Mr. Ronald “Gus” Carter is currently in his seventh year as Guilford’s principal. He continues to be one of Guilford’s long lasting principals. Every year has had its challenges, and this year he has had to deal with both the new Evolv security system and a new grading policy.
“We’ve had to change a lot of our practices and we’re not trying to change systems, like we’ve got a lot of good things going at Guilford,” Mr. Carter said.
Mr.Carter spoke with great love towards his faculty and also towards his students. He wants to see the growth of Guilford’s “voyagers.”
“I love watching freshmen graduate,” he stated. “Like, it’s so fun. Especially since I’ve been here long enough now that every single year that kids graduate, I remember them as freshmen because I was here with them as freshmen. I think it’s just really cool to see them as seniors graduating, and it’s like I remember when you were fourteen and you couldn’t get to class to save your life.”
Mr. Carter has not only shown his dedication to this school but his love towards the entire GHS community. Every Friday during announcements, Mr. Carter shares his love. He explained that just being here is enough to show that he cares. He feels it’s his biggest contribution to the school.
“I just think physically being here and committing to this job for seven years, I show up on the days that I don’t want to be here. I mean I really try to commit because I really think you guys as students deserve the best version of me. It’s not always good, it’s not always the 100 percent I wish I could bring everyday. I think that the staff deserve that too.”
Mr. Carter believes that school should be more fun as well. He wants students to not only have a reason to come to school but also he wants them to want to come to school.
“We need to figure out how to make school fun again. We need to figure out how to get kids to want to be here. And to want to participate in the greater version of school. Because right now it’s challenging. You guys have a lot on your plates as kids. There’s a lot of distractions in your world with social media and all this other stuff.”
He explained that school needs to be a place where students can improve and learn. Mr. Carter wants to keep our school as safe as possible to keep it a learning environment. He talked about fights being more prevalent as of lately not only in the school but also in the district.
“I mean people need to calm down. It’s not unique to Guilford, I can tell you that. It’s across the district. We are seeing levels of referrals and discipline go up across the district. Like what happens in the district also happens at Guilford. Kids need to keep themselves safe, and adults as well. Kids need to understand that we just don’t fight here. I don’t see a reason why we ever should fight.”
Mr. Carter explained how his job can be challenging but rewarding as well.
“I just think someone has got to do this job, right? I mean people leave and someone’s gotta do this job, and I’m just willing to do it. Maybe I’m crazy enough to do it.”
