A popular and respected couple in Moore County education have announced their joint retirement at the end of the current school year.
West Pine Middle School Principal Candace Turk and her husband, Southern Pines Elementary counselor David Turk, are retiring after six years of service each to the school system. David Turk will end his duties in June, with his wife to follow in July.
“I have really mixed feelings about leaving Moore County Schools,” said Candace Turk, who assumed the principal’s position at West Pine in 2008. “I love the teachers, the parents and the children, and while I’m sad to go I feel really good about what’s happening here at West Pine Middle. I know that the staff will carry on and do an incredible job no matter who is in the principal’s position.”
The Turks came to Moore County in 2008 after leaving Duplin County Schools, where Candace was the assistant superintendent for Human Resources and Operations for two years. Prior to that she was Duplin County Schools’ director of human resources, and served as the principal of East Duplin High School in Beulaville from 2004 to 2005. She was voted Duplin County Principal of the Year for the 2003-2004 school year.
“At the beginning of my career I wanted to be a teacher, and I worked in the classroom for awhile, but there came a time that because of what I saw in the schools that I knew I could make a bigger impact in administration,” she said. “I miss the classroom, and I will miss the one-on-one moments with students that I was sometimes able to do as principal.”
Turk said that she would like to return to a school environment part-time in order to assist first-year teachers in adjusting to what can be a “difficult and demanding” profession.
“One essential element that I think first-year teachers have to remember is that all decisions have to be based on what is best for the students, not the teacher,” she said. “Not only in the classroom, but everything associated with the school has to be for them.
“Most first-year teachers have a real passion for their jobs, but not all grasp this essential point. I would encourage those teachers to ask themselves questions, and to give themselves time. They should also remember that if they want their students to succeed, they need to get to know those students.”
David Turk described his work as a school counselor at Southern Pines Elementary School as the “fourth career” of his life.
“I am from a farming family in upstate New York and consider that as my first career, and later I became an ordained minister,” he said. “The ministry sent me to Greenville, North Carolina to coordinate activities, which is where I was living when I met Candace.”
The couple married in 1976, and after 15 years in the ministry David decided to make a career change.
“I worked on a dairy farm as a kid, and I thought that experience would translate to running a successful landscaping business,” he said. “Candace and I moved to the Burlington area and managed this until 1990, when we moved to Greene County and earned our advanced degrees at ECU. She obtained a doctorate in education while I received a master’s degree in counseling followed by an education specialist’s degree in the same field.”
Colleagues of the two expressed both sadness and well wishes about the couple’s pending departure.
“David is a quiet worker, someone who doesn’t seek fanfare for what he does, and he works quietly from the heart,” said Southern Pines Elementary School Principal Marcy Cooper. “He prepares the yearbook each time, he does a slideshow in our office, and wants to do what he can for everyone.
“We will miss him a lot, but hope he and and his wife have a great time in retirement.”
Barbara Levin, an AIG teacher at West Pine Middle School, expressed similar sentiments about Candace Turk.
“She has been wonderful to work for, and one of the great characteristics about Ms. Turk is that she believes in the potential of every student and every teacher here,” she said. “West Pine Middle School is a great place for a student to be, and Ms. Turk has done a fabulous job at creating a culture that is responsive to individual students’ needs in order to capitalize on that to bring out the best in everyone.
“She has also empowered the teachers here, in part by being a leader who is willing to advocate new ideas if there is a good rationale for doing so. I don’t forsee this culture that she has fostered going away, even after she has retired.”
The Turks “absolutely” have plans after retirement, Candace said.
“We have a fifth wheel camper waiting for us in upstate New York, and we are going to tour New England and then see our children, who are in Texas, Montana and Nicaragua,” she said.
David said that despite their travels, home will still be waiting.
“We anticipate having Moore County remain our home,” he said. “Having been raised on a farm, I’ll probably spend a lot of time outdoors. I probably won’t start another business, though. Since a business can run you, rather than the reverse, at 66 I’d prefer not having that kind of responsibility.”
Speak Your Mind