A 33-year career in the Macon County School system, which started as a teacher at Nantahala and the last decade as superintendent, officially ends this summer as Dr. Chris Baldwin retires.
Baldwin’s last official day with MCS is Sept. 1, although his successor Josh Lynch officially took over as superintendent on July 1.
Some of his last duties had Baldwin shaking hands at all five high school graduation ceremonies – Franklin High, Union Academy, Macon Early College, Highlands and Nantahala – reaching 50 total graduations as superintendent. Add on the students in three years as FHS principal and nine years as Nantahala principal; Baldwin chuckled in saying that’s enough graduation handshakes for one career.
“It’s obviously bittersweet to look back on the past 33 years and think about all the relationships with community members, students, faculty, think about how that’s going to change over the next few months,” Baldwin said during a June 7 interview. “It’s very fulfilling to look back and think I had an opportunity to work with this community and school system for the past 33 years. It’s an honor and I’m sure over the next few months I’ll have time to reflect on all that.”
The remaining weeks of Baldwin’s tenure have included closing out the 2022-23 school year, including his final Board of Education meeting on Monday, June 26, days before the transition.
“I’ve not really had to get Mr. Lynch ready for the position,” Baldwin said. “As a teacher and a principal and associate superintendent for the past few years, that has prepared him for the position. My main focus is just to make sure we have everything in order here for him to start off the next school year with the best opportunity possible for the students of Macon County.”
Baldwin said he’s excited about Lynch’s term as superintendent.
“He’s committed to the success of this school system. The thing I’ve noted when I’ve visited schools with him, is he has a tremendous framework of support in the schools. He’s worked with so many of those teachers. The teachers know his family, and a lot of them taught him. I’m excited about the future of Macon County and Macon County Schools.
With the end of his 33-year career here, Baldwin reminisced about the long road traveled.
Born into education
Despite growing up with both his parents as educators, Baldwin at first didn’t consider teaching.
“I never did think I’d want to be a teacher until I entered Western Carolina University,” Baldwin said. “I’d been around education my whole life with my mom and dad both being educators. When I decided to become a teacher, I really relied heavily on their advice.”
And even when becoming a science teacher at Nantahala in 1990, the same school he attended and graduated from, Baldwin never thought he’d become a principal, much less a superintendent.
“I never really thought about administration early on,” Baldwin said. “As a matter of fact, I looked at it as something I really didn’t see as being an attractive position. I always preferred working with kids and students. I really enjoyed my time in the classroom. I really enjoyed my time as a coach.”
Baldwin said his career then evolved as opportunities presented themselves. After 11 years as a teacher, Baldwin said the Nantahala principal job came open. Having just earned his Master of Arts in teaching, Baldwin said he got some encouragement to apply for the job. That encouragement led to a nine-year stay as Nantahala’s principal.
“The opportunity to build close relationships with families and students and staff, that’s really rewarding to get to know folks and work with them,” Baldwin said when asked about the benefits of being Nantahala principal. “The rewards of working in a small school, particularly Nantahala or even Highlands, is that it’s a K-12 school. You build relationships that are 12 years long. There’s no other schools in the system that allows those opportunities….12 years is a long time to be with kids and families. You get to know them, there’s an amount of trust there.”
In 2010, after 20 years at Nantahala, Baldwin recalled a similar situation that happened with the principal’s job at Franklin High School. He said then-superintendent Dan Brigman encouraged him to apply for the position.
“Boy that was a tough decision to leave Nantahala and a comfort zone, going from the smallest school in the county to the largest school in the county,” Baldwin said of that 2010 job change. “After a wonderful career at Nantahala, that opportunity was just something I’m really grateful for.”
The change, going from a school with just 30-40 high school-age students plus the K-8 students to a 9th-12th grade school with roughly 1,000 students, was massive.
“There’s a lot of different types of relationships and different focuses associated with a 1,000-student high school compared to roughly 140 kids in K-12 [at Nantahala].”
Baldwin said he was amazed at how great FHS students are.
“The thing that stands out most to me with the transition was the quality of students at Franklin High School,” Baldwin explained. “We overlook what great students we have in Macon County. But when you get to be around 1,000 Macon County kids every day, I was amazed at how thoughtful and committed the students at Franklin High School are to the success of that school and the community. That’s a reflection on the quality mentors that they’ve had, the teachers and coaches there at Franklin High School.
“I said a lot of times at that time…there were about 1,000 kids, I’d take 995 of them home with me every day if I needed to….man there’s a lot of great kids.”
Even with the great quality of students, Baldwin said those three years as FHS principal were challenging.
“Time management as principal of Franklin High School is really easy because basically, that’s your life,” Baldwin said. “I’ve said and thought, from 8 [a.m.] to 3 [p.m.], I don’t think there’s a better job in the school system than being principal at Franklin High School. It’s so interesting and so engaging…but now from 3 [p.m.] to 10 [p.m.], Franklin High School will wear you out. There’s so many things to go to. But it’s so fulfilling….but there isn’t much time for anything else.”
Becoming superintendent
When asked about how his road to becoming superintendent started, Baldwin recalled that in 2008 during a superintendent change, he was at a Veteran’s Day supper at Nantahala. Baldwin said former Superintendent Lonnie Crawford (who was his dad’s high school principal) told him to consider pursuing the job at some point.
“I was really surprised…I was still becoming accustomed to being the principal at Nantahala, I remember being overwhelmed by [Crawford] even suggesting I even pursue the position,” Baldwin said.
That conversation led Baldwin to enroll in Lincoln Memorial University’s EDD program in Harrogate, Tennessee. Baldwin said he had to spend one weekend a month there, graduating in 2012 when the MCS superintendent job came open.
Baldwin was named superintendent on Nov. 8, 2012, with his first day on July 1, 2013. For the seven-plus months in between, Baldwin learned the ropes from interim superintendent Dr. Jim Duncan.
“He was a really great resource for me,” Baldwin said, adding that it was especially needed as the trickle-down effects of the 2007-2009 recession came to the MCS central office in 2012.
Before COVID, Baldwin said his biggest challenge as superintendent was understanding the budget, saying his understanding as principal was “elementary.”
“Once you get in and learn about all the intricacies of the state, local and federal budget and how all those things work together and how we actually receive our funding from the state. The differences in position allotments and dollar allotments. That was something that was overwhelming for some time….it remains a huge challenge for superintendents.”
Baldwin said he’s tried to communicate how the budget works to principals and other administrators but said it’s really hard to understand unless you work with it every day as a superintendent does.
Another challenge as superintendent was fostering community relationships, which Baldwin said is something he’s impressed upon Lynch.
“As a teacher and administrator, it’s important to build positive relationships with students and families and of course your co-workers,” Baldwin said. “I think as a superintendent, I didn’t realize the importance of building relationships with community agencies, such as school board, of course county commissioners, emergency services, sheriff’s department, the media and churches. It’s so important to build those relationships. And that’s not something I was accustomed to and early on didn’t realize how important those things are.”
When taking the superintendent job, Baldwin first thought he’d retire in 2020, after his 30th year in education, an expectation he had going back to 1990.
“But the pandemic hit and I felt it was important to provide some level of stability until we got through the pandemic,” Baldwin said. “I wasn’t ready; I didn’t feel like it was a good time to leave.”
When asked about his biggest regrets as superintendent, Baldwin talked about better handling relationships with individuals.
“I always feel like there are things I could have done better in maintaining those positive relationships. I feel like there are opportunities to improve those relationships and I’m always second-guessing myself in how I could have handled those relationships.”
Despite those issues and the budget, Baldwin said the corner was turned in 2017-18.
“We were just beginning to reap those benefits when COVID hit,” Baldwin said.
COVID and retirement
When the COVID shutdowns happened in March 2020, Baldwin recalled thinking that was “unimaginable.”
“It’s still hard to imagine schools without children in the buildings. That’s not how I was taught to educate kids. It was a huge challenge and hard for me to wrap my brain around.”
Baldwin commended the teachers, students and staff for stepping up to the challenge of virtual school, then social distancing requirements.
“Some of our schools were able to stay at 100% capacity, but most of our schools had to operate on an A/B [alternating days] schedule [in 2020-21],” Baldwin said, later explaining that 2021-22 started with mask mandates, but shifted in October to mask optional.
Baldwin said by October 2021, everyone, including himself, was tired of the pandemic.
“That was a difficult time to manage relations in the community,” Baldwin said of following COVID-19 guidance. “There were a lot of people who felt like we should have been mask required. A lot of people felt like we should have been mask optional.”
“I think in the end, we were able to keep schools open and educate kids…I don’t think we lost any staff or students to COVID over the pandemic, that’s something I’m really grateful for. Just watching our staff manage instruction under those circumstances, I just can’t express my gratitude to them enough about how they were able to do the best they could for kids.”
When Baldwin announced his retirement in February, he stated he didn’t want to become “an old and decrepit superintendent.” In June, Baldwin said he feels like he’s still a few years away from that age, so he has things he’d like to do.
“First of all, I’d like to take some time off with my family,” Baldwin said. “I’ve got two grandchildren. And recharge my batteries, so to say. I still have a strong commitment to Macon County. I’m not leaving Macon County and I want to do all I can to make sure this county remains a great place to live and work.”
Post-retirement
As far as his professional life, Baldwin said he would wait six months and see if there’s anything he’d like to pursue.
“I’ve got some other opportunities. I got a few heads of cattle I have been working with for the last couple of years. I have a general contractors license and I’ll be looking at some things with that. And I have two grandchildren who are going to occupy a lot of my time, especially that first six months after I retire.”
When asked about what’s different in kids today versus kids 33 years ago, Baldwin complimented how smart and well-behaved they are.
“What I see, kids are better today. Some of them are so mature. The interactions I’ve had with high school students, I’m blown away by their ability to approach problems with creativity and think critically about problems. You look at Franklin High School with the leadership program today and how those kids are committed to making Franklin High School better…and I use Franklin High School as an example because there are so many students there, but Highlands and Nantahala, and Union Academy too; look at what those kids accomplished with the Badger Bash.”
Baldwin said for kids today, the opportunities to make mistakes are much greater in today’s world.
“Social media is a huge challenge that we didn’t have 30 years ago, and I don’t know how students 30 years ago would have dealt with that.”
As he contemplates what to do next in his life, Baldwin feels gratitude for what he got in Macon County.
“I’ve spoken to superintendents across the state of North Carolina. With the opportunities I’ve had to work with the school board and commissioners, I don’t think a superintendent could have asked for a better group of leaders to work with.
“I could never pay it all back.”