Norma Lynch is new District 5 School Board representative

Norma Lynch is new District 5 School Board representative
Replacement for Angie Swiger has impressive education resume

By Fran Thompson
New District 5 Baldwin County School Board member Norma Lynch’s first priority is to make sure Orange Beach Middle School has strong leadership in place when it opens for business in August of 2019.
“That has always been my soapbox: To make sure there is an experienced academic in the principal’s position, somebody that can walk down the hall and know what’s happening with the teachers and has the background to help fix problems,’’ the Orange Beach resident said. “If you have that, everything else will take care of itself.’’
A local resident for 20 years, Lynch worked in education for 12 years before moving to Orange Beach. She is currently a realtor with Remax of Orange Beach. She was selected this month to fill the unexpired term of a board position left vacant with the recent resignation of Angie Swiger.
“We very much welcome Mrs. Lynch and look forward to the outstanding leadership qualities and wealth of expertise that she brings to the table,” said board president Cecil Christenberry. “We interviewed three highly qualified individuals, which speaks very highly to the county in which we live.”
Lynch is very familiar with the school district she will serve, as her daughter graduated from Foley High and her son first attended Orange Beach Elementary School as a fifth grader the year it opened and was in one of the first classes to graduate from Gulf Shores High School. Her three grandchildren attend either Elberta Elementary or Orange Beach Elementary.
“It will be fun to see my grandchildren grow up and, hopefully, go all the way through high school here in Orange Beach,’’’ she said.
Before moving to Orange Beach, Lynch taught kindergarten and fifth grade, and worked at two different schools as an assistant principal in her native North Carolina. She was the community schools coordinator in Washington County, NC and was principal at York Elementary School in Raleigh, NC.
Lynch said that she is also excited that Orange Beach officials have made it no secret that they will be willing to provide supplemental funds to ensure its youngest citizens have the best possible chance of achieving academic excellence.
“Orange Beach has always been very generous and has continuously proved over and over that they are willing to go above what the state and the county are able to do,’’ she said. “I’m excited about having a new middle school and high school. Now we need to make sure we go out and hire incredible principals.’’
Lynch said despite a passion for education that started when her first grade teacher (Miss Willingham) helped her fall in love with school, she probably would not have put her name on the ballet and mounted a campaign for the position.
“I don’t think anybody enjoys running for office,’’ she said. “So it was kind of nice to be able to put an application in and go for an interview.’’
She said that maybe it is because of her certification in language arts that she is passionate about implementing programs that will teach students learn to love reading. She said it is the heart of all formal education and developing early reading ability will give children major advantages throughout their school years. “If kids can learn at a young age to love reading they become life long learners,’’ she said. “We want to start reading to children in pre-K and kindergarten and encourage them to read all the way through elementary school and high school. We want to make sure kids are reading.’’