer and in-
Suzy Wilson is pictured with her two children, Tyler and Allie. [Courtesy Photo]
Greenwood Life
| WWW.GREENWOODARLIFE.COM | AUGUST 2020 2 0
vestor in Little Rock. Daughter Allie, who continued the family sporting life with a tennis scholarship to UAFS, is married to Adam Deacon and also lives in Little Rock. She is a sales representative for Medline Industries. Suzy and Don recently celebrated their 38th wedding anniversary.
“I cannot stress enough how incredible this community is, and how it’s shaped so many people in so many ways,” Wilson concluded. “The mentors I’ve had with Dr. Kay Johnson, Dr. Sarah Turner and Mr. John Ciesla, have just been incredible. Some of the finest people I’ve ever been around, and I feel sometimes maybe guilty because I’m just so blessed within the community and with this job. I’m going to do it as long as I feel I can do it to where it’s done well. We have some of the best and strongest and brightest leaders coming up in this district that I’ve ever seen. And I just can’t wait for the day I get to turn it over to them and see them do great things for the future.”
Greenwood Life
| WWW.GREENWOODARLIFE.COM | AUGUST 2020 2 1
WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE SUBJECT WHEN YOU WERE IN SCHOOL IN GREENWOOD? at’s really easy. I’m a reader. I love reading. I love anything literary. I love to write. I was always writing. I had three older siblings that evidently taught me how to read before I came to school. My teacher was incredible. Her name was Miss
Garner. And she knew right away I was a reader. And she got me books that were available that were appropriate for rst graders, and I read while everybody else was learning to read.
WHAT DO YOU THINK MAKES GREENWOOD SCHOOLS STAND OUT?
You can have a lot of di erent theories, but my main one is the community that we have surrounding the schools and the support that we have is what makes everything possible, that
Mr. Ciesla, Mr. Hesslen and I do on a daily basis. If we didn’t have that, we would be ghting a million other battles that keep us from providing the quality education that we do. Our teachers are second to none; I’d line them up with any teacher throughout the world. We have some of the best sta . ey are student-oriented, student-centered and do the work that needs to be done.
IS THERE ANYTHING IN PARTICULAR YOU’RE LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS SCHOOL YEAR?
Without a doubt I’m looking forward to seeing parents pull up to schools and letting kids out for the rst day of school, and seeing the smiles on the faces of teachers, and parents waving goodbye and having some stress relief knowing they’re not going to have to educate their kids at home.
WHAT IS A TYPICAL DAY LIKE?
I live about ten minutes north of here and every morning
I’m kind of reviewing my schedule, like what I have already that inevitably there are about 20 other things that come up that are not on the schedule. And those are the things that I really love. I love challenges. As I’m coming in, I’ll stop in at either Westwood or East Pointe just to see the kids coming in the morning. Watch teachers interacting with the kids. en
I’ll have a meeting or two, and it might be on curriculum, it might be on sta ng, public relations, or communications within. Or I’ll be in a meeting on things that are new or happening within the district. Parents contact me with questions and concerns that I’ll work with. WHAT DID YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT GROWING IN GREENWOOD? e things that I loved were probably everything centered around school, and I loved my friends hanging out at the
Dinner Bell. e other thing is just cruising downtown with all your friends on a summer night, everyone gathered around the L&J Drive-In. ose times I wouldn’t take away.
In fact, I wish sometimes my kids had kind of a little hangout like that. It was clean fun. It was good fun. It was just kind of the epitome of what I think a small American town should look like.
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT?
Focus on Greenwood is a program within our community that I love to be involved with. I’ve served as a vice president for it. I’m currently a member and help with a variety of activities. I have taken a very active role with the United Way at the River Valley area. Right now I’m the vice president on the board, and I’ll be assuming the president’s role in 2021.
And that work is so hand in hand with what we do, and our mission for the school district, and that is helping kids in the community. I’ve attended Northside Church of Christ in
Greenwood my whole life, and it’s still a very important part of my life.
HOW HAVE YOU DEALT WITH THE PANDEMIC PERSONALLY?
Some people just have to face it head on every day. We have pretty much been here every day. We didn’t ever go to work from home. We stand here side by side, faced with it every day. You can’t really get away. You can’t hide from it. And that does take a toll emotionally. And I think we have a really good work group here on campus. You know you’re not in it alone. I have a very strong faith in God that has helped me get through a lot of it.
WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR HOBBIES?
I love to watch sports. at in particular is killing me right now. It’s just some of the best times. We have a TV in the pool area, so I can enjoy being outside and watching TV. I also like travel weekends out. I’m not a big international traveler, but I want to go to multiple places and just spend short weekends around Arkansas and neighboring states and just have a fun getaway.
Q&A with Scott Cutlip • Photo by Sharla Derry
