Reflections

CHHS Principal Kyle Dutton has become engrained in the Carbon Hill Community. Here’s why he loves it.

Words by Kyle Dutton | Images by Al Blanton

I started working at Carbon Hill High School (CHHS) in the summer of 2000 after teaching two years at T.W. Martin High. I taught English and History. I was assigned bus duty and met Donna Justice on my very first day of school. She helped me adjust and meet some great teachers and staff who would eventually become lifelong friends. For them, I am forever grateful. I was able to form relationships with some great people who are leaders in our system today. My friends are here and many relationships that I hold closest to my heart have been formed in this community.  

Over the past twenty-plus years at CHHS, I have served as a classroom teacher, school counselor, assistant principal, and now the principal. I was also the assistant principal at the elementary school and worked at the central office in Jasper. I feel fortunate to have worked in different positions within the same school and with mostly the same people surrounding me.

When I was a student in school, I lost my father. Thankfully, my mom and sister were there for me, and we were always taken care of and loved beyond belief. There were people along the way who helped and looked out for us. We had a great support system. That may be one of the reasons that I’ve fallen in love with education and the Carbon Hill community. It feels like a family looking out for each other and has provided the support system I needed. Carbon Hill is home.

Students and staff come to Carbon Hill with all sorts of stories and backgrounds, but none are the same. Nothing better prepared me for this reality than being the school counselor. That role touches every part of the school. It’s where I learned about transcript audits, scholarships, athletic eligibility, scheduling, and the many pathways available to students to find success. It prepared me to deal with emotional and traumatic issues among children and adults. It was key in preparing to be a principal, and to ask the questions that matter. Questions like, “Are students coming to school? Are students passing? Are students in line to graduate? Do they have the courses they need to graduate and to be successful? Are they safe in the building? Do they have everything they need to be successful? Are they eligible to play athletics? How is their mental health? What’s going on at home? Do our teachers have what they need? What help can I give them?  How can we be our best today?”

These questions are dealt with every day, not just by me, but by the incredible team that surrounds me. We are here to make sure the students can grow into their best self. It’s what we are called to do. It’s also hard work.

It was never harder than the past year and a half when the school climate changed so much due to the pandemic. We had very sick teachers. We had sick students, we had quarantined students, we had virtual students, and we did not have enough substitute teachers to care for the students on campus. Teachers taught students they saw at school and students at home they had never met. 

I have never been more grateful to work in a community that met the challenge with us and was not against us. They trusted us and we were appreciative. We have the best students and faculty. We all had to learn a new way of teaching. We had to step out of our comfort zones and we did. It was a huge learning curve, but we managed. I feel we did it successfully and with the help of our school community.

A high school principal is always on call. There are activities on campus most every day of the year, from club meetings to athletic events. That doesn’t mean that I am always on campus, but my phone is usually ringing. The hardest part is that with every decision you make—and there are countless decisions each day—you will never make everyone happy, and someone is usually upset. That is hard for me. It has taken me a while to deal with that, actually. We just try to do what is best and safe for our students. At the end of the day, that is what is most important.

On the hard days, it’s all about remembering why we do what we do. Seeing a student succeed—whether it is a win on the court or field, an academic award or scholarship, doing something they didn’t think they could do, or just winning by having a great day—is what matters.

There is a core set of values in Carbon Hill that makes it a resilient community. We have seen our share of tragedy and destruction, but we have learned how to bounce back and become better than before. We have proven this time and time again. I was part of the transition from the school on the hill to the trailer park for three years, and into the school that we have now been in 16 years. It was a challenge, but this community rallied together, and, like always, persevered.  

I have been here so long that my former students’ children are now coming through the high school. That is special to me and I love getting to see the generational impact. I feel lucky to have hired several former students into teaching and coaching positions. We all feel fortunate to have these former students return home and help make a difference in their hometown.

I like to think of the saying, “a place is only as good as the people in it.” I am grateful and blessed to be around the best people every day. I depend on them more than they know and can trust them to make the best decision for our students. There is a great camaraderie and that is rare. We like each other. We care about each other. We have been through so much together and will continue to support one another no matter the challenges that come our way. 78