Message from the Superintendent, Dr. Russell W. Booker

In All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten Robert Fulghum explains that “wisdom was not at the top of the university mountain, but there in the sand-pit at kindergarten.” These were the things he learned:

Share everything. Play fair. Don’t hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess. Don't take things that aren't yours. Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody. Wash your hands before you eat. Flush. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some. Take a nap every afternoon. When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together. Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why. We are all like that. And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned, the biggest word of all: LOOK! Everything you need to know is there somewhere.

Whether you are enrolling in school for the first time as a kindergartener or preparing to complete your final year at Spartanburg High School, you have the opportunity to make this your best year ever. Don’t let a single moment pass you by. My sincere hope for each of you is that this school year will prove to be your most successful year ever. Enter this school year by setting lofty goals for yourself, and do not squander away your talents. Shel Silverstein’s poem Magic Carpet states:

You have a magic carpet that will whiz you through the air,
To Spain or Maine or Africa, if you just will tell it where.
So will you let it take you where you've never been before,
Or will you buy some matching drapes
And use it on your floor?

That magic carpet is your education. Let it take you far this year. It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to a brand new school year!

Best wishes,

Dr. Booker