Hello! My name is Sherri Thomas. I am excited to be joining the James W. Smith Elementary School family & community as their new principal!

The past six years, I have been the assistant principal at Trent Park Elementary. Before serving as an assistant principal, I taught kindergarten for twelve years at Vanceboro Farm Life Elementary. I earned my undergraduate and masters degrees from East Carolina University. I serve as a board member of Craven County Schools Partners In Education (PIE).

I am the proud mother of three girls. Sarah, a sophomore at ECU, Shelby, a senior at WCHS and Saylor, a 7th grader at WCMS. My husband and I have been married for twenty-one years. We live in Vanceboro. I love spending time with my family and reading a good book at the beach.

My goal is to continue growing greatness at JWS with the support of the students, staff, families, and community. #jwsgrowinggreatness

Katy Chadwick, teacher at James W. Smith Elementary School, has been selected as the 2018-2019 Teacher Ambassador for Craven County Schools. In this role, she will serve as the local advisor to the Board of Education and will represent Craven County Schools in various community and civic events. Chadwick now moves on to compete against other local award recipients for the Southeast regional Teacher of the Year title. Chadwick was chosen following an application and interview process with the local selection committee, comprising of the current Teacher Ambassador, the current Principal of the Year, a Board of Education member, central office staff and business/community/faith partners.

In her application package, Chadwick shared her passion for teaching by stating, “Teaching has been a life-long dream of mine.” She described how blessed she was to have amazing educators when she attended Brinson Memorial Elementary School as a child and that she vividly remembers specific moments with each of her teachers. “While each educator was different in their daily routines and methods, they shared one commonality: a love for teaching.” Chadwick further wrote, “Because of their devotion for teaching and willingness to invest in me, I felt at peace and fulfilled at school. I was eight years old when I decided that if I became an elementary teacher, I could always feel as peaceful, fulfilled and joyful as I did at school.” As a high school student, she worked with struggling second grade readers for several months and was able to witness their growth, which made her even more determined to pursue a career in education. Due to her personal commitment and academic success, Chadwick was awarded the North Carolina Teaching Fellow Scholarship in 2007.

When asked what she considered to be her greatest contribution and accomplishment in education Chadwick stated, “I relentlessly encourage students to see their value and potential. My classroom environment provides opportunities for students to recognize their worth. Many students in my classroom come from homes with limited resources and I refuse to accept that cyclical poverty will ultimately determine the outcomes of my future first-generation college students.” Chadwick further stated, “There is something so empowering in knowing that I was destined for teaching. I am proud of my profession and I dedicate myself fully to my students. In an evolving and uncertain profession overcome with obstacles, I would choose to be a teacher over and over again because every child deserves a loving teacher who emphatically believes that they are capable of achieving the impossible, no matter how high the odds are stacked against them. I am, and will always be, that teacher.”

For more than 50 years our nation has honored teachers with the National Teacher of the Year Program. In 2014, the NC Department of Public Instruction announced their partnership with Burroughs Wellcome Fund as the new major sponsor of the North Carolina Teacher of the Year Program. Since 1970, North Carolina has participated in this program recognizing outstanding teachers. Craven County Schools has participated in the Teacher of the Year Program for many years and is proud to recognize one of the many outstanding educators in the district.

Got a Smartphone? Download a free QR Code Reader and stay connected to James W. Smith! In an effort to keep communication lines open with all our our stakeholders, we have created a QR Code Tree for quick and easy access to all of the ways we try and bridge the communication gap. 

As a leadership team and school stakeholders, we have moved forward with changing our school mascot from a cougar to a blue jay in an effort to be ever flowing and continuing our growth towards greatness. We are remaining in the animal family of our fine-feathered feeder school friends; the WCHS Eagles. We feel the blue jay is representative and reflective of our amazing school, our strong belief system and our supportive surrounding school community. This beautiful bird is known to be very curious, forever loyal, extremely intelligent, relentlessly determined to succeed and always willing to be patient to achieve the goal.

Our talented Art teacher, Mrs. Travers, has hand drawn a design to be used in our logo. We hope to have student drawings created as well. Please join us in embracing our new logo as the James W. Smith Blue Jays continue to grow in greatness each and every day!

A bird sitting on a tree is never afraid of the branch breaking, because its trust is not on the branch, but on its own wings. Always believe in yourself.    —AUTHOR UNKNOWN

An Art Reception honoring Craven County art students who’s Valentine Card original art work was chosen to represent our school will be held at Carolina Creations this Friday, January 12th from 5:00 until 7:00. Fifty of our JWS 5th Grade students will have work at the sale. The monthly Art Walk will follow the reception. We encourage you to visit other galleries after celebrating our JWS artists. Carolina Creations generously sponsors this Valentine Card sale and gives all proceeds to participating individual school art programs.
We are proud of these artists!

Carolina Creations
Pollock Street
Downtown New Bern
Friday, January 12th from 5:00-7:00

Each year Craven County Schools hosts an All County Chorus for students in fourth and fifth grade from each of the 15 elementary schools. The event is auditioned, and students work outside of class time to learn music to perform. On the day of the performance, students from all elementary schools join together to work with a guest clinician to polish the music they have learned. The event culminates with a concert performance for family, friends, and community members.

This year, over 70 students from fourth and fifth grade classes at James W. Smith auditioned, and our school can only take eight students total from both grades! Students were asked to sing in small groups in various styles and vocal ranges. We have an amazing amount of talent at JWS, and the decision took a lot of work! Mrs. Palimetakis is extremely proud of each and every student that auditioned, and she is very excited to announce the students selected to participate this year! Congratulations!

Pictured are Ashlyn, Damiyah, Emmanuel, Coulby, Jonell, Marquae, Shalawn, and Jordan

Publix recently held their Tools for Back to School program benefiting Craven County Schools. JWS received these school supplies today and we couldn't be more excited! We are so very thankful for our community partners. Once, again our partnership with our corporate sponsors in the community benefit our students and we are very grateful for Publix’s continued support of our students and teachers. Be sure and thank a Publix employee the next time you visit their store!

During the entire month of October, Craven County School artists' art will be on display at the New Bern-Craven County Public Library located at 400 Johnson Street in downtown New Bern. A reception will be held on Tuesday, October 24th from 5:30-6:30 for these honored artists. James W. Smith congratulates 4th Grade artist, Chesney Holliday, whose art was chosen to represent our school.We are proud of you Chesney!

We are pleased to announce that our new outdoor learning space is complete! With the support from our parents, JWS community and the Harold H. Bate Foundation, our "Learning through Open Doors" dream has become a reality! Our school community now has a covered, outdoor facility for students to safely learn with shade and shelter. No matter what the weather, JWS teachers and students will have an opportunity this school year to take their learning outside. Once we have acquired tables for seating, this new facility will offer our grade levels a united space to gather and hear guest speakers and share ideas. Access to this outdoor classroom will provide endless learning opportunities which expand the learning space beyond the classroom walls and allow for innovative lessons without the fear of wet weather or fire ants! We look forward to sharing this space with our families and the James W. Smith community.