Hinckley Elementary Principal Jim Carpenter prepares for retirement
by Emily Canning-Dean
For students at Hinckley Elementary, the school year is winding down by late May, but even as he prepares for retirement, principal Jim Carpenter was still hard at work.
“I have teacher positions for first grade and third grade that we need to fill, and I’ve been doing interviews for those,” said Carpenter, who will retire June 12 after serving as principal of Hinckley Elementary School for the last decade. “I want to make sure everything is all set and things are in place for next year. We have poured our heart and soul into Hinckley Elementary, so I want that to carry on.”
Carpenter takes a lot of pride that Hinckley is one of the top performing schools in the state, but he said he can’t take credit for the success.
“It’s our staff. They are phenomenal,” he said. “But something I’m very proud of has been my hiring. I think it’s one of my strengths that I can tell who will be the right person for the right position.”
Carpenter began his career 35 years ago as an elementary school teacher in the Kirtland School District.
“I went to college when I was 25 and I kicked around a couple different ideas about careers, but I realized my heart was in education and working with kids,” he said. “Education gets a bad rap, but I love that I got to spend my day at school, working with kids. I didn’t even think of it as going to work. I was going to school.”
After 10 years of teaching, Kirtland administrators encouraged Carpenter to seek a principal position.
“Some of the administrators I worked with were encouraging because they said I worked well relating with parents and teachers and they thought I would be good in an administrative role,” he said. “I was going back to school to get my master’s degree, so I decided it was a good time. But it was something I went back and forth with because I really loved teaching.”
Carpenter took a job as a principal in Geauga County for a short time and later became principal of Whitney Elementary School in Strongsville, but he missed the small town feel of Kirtland and interviewed for the position at Hinckley Elementary School 10 years ago.
“Kirtland’s mascot was also the hornets so finishing my career as a Highland Hornet felt like I had come full circle,” he said. “Hinckley is really such a great place to be. The parents and the kids are so dedicated to education, and Hinckley is just a great community. I can’t say enough about our law enforcement officers. We have a great relationship, and they work so hard to keep our kids safe.”
While he looks forward to traveling with his wife, Jo Ann and preparing for his son’s wedding in October, Carpenter said he is going to miss spending the day at Hinckley Elementary School.
“I’m going to miss the staff and getting to see the students every day,” he said. “I remember learning that if you’re ever having a bad day, to go down to the kindergarten classroom and see what they are working on. That will always brighten your day.”
Even as principal, Carpenter said he made sure to interact with the students on a regular basis.
“When you move up higher in a school district, you can start to lose contact with the kids, so I always made it a point to maintain that connection with the kids,” he said. “It’s important to get to know them and develop those relationships so you can make sure they have what they need.”
After 35 years in education, Carpenter said he loves to hear from former students who share memories of their time in school.
“Sometimes former students will talk to me about memories that seemed really small, but left lasting impressions on them,” he said. “I love hearing about those memories. You can’t put a value on that.”