10-03-2025
Guilford County Schools Superintendent Whitney Oakley shares education hourney with FOX8
GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — Some kids wander for years, trying to figure out what they want to be as an adult. Whitney Oakley was not one of those.
'I knew on the first day of school that I wanted to be a teacher, and there was never a doubt about that,' Oakley aid.
She started her schooling at Guilford Primary Elementary School in Guilford County. Though she did leave the county to attend East Carolina University, she came back to her home town and began teaching at Frazier Elementary School on the south side of Greensboro before earning both a master's degree in Elementary Education from Greensboro College and a PhD in Educational Leadership from UNC-Greensboro.
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That led to consistent promotions. For the first one, she did cross over the county line to become a principal in Alamance County. But she returned soon after that to take jobs in Guilford County leadership.
'I was perfectly happy in the classroom,' Oakley said. 'Every time that I've stepped into a new leadership role, it's because a mentor or someone in the building asked me to.'
But her time in the classroom teaching special education, kindergarten and third grade remains with her today.
'I haven't lost sight of what it was like to be in the classroom. I stay close. I'm a parent, so every day, I have a new appreciation for teachers with my own kids, and I also love being a principal, so I spend a lot of time in classrooms and with principals, and I think staying proximate helps,' Oakley said.
She's quick to answer when asked what the pull is to remain in education when she could probably make more money in the private sector.
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'The power and just the relationships … The impact that teachers can make every day, and then the student goes home with that,' Oakley said. 'There are lots of stories of teachers that would put their stuffed animals out in front of them when they were little, and that's all really true, but I knew from Ms. Welborn, my kindergarten teacher, that I wanted to be just like that.'
It's been quite a journey, and it was not always what she thought it would be.
'It's different every single day,' Oakley said. 'But I can say that I have so much loyalty to this community. It's a community that's given back to me in so many ways and continues to give back to me. I knew I wanted to raise my kids here … When the opportunity presented itself, it was already home and, so … it's complicated, but I didn't know what it was going to be, but you show up every day and do the best that you can.'
See more from Oakley in this Saved By the Bell edition of The Buckley Report.
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