Sturkey ready for the challenge of leading Timmonsville schools

Matrell Sturkey is taking on one of the biggest challenges of her 22 years in education -- leading the cash strapped Florence School District 4 as interim superintendent.

And just to make sure it’s not too much of cinch, the superintendent’s hat won’t be the only one she’s wearing.

Sturkey is also the director of human resources and director of curriculum for the district.

“If someone from the outside were to look at some of the challenges we are dealing with and not knowing the quality of staff we’re working with in terms of commitment and passion, the challenge looks a lot bigger than it is,” Surkey said. “For me I didn’t give a lot of thought to some of the other internal issues I’m dealing with because I know the folks I’m working with.”

Following interim superintendent Dr. Steve Quick as leader of the financially troubled district, Sturkey is keeping an eye on financial payment plans and practices that Quick setup during the six months he was superintendent of the district. Quick recommended Sturkey to the board for several reasons

“I knew they needed to save money as I worked through the first six months and I realized Mrs. Sturkey was very capable and her knowledge of the curriculum was very strong,” Quick said. “I think from two standpoints she’s knowledgeable of the school district and not adding another salary into the district.”

Quick added that it would be beneficial for the district to keep Sturkey on, if the board approves, after her six months to provide stability to a district that has through superintendents are a rapid pace of late.

“I’m hands-on in terms of knowing what the finances are,” Sturkey said. “No one has to tell me how much the light bill is because I open the light bill.”

While it’s easy to get caught up in the numbers, Sturkey knows that her mission isn’t made up of them, rather it’s the faces that make her smile in the hallways that is her mission.

“We still have to educate these kids,” Sturkey said. “We can’t be just focused on the money, the money. We have to be as cost-effective while being educationally-effective as well.”

Sturkey’s role as superintendent is one that’s been a dream since she grew up in Marion as the only child of a Marion high school principal father and Latta guidance counselor mother.

Sturkey earned a degree in elementary education from Francis Marion University, an educational administration degree from Winthrop University and is a 2012 doctoral candidate of Educational Leadership at Nova South Eastern University.

She began her professional career as an elementary school teacher in Dillon 3 in 1990, then moved to assistant principal and principal in Marion and Dillon. Later, she worked at the South Carolina Department of Education and finally at the FSD4 for the past five years.

The interim superintendent position approved by the district’s board ends July 1 at which point the board could start a search or hire Sturkey full-time. However,  Sturkey doesn’t look toward that day or mention future plans. Instead she looks forward to the next day, and then the day after that.

“For the next five months I’m doing what I’ve always done since I’ve been in this district,” Sturkey said. “I come to work everyday, working real hard to at least leave the district in a better place than I did when I got there that morning.”