This interview was edited for length.
Roger Moss, a former charter school president and the founder of the Savannah Children's Choir, will take office next month as the Savannah Chatham County Public School System Board President. Moss defeated his opponents by a wide margin and ran a campaign based on accountability, school choice, teacher retention and mental health resources for students.
And while he handily secured about 50% of the county's vote in May as an Independent candidate, many are anxious to hear his policies and ideas as he prepares to take office on Jan. 5, 2023. Moss sat down with the Savannah Morning News to explain his leadership style, the changes he hopes to make within SCCPSS and to set the record straight on some rumors about his campaign. Read below:
How would you describe your leadership style heading into leading the school board?
I think you can describe my leadership style as, I listen a lot. However, I also know what I believe. And I don't go along just to get along. However, I do it respectfully. I do have one advantage, my degree is in interpersonal communications and I specialize in group dynamics, and I've studied persuasion and how groups emerge and all of that, so, which has helped me a lot. You know, one of the things that I want to make sure that our board understands — and I believe they do — is that we work for the public, that we work for those parents, and most of all, we work for the students. And our goal for every student is success. And we approach every student with the belief that there's so much potential.
If there's anything that's going to be written about me, you know, when I'm gone, is that I was always for excellence for kids. Because I know children experience excellence. You know, there are some phrases I would love to get rid of. And one of those phrases is 'meeting children where they're at.' In addition to being grammatically incorrect, we're making assumptions.
How would you approach your theory of excellence for someone who is coming to school hungry every day or angry every day?
I always give this example: so 8:30 a.m. any weekday I drive down Wheaton Street. I can see the kids walking into school. I want you to understand that there are quite a few of those kids that got themselves up that morning. Got their sisters and brothers ready for school. If they had breakfast, they've cooked breakfast. What those kids are capable of as opposed to a lot of suburban kids. They're already ahead. If we approach kids from their strengths, from their assets, it's a whole new ballgame... Do we need to address hunger? Absolutely. Do we need to address the fact that (students) may come from violent neighborhoods? Absolutely. But I think we need to have the same goals that we have for kids at the Landings. It's all about how you treat kids. Kids can sense what your expectations are, and if your expectations are low, they will give you low.
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You come from an educational background in charter schools. What tools or systems will you be looking to implement systemwide that you've brought over from those experiences?
I have to preface this by [saying] there are only certain things that the board can do. We cannot get involved in the day-to-day running of schools. We have already gotten in trouble for that.
I was part of the group at Savannah Classical because I wanted those kids to have options. There are three classes of parents: there are parents who have the wherewithal to send their kids to private school, there are parents who have the political connections to get their kids into 'The right school,' and there are parents who are just as interested in their child's education who don't have either, and I felt they were being left out. That's why we started charter schools. And the other thing is — and it still is — I want a school system that is so great that we don't have to have (charter schools).
You have been critical of SCCPSS Superintendent Dr. Ann Levett before. How are you approaching your relationship with her ahead of joining the board?
I truly believe that she is doing what she believes is correct for kids. I truly believe that. We're going to have some disagreements, but that's fine. But, we had a very long lunch a few months ago, and we came to a mutual understanding that we're both in this for the same reason. We love our kids. Now, we may disagree on how we get there, but we are going to work together. And let me put this out there — I want you to put this in bold type: I did not run for office to get rid of the superintendent.
I want all of our kids to understand all of the possibilities, but not only right here, but how you get there. And also understanding the opportunity costs: so you can't get suspended, you can't get pregnant, you can't be violent. My mother used to talk to us all the time, 'You may not like it, you may not think it's fair, but it is, and you're judged by the way you speak. You're judged by the way you dress, you're judged by all of these things.' That's the reality. I know we have the whole thing with test scores — a lot of people don't like the fact that we're just where we are, right? I don't care how you explain the numbers. The raw numbers are the raw numbers. And they're the gospel truth.
Which leads me to my next question. SCCPSS reading and math scores are two grades behind the national average, according to recent report from Harvard and Stanford universities. Looking at these issues of math and literacy, what is your philosophy and what are some things that you would like to do as board president to address them?
The one thing I can do and I've been doing and I will continue to do is encourage everyone to be involved in education. When I say that, sign up to tutor. We need a bunch of tutors. I would love to have 500 tutors because these kids need that one-on-one... I want our budget to totally concentrate on more teachers, more para-pros, more nurses, more counselors, more policemen. But one thing I've said, and I said it on the campaign trail and I'll say it again, is education is everyone's business.
There's the word 'proficient.' As far as I'm concerned, proficient is not enough for us to attract the type of industry that we need to attract. Our kids have got to be exceptional. And here's the thing: I think they naturally are. What we're supposed to do is we have to bring that out.
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Speaking of workforce development, there are thousands of jobs in the pipeline — Hyundai, for one example — for students in Chatham County. What can you bring to the district to help prepare students for the workforce?
I'd really love to see more teachers because if we have a class of 35, I'd love to split those into two. Again, I can't get involved in the day-to-day running of schools, so I can't demand that, but yes to smaller class sizes.
Every charter school is not great. I will be the first to tell you that. But there are some common things: smaller class sizes is one of them. The culture is together, but they also have parental buy-in.
In recent years, especially this past summer, the spate of gun violence we've seen is affecting our youth, more so than any other demographic. How do you plan to address this?
We have a resource officer in every school. And I want to make sure that we continue to have one and also backups. But part of our education with the children has to include conflict resolution. Unfortunately, one of the factors is some of these kids are coming from violent neighborhoods. Some of them are coming from violent families. Add onto that media... they don't see conflict resolution, they see conflict. We have to teach our children very young and, unfortunately, a lot of times the school is stepping in for parents.
But if we're going to have that conversation, we're going to have that conversation about truancy, suspension and expulsion and all of that. It's tricky. You can't allow violence... What we do with those children... where we put them shouldn't just be a holding pattern while others' education continues, just because they're a problem.
There are no throwaway kids.
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Lastly, let's discuss the teacher shortage. And its not just a Chatham County problem, it's not just a Georgia problem. It's an American problem. How have you been thinking about recruitment? And not just recruitment, but retention?
Teachers don't quit just because of money. I know too many teachers who have taken significant pay cuts to teach in charter schools and to teach in private schools. We have to change the culture and we have to change how teachers are treated. We've got to go to bat for our teachers. We've got to provide and, yes, we have to pay them well.
Last question: You take office on January 5. What are your top priorities?
The first thing is I want to tackle is the bus transportation problem and I think with creative thinking, we can. And the other is the budget. I'd like to do the process a little bit different. I was just at board training a couple of weeks ago, and they were talking to us about the budget and one thing they said is that the board sets the priorities. I want us to start doing that. Let's just spend some more time on it and have some uncomfortable conversations.
Zoe is the Savannah Morning News' Investigative Reporter.Find her at znicholson@gannett.com, @zoenicholson_ on Twitter, and @zoenicholsonreporter on Instagram.