By Morgan Pilz, Staff Writer

WCPS staff, community and commissioners to celebrate with ceremony on March 20

(March 12, 2020) Principal Matthew Record of Pocomoke Middle School has been named the Maryland Middle School Principal of the Year by the Maryland Association of Secondary School Principals.

PHOTO COURTESY JORDYN KUCZAK
Matthew Record of Pocomoke Middle School is surprised with the award of Principal of the Year
on Monday, March 9. Pictured, from left, are Dr. Annette Wallace, Record, Superintendent Lou Taylor and Principal of Pocomoke Elementary School Dr. Michael Browne.

Record was surprised by the Worcester County Board of Education, Superintendent Lou Taylor, Pocomoke Middle students and teachers, county commissioners and other members of the community on Monday.

“Any time there’s a celebration in education, it’s an exciting event,” Record said. “Certainly, [Monday] gave our school and our teachers and our community a reason to celebrate, and I’m excited about that.”

Record grew up in Salisbury and studied at Wheeling University in West Virginia, where he went on to spend two years teaching at a high poverty school before returning to Salisbury in 2004.

He became a second and third grade teacher for Snow Hill Elementary School, which is a blue-ribbon and national blue-ribbon school. Then he was appointed to Pocomoke High School for four years as a vice principal before becoming the principal for Pocomoke Middle School four years ago.

Record hopes to make Pocomoke Middle School a blue-ribbon school and continue to succeed with his students.

“The goal of our school and the goal of our teachers and working with middle school students is to always celebrate success and to always set your goals to the next the next target,” Record said.

“I’ve never applied for recognition before,” he continued. “Part of it was for me to step outside of my comfort box and to try something new. But I also knew that if I was the recipient of this award, it would be all about what our teachers do every day in the classroom. It wouldn’t be about who I am. It’s definitely a reflection of what our kids and what our teachers and what our community makes our school.”

Three focal points for his teachers and students, he said are building positive relationships, having strong mastery in the curriculum and the content knowledge and having innovative and rigorous instruction.

Addie Kaufman, executive director for the Maryland Association of Secondary School Principals, said Record was selected for his leadership.

“In reading Mr. Record’s application and his references, it is very clear that he is a well-respected, exceptional school leader,” Kaufman said. “I believe it’s important to recognize exceptional leadership [because] without exceptional leadership in a school, it is challenging to have an exceptional school.

“Leaders are certainly the role models for the staff with whom they work,” she continued. “Leaders set vision work with the staff on goals. They inspire, they motivate, they educate and they provide professional development.”

Record will receive a plaque, a crystal trophy, a check for $200 and a complimentary hotel room and registration for the Maryland Association of Secondary School Principals Spring Administrators Conference, which has been postponed to take place in Ocean City at the Princess Royale on 91st Street from Nov. 5-7.

Afterwards, Record will be invited to the National Secondary School Principals conference at National Harbor in July.

With this achievement, Record has many goals set for his school.

“Our goal is to be a blue-ribbon school,” he said. “Our goal is to earn a five-star rating from the state … It’s a really special place for kids and for teachers.”

However, he would not be where he is today, he said, without the support of his staff.

“I have two amazing assistant principals, Melissa Freistat and Bob Boyce,” he said. They work hard and we make a really great team. And I’d like to thank everyone that was part of this process.

“Every year we use the slogan ‘One School, One Beat, One Kid at a Time,” Record continued. “And that’s very much the truth. We are one school … we’re the Warriors, we are one beat and we are one kid at a time. And I think that when you have that motto … that’s what all of our staff members and all of our kids respond to. I think the sky’s the limit.”