John Stephen “Steve” Norwood was a creative innovator as both central office administrator and principal, setting up pre-school day care plus a landmark family literacy program.

Norwood developed an award-winning family literacy program as Hillandale Elementary principal from 1993-2002.
Before that, he was community schools coordinator for Henderson County Schools, from 1982 until the city-county merger in ’93. In the mid-Eighties, he set up licensed, nominal-fee day child care to find “responsible answers to problems that come onto our laps.” It still goes on, in all 12 elementary cafeterias for developmentally-challenged and other children.

It’s low-cost even today. PSPM ($10 daily now) for after-school for “latch-key” elementary school children, also unique PSAM ($4 daily) before school for those whose parents work early shifts.

 “I was proud it was a bargain,” he said. “We wanted it to be affordable to parents, but to make our (day care) salaries high enough as the market bears. To keep good people. Yet we never lost a penny on it.” He fronted purchase of supplies, until grant money came through. Schools made money selling snacks, but affordably —  50 cents per child then. Parents were billed weekly. “We watched it very carefully, to see that parents paid bills,” he said. “Yet we role-played, to help parents keep up with payments.”
Norwood knew the role of latch-key child growing up, coming home to an e
mpty house in Black Mountain. Unsupervised, at age 8 he “smoked cigarettes down by the creek.” He said, “You never know what problems are prevented and lives saved, from good supervision of children in a safe environment before or after school.”
Post-school care was “like a child’s living room —  with toys, puzzles, crayons, books and magazines. Kids come in and relax, after a long day of school. They can nap, snack, or get exercise and fresh air outside.”

Also, PS Plus ($22 daily) during summer vacation has arts and crafts, role playing and other activities. Norwood also implemented Success Starts in School dropout prevention, Lions (Club) Quest life-skills and anti-drug DARE education to resist peer pressure. Now, he serves on an advisory board on child care.

As principal, Norwood established Hillandale Family Literacy Program, around classes for English as a second language (ESL) held in his school and mostly funded by Blue Ridge Community College. “The first time I walked down the steps at Hillandale,” he recalled, “I was met by a Mexican family who spoke no English.” He explained that “my strategy was to bring them up academically, also to help the whole school. As for their parents, he said, “I found it very heart-warming, inspiring to see people who worked hard all day in the fields and had struggled so hard with English be so motivated to learn the language.”

These county-wide classes have tutored Latino students and their parents in English, while their preschool siblings got child care at the school. At the same time, teachers were studying Spanish. Students of the two classes mingled during snack breaks, pairing up for situational dialogues such as for shopping. They’d converse in both languages, and correct each other.

A bonus is cultural exchange, to “understand, admire and appreciate each other.” Through family literacy, Norwood learned Spanish. He went facilitator and ride giver to ESL instructor, a role he maintains.

He presented a video on the project, at a national education-related convention. The project enabled him to be the first educator from Henderson County to get the Governor’s Entrepreneurial Award, and landed BRCC the national Bellweather Award for exemplary community college programs.

Norwood, an East Carolina graduate (in 1967), earned his master’s there and education specialist degree (EDS) from Western Carolina in 1986. He worked in Georgia, Florida, Puerto Rico and Hyde County, N.C. before coming here.
His wife Debbie Norwood teaches science at East Henderson High. They have two grown sons. Avid sailor Steve has a U.S. Coast Guard master’s license. His new book, Confessions of a Reluctant Missionary, is about his time in Honduras a year ago. It’s his third manuscript, as he evolves in his newest creative realm.