Bob Moore, director of the Martha’s Vineyard Public Charter School (MVPCS), will retire in 2018, after 20 years at the school. MVPCS opened in 1996, and Mr. Moore began two years later, as the first full-time director of the school.
Mr. Moore, 62, said that finding a replacement will take time, and he acknowledged the challenges that all employers face when hiring on the Island. But he said he is confident in the culture and the curriculum that he and his staff have built at the Charter School. He said the change in leadership will be smooth, based on the traditions and values of the school. “I think the school is well positioned to move forward,” Mr. Moore said.
One of its legacies, Mr. Moore said of the school he has run for so many years, is that it is successful in a community that already has good schools, suggesting that Island parents appreciate choice in public education.
MVPCS has grown to serve 180 students, a kindergarten-through-12th-grade school — something that makes it unique on-Island.
For the past 30 years, Mr. Moore has worked in schools for kindergarten through 12th grade. He likes being able to talk to a 5-year-old one minute, and a 15-year-old the next. He said younger students and older students become one another’s teachers. “I find the dynamics of that type of environment invigorating,” Mr. Moore said.
MVPCS has worked to meet state requirements, such as Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS testing), in its project-based learning curriculum, while nurturing students’ passions and interests, and serving all ages. That kind of project-based learning, he said, empowers students. “I do think we still worry too much about test scores,” Mr. Moore said. “I wish we worried as much or more about engaging students in learning.”
As director, he has emphasized placing students at the center of the school’s focus, making it a place where their voices are heard, and relationships between students and teachers are encouraged.
Creating a community
Former Charter School students say when they reflect on their time at MVPCS, they miss their morning meetings most, according to Mr. Moore. Each morning, students, teachers, staff, and parents take 10 minutes to make announcements and talk about a sports team, a play, or a collaboration among students. They select a person of the day, celebrate birthdays, and talk about what’s for lunch — a topic of great interest to many students.
As director, morning meeting gave Mr. Moore a “pulse of the day,” a way to gauge the students and the staff. It’s a daily event that makes students feel as if it is their school, an important notion and founding principle at the Charter School.
“We talk about how important community is in our school,” Mr. Moore said. “Well, we illustrate it by beginning every day in our community.”
The first teachers at MVPCS established some foundational elements of the school. Morning meeting was one. Then there were the six pillars of the school — respect, freedom, cooperation, responsibility, democracy, and trust. These guiding ideas are posted in every classroom. “In part, the reason why kids like coming here is because they really believe they’re respected,” he said.
Mr. Moore said students leave the Charter School with confidence as learners — knowing their strengths, where they need to improve, how to express themselves, and how to represent themselves.
‘No regrets’
Mr. Moore, along with his sister and two brothers, one his twin, grew up in Hyannis, though he and his family moved to the Vineyard briefly while he was in the second and third grades, when he attended the Tisbury School.
He received a bachelor’s degree in history and education from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. Mr. Moore volunteered in the Peace Corps in Tunisia from 1978 to 1980, teaching English as a second language. He met his wife, Shari Moore, an exchange student at the time, in Tunisia.
In 1988, they moved to Salvador, Bahia, in Brazil, where he was principal at the American School and Ms. Moore taught humanities. The school had 400 students in kindergarten through 12th grade.
“It was the first capital of Brazil,” Mr. Moore said. “It’s where all the slaves came to Brazil, through Salvador, and there’s a very African influence, and music — beautiful stuff.”
They returned to New York in 1992, and Mr. Moore began doctoral studies in educational leadership at New York University, though he didn’t complete his program. Instead, he worked at the Little Red School House, a progressive K-12 school in Lower Manhattan, where he was an administrator, running the afterschool and summer programs, and was also the middle school principal.
He interviewed on the Vineyard in January 1998 at MVPCS, and was hired shortly after.
“I think what attracted the people here at the Charter School when I applied was that experience,” he said of his time at the Little Red School House.
Working in schools has been a large part of his identity, and he said he thrives among the complexities of a K-12 environment. He said he is fortunate to have had the opportunity to watch the Charter School grow, calling his experience here “extraordinary.”
“I mean, where else in your life do you have the opportunity to build something from the bottom up?” Mr. Moore said. “I mean, that’s unbelievable that I was given that opportunity, and been able to stay the course.”
So, what’s next for Mr. Moore? “There’s going to be a next,” he said. Although MVPCS will be the first school he’ll leave after a 20-year tenure, he said he is familiar with looking for the next step, referencing having moved from Brazil and New York City. He looks back with no regrets, he said. “I don’t get sad, I get energized about the next step,” Mr. Moore said.
An avid cyclist and cook, Mr. Moore wants to do more of both. Travel is also something he and his wife will consider.
“Doors open up when you least expect it,” Mr. Moore said.