Dear Lufkin Parents,
Welcome to Lufkin Road Middle School! My name is Dr. Parry Graham, and I am the principal here at Lufkin. I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself.
I am a native North Carolinian, having grown up in the beautiful mountains of Asheville. I attended Williams College in Massachusetts (another beautiful spot, right smack dab in the middle of the Berkshires), and then moved to the Boston area. After receiving a Master of Arts in Teaching at Tufts University, I taught high school German for six years at North Andover High School in North Andover, MA. I then spent four years working for an educational consulting company, called Co-nect (since purchased by Pearson), which gave me the opportunity to work with teachers and schools all over the country.
After convincing my Buffalo-born wife to move with me back to North Carolina , I started a doctoral program in educational leadership at UNC, which I completed in 2006. Along the way, I spent a year working as an administrative intern at Salem Middle School, and then three years working as an assistant principal at Cedar Fork Elementary.
I am now beginning my second year here at Lufkin. I am incredibly excited to be part of such a wonderful school. Prior to joining Lufkin, I heard tremendously positive things about the staff, students, parents, and community, and I take it as my primary responsibility to maintain and build upon Lufkin’s high level of excellence.
When I met with the Lufkin staff in my first week at the school, I outlined the most important values that I hold as an educator, and I would like to share them with you. These values inform and underscore my actions as principal, and serve as the standards that I use in assessing our decision-making as a community of professionals.
First, we never give up on kids. For a variety of reasons, many students come to school with challenges that inhibit their ability to learn. However, I believe that, as educators, we are professionals. What makes us professionals is that, despite the challenges that students may bring with them to school—challenges over which we have no control—we are responsible for ensuring that every child is successful.
Second, we work together. I have spent a large part of my career learning how to help people collaborate in a team-based environment. I believe that better decisions and better results occur when professionals work in collaboration with each other. At Lufkin, we will take a team-based approach to providing the highest possibly quality education for your children. In addition, I believe that parents are the most important partners in ensuring students’ success, and I look forward to the opportunity to work with you.
Finally, we get better each day. In my opinion, the job that we do here at Lufkin is the most important job in the world: we help to shape children’s futures. Because our job is so important, it is our responsibility to continuously figure out how we can do our job even better.
Thank you for bringing your children to us each day, and thank you for holding us to a high standard of excellence. Your children deserve it!
Parry Graham, Ed.D.
