My Ocracoke Adventure

Two years ago right about now, my Ocracoke Adventure began. It was a Saturday night (not a dark and stormy night, Snoopy!) and I was home alone. I had recently learned that my position was being eliminated because of budget cuts. Last hired, first fired. I was considering my options; returning to my local county schools, checking out other neighboring counties, retiring early and take a reduction in benefits… so that May 28, 2016, evening I was looking at school employment opportunities online.

And there it was: Ocracoke School was seeking a high school math teacher! A couple of times when we were visiting Ocracoke, always just a day trip from the Northern part of the Outer Banks, I had jokingly told my family I was going to teach there someday. And here was my chance.

Full disclosure: I have threatened things like that before. I used to receive email notifications for teachers of Integrated Mathematics. About once a year, we would get a notice that the American College, a high school for American expatriates, in Cairo, Egypt, was looking for an integrated math teacher. And so every time, I would tell my family I was going to go teach in Egypt. I stopped joking about it when the last such email ended with “Most people feel perfectly safe here.” (Sadly that is no longer true, if it was in fact true then.)

Back to May 28, 2016, Memorial Day weekend: I typed up an email expressing my interest in the position at Ocracoke School, attaching my resume. The very next morning, Mr. Walt Padgett, then the principal, called me from his golfing vacation in Tennessee. We talked for about 15 minutes and set up a time to Skype later in the week. On Thursday morning, during my planning period, we had our interview. Unable to load Skype on the computer, I had my phone propped up against my laptop. The three people from Ocracoke who were interviewing me kept changing seats to get a good position in front of their laptop–Mr. Padgett, Leslie Cole (then assistant and now principal), and Lynn King Bowen, who was vacating the math position to become the district tech person. While we were talking, my school custodian unlocked my door and came in to push her dustmop around the desks in my room, oblivious to the fact that I was involved in a conversation! So to say the interview was unconventional is an understatement.

One of them asked if I had ever been to Ocracoke. Later, another one said, “You say you have been here; have you ever been here in the winter?” I replied that I had not but that “I grew up in Boone!” To which Mr. Padgett replied, “then you’ll be fine!” The conversation ended with his saying, “you will hear from me by the end of next week.”

That very afternoon, just as what was potentially my last class ever walked out the door, he called and offered me the position as the high school math teacher at Ocracoke School.

I emailed my husband, who at this point did not know anything about this Ocracoke possibility, and asked what he thought about the idea of my teaching there. His immediate response was hilarious: “Well, it’s remote, but it’s not Egypt!”

And then reality set in. What was I thinking? Where would I live? I wasn’t going to put my bed on a boat! How could I make this happen? And then I remembered that my brother’s mother-in-law (aka my sister-in-law’s mother) owns a little house here. I emailed him immediately and asked if he thought Lynne would be interested in renting me her house.  The magic continued; he read the email and responded right away! And soon I had a place to live.

It is a perfect place for me. Less than a mile from school (okay, so almost every house on the island is less than a mile from school), which is a big deal for me since for the previous nineteen years I had spent nearly thirty minutes each way commuting to school. Two bedrooms, two bathrooms. Not so small as to be confining but not so large as to overwhelm me. And you have to love the address: two sides of my yard are on Cutting Sage Rd. and a third is on Cuttensage Ln. I’ve heard two theories about the names; one involves a concern about correct grammar/spelling and the other involves alcohol!

And so in mid-August, I loaded up the car (You would be surprised how much I can pack into a Camry!) and headed east. Actually I came here for a week in June, thanks to Lynne who had one week available in her summer rentals, and explored the island. I knew it was going to work. So I drove the 4+ hours to Swan Quarter and boarded the ferry with a car full of clothes, linens, books, a few kitchen things… and there I was! On the ferry, ready to start my adventure.

The house had already been reserved for the week of teacher workdays before school started so I stayed in a little apartment about the Village Craftsmen shop, owned by Philip Howard. Philip was my first friend on the island (the first person I even met, besides the Skype group) and he was kind enough to provide me a place to stay that first week. He also gave me some very useful advice: “Don’t say anything to anyone about anyone until you know who they are related to!” Wise advice anywhere but particularly here in this close-knit island community.

And then it was time for school to start. I met the staff, who welcomed me generously. I found my classroom, just off the “Commons” where kids hang out in the mornings, where the high school meets for announcements, where middles schoolers pass through (noisily!) on their way (to classes, the literal hub of the school. And I began to learn the ropes.

There was much to learn. Ocracoke is a pre-K through 12th grade school with about 180 students. The high school has about 50 students. Each grade has one teacher. I am the only high school math teacher. Everyone in the school has lunch at the same time, 45 minutes, because most children go home for lunch. Those who stay bring their food (or parents come to deliver it!) and eat in a common room. After they eat everyone goes outside to play on the playground for the remainder of the time. Teachers rotate lunch duty and otherwise. are also free to go home for lunch. There are no bells, because the three levels are on different schedules. I had to learn not to say things like “you are not dismissed until the bell rings.”

But math is math, and students are students. The biggest difference in the actual classes has been the size of the room and the number of students. The largest class I have had in my two years here was twelve students. This year I have had a total of 34 students in the two semesters; that is five fewer than in my largest class ever. We have access to lots of technology. I have a SmartBoard in my room and, thanks to the grant that opened up this position, each student has some sort of electronic device (Chromebooks are available to all students who do not have their own laptop).

My arrival on the island was followed three weeks later by the arrival of Tropical Storm Hermine. She was followed closely by Hurricane Matthew. Life on an island is different! I learned to watch the weather even more closely than usual. I parked on “higher ground” and walked home in the rain for Hermine, watching as the water rose around the house. I did leave for Matthew because he was so wishy-washy! Good thing, because he did wreak a bit of havoc around here.

And then the next step of “it was meant to be” happened: at the end of October, I went to the mainland for NCCTM annual conference and then home for the weekend. While I was in Boone for the day, I got a phone call (from Greg Honeycutt who it turns out was at Appalachian when I was there!) telling me I had won the golf cart raffle! So not only was I now living on an island and learning how not to act like a “Dingbatter” (someone who moves here from the mainland), but I owned a golf cart which is how the majority of people get around here.

I have tried to immerse myself as much as possible in the life and culture here on the island. I took part in the cookie exchange

and the cake decorating contest (I hope to come back next year with my fig cake for the Fig Festival bake-off the weekend before school starts); I have walked every foot of the roads and paths, countless times; I went to see the new pony last year and to see the rehabilitated turtle release this year; I’ve participated in the Ocracoke Runfest both years; I have supported fish fry and Mexican food fundraisers and volunteered to help at the annual Ocrafolk Festival. I am still a “ding batter,” and always will be, although I still have hopes of connecting with the Dixons of Portsmouth Village; but I have tried to get to know the people and the heritage of Ocracoke. I love having a post office box; just walking into the post office reminds me of my Daddy and his years with the postal service. (What is it about post offices that makes them all smell the same?) By the way, it’s not to late to write to me at PO Box  414! 

For me, one of the best things about Ocracoke School is the age range. Elementary school teachers are among my heroes; their job is many times harder than mine (and remember, I teach math which is rarely seen as a positive!). Getting to see these magicians at work and to spend time with their little people has been so much fun. I have dressed up as Mrs. Pumpkin (which the littlest ones call me year-round), Lucky the Leprechaun, and the Easter Bethy so that I have an excuse to go into their classrooms and visit, read to them, see them perform. And when I have lunch duty, I get to see all my little friends again!

Last August I took this picture of myself, thinking I might want to have a record of the day. Turns out I was right. After much thought and prayer and tears, I have decided to retire at the end of this school year. So this picture was taken on my last first day of school! There will be more to come as I reflect on my teaching career, but this is about my Ocracoke adventure and what it has meant– and continues to mean– to me.

It’s been a great ride!