From shoal to shoal: Brian Smith’s impact on east side education

After his nomination as 2025 Clarke County School District Support Person of the Year, Brian Smith felt doubts about his chances of winning before the award ceremony.

“I knew I had to go. So I’m at home, getting dressed and self doubt starts creeping in. The crazy part is, at that moment, I kind of felt like a fraud. I say that simply because I empower my students to always think you’re the person. I need you to be the highest form of yourself,” Smith said.

Smith won the award, to his own surprise.

“I go into immediate shock. I’m sitting there, the whole time I’m thinking, ‘This ain’t happening right now. It’s not happening right now.’ At one point she even told me to stand up, but I missed, because I was like, “Nah, I heard my name.” I got up there, and still, I can’t believe it. If you look at pictures of me, I don’t smile that hard,” Smith said.

Smith has worked at Barnett Shoals Elementary School (BSES) for over a decade, and has helped hundreds of students who have come through the school’s halls as a behavior interventionist.

“Many times I am called to handle behavior issues. Most times I’m trying to prevent behavior issues from even happening. I’m working with different teachers and giving them different strategies to implement in their classrooms (to) decrease bad behavior,” Smith said.

Smith attended Cedar Shoals from 2006-10, joining the school’s yearbook program as a senior. He credits his time at CSHS for preparing him for the challenges that adulthood would bring.

“I was responsible for selling ads. I had to go out to different businesses and get advertisements for the yearbook. On top of that, I also had to interview people,learn how you have to talk to people from all different walks of life,” Smith said.

Smith remembers former yearbook adviser Mr. Stephen Castile, who passed away in February of 2024, for teaching him lessons that he kept in his life for years. 

“Mr. Castile taught me a lesson about the power of being right. If you’re right and the truth is always on your side, don’t worry about anything negative that comes your way,” Smith said. “t times I didn’t understand it, but (high school) prepared me for the world because it taught me accountability. It taught me that the world is always much bigger than me.”

In 2013 Smith started at BSES as a special education paraprofessional. During the 2016-17 school year, Smith helped create and lead Boys to Men, a program at BSES that helps students in grades 3-5 learn new life skills to become respectable members of their community. Former BSES receptionist Reginald Willis and educator Joseph Ravenell have collaborated with Smith to run the program for over a decade.

“Willis had the idea, and he needed people to help him bring this vision to life. At that time and even now, we live in a world where young men need guidance,” Smith said.

The program boasts one notable outcome: every participant who completes the program has graduated from high school.

“I was talking to somebody who said, “Well, how do you know?” Every young man that has completed the program, meaning they went through the whole year, that person has graduated. They are either in college, the workforce, or the military, and that’s how I know that it made an impact. We have some that are college athletes right now. Who knows, one day you might look up and you might see them on your TV screen,” Mr. Smith said.

Smith admits the program hasn’t always worked out. However, those instances do not deter him.

“There are some that don’t complete the program. I get that inner feeling of guilt like I failed them, but I know I’m not responsible for everybody and I can’t be in control of everybody. When I see those young men that are doing great things, it’s like, what we’re doing is working, and we’ve got to continue,” Smith said.

His students are not the only ones who have grown during Smith’s time at BSES; he notes his own journey as well.

“I started off at (BSHS) as a 20-year-old kid, and I sit before you right now as a 33-year-old man. I haven’t figured out everything about life, but the beautiful part is that you don’t figure out everything because life is about constantly growing. If you’re not growing, you’re dying. I was searching for my purpose, and my purpose was like looking at me saying, ‘Hey, I’m over here.” It helped me to understand the man I am,” Smith said.

Second grade teacher Jessica Kerr appreciates Smith’s ability to build relationships with students and staff around the East side, not just Barnett Shoals.

“He’s very involved in not just our personal community, but the East Athens community at large. I know that he does a lot of work at the high school with some of their sports programs. It’s really awesome to see how his influence and his relationships with these students carry over as they move on,” Kerr said.

Barnett Shoals principal Sabrina Lumpkin values the determination Smith has to do what’s best for the students.

“Mr. Smith is going to truly do what’s in the best interest of the scholars. He is going to hold their feet to the fire, and so he does not meet a stranger truly. He does not mind going to the neighborhoods. He does not mind going wherever there is a need. He truly loves them as if they are his own,” Lumpkin said.

Besides his work at Barnett Shoals, Smith also works as an assistant basketball coach at Cedar Shoals, with a focus on freshmen. Assistant coach Grant Moro respects all the work that Smith has done for the program.

“He’s willing to do whatever we need, whether it’s just getting things organized or whether he can step in and coach. He coached the ninth grade team recently. He’s just a guy that we can rely on to do whatever we need to get done, and he’s going to do it to the best of his ability,” Moro said.

Moro also appreciates the work that Smith does beyond coaching the team.

“He takes care of a lot of stuff behind the scenes. There’s a lot of administrative work. He’s great as far as just being organized and getting things done at the program,” Moro said.

Their work together comes full circle years later as Moro actually taught Smith in his class during the 2007-08 school year. Over 18 years later, Moro sees the same positive qualities from Smith as a colleague.

“He can get along with pretty much anyone, and the players respect him. If a player misses a practice or isn’t making good decisions in the school building, he might be in charge of them to the side and doing extra conditioning,” Moro said.

Senior Deston Foote also admires the work that Smith does for the team, whether it’s washing uniforms or  helping players during games.

“I just think of him as an older brother, like, because he washes our uniforms, he keeps up with everything, and then once it’s game time, he’s there to help,” Foote said.