Chattanoogan: Retiring Bright School Headmaster O.J. Morgan Looks Back Fondly On Career

O.J. Morgan is proud of what has occurred over the last 17 years at Bright School in terms of student development and cultural enhancements, as well as facility upgrades – although he is quick to say he had much support.

 

But the retiring head of school is also pleased with his own personal growth that has occurred during that time.

 

“A lot has changed, but it is the happiest I have been in my professional life because I’ve been in a position to make a difference and also to be with children every day,” he said. 
“That’s the main thing I’ve enjoyed and what I will miss the most.” 

 

As has been announced, Mr.

Morgan is retiring at the end of the school year and will be replaced by Kristin Baty Watts, who is currently the director of St. Anne’s Day School and Enrichment Programs in Atlanta.

 

In a recent phone interview looking back at his time at the independent elementary and preschool in North Chattanooga/Riverview, Mr. Morgan said he initially thought he was going to help select the new head back in 2004, not be the one selected.

 

“I had a son who was a student here and a daughter soon to be a student, and I was on the board and on the search committee,” he recalled. “I was not thinking about Bright. I had been looking at high schools and prep schools elsewhere.”

 

However, the search consultant asked him if he might be interested in applying for the Bright job, and after realizing he had come to love the school, he said yes.

 

So, he left his job of 25 years at Baylor, where he had taught English and had eventually risen to assistant head, and he took the reins at Bright.

 

Despite the sudden realization that Bright might be where he would spend basically the second half of his career as an educator, he had a connection to the Chattanooga independent schools’ community basically all his life.

 

Raised in Shreveport, La., he unfortunately lost his father at age 4, and the assistant minister at the Presbyterian church there his family attended was none other than Herb Barks, who would go on to lead Baylor as headmaster.

 

“Herb Barks helped my mother and our family through that, and he introduced her to my present father,” Mr. Morgan recalled. “So, I was connected to him over the years and that is how I came to Baylor.”

 

Mr. Morgan had started at Baylor in 1979 after attending Colby College in Maine and receiving a master’s degree from Northwestern University in the Chicago area. As one of his early duties, he helped coach one of the football teams. He jokingly recalled Baylor football legend E.B. “Red” Etter giving him a football tutorial that was probably above Mr. Morgan’s head, especially for someone likely not dreaming of becoming a high school head coach.

 

But he did soon find his own niche in education at Baylor, including working with the Walkabout outdoor program and community service and also serving as head of the lower school for 10 years. And thinking he might want to be a school head one day, he took two years off from Baylor to get a theology degree from Harvard Divinity School while also still helping with the Baylor summer outdoor program.

 

Regarding the motivation to attend divinity school, he said, “I was thinking how it could help me be a better school head one day. It was a good preparation about being a part of a school community and learning how people grow and how to live in the world in a good way.”

 

Since he arrived at Bright, the list of accomplishments by him and the Bright community shows plenty of innovative thought. He said they have tried to increase the diversity of the school, including through the admission of a number of children of German families who relocated to Chattanooga to work at the Volkswagen plant.

 

The school under his watch also made changes in the academic curriculum, adding a 3-year-old program and enriching the arts and music offerings. And among the physical changes have been to redo the upper school playground area and the early childhood playground area, constructing a small track, and the installation of a log cabin made of 150-year-old logs.

 

The school also began a centennial capital campaign in 2013 that allowed the renovation of the dining hall, the conversion of the auditorium into a theater, and the renovation of the 1st-3rd grade classrooms of the school plant that dates to 1963.

 

Although slowed by the pandemic, future plans include renovating the gym, the library, and the 4th and 5th grade classrooms.

 

Mr. Morgan, however, is quick to praise others for all the educational and physical enhancements.

 

“We’ve had strong boards and an unbelievable administrative team and faculty and parents,” he said. “We were able to put together a really good mission and sense of purpose about educating wise and compassionate citizens of the world.”

 

Mr. Morgan has also focused a little on the past as well as the present and future while at Bright. Alumni gatherings have taken place, including during the school’s 100^th anniversary year of 2013, and he also has developed a greater appreciation for school founder Mary Gardner “Mamie” Bright.

 

“Ms. Bright started this school with a number of women, and I think she gave those women an opportunity to thrive intellectually and to grow themselves,” he said. “Even in the 1920s, she would take teachers to places, like to New York City, to observe other schools.

 

“And she traveled internationally and really broadened the minds of those folks around here. That is a wonderful legacy to remember.”

 

As for the next phase of his life, Mr. Morgan said he is going to take a few months to relax and play the piano, read and partake in such outdoor activities as canoeing, hiking and backpacking before deciding if he wants to do some other kind of work.

 

He also plans to reflect some on his time at Bright, from greeting the children every morning, to working with his administrative team, to being able to keep the school open during the pandemic this school year.

 

“I feel unbelievably fortunate as an educator to have been asked to lead the school,” he said. “You learn a lot about yourself and other people and you become really close to people.”

 

Jcshearer2@comcast.net