Henderson county’s superintendent, Bo Caldwell, made the announcement that he would retire earlier this year. The news marked the end of an era for the county’s school system. Passing on the torch to Dr. John Bryant officially on Nov. 30, Caldwell is ready to move on and start a new chapter.
“No loose ends right now,” Caldwell said. “I’ve been going around to the schools talking to people that I’ve had a long term relationship with, (and) meeting new friends.”
Caldwell graduated from West Henderson High School in 1980, and started his career in the Henderson County school system in 1985. He’s had plenty of time to make friends, and good impressions on the people he’s worked with.
“(Caldwell’s) first year as an administrator was my first year as a teacher,” West teacher Frank Gerard said. “Just an amazing personality, an amazing leader and the amazing thing is that years later he’s the exact same person.”
To celebrate the work and time Caldwell has put into the school system, each school respectively held a small party to send him off. From a slideshow dedicated to him, to his West High yearbooks opened to pages with him on them. Caldwell spent Friday afternoon at West High eating hotdogs and taking pictures with the Falcon mascot.
“I’ve gone to every school, West High is my last one, you know why it’s my last one?” Caldwell said. “Because I graduated here, so why not finish where you started.”
Now that Caldwell is finishing up his career, all that’s left is for Bryant to take over. Caldwell trusts that Bryant is “a tremendous leader”. Once Bryant is in the seat of power, Caldwell will simply enjoy Christmas with his wife, and then see what happens in January.
“Dr Bryant will take Henderson county to a next level.” Caldwell said.
After a long saga of Caldwell’s work in the school system, he is finally finishing up the last chapter. With only a few days left until the end of his time as superintendent, all that is left to do is wait for Bryant to begin his own Henderson County story.
By: Kareem Al-Abed, Feature Writer
