by Bella McDonald
SANFORD – Lee County High School earned a C grade from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction for the 2025-26 school year after being deemed “low-performing” the previous year. LCHS principal Robert Newby was “elated” that his second year at the school saw the growth he knew was possible.
“The second year I was elated and excited because I knew that we grew seven points from the year before,” Prin. Robert Newby said.
Newby is especially celebrating the hard work that was devoted by many to make this development possible. Newby said the teachers of LCHS were the main reason for the improvement, while students followed their lead. Teachers were more observant of data in their Professional Learning Committees this past year and frequently reflected on their lessons to establish if changes were necessary to help students learn material easier. Newby believes that by him being in these PLC’s, he can witness the teachers discussing and making the necessary changes to their lesson plans to better suit students.
“I made it my goal to make sure I’m in PLC’s to be sure that the kids…the teachers are looking at the data to see which kids are struggling,” Newby stated.
PLC’s specifically helped English II classes improve their scores last year. English II teacher Katie Brown explains how her scores were not a surprise because of how hard they had been working to get where they are. “We constantly reflect on our practice and what works and doesn’t work to address specific standards,” Brown said. She also remembers Newby discussing having growth mindsets, which would help them believe that growth will be reached with test scores.
Newby believes that growth mindsets are a good way to bring confidence to teachers and students for reaching higher scores, especially since he believes that students are struggling with having the motivation to work hard on classwork and exams. Having that growth mindset will give students the hope that they will perform well and that their teachers believe in them. Brown agrees with this idea, that growth will be achieved if it is used.
“It’s very important that we display that attitude with our students. They have to believe that we believe they CAN do it,” Brown mentioned.
Newby and Brown also agree that incentives play a role in helping motivate students to work hard in the classroom. Things like pizza parties and certain prizes, including candy, give students something to work for. They want kids to receive recognition for performing well, then maybe others will be intrigued to receive that recognition as well. “I think if we offer more recognition for success then that culture will become contagious,” Brown explained. Newby also seemed surprised that students who are almost adults worked for something as small as candy, and is willing to provide that for them.
“I was shocked as a principal that kids actually work for candy. I’ll buy all the candy for them to do what they need to do,” Newby laughingly said.
Although they want to celebrate the kids who do work hard and act maturely, they have to discipline the kids who behave the exact opposite way. Newby believes that high school students should be at the mature age now, but many kids prove him wrong, and he has to respond to it. “If you’re sitting in my office, then you’re not learning or you’re stopping somebody else from learning, then that’s a problem for me,” Newby stated.
He is willing to sacrifice those kids who don’t behave, in order for the teachers and fellow classmates to be able to learn, so they can reach those high scores. But while those students are being sacrificed, Newby wants them to realize how important good scores are in wanting to do something with your life and that can’t be reached if you are always misbehaving and being sent off campus for your actions.
“What they don’t realize is they will become an adult and they’ll want to do something and realize ‘hey, I should have stayed in high school,” Newby explained.
Even with these complications, Newby still thinks we can continue to improve in the future. He thinks very highly of LCHS and knows the students have great academic potential, even if it’s not able to be shown in the school grade. “I don’t think Lee County High School is a D school, never thought it was D, we have great students here, we have great programs here at Lee County High School and the kids who are participating in those programs don’t have the opportunity to have what they’re doing effect the school report card grade,” Newby said.
Overall, the academic growth that was shown this past year was remarkable. It showed that something in Newby and the teachers’ plans worked to help students succeed. Newby also stated that he should not be the person who receives all the credit for the improvement, it’s everyone else who should deserve the credit. “My teachers, students, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, everybody that helped put into help these kids move, they’re the ones that deserve this, not Mr. Newby, because I’m just a principal,” Newby explained.
So as LCHS heads into another school year, Newby is confident that they can grow even more, if everyone is willing to put in the hard work, have motivation in themselves and keep behavioral problems to a minimum.
