‘Who Loves You Baby?’ Long-Time Buckingham Elementary Fixture Terry Smith Reflects On Final Days At School

‘Who Loves You Baby?’ Long-Time Buckingham Elementary Fixture Terry Smith Reflects On Final Days At School
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BERLIN – Terry Smith was hurrying into the gym at Stephen Decatur High School when, above the sounds of the crowd gathered for a basketball game, she heard a phrase that stopped her in her tracks.

“Who loves you baby?” called a voice from the top of the stands.

It’s a sentence Smith knows well, as it’s her self-proclaimed catch phrase. The assistant principal from Buckingham Elementary School utters it daily in her interactions with children.

“I looked up and it was one of my students I had in 1994,” Smith said with a laugh.

Of course, it’s not uncommon for Smith to get stopped by students during her everyday travels. Her smartphone is proof of it, filled with hundreds of photos of the outgoing educator and her adoring former and current students. Several of the latter cried this month when Smith told the Buckingham community she was retiring.

She says the decision, a difficult one, means she will have more time to spend with her family. She does not, however, intend to stop working on behalf of area children.

“I believe there is another path that will enable me to continue to support our students and their families,” she said. “This path will also allow me to spend more time with my family and be instrumental in my community.”

Staff members at the Berlin school say Smith will be missed.

“Terry Smith has dedicated so much of her life to educating the youth of Worcester County,” Principal Karen Marx said. “Through her unwavering kindness and generosity, she has touched so many lives as both an educator and an administrator. While we will miss having her in the Buckingham Elementary community each day, we wish her all the best as she embarks on a new adventure with her retirement.”

Smith, who grew up in Salisbury, has been a staple at Buckingham Elementary since 1992. After starting as a long-term substitute in January of 1992, she was given her own first-grade class in September that same year. She spent more than a decade in the classroom before being promoted to assistant principal in 2004.

While not eager to move from instruction to administration, Smith accepted the fact that she could help more students as assistant principal than she could in a single classroom. Moving to a leadership position in the same school she’d been teaching in made the transition easier.

“My position changed,” she said, “not me. This job can be difficult some days. It was easier to fulfill my responsibilities because of the rapport and relationships I had built.”

Ask her what she’s enjoyed the most about being assistant principal and Smith will point to the wall beside her desk. It’s filled with thank you notes from students and parents.

“What I’ve enjoyed most would be the relationships I’ve established,” she said. “When they know you love them and you’re fair and firm it makes a difference.”

The office’s opposite wall is filled with photos of each of Smith’s first-grade classes. Point to any student and Smith can tell you their name and more likely than not a story about them. There was Dustin, who when he reached eighth-grade wrote Smith a letter thanking her for the “Who loves you baby?” reminders he received even when he misbehaved. There was the girl who was so smart Smith had trouble keeping her busy. There was the boy who didn’t want a black teacher.

“I was at his wedding,” Smith said with a smile.

Smith is pictured with a former student, John Frombach, who is now in the military and recently stopped in to visit her. Submitted Photo

Smith is pictured with a former student, John Frombach, who is now in the military and recently stopped in to visit her. Submitted Photo

She’s been invited to high school graduations from members of every one of her classes. Just last year the students from her final first-grade class walked across the stage.

Smith says that in spite of the many changes in education that have occurred through the years, her priority has remained a commitment to Buckingham’s students. She says the poem “Cause I Ain’t Got a Pencil,” by Joshua Dickerson, written from the point of view of a student coming from a poverty stricken family, has been a guiding force for her.

“One of the biggest challenges is knowing how to help teachers who have students that are coming to school with so many needs,” she said.

And though she’s no longer in the classroom herself, Smith strives to show students that they’re loved, whether it’s with a one-on-one talk or simple expression of interest. Just this year one little girl told Smith she loved her clothes and wanted to wear an outfit to match the assistant principal the following day.

“I said ‘ok let’s wear black and white tomorrow,’” Smith recalled.

She forgot about the agreement until she caught a glimpse of the little girl wearing a black and white outfit the following morning.

“I went straight home and changed,” Smith said.

She says that while she’ll miss her Buckingham family following her July 1 retirement, she’ll cherish memories like those forever. And what advice does she offer her successor?

“Let the children and parents and faculty and staff know that you love and respect them,” she said. “It makes a difference.”

About The Author: Charlene Sharpe

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Charlene Sharpe has been with The Dispatch since 2014. A graduate of Stephen Decatur High School and the University of Richmond, she spent seven years with the Delmarva Media Group before joining the team at The Dispatch.