Ep 118 | Got a teacher's heart?

SPEAKER_00 0:00

It's our responsibility as educators to try to reach out and find the teachers of the future and make sure they understand it's a it's a good job. It's a good education, it's a good way to make a living.

SPEAKER_01 0:20

Welcome to the Voices United in Education podcast. Each week we showcase the teachers, administrators, and community members who go the extra mile to contribute to the success of every student in Escambia County. You'll meet the real people behind the titles and learn about the amazing resources to support every student's success. There are two things that can make a big impact on perspective: time and proximity. A fish, for example, when asked, how's the water? will reply, What water? And the fresh eyes of a green team member is counterbalanced by their lack of experience. My next guest is in a unique vantage point for both time and space as his 16 years as a District 5 school board member comes to a close. Today we're going to talk about the benefit from his perspective as his 36th years in education sunsets and he prepares for what's next. Rooted in service, community constant, Pensacola High School graduate, Mr. Bill Slayton. I'm so glad you're here. Thank you, ma'am.

SPEAKER_00 1:26

Glad to be here.

SPEAKER_01 1:27

So you're in the 36th year of education.

SPEAKER_00 1:31

No, I'm in the 52nd year of education.

SPEAKER_01 1:36

52nd?

SPEAKER_00 1:37

36 years as a teacher and administrator. And then I took a year off and decided to run for the school board. And that was 16 years ago. And I've been on the school board for 16 years.

SPEAKER_01 1:50

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_00 1:52

So this is 52.

SPEAKER_01 1:54

52. Wow. Right. That's a lot of perspective. Oh my gosh. I'm just kind of letting that absorb right now because I was thinking about all the years you have in education, more than I realized, obviously. Plus, you've been married for 55 years. 55. It's safe to say that you have a little bit of sticking power, sir.

SPEAKER_00 2:16

Well, and that's and 50, and that's married of 55 years, but then 35 of those she was teaching. So education has been part of our family forever.

SPEAKER_01 2:28

It's one and the same. Right. Well, I suspect that you have some full circle gems in those years. So let's start from the beginning, though. What inspired you to get into education?

SPEAKER_00 2:43

You know, I grew up, my mother and father were lifetime employees of their company. And so that's kind of the way our parents were at that particular time. My father was a postal employee. He brought us to Pensacola because he was in the Navy. And then he, when he got out of the Navy, he became a postal employee, and he stayed it for forever. My mother was an employee of Bell South and ATT at that time, I guess. And she was that way until she retired. So one day, I think I was probably a junior in high school, my father said, you've got to quit messing around with all that music all the time and figure out what you want to do with your life and the rest of your life. Well, what he meant was I was in the Pensacola High School band, and I did a lot of playing and I did a lot of things with music, and he didn't see that being a lifetime occupation. So after he said that, I thought about it and I said, Well, can't I do that as an occupation? Meaning, could I be a band director? And it wasn't something he had ever thought of, and it wasn't really something I had even dealt much on. I was a junior in high school. I, you know, didn't think much about by next year being my last high school year. So uh we started investigating. He actually he and my mother actually made an appointment with my current band director at Pensacola High School, and they talked to him, and we started doing some investigations. So from there I decided I wanted to be a band director. And I went to the University of Southern Mississippi for five years and got a bachelor's and a master's in music education and returned to Pensacola to Escambia County and interviewed for the job at Tate High School and became the Tate High School band director. And that began my career in education in 1971.

SPEAKER_01 4:51

Wow. And a lot has changed since then.

SPEAKER_00 4:56

A lot has changed.

SPEAKER_01 4:57

What inspired you to stay in education through all those changes?

SPEAKER_00 5:01

You know, once you're in, there's a hook to me. If you're if you're enjoying it, if you really see the worth of being part of helping students establish their lives, then you see it's worth staying in. You know, a lot of people will tell you, well, you know, you'll never make a lot of money in education. Well, it we made enough money. My wife actually, she student taught my first semester, the first year part of the year that I was teaching. And then the county called and said, We have a job. If you're like it, we like it, Mrs. Slate. And she said, Well, I'll talk to my husband. I'm and I'm like, Yeah, we're gonna double our salary. Yes, you you certainly are gonna like it. So she took a job, so she got into education, and we both felt the same thing. We felt a calling to really uh work with students. She was in the business department, business technology at that time, keyboarding. And of course, it's changed so much in all the years. And then for me, I became the band director at Tate and had great successes establishing the program, getting the program growing and doing lots of things. And now I just never thought about doing anything else.

SPEAKER_01 6:24

You said there's a hook. How would you describe the hook for you personally?

SPEAKER_00 6:28

Well, uh, each year, even though a lot of it seems it would be the same each year, the students are different. The the the whatever you wanting to do with the band and in the classroom changes. So it it was it was never boring. And I liked, I liked the schedule.

SPEAKER_01 6:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:52

For the most part, it it started off as 10 months, and then we had two months and uh to get ready for the next year. As I became more established in the program, I I went 12 months because I was always getting ready for the next year. As soon as graduation was over, you had to start you start thinking about September for the next year. And my wife enjoyed the schedule, and it worked really well for us. And then later on, it worked well for our family. We had uh a son and a daughter, and of course they were going to be part of education, so that was the hook. We I we both we both enjoyed what we were doing. So why look for something else?

SPEAKER_01 7:38

I mean, talk about all in. You're kind of the poster child.

SPEAKER_00 7:42

I am, I am. That's one reason I I'm a great campaigner for students that like education and see the the worth and the reason for being for education to being what what we have today. That's why I always say you ought to think about being in education. Now, I said I had a son and a daughter. I have a daughter that is a teacher. Now, she wasn't teaching for a while. She taught for three years, she got married, she moved off, she came back, now she's teaching again. She has two daughters, and one of them just graduated, one of them still in high school. I have a son whose really talent is is using his personality and meeting and greeting people. He's in sales, and that's what he should be in. So you you do kind of look at kids and say, would you be a good teacher or not a good teacher? And I think it's our responsibility as educators to try to reach out and find the teachers of the future and make sure they understand. It's a good job. It's a good education, it's a good way to make a living. My wife and I have never lacked for anything. Kids didn't. We paid for their college educations, they're doing fine. So I don't see why people think you can't make a good living in education, but it's very enjoyable if you really apply yourselves to doing the job of educating.

SPEAKER_01 9:13

So, what made you decide to move from being an educator to a school board member?

SPEAKER_00 9:19

Well, now that that there are several transitions there. After 17 years as being a band director, a position in the county just accidentally came available called uh the the supervisor of music. I had the degrees that were necessary, and I decided, well, you know, I that meant I could work with all the music programs in the county. So I thought, I think I would like to do that. So I interviewed and I got the job, and then I stayed in that job for five years. And after five years, I decided, you know, I like this, but I miss working with a group. And, you know, as a band director, I had a healthy group, 250 kids and all the personalities from freshmen through soft through seniors, and watching them go on. And so I decided, well, I'd like to go back into the school base. So I applied for an assistant principal job, got that job. Five years later, I became the principal, and I stayed a principal until I retired. Now, how does that transition to a school board member? Well, I interacted a lot with school board members in all of those occupations and all those times. And it just so happened that the gentleman that was the school board member wasn't in the best of health, and he was thinking about not running, and I wasn't sure. And so I just decided, hey, I think I'll run for school board.

SPEAKER_01 10:53

Just like that. Just, you know what I think I'm gonna do? I think I'm gonna run for school board.

SPEAKER_00 10:57

I have to, and then let's go back one before that. I did one time run for superintendent. Okay. And uh was unsuccessful, but I learned a lot about politics and how to do things. So uh I felt like I was more qualified, maybe just to be a school board member, just because I only had to I had the responsibility for a district, not the whole county. Right. So I was uh elected, and uh so that was fine. I thought I'd do it for four years, and uh after four years, it was time to decide to do it again. Well, nobody ran against me. So I said, well, that was good. And uh then that happened actually three times.

SPEAKER_01 11:41

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00 11:42

So I've all I've only had to run for this office one time. So I I felt very fortunate and I felt like that the the people in District Five that I represented were happy and we were doing the right things for kids, and I got to interact with the teachers, the the uh administration at the schools, and then I got to interact, of course, with the county office and the superintendent and working with at that time the one superintendent, Malcolm Thomas, and again I worked together for 12 years. Then Tim Smith came in, and now Keith Leonard. And uh I I just feel like that good school board members are so important. They have to have a role, and that role is that you represent the students, the you represent the district, you you pass policies, and you help the superintendent, but you're not the superintendent. And that's so important for school board members to understand.

SPEAKER_01 12:42

And why is that an important distinction?

SPEAKER_00 12:44

You don't want the conflict of saying I should I would have done it differently. I would have done a better, I would have done something else. Well, there were times that I had ideas and I would go in and talk to whoever was superintendent and voice my ideas, and I had the the ability to talk to them and hear their side of the story and my side of the story, and from there we would come to an agreement to either move it one way or the other. And then whatever the superintendent decided, then I would support the superintendent. That makes a very successful school district. And I think under the 12 years with Malcolm and in the last uh two superintendents, you know, we've done some great things in Escambia County and had some great successes. And so I'm I'm pleased for people to say that you represented the students and the teachers and the district that you were living in. And that that's that's what I needed to do, not try to one up the superintendent. You don't want to try to, everybody has their own opinion. And so I could voice my opinion to the superintendent, but the rest of the world that wasn't there, I didn't need to voice it to them. I needed to voice it to the person that was really in charge of running the district.

SPEAKER_01 14:08

Perspective of position.

SPEAKER_00 14:10

Right.

SPEAKER_01 14:10

And where you again it kind of goes back to the teamwork.

SPEAKER_00 14:14

Teamwork was so important, yes.

SPEAKER_01 14:16

The superintendent is kind of like the band director.

SPEAKER_00 14:18

Well, you know, he is, and his responsibilities are broad, very broad. And so it's it's good for us to help him, but not hinder him.

SPEAKER_01 14:31

What successes have you seen when you kind of play back all those years as a school board member? What are some of the things that are on your highlight reel?

SPEAKER_00 14:42

Well, I'm gonna I'm just gonna go with my district because we're we're different in Escambia County. A lot of districts in the state of Florida here elected by all the people in all the districts. In Scambia County, only the people in District 5 were allowed to vote for the school board member in District 5, and that's by federal order, federal court order. And so I I look at District 5 and say, okay, what are the successes that we've had? And uh I think many. District 5 is the fastest growing district in the county. It's also the largest district. It goes from Nine Mile Road to Alabama. Oh, wow. It goes from Alabama to Santa Rosa County. So there's more property, there's more area, there's more students, there's more population, and it's growing like crazy. So it was my responsibility to make sure that I constantly kind of watched and made sure people were aware of the changes that were going on. When I went to Tate High School in 1971, there may have been 1,200 kids, something like that. Presently there's 2,200. And so I'm I'm very pleased to say that we're meeting the needs even as it grows. In the 16 years, we've spent over $100 million just on District 5. And that's important to say so that the students are always getting the best possible facilities. The teachers have the best facilities. And I'm also one board member that will always say that we have to thank the the uh citizens of Escambia County because the half-cent sales tax is the only way that happens. The state does not give us money to build new schools, but we've had to build new schools all through the county, and it's all the money's always been available. And we thank the citizens for for voting many years ago, probably maybe coming up to 40 years ago, putting in the say half-cent sales tax, and it's caused our district to really excel.

SPEAKER_01 16:59

That's true, because if you have the growth but nowhere to put the kids and they all have to go it to the same size school, then the quality of their experience drops.

SPEAKER_00 17:08

Right. And uh when I say the state doesn't give us money, they don't give us money not only to build a school, but they don't give us uh they give us the money to refurbish the school. So we replaced two schools that were well over 75 years old. One of them was in my district, one of them was in district, I think, four. You know, you just can't ride that horse forever. It's going to one day need to be redone. So we've seen to those needs all through the district.

SPEAKER_01 17:39

Your last day on the board is in November. November the 18th. And while you're enjoying your retirement, and you say you pick up a newspaper, what do you hope to read about the students of Escambia County?

SPEAKER_00 17:53

I want to read about the successes of the students academically, athletically, musically, all of those things. I'm a great fan of high school kids doing things. I love to go to athletic events as a band director. I love to take the Potate High School band out and let them perform. Because face it, all of us relate back to our high school days. And we remember the things that we love to do. And I mean, I think I just mentioned to you that yesterday I was with a group of 1966 Pensacola High School graduates. We meet month once a month at a restaurant. We talk about what's the new and the old and where other friends might be. And you can't do that with any other group. You know, I can't do that with my college group because they're all over the world. But there are people right here in Scambia County. We'll have 35, 40 people come to come to these little luncheons and talk to talk to us and tell us what they're doing and where they're living and how things are going. So high school is is that important. And that's all I ever did was high school.

SPEAKER_01 19:12

I mean, talk about full circle.

SPEAKER_00 19:14

Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_01 19:15

You mentioned off mic that you know the students never leave you. And you weren't kidding. That was not a sentimental statement. That was a very factual daily life statement for you.

SPEAKER_00 19:25

It is, it is. I run into students from the schools that I was a principal of, from the schools that I taught band at Tate, and then I was principal at Woodham High School, and I run into kids all the time. And they'll say, You are my principal. You are my band director. And uh, I have to be honest, at my age, I do have to say, and your name was help me, help me a little bit here. But we all we all have those great memories, and I want, I want there always to be great memories for students that are attending schools in Escambia County.

SPEAKER_01 20:01

It feels like having the students the center is kind of your your vantage point. Why do you feel like having students as center is important for perspective for school boards, school board members that'll be coming after you?

SPEAKER_00 20:18

I think that if you don't align yourself to to be working to offer the best programs possible for students, then I I'm not sure why you would be on the school board. And I mentioned to you my wife was a keyboard, a business education teacher. Well, in her lifetime, we've gone from typewriters to computers to digital publishing to all the different things. My daughter teaches TV production. Whoever thought about that when we were in high I when I was in high school.

SPEAKER_01 20:58

I mean, when I was in high school as well, we definitely didn't have those programs.

SPEAKER_00 21:02

They have TV production, kids are are using drones to do TV things. It's unbelievable. Well, if you don't move education in that direction to teach them about those things, those possibilities. I always tell people, and we have a lot of academies in Escambia County, and then this offers students the opportunity to sample something that they might want to do. And some people will say, well, why do you need all those? One reason is a child wants to see if I really want to do that. The other reason is they want to see if I really don't want to do that.

SPEAKER_01 21:40

Just as important.

SPEAKER_00 21:41

Just as important. How much money could you save a family by not putting them in college and have them changing degrees? Oh, that's such a good point. That's exactly right. You know, I'm I'm probably one of the oddities. I started in music education, and I wanted to be a band director, and I finished in music education. And how many times do students they'll start in engineering and then they'll go to advertising or they'll go to something else? I'm talking about my son. You know, I tried, we tried to get him focused. And and even in my daughter, my daughter has a business management degree. But what's she doing today? She is teaching TV production. We always thought she should be a teacher, but no, she didn't want, she didn't want to be a teacher. Well, she is.

SPEAKER_01 22:34

What do you feel like your legacy is?

SPEAKER_00 22:36

Doing it for the students. The most important group that you you want it to be a great experience. You want them to come out of high school and say, hey, I enjoyed myself, I've learned a lot, I I'm ready to go out into the world and do things. And and it's it's a tighter group than you will find in any any other. You can't you can't find it any other place. Four years you spend with kids, you get to know them real well. And I I just think that that's what I want to be known for. I want to be known for the guy that who tried to make sure his school or his band or the programs that we were offering met the needs of the students. For them to learn how to be good workers for the future. That's that's what we're doing. We're building the leaders of tomorrow. And I and I watched people, one that I've I've known for the the whole time I've been back in Pensacola, Sue Strong. She developed the talent and has used it for years and years and years on channel three. And I that's one reason I always look at look at channel three with Sue on there thinking, you know, she and I started about the same time. So are we developing the next Sue Strong? Are we developing the next principal for the for a school?

SPEAKER_01 24:06

And that's the perspective that I think is so valuable is looking to the future when you're in that day-to-day. Thank you so much for sharing your perspective today. This has been fantastic.

SPEAKER_00 24:17

Well, thank you very much for the opportunity.

SPEAKER_01 24:19

You're welcome. Thanks for listening. Be sure to subscribe and share. Voices United in Education is a production of Escambia County Public Schools.