By Emily Williams
Having kept it a secret since August, Crestline Elementary School’s Principal Laurie King let loose the news to faculty and staff on April 1 that she would be retiring at the end of the school year.
For the past 35 years, Laurie King has called Crestline home, working her way up from a teacher to a principal.
“I’ve been here for so long and change is hard, so everyone was shocked,” she said. “I’ve known all year, but I didn’t want to announce it until the end, because I didn’t want the year to become about (her retirement).”
On April 2, which happened to be King’s 60th birthday, she was surprised to hear the sound of music when she arrived to work in the morning.
“I didn’t know it, but for weeks prior – with me knowing that it would be the day I was going to announce retiring – (the staff) had planned a schoolwide party for my birthday,” King said. “That day was uplifting, we were happy and had a good time. So, it kind of took the edge off of the announcement,” to the students.
Everyone dressed up in ‘60s-themed costumes – faculty, staff and students. Every student made King a birthday card and 60 groups of children walked by her office door that day to sing her “Happy Birthday.”
For the Love of Children
“I got into teaching like most teachers do, just for the love of children – especially the special education children,” she said. “That was my love.”
After teaching for three years in Montgomery, newlywed King and her husband, Tommy, made the move to Birmingham.
Teaching special education at Crestline was her first job in her new city.
She spent 18 total years as a special education teacher before realizing that it was time for a change.
“I wasn’t sure what that looked like, and then the reading coach job came along, which puts you working with teachers more than children,” she said. “All of a sudden, I realized the impact I could have on kids through teachers.”
As a reading coach, she worked with fellow teachers on instructional practices and how the methods would affect the kids.
During her five-year stint as a reading coach, she settled into a natural progression toward administration, working as an assistant principal for five years before becoming principal nine years ago.
“If originally someone had said, ‘You’re going to be principal,’ I would have laughed,” she said. “It wasn’t in my thought process.”
During her administrative tenure, King was recognized on multiple occasions for her work at Crestline, most notably being named the 2015 National Distinguished Principal for the State of Alabama.
The job isn’t easy, she said. It’s stressful at times, but through those struggles something truly rewarding arises.
According to King, to be a successful principal and leader of the school, a certain tone needs to be set that will lead the culture of the school. For her, that tone was a message of family.
“The culture here is about family, it is about taking care of each other, and that’s what makes it a good place to work,” she said.
Crestline Elementary is a fixture within the community physically and culturally, nestled in the heart of Crestline Village across the street from Mountain Brook’s City Hall, the Chamber of Commerce, the police and fire department headquarters and steps away from the Mountain Brook City Board of Education.
In her work, King built close relationships with not only her staff and the families of the children her school serves, but leaders.
“That’s what I’ll miss the most, absolutely, 100%,” King said. “It will be a huge void, these relationships.
“I’m kind of like these teachers’ momma. I’ve hired so many young girls and they’ve had their babies, or gotten married. Nurturing them and watching them grow into amazing teachers, that’s the part I’ll miss.”
Though she will miss the place she has called home for more than three decades, King feels good about what she has accomplished and where the school stands now.
“The staff that is in place here is above anywhere else, in my opinion,” she said. “This year we are in just a solid, good place.”
The school didn’t need to hire any new staff members this year, having brought in 13 new educators last year due to staff retirements.
Recently, the school also completed renovations to the furnishings in the first through sixth grade classrooms.
Just as she naturally had progressed to become an administrator, the time to retire seemed to fall in to place.
Champ and Other Advances
Throughout her nine years as principal, King has seen many innovative changes and improvements to the classrooms, both technologically and instructively.
“Anybody who walks in here with an idea, I say try it. We’re just going to see what happens,” she said. “People can be themselves. I don’t like for teachers to look alike. We’re all very equitable, but you can go into any classroom and it looks different.”
An addition that she is most proud of was her work to create a school mascot, Champ the cougar.
“I wanted a mascot so badly, so we brought Champ in,” she said. “The kids try out to be Champ and have to do a routine in front of all of the students. It’s just really fun.”
While there have been many notable accolades and accomplishments she and the school have received, what King remembers as most notable were the personal stories and experiences.
“Those things that have happened to people along the way are what I remember more than any academic issue or any parent issue,” King said.
In her first year as principal, one of her best friends on the staff suffered an aneurysm and had to retire early to work on her recovery.
“She’s doing great now,” King said. “During that time, I was dealing with my own personal feelings along with everyone else. We lost a teacher and the kids lost a teacher, so it was hard from a personal standpoint.”
There have been students who have gone through cancer treatments or had a sibling pass away.
One of the most memorable personal experiences the school community went through together was the loss of head custodian Jerome Lewis in 2016.
The school stood alongside him through a more-than-two-year battle with cancer and celebrated him when he was named 2016 Janitor of the Year in a nationwide contest sponsored by Cintas Corp.
“I think about Jerome and his impact on this school, and the way we handled his illness and his passing,” she said. “It was a little difficult to manage as a leader, in making sure that we did it right and didn’t mess anything up.”
King and her fellow administrators created the Jerome Lewis Legacy Award in his honor. It is annually presented to a staff member who exemplifies Lewis’ positive impact on the school, through a strong work ethic, joyful disposition, selflessness and ability to encourage and inspire others.
“That’s probably one of the most memorable, important and impactful things that happened,” she said. She said the experiences show “what we stand for, as a family.”
The hard, personal experiences are what King said the students and the staff members always remember.
“I feel like that is really what this job is, management and relationships with kids, parents and teachers,” she said. “I can’t tell you how often a teacher will come in here and just (cry) because they are trying to have a baby, have lost a baby or their husband has lost his job. You’re dealing with people and they have to be fit and emotionally healthy to deal with kids.”
After both relying on and leading her family of students and colleagues through 35 years, King said she is simply going to miss the people.
“It’s sad because I’ve grown up here. When I got here, I had just gotten married … and I didn’t have any kids,” she said. “Now my oldest is 32.
“I worked here when I was pregnant. My water broke on the steps right here,” she said, referring to the steps at the school’s entrance.
It is rare that a principal leads the school where he or she taught for as long as King did, she said, not having met many herself.
As the time to say goodbye draws near, King is awaiting the announcement of her successor – which could be announced at the school’s May board meeting.
“I’ve got two really great assistant principals who both want it. I’ve been with them for eight and nine years,” she said. “My hope is that one of them will have it, so we won’t have to change things too much.”
After transitioning the next principal through June, King will officially enter retirement.
She’ll begin by giving herself a break and taking a trip to visit her parents in California in July. They are both in their 80s, and retirement provided the freedom she felt she needed to be out there with them.
“I’ve worked since I was 16, so I’m going to take some time,” she said. “If something part-time came along again, I might work. I know I’m going to volunteer, and I know it will be with kids.”
