Steve Norton retires from Cache County School District after 27 years

LOGAN—Cache County School District Superintendent Steve Norton spoke with Cache Valley Daily to reminisce about his 48-year career in education, including 27 as CCSD Superintendent.

“Year 48 my hair went curly,” Norton said. “I don’t know if that was my body telling me it’s time to get out of this business.”

Norton received a Bachelor of Science Degree, Masters of Education and Doctorate of Education Degree from Brigham Young University.

His teaching career started at Lincoln County High School in Panaca, Nevada and then became a principal at West Side High School.

Before Norton became the CCSD Superintendent in 1996, he served as Superintendent in the West Side Joint School District No. 202 as well as the Blackfoot School District No. 55.

Rocky Mountain Power Regional Business Manager Steven Leichty presents Summit Elementary School Principal Aimee McNeil and Cache County School District Superintendent Steve Norton with a certificate for their sustainability and operational efficiencies

In addition to his educational service, Norton also served as Chaplain in the Army National Guard 1457th Engineer Battalion.

Norton announced his plan to retire at the end of the 2022-2023 school year during a board meeting in November.

“I told myself I would get out when it wasn’t fun,” Norton said. “I had a good friend tell me, ‘hey, it’s never going to not be fun for you so you’re just going to have to get out sometime.”’

During his years as superintendent, Norton said he had two goals that kept pushing him: to have students reading at grade level and kids having a good experience with algebra.

Those two goals have kept me going for probably the whole time I’ve been superintendent,” Norton said. “At Cache we were really successful at meeting those goals.”

Norton said he is proud of implementing an elementary string program and the dual immersion program in elementary schools because of the impact the programs have on students.

“Boy, I am grateful that I didn’t look the other way in bringing those programs,” Norton said. “They’ve affected a lot of kids.”

Norton said most people will think his greatest memories would be building two high schools and many elementary schools but he is more thankful for the trust the patrons had on the district to be able to build the schools.

“I love that that’s done,” Norton said. “But I love more the memory of the fact that when we asked the people for support to build those buildings, we received that support and that trust is really something that I’ll treasure all my life.”

One of the things Norton said he would miss the most would be the interactions with the teachers and the impact teachers have on individual students.

Cache County School District Superintendent Steve Norton speaks in favor of the Our Schools Now initiative at a public meeting held on July 11, 2017 at Hillcrest Elementary School in Logan.

“There’s nothing more important than the individual child” Norton said. “It doesn’t matter how many kids you have in your classroom. They are all individuals who need to be singularly invited into what’s going into the classroom and then collectively everybody will learn.”

He shared a story of when he went to the 100-year celebration of Lincoln County High School after being away from the school 35 years.

He remembered one of his former students with a child in hand calling him by name and saying she had never forgotten his class and how it influenced her life.

Man, that’s a tremendous influence,” Norton said. “Those things are just special but when you also work with a teacher and you help them see the vision that the most important thing they can do is to every day invite every kid in their classroom into the process, meaning nobody’s left behind.”

Norton said he had been thinking about retirement but due to his military background as a chaplain, Norton decided to stay during COVID because “you do not leave during a battle.” He stayed an extra year due to other administrative retirements.

“I knew it wasn’t good for the district for all three of us to walk out at the same time,” Norton said. “They left last year and I stayed an extra year.”

Norton said he was grateful for the support of the community, the opportunity the community has given him to work with their children and the community’s appreciation for education.

“I appreciate being in a community that values education,” Norton said.

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1 Comment

  • R.e. May 7, 2023 at 10:33 am Reply

    There will never be another one like Steve. He’s a great educator and also a great father. Glad to have been lucky enough to eat dinner at his house a couple times in high school as a friend of his daughter. Wish my dad was as cool as he was. Thanks for everything Steve.

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