NC principal prepares for upcoming retirement

SANFORD, N.C. — For Tom Harvley-Felder, sitting behind a desk all day would be tough.

"Administration encompasses so many different things in 24 hours," said Harvley-Felder, the principal atEast Lee Middle School. "I may be working with a difficult child one moment and then solving a maintenance problem the next minute."

Harvley-Felder, who was recently named the Wachovia 2010 Principal of the Year for Lee County, has been the principal at East Lee for two and a half years. He started his career in Lee County as a math teacher in 1978 and later joined the central office staff as the secondary instructional supervisor in 1979, a position he held until joining the East Lee Middle School staff 12 years later. Harvley-Felder plans to retire Feb. 28.

"I've had a lot of fun," he said of his time as the school's principal. "The work has been intense. ... That's what attracted me to it."

The Sanford Herald reported that Harvley-Felder didn't have much to say about the Principal of the Year recognition, but was thankful to his colleagues for thinking of him.

"He's probably the hardest working principal I've ever worked for, and I've been teaching for 32 years," said Linda Thomas, a sixth-grade science and social studies teacher, who also called Harvley-Felder humble. "He's always doing equally as much as you are."

Harvley-Felder counts his broad liberal arts background as his preparation for his work as a school administrator. And at East Lee, he worked under three different principals, learning from each one, he said.

Angel Mills, head of the English as a Second Language department, said she remembered a time when Harvley-Felder came in on a Saturday to fix lockers in the school.

"He knows everything about this school," she said. "He's really invested a lot of his life here."

Harvley-Felder's teaching career began in the late 60s in Thailand. A friend recruited him to teach English to fourth- and fifth-grade Thai students while he was serving in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War.

"I kinda liked it," he said with a smile. "I wasn't any good at it, but I liked it."

Upon returning to the U.S., he taught math in Northampton County and then made his way to Lee County.

He said he's proud to have been involved with implementing the STEM program in 2008. The drive behind STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) was to make lessons more engaging. Students get hands-on training in technology labs and biotechnology courses.

"(The students) begin to see connections in class and they comment on them and the teachers see the changes," he said. "The opportunities are there, but you have to be artful as a teacher to extract them. It amounts to just better teaching."

Harvley-Felder also oversaw last year's updates to the school library, when new furniture, shelves and books were brought in. School librarian Beverly Almond said circulation is currently up from last year.

Getting children engaged in reading is a "big challenge and big opportunity" for the staff, Harvley-Felder said.

Mills said Harvley-Felder himself has been hands-on in making these changes at the school and in working with students. Eighth grade ESL student Selena Lopez of Sanford said Harvley-Felder is special because he speaks Spanish, something you don't often see in a principal.

"In ESL, whenever we don't understand something, he can help," she said. "He doesn't treat us different from others."

Among the school's faculty, Harvley-Felder values the strong bond and energy in the staff.

"He's worked hard to build us as a team, as a school," Mills said.

As other principals have come and gone, Harvley-Felder helped them adjust, Thomas said.

"He's just that kind of person," Thomas said. "I'm his biggest fan probably," she said with a laugh. She added that she's happy for him, but will miss his presence at the school.

"When you have such a good boss, you don't want to lose him," she said. "We're very excited, all the teachers here, that he got this award. He deserved it."

After retirement, Harvley-Felder will "be getting up at 5 in the morning to make breakfast for my wife," he said. He also plans to spend time reading, taking courses and volunteering.

"I'd like to stay on more years but age is catching up with me," he said.

Thomas doesn't expect him to stay away from East Lee too long.

"It's hard to be retired," she said. "I think he will definitely be involved. Definitely."

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Information from: The Sanford Herald, http://www.sanfordherald.com

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Nov 01, 2009 - 12:00 a.m. EDT

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