Dr. Robert P. Taylor was named the new superintendent of Wake County Public Schools.
Dr. Taylor has an undergraduate degree from the University of Southern Mississippi, while also having a master’s and a doctoral degree in education from Fayetteville State University.
Since Dr. Taylor has already worked in North Carolina schools before, he is known to be good with kids already. First, he was an educator and administrator in Clinton City Schools and Cumberland County Schools. He was then the superintendent of Bladen County Schools from 2011 to 2020. Finally, he was a deputy state superintendent from 2021 to 2023, until he was awarded this position.
“You know how to put students first. I’m very excited that this new era has begun and, quite selfishly, I am grateful Robert Taylor’s signature will be on my child’s high school diploma, class of 2027,” said State Superintendent Catherine Truit.
Dr. Taylor’s first proposal is to fulfill what he calls the “100-day plan.” In this plan, he is going to hold listening sessions for students, staff, and parents. Dr. Taylor plans to visit every Wake County school by the end of the year and to analyze data of low performing students to figure out what learning obstacles they may have.
Dr. Taylor said he would like to, “establish an understanding of how diversity, equity, and inclusion practices can support the lowest-performing students while providing all students with a high-quality education.”
Dr. Taylor believes that he can also make our budget operate more effectively. On Wednesday, May 20, 2023, the North Carolina House passed a law to provide private school vouchers with $400 million more than they regularly get. Dr. Taylor expressed how this will hurt our public schools because of loss of funding. The fix for this problem will be a long term goal for him to fulfill.
Dr. Taylor is very precise about the laws in place and persistent about enforcing them.
“What I’ve expressed to everybody is our number one responsibility is to follow the law. If the school system disagrees with the law, the superintendent and school board members can make their own opinions known to lawmakers,” said Dr. Taylor.
