Wolfe County Superintendent Nick Brooks poses with Gratiana Alexis-Layne, a junior at Wolfe County High School, as she receives an award for being an extra special helper. Photo courtesy Wolfe County Schools
The new superintendent of Wolfe County, Nick Brooks, is focused on creating more opportunities for teachers across the district to collaborate with each other to make the best education for students.
“I feel like my job is just to make sure that we’ve got the environment in place for folks to do the things that they’re capable of doing; to make sure that we give our educators an opportunity to collaborate together,” Brooks said. “I know teaching can be an isolating experience … So, we’re trying to be intentional about finding ways for our teachers to be able to collaborate with each other and work together across all our schools.”
He said the district is focusing on both student and staff attendance, and they’re already seeing improvement in those areas.
“We only get 170 opportunities each year to impact our students and for our students to get that world-class education that we’re striving for,” he said. “So, we’re trying to do everything we can to make sure that our students and our staff members are present and at their best for each and every one of those opportunities.
Born and raised in Wolfe County, Brooks comes from a family of educators. His mother worked in the Wolfe County district for more than 30 years teaching kindergarten and 1st grade.
“To be the superintendent of the district where she worked, you know, I couldn’t go to the store without somebody saying, ‘Your mom taught me how to read,’ for years and years; and so to be able to lead the district is really something special for me,” Brooks said.
Brooks has worked in the district for 26 years. He started as an instructional technology assistant, then became an 8th-grade science teacher. Before he became superintendent, he was principal of Wolfe County Middle School.
“I’ve really enjoyed getting out into the other schools in our district,” he said. “I’ve worked at the middle school here for the last 23 years and the last 12 as principal, so I’ve kind of been laser-focused on that one particular school. So being able to get out into our elementary schools and into our high school a little bit more and seeing the amazing staff members and students that we have at those schools has been really, really cool.”
Brooks has a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Kentucky, a master’s degree in teaching from Morehead State University, a Rank I in school leadership from Union College and a superintendent certification from Georgetown College.
He said he is proud of the culture of caring in the district. He said the district usually gets very positive results on its Quality of School Climate and Safety survey each year.
“Our teacher surveys, our parent surveys, all of those things always come back very positive on the culture of caring for each other and taking care of each other,” Brooks said.
One unique experience that district schools lead that he’s proud of is the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Day. Each spring, all of the district’s elementary students visit the high school, and they go to multiple stations led by high school students where they learn about different things related to STEM.
“It is always impressive to see the effort that our high school students put into that and the impact that it has on our younger students,” he said.
Brooks said as a former principal, he’s looking forward to coaching the other principals in the district because he believes that role is vital to each school’s success.
“Some of them are way beyond my principal abilities already, but being able to help them work through situations, to see them grow and develop – that’s the thing that I’m looking forward to the most is working with that group of people,” Brooks said.
Leave A Comment