“I work for the children first,” said Bernadette Ball-Oliver, recently retired Savannah-Chatham County Public School System (SCCPSS) Deputy Superintendent of Teaching and Learning. She recounted how, throughout her 35-year career, she told many of her colleagues and supervisors, including former Superintendent Thomas Lockamy, “you can get in line with everybody else,” because the children were her top priority.

Her decision to retire comes as current Superintendent Denise Watts, Ed.D., completes her first full year leading the district through administrative changes, the opening of the new Edwards-Harris-Davis Educational Complex, and implementation of new initiatives such as the Lexia LETRS literacy training for teachers related to the science of reading push.

The Savannah Morning News (SMN) caught up with Ball-Oliver to discuss her career journey, her next steps and how she feels the district can continue to work for the children.

Influenced by a community of educators

Ball-Oliver’s grandmother, a teacher herself, socialized with fellow teachers, principals and central office administrators, all of whom populated the world of a young Ball-Oliver. “Just being around in their conversations and spending time in their classrooms and in their homes, all of that just led me to say that I know this [teaching] is what I really want to do.”

She also took note of how, when out in public, students and former students alike would approach the educators and share the impact they had on their lives. She has since had many similar experiences. Before interviewing with SMN, she had gone to get her blood drawn and came across some former students who greeted her with excited exclamations of “BBO” ― an endearing nickname among students, staff and colleagues.

Growing up, she would set up her Barbie dolls as if they were in a classroom so she could instruct them. With her siblings, over her formative summers, she would often want to play school. Of course, she would be the teacher. “I had the blackboard. I got to control the chalk,” she recalled.

Aside from her grandmother, many other educators influenced Ball-Oliver as a child and then later in life during her career. She cited her second-grade teacher “Miss Walker” and seventh grade science teacher “Miss Simmons” as significant. While at Alfred Ely Beach High School in the early 1980s, Ball-Oliver said educators such as Sol C. Johnson, Ronald Booker and Vera Thomas (among others) made her want to teach.

Former Superintendent Virginia Edwards-Maynor, the first African American female named to the post, also served as a major influence and inspiration.

Most notably, Ball-Oliver mentioned Beverly Oliver, former principal at Tompkins Middle School, who gave Ball-Oliver her very first English teaching job when the school first opened. At the time, many of Tompkins’ students were considered “at-risk.” She proclaimed the two years she spent there as her “best experience as a teacher” because of the on-the-job learning and resource gathering as well as witnessing students bring their reading skills up to grade level. Also, while watching Oliver in the role of principal, Ball-Oliver learned how to build relationships and leadership skills.

“That’s when I decided I wanted to be administrator.”

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‘From 3001 Hopkins Street to 208 Bull Street’

Ball-Oliver likes to say, “From 3001 Hopkins St., which is where Beach [High School] is located, to 208 Bull St., that was my journey,” she said. The statement refers to Ball-Oliver’s roots coming up as a student and eventually graduating from Beach High in 1984 before embarking on her education career within SCCPSS. She eventually made good on her plans to be an assistant principal, principal and ultimately an administrator in the central office.

Along the way she has had many memorable moments. One of the most noteworthy: helping to thwart the plot to blow up West Chatham Middle School back in 2001 when she was an assistant principal. According to her, she and the school’s resource officer investigated what began as rumors and ultimately uncovered the truth of the plot.

“We just wouldn’t let it go,” she said. The incident caused her a great deal of fear because “we had [a thousand] kids in there we were responsible for.”

She and the resource officer joked about her turning him into an investigator, but she credited her husband (a former police officer and detective) with stressing the need to “keep asking questions and digging.” She also attributed the discovery of the plot to the relationships she had built within the school community.

She cited her time at Sol C. Johnson High School as a principal as another crucial juncture in her professional development. But it was her work in the role of turnaround executive director for Beach High School that is a crowning achievement for her. Though the role was a district-level position, she spent every day working within the halls at Beach after it was under threat of being taken over by the state.

The turnaround required many sleepless nights and reviewing lots of data, but she valued what she and then-Beach principal Derrick Dozier-Muhammad were able to accomplish. “We wrote a federal grant at the district level, and we had three years in which to make AYP [adequate yearly progress],” she said.

By law, they had to release the entire staff and could only hire back 49 percent as part of the rebuild. “Everyone pretty much told us we couldn’t do it [the turnaround] in one year but we did it,” she stated with a smile. The experience was a matter of personal pride for her because “when you graduate from Beach High School, you bleed blue and gold.”

‘I will continue to be involved’

District 8 School Board Representative and retired SCCPSS administrator Tonia Howard-Hall has known Ball-Oliver since 1998 when they began working together at the central office.  “Over the years, Mrs. Ball-Oliver has made an indelible impact on countless students. Her passion for education and her unwavering commitment to nurturing young minds have been truly inspiring,” said Howard-Hall. She added that Ball-Oliver will be “greatly missed by students, parents, and colleagues alike.”

Watts shared similar sentiments in a written statement via email. She said she appreciated Ball-Oliver’s “support to my transition as superintendent and the continued contributions and dedication that she exemplified in service of the students in SCCPSS.”

Ball-Oliver has no plans to slow down in retirement, though. Aside from traveling with her mother to New York and taking a trip to see “the real Paris,” she plans to remain involved in the realm of education.

She is consulting with a non-Georgia school district to develop a program she cannot yet divulge. She also shared that she has joined the board of Deep Center. The 501(c)(3) nonprofit’s Executive Director Holly Whitfield wrote in an email confirming the appointment, “We are excited about Bernadette [Ball-Oliver] bringing her wealth of diverse experiences that will positively impact the board, Deep Center and our community.”

Beyond serving with Deep Center, Ball-Oliver said she “will continue to be involved in different things and you’ll see me out and about.”

Insights for SCCPSS moving forward

Another long-time SCCPSS employee, Kaye Aikens, retired on June 1. She vacated an associate superintendent position within the academic affairs office after 30+ years with the district.

Ball-Oliver thinks the administrative “structure is shifting” as Watts moves into her second year. Ball-Oliver said the restructuring aligned “somewhat” with the previous structure, “but it’s hard to compare the two structures because they’re different.” SCCPSS’s communications team confirmed as much, advising that an updated organizational chart will be shared July 1.

As of last week, the district hired Derrick Butler as its new chief academic officer and Tameka Tribble as the new executive director of engagement and outreach, among other new appointments. Back in May, Raymond Barnes was hired as the new chief of schools. He recently served as the learning community superintendent for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, which was a role previously held by Watts from July 1, 2010 until June 30, 2019.

Ball-Oliver offered advice for the new leadership team. The first was to retain institutional knowledge wherever possible. “You have to know where you’ve come from, in order to know where you’re going,” she said.

She feels confident that there are enough principals, teachers and other staff as well as a few long-standing board members who can serve to provide that knowledge alongside implementing new ideas. Another point of advice was to develop newer strategies to retain staff through innovative programs and perks. Two examples she gave were to look at once again providing childcare services for teachers as well as offering housing incentives.

She would also like the leadership development program to be rebuilt better than it was before. “First and foremost, it becomes the district’s responsibility to put those opportunities in place,” she said.

She feels there is a gap in the district regarding training teachers interested in school leadership positions, and principals who might be exploring district leadership roles. Her belief is that the gap came about due to fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, which only recently has begun to be addressed.

In the end, Ball-Oliver wants everyone to know that she was, is, and will continue to be SCCPSS’s “biggest cheerleader.” She said the difference now is that she’ll be “cheering from the sidelines.”

Joseph Schwartzburt is the education and workforce development reporter for the Savannah Morning News. You can reach him at JSchwartzburt@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Retired Savannah Deputy Superintendent Ball-Oliver reflects on career