Superintendent Dr. David Goodin works with Executive Assistant Jacqueline Chabot about district matters.
                                 Chase Jordan|Sampson Independent

Superintendent Dr. David Goodin works with Executive Assistant Jacqueline Chabot about district matters.

Chase Jordan|Sampson Independent

<p>Dr. David Goodin, superintendent of Sampson County Schools, is looking forward to leading the district.</p>
                                 <p>Chase Jordan|Sampson Independent</p>

Dr. David Goodin, superintendent of Sampson County Schools, is looking forward to leading the district.

Chase Jordan|Sampson Independent

While talking about goals to get students from Sampson County Schools back to classrooms, Superintendent Dr. David Goodin faced board members behind a podium — a vision that was quite different many years ago.

His original plan was to stand in church pulpits, preaching to a congregation. Goodin was once a youth pastor, but later discovered that it wasn’t the right fit for him. His true calling was education and it became his ministry.

“When you get into education, you can stay as a teacher and be effective and touch lives, or you can begin to look at the leadership opportunities that you have in moving up,” he said.

During his years in the education field, doors of opportunities continued to open for Goodin. The latest one is at 437 Rowan Road, headquarters for Sampson County Schools. Inside the building, Goodin took an oath in February to become the next superintendent of the district.

“If you’re doing work, it’s not like work if you love what you’re doing,” he said. “That’s kind of where I find myself and I enjoy doing the work — the aspects of moving an organization as well as the aspect of personal growth that comes from it.”

Goodin is continuing his journey after spending 10 years as the superintendent of the Spring-Ford Area School District in Pennsylvania. He filled a void left by Dr. Eric Bracy,who was named the superintendent of Johnston County Schools in the summer. Before Goodin took over the helm, Dr. Stewart Hobbs served as the interim leader. Now, Goodin will lead the district for a few more years, until June 2023.

Lightheartedly, Goodin said learning all the acronyms for programs and titles is somethingto which he’s also adjusting.

“I thought Pennsylvania had a lot of acronyms,” he said. “North is the acronym capital state. I’ve never seen so many educational acronyms. You got to learn those things. But all in all, it’s been a great move for us.”

For Goodin, there’s a variety of unknowns when it comes to the new position. One of them is the culture of the organization, when it comes to the board and local education.

“That’s always a challenge,” Goodin said. “Every organization has its own culture and it’s very distinct. It has its own nuisances. So the wise leader has to come in and learn those nuisances as quickly as they can. You have to operate in such a way that you’re not upsetting the apple cart and you’re trying to work within the norms that exist.”

Another challenge is working with school finances. The system of providing money to North Carolina districts is different than Pennsylvania, where school boards have their own taxing authority.

“They set their own millage rate and really have more control of their budget,” Goodin said. “In North Carolina, things are handed down to us from Raleigh and there’s a strong reliance on student population for that money. There just seems to be a lot of funding pots. It’s a challenge, but it’s something that you’ve got to learn.”

In addition to establishing connected department goals, one of his plans as a superintendent is continuing to set high expectations for employees, students, and overall performance. During his years as leader, he learned that people will perform at the level of expectancy.

“In other words, if you don’t expect much of them, you’re not going to get much of them,” he said. “That’s one of the things that I’ll focus on.”

It’s a philosophy Goodin held with his previous leadership role.

“We want to be the best we can possibly be,” he said. “That will be my true north and what guides me in decision-making. What is going to bring us to a point to where we’re expecting the best out of ourselves, out of our students, out of our staff, and out of our communities.”

Down the road, an additional plan may include creating a cyber academy option for the county schools, where students can still graduate from local schools in their district and participate in extracurricular activities. At the moment, many educators feel that online learning is not going away anytime soon.

“We understand that as we move back into students coming back to school, there’s going to be families that are still uncomfortable,” Goodin said. “COVID is not going anywhere.”

Goodin is a native of Cumberland County. Before coming to the Spring-Ford Area School District, one of the largest districts in the Philadelphia suburbs, he led the Connellsville Area School District in Connellsville, Pa., and the Harmony Area School District in Westover, Pa. He also spent time in assistant principal and principal positions at the middle school level.

“Over the past few years, we have developed a tradition of success for our students and we now pass the maintenance of that tradition of success on to Dr. Goodin,” said Sampson County Board of Education Chair Sonya Powell in February. “We do look forward to years of mutual love, care, and respect for our community, our employees and our students. The challenge is great, especially during this time of unprecedented events. However, the challenge has been accepted by Dr. Goodin and we will work with him to achieve the greatness that we know Sampson County Schools are capable of.”

Goodin earned a bachelor’s degree in social studies from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania and a master’s in history from Shippensburg University. He later received a doctorate degree in education administration and leadership from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Goodin and wife Michele have six children together, ranging in age from 19 to 32. As a Sampsonian, Goodin is getting more involved with organizations such as the Clinton-Sampson Chamber of Commerce. In Pennsylvania, he served as the president of the chamber in his community.

“It’s vital,” Goodin said. “Your schools (and) your businesses are kind of interconnected. So what’s good for one is usually good for the other.”