A Comet's blaze of glory

Clayton High Principal Jerry Smith is stepping down after 12 years

CLAYTON -- If students and teachers could depend on one thing at Clayton High School for the past 12 years, it was that Principal Jerry Smith was always there.

Smith came in most days before the faculty at 6 a.m. and was among the last to leave after sporting events at 10 or 11 p.m.

He went to just about every athletic event he could -- attending over his career as an educator hundreds of high school athletic events. He gave lunch money to students if they were short, collected "love offerings" for teachers sick in the hospital and patrolled the school so much he was seemingly everywhere at once.

"He's a silent force," said Drew Norris, 18, a senior. "You walk down the hall and see him, and then you go to the other side of the school and somehow he's there, too."

That's probably why saying goodbye is so hard.

On Monday night, faculty, former students, booster parents and family gathered to salute Smith's 44 years as an educator. He officially retires March 1, although students were already helping him move boxes Monday out of his almost-empty office.

The tables in the cafeteria were arranged for the farewell ceremony with floral centerpieces. But Cathy Paschal, a secretary who first knew Smith when he was a student teacher in her hometown Dunn, said she should have put tissue boxes all the way down the tables instead for all the teary eyes.

'The rock'

"He's been the rock for everyone else," Paschal said.

Among the many who stood up to speak Monday night were former basketball players whom Smith coached to state championship games. Family members and coaches pooled money to give Smith a vacation package to Sawgrass, a Florida golfing resort. And a representative of Gov. Mike Easley conferred on Smith the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, the highest civilian honor that can be granted in the state.

Tony Parker, superintendent of Johnston County Schools, said he admires Smith more than any principal in the state.

"It's based on the quality of community service," Parker said. "Jerry has more passion than any other educator I've known."

Smith got in the final word, showing a video montage of his family and his time in various schools. It was in keeping with the principal's habit of videotaping messages. At Clayton High, whether Smith wanted to put a spotlight on an achievement, scold students for leaving too much trash in the lunchroom or announce special events, he would often approach the high school's media coordinator, William Williams.

"He'd jump right in front of the camera," Williams said. "I've never had him do more than one take. He's a natural."

That's how Smith delivered the message at the end of January that he was leaving. He called a staff meeting, told his teachers about a cryptic dream he recently had, pressed "play" and then went home.

"I'm getting old, ugly and gray-headed," he said in the video, which lasted about 10 minutes. "It's time for me to check out."

A day later, before the school's morning news broadcast, "A Comet's Tale," he played a similar video for students.

The worst thing, he said, was that he could no longer call all students by name and their siblings' and parents' names as he could in his earlier years at the school.

A time of growth

Smith became principal at Clayton High School in 1996, when it had about 850 students. He presided over enormous growth, including the addition of 12 buildings. The school now has about 2,000 students.

Most students did not get to attend the Monday evening farewell but went through their own mourning over trays of green peas, mashed potatoes and orange gelatin earlier in the day.