Robert Costley, Superintendent rcostley@habersham.k12.ga.us (706) 754-2118 ext 10 Fax (706) 754-4141
Superintendent's Corner
Dear Parents and Neighbors in Habersham County,
Hello! As I write this letter to you, it is a beautiful Sunday afternoon, and I am sitting in our living room watching my three children wolf down some Ramen noodles and root beer at the kitchen table. Watching them without them really knowing it, I caught myself thinking about their future and what is ahead for our family in Habersham County (It also occurred to me that I need to work more with all three of them on chewing food with their mouths closed. They sure do eat loud!).
As a professional educator and your future superintendent of schools for the 2008-2009 school year, I am astounded at how much I am still very much a student in this life. Have you ever just silently watched your children to see what you can learn? I need to do this more often.
When I watch my oldest, my 10 year-old son Sam, I see a true example of resilience and faith. He’ll be leaving elementary school this year, and Kelly and I worry the most about him, maybe because he is our first “baby.” Will he thrive in middle school? Will he make friends? Will he understand why his mom and dad felt it was important to make our home in Habersham? In talking with him though, we find that he is indeed a little nervous, but about different things. Will I still get to play second base in baseball? Will I still get to be in the band? Will the teachers like me? Will there be kids in our new neighborhood?
As we answer his questions, he responds with a “middle-school” shrug of the shoulders, and he calmly goes back to his Nintendo or back to making his sisters mad. It’s almost like he already knew the answers, but he figured it was best to ask anyway. He portrays an amazing strength and faith as he meets challenges like moving to a new town, something I hope he never outgrows.
My 9 year-old daughter Mackenzi is a different egg altogether. She doesn’t bother with asking the questions. Instead, she expresses her views as demands (I won’t tell which parent she takes after, as her mother might demand that I not write any more of these letters).
“Daddy, we better have room for our trampoline, or you can’t buy the house!”
“Daddy, I need a cell phone so I can call all my friends here until I make new ones there.”
“Daddy, I insist that Sophie not sleep in my room!”
“Daddy, if the cats don’t go, I don’t go.”
I just grin at her most of the time and nod my head. She’s got a twinkle in her eye that all of us could stand to have in our own, and it’s that twinkle that makes her demands a pleasure to meet (except the cell phone!).
Finally, my 6 year-old daughter Sophie is the child that all my old aunts and babysitters told me that God was sure to give me. These are the same aunts and babysitters that had a ping pong paddle with my name stenciled on it. Sophie is full of fire and independence. She is tough from having to stand up to two older siblings all of her life. While I do not have to tell my other two children twice to do anything, Sophie fears no thing and no one (except dogs and spiders). She is also the child that can crawl up in my lap and talk me into chocolate milk at 9 o’clock at night.
So why am I writing about my own kids in this very first letter to Habersham County? Why am I not first talking about achievement data, instructional strategies, and property taxes? I believe the answer is simple:
When it comes down to it, the reason our school system exists, the reason the job of superintendent exists, is to remember that our kids are not numbers on a data chart or a budget bottom-line. While those things are definitely important and will receive much attention in the years to come, I will never forget that each of our students has a name, a story, a family, and a unique way of dealing with life (just like us adults). If we keep that fact in mind, we will not only better serve our students, but we will guarantee the future of our community by growing independent, unique, well-rounded human beings to be our future leaders and future moms and dads.
As Kelly and I prepare to make our home in Habersham, many people in my current community have come to us and shared how fortunate we are to be joining you. I have been told many times how much my family will enjoy the welcoming spirit and kinship in our county, from Alto all the way to Batesville.
I have already seen the truth of this many times in the past month, and I want to thank you all for your sincere good wishes and welcoming handshakes.
I am honored to be your next superintendent, and I will take my stewardship of your children’s education just as seriously as I take the education of Sam, Mackenzi, and Sophie. As we walk together in the years to come, I ask for your prayers and support. If I have those two things, then there is nothing we will not accomplish for every student in our fine school system.
In the meantime, I’ve got some dishes to wash and some noodles to wipe off the counter. I hope they saved me some of that root beer…
For our kids,
Robert “Buddy” Costley
The Habersham County School System will be a learning organization that is open and inviting and composed of competent, caring individuals that value life-long learning and the worth and dignity of all people. It will deliver a rigorous, stimulating curriculum that is research-based, student-centered, and focused on results which will enable all students to reach their maximum potential and become productive citizens able to compete in an international community. Teachers will be empowered to be inventors and creators of student work which is engaging, challenging, compelling, meaningful, and which results in high quality learning.
The Habersham County School System will provide state-of-the-art, well-maintained, and safe facilities with those conditions and support systems that ensure an optimal student learning experience. It will cooperate with the family, community, social services, business, and government entities as they work together to meet the needs of children and to plan, develop, and evaluate educational programs and services.