District to hold reception Sunday for retiring superintendent

Henry Hunt's arrival in Dacusville in 1971 prompted students Jim Shelton and Randy Robinson to ask each other question.

“Who is this giant walking in the door?” Shelton recalled.

Today, Shelton serves as a school board member and Dr. Hunt is preparing to retire after more than 40 years in the district.

“My size was to my advantage with elementary school students,” Hunt said, laughing.

On Tuesday, Dr. Henry Hunt presided over his last regularly-scheduled board meeting.

“I just want to personally thank him for over 40 years of service to the school district,” Board Chairman Alex Saitta told Dr. Hunt. “You're a honest man and I think you have a strong sense of duty. The county has benefited greatly from you. I look up to you."

“I was there on day one and I was there as you close out a wonderful career,” Shelton said, offering his personal congratulations to Hunt on his retirement.

“It's been 41 really good years,” Hunt said. “I really enjoyed it. I always enjoyed being with the students, working with the students and working with our fellow teachers.”

On Sunday, June 3, the district will host a drop-in reception for Dr. Hunt. The reception will be held from 2 pm – 4 pm at the Pickens County Career and Technology Center, located at 990 Chastain Road in Liberty.

Before the end of Tuesday's meeting, Hunt spoke on the importance of good leadership.

“If you don't have a focus and goals, if you have 1,200 teachers going in 1,200 different directions, you're not going to accomplish what you'd like to accomplish,” Hunt said. “We're a system and with a system, we want it to work well and be fine-tuned and accomplish goals and meet the needs of all students."

Hunt said the district, being the 11^th largest district in the state, has one of the lowest administrative costs per student of any district in South Carolina.

He refuted claims that the district is too top-heavy.

“This district is very lean with administrative positions,” Hunt said. “While it's important that you reduce class size, it's also important that you have good leadership. You can't put in classroom teachers and not have the support for those teachers and not have the professional development and not have the administrative guidance.

“That's some of my parting words, but I have enjoyed thoroughly my career in the district,” he concluded.