Longtime Schools Superintendent McDaris Announces Retirement
Transylvania County Schools Superintendent Jeff McDaris said Monday he will retire at the end of the school year. The decision was based on personal considerations, he said, not job frustration.
BREVARD — Transylvania County Schools Superintendent Jeff McDaris said Monday he will retire after 14 years on the job, reflecting proudly on his work to advance technology and provide well-rounded education for students, but acknowledging frustration at the unfinished renovation of schools.
“Would I have loved to have had some things done by now? Yes,” he said in an interview Tuesday, referring to the $68-million upgrade of campuses in Rosman and Brevard approved by voters in 2018.
But he remains hopeful that school improvements will move forward with the cooperation of the Transylvania County Commission, he said, and added that the issue played no part in his decision to retire.
McDaris, 62, first became involved with the district in 1967, when he started attending the former Straus Elementary School in Brevard, he said during his announcement at Monday’s School Board meeting.
By June 30, when his retirement takes effect, he will have worked a total of 40 years in education, including as a career and technical education (CTE) teacher and in a variety of administrative jobs in Transylvania before he assumed the role of superintendent.
He received his bachelor’s degree from North Carolina State University and his doctorate from Western Carolina University.
As a superintendent, he oversaw an initiative to provide every student with a computer, he said Tuesday.
“I’m very proud that during the time I’ve been here we have expanded to one-to-one devices,” he said, adding these were crucial in allowing the district to switch to remote learning during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
When he took the job in 2009, he said, the ongoing recession forced many districts in the state to cut back on extracurricular activities. Transylvania did not, he said, and for a district its size it offers robust arts, athletics and ROTC programs. Such enrichment is expensive, he has said, and on Tuesday he reiterated that the results do not always show up in test scores.
“It’s more important to develop well-rounded citizens,” he said.
This was part of his answer to criticisms leveled at the district, including by School Board member Chris Wiener during last year’s campaign: the district ranks near the top in the state in per-student funding without producing similar levels of academic achievement.
“I will stand by that,” he said Tuesday.
Wiener also pushed back on the increased reliance on technology and remote learning, saying it is not an effective substitute for in-person instruction.
But he praised McDaris as a communicator and the depth of his knowledge about educational policy.
When Wiener has introduced ideas in one-on-one meetings, he said, McDaris “has been candid, open, receptive and provided good counter-arguments.”
Though the School Board agreed on Monday to delay commenting on McDaris’ career until shortly before his retirement takes effect, Chair Tawny McCoy choked up as she briefly praised his “passion for our school system and the county.”
Board member Ron Kiviniemi said on Tuesday that one indication of McDaris’ effectiveness is his long tenure on the job.
“The average job life expectancy of a superintendent in North Carolina is less than four years,” he said. “I’ve always found Jeff to have a quiet, calm leadership approach even in times of turmoil.”
This was especially valuable during the Covid-19 pandemic and the disagreements with the County Commission over the funding of school renovations, Kiviniemi said. He also reiterated Wiener’s praise of McDaris’ communication, citing his accesibility to parents and teachers.
“The amount of time he spends in meetings with individuals each week is amazing,” Kiviniemi said. The superintendent’s broad knowledge of education issues has been enhanced by his involvement with several statewide and national school groups, Kiviniemi said.
Board Vice Chair Kimsey Jackson also noted McDaris’ deep connections in the local community, and McDaris said he has capitalized on contacts with, especially, business groups, to ensure that graduates meet the needs of employers.
“We are preparing the workforce of the future,” he said.
Jackson joked Monday about the burden the announcement would place on the Board.
“We’ve got the bond problem. Now we have to find a new superintendent,” Jackson said to McDaris. “Pile it on, won’t you?”
But McDaris said he is satisfied he has brought the district through the worst of the pandemic and that the timing of his announcement allows the Board several months to hire a replacement. That work should begin with a special meeting later this month, Kiviniemi said.
McDaris, who earns about $125,000 per year, made his decision last summer, he said Monday. He reached it after the death of his mother and the retirement of his wife, Lisa, whom he started dating in high school.
He prefaced his announcement by listing his family, which includes three grandchildren, household projects that need tackling, his goals as a writer and the many “North Carolina barbecue joints” he has yet to visit. He wants to spend more time on all of them, he said.
To show the increasing complexity of his job, he produced the slim book of state educational policy in place in the early 1980s, when he accepted his first teaching job, and contrasted it with the current, three-inch-thick volume.
“The job of school administrator is rewarding, but it’s tough,” he said. “We have wonderful community, teachers, students and families, but admittedly I am tired.”
“Many educators have always told me you will know when it is time” to retire, he said.
“Last summer . . . I knew it was time.”
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