Dirks named top principal

After years of continued service to Clinton City Schools, longtime educator Greg Dirks was once again honored by his fellow peers, being named the 2021-22 Principal of the Year.

“I’ve been a principal for 13 years now I believe, because I started back in 2008,” LC Kerr leader Dirks said. “It’s been a great run; Clinton City Schools has been good for me and (my) family and I really do enjoy it.”

“We’ve got great staff across the district and it’s always fun when you’re dealing with the kids — I mean how can you not enjoy working in education?” he added.

Despite the honor, Dirks noted that it’s not just about him, because none of what he does would be possible without his staff.

“The staff is real excited by this and when they come congratulate you and the parents congratulate you too, I always say to myself it’s about more than just me,” Dirks said. “Being the principal means you’re the one that just happens to be at the wheel, but it takes a crew to run a school and a district.”

“I’m just blessed to have the staff that I do,” he continued. “They are some of the most professional educators I’ve ever been around and they’re all responsible for the success we have here at LC Kerr.”

Dirks is also an Army vet who served two deployments during his years as a principal.

“Well I just decided to go into the classroom and Jeff Bell, former CHS Principal, was probably my mentor,” Dirks said. “He said to me when we were at Lakewood together that me becoming a principal would be a good idea. After that I went to Fayetteville State, then I took some graduate-level courses and started from there at the old middle school.”

It was a role that, at the time, he didn’t think would lead to him becoming principal.

“I really enjoyed it and, to be honest, I thought I was going to be an assistant principal,” Dirks said. “But when they opened up the new high school, they shifted the middle school to the old high school. Then I opened up with Sunset when it was created, with a great crew from Butler after they split the staff.”

For Dirks, since first becoming a principal, pushing education with his community has always been at the forefront and the passion that drives him.

“Of the students I’ve had at the middle school and the high school, I’ve carried that same passion and still do now here at LC Kerr,” Dirks said. “Being a part of the community in Clinton you realize what being a Dark Horse is all about.”

“My daughter said it best ‘We are Dark Horses’ and that’s stuck with us.”

“We all know the famous saying about ‘it takes a village.’ In Clinton’s case it’s our community,” Dirks stated. “Our community just wraps their arms around education, what it means to be educated and use that to go out and do great things.”

While the moment was about Dirks and his Principal of the Year achievement, he never stopped putting CCS, education and the students in the limelight.

“A common denominator in Clinton is the schools,” he said. “If we show them that Clinton is pretty good, start them on the right foot and love them, we can truly show them what education means. And me, as principal, I’m just a small part of that.”

“It’s neat being the foundation and to see kids who are a product of CCS go on to make something of themselves,” Dirks said. “And, to know that you had a little something to do with that, I think that’s pretty neat.”