Guilford native chosen to lead schools
Dec. 27—Editor's note: No. 7 of the top 10 stories of 2022.
GUILFORD COUNTY — Whitney Oakley wanted to be a teacher since she was a kindergartner, lining her family's kitchen table in Greensboro with her stuffed animals and talking to them about the day's lessons.
Even today, Oakley, 42, still considers herself a teacher. "I never thought there would be a better place to work, and that's still true," she said in a September interview. "It wasn't that I wanted to be a principal — that never happened."
The Guilford County Board of Education chose Oakley to be the new superintendent of Guilford County Schools in a decision announced Aug. 31. She is the first Guilford County native to lead GCS since it was formed in 1993.
Oakley had been acting superintendent since the departure of Sharon Contreras after the end of the 2021-22 academic year. Contreras announced in January that she would step down to start work in August as CEO of The Innovation Project, a Raleigh-based educational nonprofit.
She started her career as a teacher at Frazier Elementary in Guilford County before serving as an assistant principal and principal in the Alamance-Burlington School System.
In 2012, Oakley returned to GCS in an administrative position, and in 2019 she was named the chief academic officer. She was appointed deputy superintendent in September 2021, and in January she found herself sitting in her car thinking about Contreras' announcement that she would step down at the end of the academic year.
She wasn't certain she would apply for the job, though.
"I knew I was going to think about it," she said, laughing. "It was like one of those moments in your car when you think about how far we've come."
When she described what she meant by that, she talked about the entire Guilford County community, something she has been a part of almost her entire life. From the day she was born in Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital, she has lived outside of Guilford County just a handful of years — while attending East Carolina University, where she earned her bachelor's degree in special education.
She grew up in Greensboro and Jamestown, and after college she came back. Her master's degree in elementary education is from Greensboro College, and her Ph.D. is from UNC Greensboro.
In October Oakley kicked off "Better Together," a series of what she called community conversations to gather public input that would be used to help shape a new strategic plan for the school system.
Reaction to Oakley at her various appearances around the county largely has been positive so far.
In her public presentations, she sticks tightly to a script, but when faced with questions — whether from school board members, the media or the public — that depart from her talking points, her answers have been thoughtful, articulate and reflective of a command of local experience as well as educational data and research. She displays empathy and a disarming sense of humor.
Oakley speaks with feeling about "the promise of education" and equipping children to pursue their dreams and help improve the community, making sure people across the community feel their voices and concerns about the schools are heard and trying to do what public schools are able to do addressing achievement gaps stemming from larger societal factors such as poverty, substance abuse and segregation.
"I think we're well positioned. We have a lot of things on the horizon," she said. "I pursued the superintendency because I believe in the Guilford County Schools. ... We just have so much work to do right now."
