DECATUR -- When Jeff Gravette was promoted to superintendent of the Decatur school system, it left an opening for a new principal at Northside Elementary. By the end of May that position was filled and Decatur schools' administration was once again complete.
Cary Stamps will assume his position as the principal of Northside Elementary beginning July 1, the official start to the 2014-15 school year.
Stamps is no stranger to the area, having taught in the Gravette school system for nine years at the middle-school level. He taught eighth grade technologies, seventh grade keyboarding, and seventh and eighth grade science.
His passion for teaching is one that has been in his family for a long time. Stamps' father recently retired after 20 years as the elementary school principal at Arkansas City, Kan. Two of Stamps' sisters are also educators, one on the elementary school level and one on the college level.
But Stamps was not always interested in teaching. He earned a bachelor's degree in business and a master's in business administration from Missouri State. He held several top management positions in the retail industry for several years before he decided to pursue teacher's certification.
While managing a retail store at night, Stamps began substitute teaching. Once he had earned enough experience, he took a week off from his retail position to go for his teacher's certification, and nine years ago he followed in his father's footsteps and became a teacher. But he was not content to just teach, he wanted to become an administrator.
Five years ago, Stamps decided to pursue a master's in education administration at Harding University. Upon completing his degree, he went about learning as much as he could about school administration in Gravette.
"The last four years, I have spent working on leadership committees and learning how the organization of administering a school works," Stamps said. "I have been getting some hands on learning in the Gravette district and I have learned a great many things from them."
Stamps is familiar with the Decatur school system since one of his colleagues is Jeff Gravette. But Gravette was not his only tie to Decatur; the first principal under which Stamps taught was Mitch Wilber, who serves as the federal programs administrator for the Decatur district.
"I couldn't get a better situation, as far as my first year as an administrator, to have two support people whom I admire and are great educators," Stamps said. "I will learn a lot from them in the coming years."
Stamps plans on keeping Northside Elementary much as Jeff Gravette has made it. His goal is to gather as much input and knowledge from his staff and, if necessary, use what he has learned to better Northside in the coming years.
"I am very fortunate to have known Mr. Gravette when we taught together in Gravette," Stamps said. "Right now, we are going through some changes he made in how the school runs."
Ultimately, Stamps' goal is about educating the youth of Decatur. It is his desire to give the students the best educational opportunities that he and the Northside staff can give.
"Each student needs to be learning; that's what we are here for," Stamps said. "We are going to take care of them and teach the fire out of them."
General News on 07/02/2014