34 years, 1 job: helping the kids of Newton-Conover Schools

Melanie Elrod may have worked in the central office of Newton-Conover City Schools for most of her career, but that doesn’t mean she hasn’t left her mark on each school and many of the children in the system.

Elrod, 56, is responsible for the climbing tower at Newton-Conover Middle School that many children have tried their hand at. She wrote the grant to get the tower, and was even the person who tested out part of it for safety.

“I was the swing tester,” she said. “That was a physics lesson. They don’t take them up that high after I tested it.”

She also helped the system get its Safe and Drug Free Schools program. Elrod remembers helping a student with her addiction. That student became one Elrod connected with closely at Newton-Conover High.

“One girl drank, a lot, and we got her into AA,” Elrod said, adding that the student missed school often. “I asked her what it would take to get her to come to school and she said, ‘write me a note.’”

Elrod wrote the student a note every morning, with sayings like, “you’re a bright young lady,” and other encouraging phrases. On Fridays, Elrod would write three notes to get the student through the weekend. She said the student wanted encouragement and to know someone cared.

“When she graduated I cried,” Elrod said.

She said counseling and student services are the favorite parts of her career at Newton-Conover City Schools.

“It’s so rewarding to help the student,” she said.

Elrod first started as a substitute teacher with the Newton-Conover City Schools.

“When I graduated from school, there was an overabundance of graduates like there is now,” Elrod said.

She got her first job with Newton-Conover City Schools 34 years ago from the superintendent at the time, and was willing to jump at almost anything that was offered.

“He called saying, ‘do you want a job?’ and I said, ‘yes. Wait a minute, what is it?’” Elrod said.

She took the job as the system’s first dropout prevention program director, starting the program as well as heading it up. It would be a trend throughout her career with Newton-Conover City Schools.

Elrod said she enjoyed the job, and not just because it was her first full-time position with a school system.

“I liked working with kids with problems,” she said. “I would help identify at-risk kids, try to keep them in school, and help them find work after school and on weekends. I would help them emotionally and academically. I learned one of the most important things for this job: If you show kids you’re truly interested in something they’re interested in, they’ll come back to you for big things.”

Elrod also got her master’s degree in counseling while she continued to work full-time.

She went on to other positions with the system, including overseeing some federal programs and beginning the English as a Second Language program for Newton-Conover City Schools, which was one of the first in the state in the mid-1980s.

“We had Vietnamese children here already, coming through the churches,” Elrod said. “But we had this one girl from South America come, and they called and said they needed me to come meet her.”

Elrod majored in French in college. The child didn’t speak French, but others in the school system thought Elrod still might be able to assist the student.

That student got others in the system thinking about other foreign language-speaking students in the system, Elrod said. Newton-Conover City Schools had children enrolled in the district from several countries, with parents who worked at Christmas tree farms or in mills.

Within a year the system’s ESL program was started, and a specialized teacher was hired to address the students’ needs, Elrod said.

“We’ve had a few kids who’ve come from the Ivory Coast,” she said. “I talked to one little girl (in French), and her eyes got real big.”

Elrod said she has never taught a single class of French, despite majoring in the subject.

However, she was the system’s first technology director. She remembers getting the first Apple computers in the school system. At the time, Apples — and most computers — were very simple with little more than writing programs.

“The female Apple representative and I installed all the computers in the classrooms,” Elrod said. “I remember replacing the typewriters with computers, and people saying they would never last.”

When Elrod retires on Feb. 29, she’ll be leaving her final position at Newton-Conover City Schools: as the career and technical education and student services director. With this job, Elrod said she’s enjoyed taking care of nurses, dropout students, helping other students get access to Health Choice and overseeing the curriculum for vocational students.

She’s leaving in the middle of the year because she began in February, and because she hates the end of the school year.

“I hate the last day of school. I cry,” Elrod said. “I want to make sure the students are well and taken care of. If I leave in February, I won’t have to do the last day in June.”

She has already begun her goodbyes, but that doesn’t mean she’s ready to leave yet. She’s still out in the schools, greeting the students. On Friday, she dressed up as the Tooth Fairy for the students at the Conover School.

Elrod said she’ll miss her job. The small size of the school system afforded her the opportunity to get to know many students and parents, and all of the staff. And she said she’ll miss the people most of all.

“Whenever I’m down in the dumps, I visit a school,” she said. “It always cheers me up.”