Parents, Faculty Reflect on Terrence Young’s Time at Ephesus Elementary

The land of children and their teachers, knee-high tables and mini water fountains, artwork-covered walls and posters advertising for Campbell Soup label collections will soon lose one of its leaders in Chapel Hill.

Dr. Terrence Young, principal of Ephesus Road Elementary, has accepted a job as Associate Superintendent of School Improvement for the Guilford County Schools and will be leaving his job as principal in late October.

A small crowd of teachers, parents and students gathered Tuesday night in the school’s library to honor Young, who had been principal of the school since 1994.

PTA president Janet Berntsen presented a travel guide of Greensboro to Young and read a “Top Ten” list of administrative duties the PTA officers hoped he would not have to deal with in his new job. Young chuckled at the list of school mishaps that included 5-year olds playing with asphalt pieces the size of grapefruits and air conditioning failure on the first day of school.

Calling Ephesus a “truly special place” without a match in the universe, Young said he was thankful to have been a part of the school that had a great staff, great students and great cafeteria workers, among other things.

He reminded the group of the school’s motto: “Everybody is somebody at Ephesus Road Elementary” and told a story of how visitors to the office questioned his age when he first became the principal. He was 33.

Six years later he still has that youthful look that will be missed in the halls of Ephesus Elementary.

Margaret-Ann Swift, a parent at Ephesus, said Young always encouraged parents to get involved with the school.

“Volunteering was especially good for me,’” she said, “Because I had a hard time at first of letting go of my kids.”

Young’s “open door policy” and insistence on parents playing an essential part in the school was also important to Ed Bedford, parent at Ephesus and former School Governance Committee Chairman.

Bedford said Young always asked, “How are you?” not “Why are you here?” when parents and members of the community came to the school.

“He takes parents’ concerns seriously, not just paying them lip service,” Bedford said. “He listens to all sides and then considers what would be best for the school.”

Young said he would miss those conversations with parents that led to deeper relationships when he moves to Greensboro.

“You know what is interesting is looking around this room and knowing that I know stories about all of these people,” Young said after the formal part of the party was over.

A perfect example of this was Young’s conversation with a parent that night about the man’s Ford Windstar van.

“Do you still have that Windstar?” Young asked the father.

“Yeah, that and the Cougar, too,” responded the father as he launched into a story about how he is looking for a new vehicle and his other troubles with cars.

Young said he remembered talking with the man last December about the van.

He said he would stay at Ephesus until the third or fourth week of October to ease the transition of Assistant Principal Gina Rumbley into her Interim Principal position.

During the PTA meeting that followed Young’s reception, Kathy Austin, PTA representative to the School Governance Committee, said that the SGC is working on a vision statement for candidates for the principalship. They will be sending a survey out to parents in the next few weeks, she said.

Four parents will be on the selection committee that will be interviewing Young’s replacement. She said the selection committee hopes to have a candidate chosen by the December 7 school board meeting.

Sources:

Dr. Terrence Young, principal of Ephesus Elementary. 929-8715

Margaret-Ann Swift, parent of Ephesus students. 942-6039

Ed Bedford, former School Governance Committee Chairman at Ephesus. 933-5391

Diane Willis, parent and secretary of Ephesus PTA. 967-1008