- April 17, 2024
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Stewart Maxcy is a well-known face in the school community, and in 2011 he will be using his experience in the system to build Race to the Top.
While they were fishing years ago, Stewart Maxcy and his long time friend, Carl Laundrie, anchored their boat under the Flagler Beach pier. When they were done fishing, Laundrie was oaring away, rowing and rowing, but they weren’t going anywhere.
Finally Maxcy called out to another friend on board: “Did you pull up the anchor yet?”
Of course, he hadn’t. Once the anchor was lifted, it was smooth rowing.
Maxcy is prepared to lift all anchors in his new position with Flagler County Schools as project director for Race to the Top, a four-year grant that will bring $860,000 into Flagler County Schools over a four-year period.
Maxcy will be working with a team of teachers, administrators and district employees on educational reform, which means a lot of changes.
“While I’m hoping its smooth, anytime there’s change there is controversy,” Maxcy said.
The program will change the evaluation system and salary structures. Instead of being paid based on how many years a teacher has taught in the district and the number of extra degrees and certificates, the primary salary increases will be based on individual student gains, Maxcy said.
“Everything will be geared toward increasing student achievement — which in education, is how it should be,” Maxcy said. “ … I have always been interested in personal growth rather than comparative growth.”
Maxcy said he is looking forward to the challenge of his new position and sees it as a team effort of working with teachers and union members to design and implement the changes.
He is also concerned with the state and federal mandates that might come into effect in the future.
“I prefer that we design the program using (the government’s) money, rather than it becoming an unfunded mandate that we’ll have to do anyway,” Maxcy said.
Maxcy started in the district 33 years ago as an art teacher at Bunnell Elementary School. He used to roll his art cart around the school to teach students about the importance of creativity.
Since then, Maxcy has held several positions throughout the county, including principal. Maxcy believes that his creativity is one reason he was appointed to his new position.
“The new position is good for him because he’s done a little bit of everything in the system,” Laundrie said.
When Maxcy returned as principal to Wadsworth Elementary a few years ago, he recognized that the staff needed to come together after a number of administrative changes in a short amount of time.
In one of his first acts as returning principal, he sent out a memo with the theme of “sharing the love.” He circled this theme throughout the year when he created and designed T-shirts and coffee mugs for his staff.
“Sometimes with tough economic times and administration changes, it’s hard making connections with staff, but he was trying to create a community within his school,” Superintended Janet Valentine said. “ … We’re looked at him setting the tone for the next 10 years.”
STEWART MAXCY
Age: 56
Title: Project director for Race to the Top
Number: 33 — years Maxcy has worked in Flagler schools
