Superintendent Aaron Greene 

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Story by Emily Williams

 

After serving Polk County’s public education system for thirty years, Superintendent Aaron Greene is scheduled to retire at the end of June. An avid proponent of public education, Greene was more than happy to share some insight he gained over these thirty years before setting sail on his next adventure. He reflected on his time working for Polk County schools, the value of public education in this era, and the many wonderful memories he will cherish for years.

Greene started his educational career as a math teacher at Polk County High School. “I really had never thought about anything beyond just teaching,” he stated, but after a decade of teaching, he saw a new need that had to be filled. In twelve years, his school had revolved through six different principals, which naturally impacted the stability of Polk County High. After receiving encouragement from colleagues and family, he applied to be a principal fellow and became the principal of the high school in the early 2000s.  

“That was one of my favorite jobs ever—being there at the school level with the kids. I could take on a bigger role by being able to shape how the high school went,” Greene shared. “That experience taught me that if you will empower people—afford them the autonomy that they need to do their jobs and then get out of their way—then leading is just a matter of, when they hit the guardrails, putting them back on the road.” 

Greene served as principal for nearly ten years and then became the county’s Curriculum and Instruction Director, where he worked to create K-12 learning plans that would best benefit the developmental needs of the children and the professional needs of faculty and staff. When his friend and mentor Superintendent Bill Miller decided to retire, though, Greene had to decide the trajectory of his career.

“I did not want somebody to come in from the outside and kind of change what we were doing. So, I got my educational specialist degree and superintendent licensure,” he stated.

Greene shared that the job of superintendent is akin to being the CEO of a company with a specific clientele investing in that company. “They happen to be not only your students and families but your taxpayers. You are charged with providing a return on their investment,” stated Greene. “Furthermore, you certainly add a lot of spice to the gumbo when you start talking about people’s kids and what they mean. Somebody’s most precious possession is their child. It is not just about making widgets and pumping them out the door. You are working with the future. You are working with the most prized possessions of your community.”

Greene believes an integral piece of Polk County Schools doing its job of making that return investment is the fact that this is a small, tight-knit community that supports its own. From the schools to organizations throughout the area, he sees people who can take the lead and show care for others. 

“What I like most about Polk County is that we’re going to take care of each other,” Greene says. “We’re going to take care of our kids. We’re going to take care of our families, our communities, and we’re going to take care of each other.” He has seen that everyone under his wing as superintendent makes working together a priority, from within the classroom to the Board of Education. 

The students in Polk County truly benefit from community ties because the younger generations become the focus when the community is working together. “Our families benefit each other because they understand that person across from them is worth something, and though they may not like them or may be different from them, treating them poorly is not the way to go,” Greene stated. Because of this, children feel like they belong here, and the more children feel they are valued, the more they will succeed.

Because Polk County is not a large district, the class sizes are smaller than those in larger counties, which helps build the student-teacher bond. 

“I think that our students benefit from that philosophy of putting a lot of caring individuals in front of our students and giving them the opportunity to have relationships with those people,” Greene added. “We charge our employees with the idea that every kid needs an adult on campus they know well—that they can go to and trust.”

Not only do the children succeed because of the small class sizes, but also because of the monetary and cultural support of the community. The retirement community in the area values education and works to help financially and through advocating for various cultural opportunities that broaden students’ horizons. Foundations like the Polk County Community Foundation, the Margaret Forbes Foundation, and the Ann L. Turner & Geoffrey M. Tennant Foundation work to meet the immediate needs of the schools, from paying for school lunches to providing seniors throughout the county with college scholarships. 

Greene loves seeing the ways this community steps up to support public education—especially in an age where public education appears to be on the defense. 

“If you surveyed people about their public schools in their community, they would tell you they like the schools in their community, but they think public education overall is broken,” he shared. In his personal opinion, he believes, “It’s because of a narrative. It’s because of a political narrative that is put out there. When you spend that much money on something, it is an easy cow to try to sacrifice.”

Greene sees this narrative being broken by allowing parents into the conversation and “pulling back the curtain” of classroom education. If parents spoke with their child’s teachers and principals, they would realize the abundant amount of work and care these educators put into each day teaching their child. 

“I am concerned public education is the last place where everybody has to come together and get along,” admitted Greene. “Where else in society do we do that? You go to your own church. You go to your own grocery stores. You go to your own fun in the evenings. Where is it that we, as a society, have to go and get along? Public school is the last place. If we continue to splinter it and dismantle it and downgrade it and devalue it, I think it has large implications for our society.”’

In this age of teaching, Greene also had wisdom to impart to the community’s educators. He encouraged his teachers to always make the students their priority and to keep their best interests at heart no matter what external sources try to push. In the same manner, Greene also called on educators to stand up and use their voices. 

“Right now, we have a lot of people out there telling our story for us,” said Greene. “They are doing that through stories that I feel are either exaggerated or very specific small events when, if you think about what we do on a larger scale, we do a pretty darn good job.” 

One of the main things Greene wants educators to know is that they matter and he is thankful for the work they do. He knows communities appreciate their local educators, but the message does not always get through to teachers of how wonderful a job they are doing and how much they matter to society. 

“They are changing lives,” he stated, “and those returns may not be immediately seen, but they are out there.”

As Greene looked toward his upcoming retirement at the end of June, he shared his excitement about the extra time he will have to invest in his family. Although, he was also reminded of all the things he will miss and all the people he is grateful for. 

He will particularly miss the beginning of the school year and senior graduation, loving the cyclical nature of rebirth that comes with each school year. He will miss the pace of working hard each day to accomplish various tasks necessary for the school system to function correctly. But specifically, he will miss the people—the outstanding students, teachers, and public office officials who make Polk County the community it is. 

“I have immense gratitude for the opportunities I have been given here—for the Board of Education, all of the leaders who helped nurture me, educators that came before me—and I just cannot thank Polk County in general enough for putting up with me for as long as they have. I have been really fortunate to be in this wonderful community.”

Greene is currently preparing to train a new superintendent who has the same intent of prioritizing the teachers and students of this community. Nonetheless, Greene will truly be missed by the many community members whose families he has touched through his unwavering dedication to Polk County Schools over the past three decades.