Robbinsville – Graham County Schools Superintendent Angie Knight – recognized by her peers as Superintendent of the Year in the western region earlier this year – has had another honor bestowed upon her.
Selected by a committee, Knight will be the grand marshal of this year’s Robbinsville High School homecoming parade Friday.
“I tried to turn it down; there are many who are more deserving,” Knight said on Monday.
She believes the homecoming honor was in recognition for her being named Region 8 Superintendent of the Year in June. Region 8 includes school districts in Buncombe, Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, Madison, Polk, Rutherford, Swain and Transylvania counties, as well as Asheville.
Knight was the first Graham County superintendent to receive the honor. She would have competed with seven superintendents from the rest of state for N.C. Superintendent of the Year, but she said she backed out of that competition because of the time commitment that would be involved were she to win, including attending state school board meetings in Raleigh once a month and also competing for National Superintendent of the Year.
“It takes me away from Graham County,” she said. “I’d rather just do good things here than be in Raleigh. I don’t know if they would be ready to hear my opinions, anyway.”
Knight presides over a school district with three schools and over 1,200 students from preschool through 12th grade and a budget of over $15 million. Graham County invests about $12,500 per student per year, according to various sources including the National Center for Education Statistics.
The district has come off a two-year ordeal caused by the COVID-19 pandemic that resulted in D grades at Robbinsville Elementary and Middle schools and a C grade at Robbinsville High School, although given the challenges during that time, such grades could be viewed as an achievement.
The school district continues a trend of innovation and achievements, including:
* New reading and math curriculums have been rolled out at Robbinsville Elementary.
* Based on experiences during the COVID-19 years, more than a dozen middle and high school students have been recruited and trained to help identify and help fellow students who are going through emotional problems in a program called Noble Knights.
* Robbinsville High School carpentry students were awarded a $125,000 Southwestern Commission grant to build houses for the Graham County Rural Development Authority project called Azalea Hill off Moose Branch Road.
* Robbinsville High School is planning to open a coffee house and imprinting shop in the old Veterans of Foreign Wars building on Main Street, to provide students with practical skills and help spur downtown economic development.
The parade – at 3 p.m. Friday – starts at the high school and winds its way down Sweetwater Road, Rodney Orr Bypass, Main Street, Tallulah Road, back to Sweetwater Road and returning to the high school.