After six years of managing budgets, monitoring student success, and envisioning goals, Dr. Anthony Lewis has resigned as the USD 497 superintendent to take on a job in Durham, North Carolina. Lewis’s last day in office was August 9.
Through overseeing a global pandemic and bridging a budget gap of $9.6 million, Lewis stepped down to be closer to family. Lewis will have the opportunity to be significantly closer to family than before, as they are from Birmingham, Alabama. After losing a relative this spring, Lewis knew that it was time to move closer to home.
“I’ve always said that eventually, we’ll have to get back close to home, but I didn’t want to wait until I had to move home to take care of my mom. I wanted to move home or be closer to home so that we have an opportunity to enjoy some type of quality of life for her,” Lewis said.
Furthermore, he expressed his wish to allow his kids to grow up in a similar environment as his own.
“When I told him [my son] that his uncle passed away, he looked at me and said, ‘I don’t remember him.’ That was a reality check for me and a gut punch. My kids need to be around their family more,” Lewis said.
Lewis began his journey as the Superintendent of Durham Public Schools in North Carolina on August 12. The district has over 31,000 students and 56 campuses, nearly tripling in size from Lawrence’s enrollment numbers.
Because one of Lewis’s biggest goals as a mentor is to visit schools and to truly interact with the children on a day-to-day basis, he said that with bigger numbers come new responsibilities.
“Going to a larger district presents different challenges in terms of just getting to know the district, so that’s going to take a little bit more time just to really, truly understand the full picture,” Lewis said.
The interim superintendent will act throughout the 2024–25 school year before a permanent one steps in. To all the students in Lawrence, Lewis expressed a strong parting message.
“You are amazing; you are bright; you are brilliant. You can do anything and everything that you set your mind to, and know that you have a school system and a community that supports you,” Lewis said.
