This story was written by Lia Salvatierra, our new Education Reporter. Find more of Lia’s reporting here. Do you have an NKY education story? Email lsalvatierra@linknky.com.
School was always Southgate Superintendent Greg Duty’s safe space.
While being raised by his grandmother and sleeping on her couch, Duty attended Dayton Independent Schools.
Those teachers and coaches made the difference for him.
“I would not be here today if it wasn’t for the educators and coaches that poured value into me and made me believe I could accomplish anything,” Duty said, holding back tears.
Duty believes working at Southgate means ensuring all the district’s students feel the same sense of support.
“We want kids to believe that they can accomplish anything when they walk through those doors,” he said.
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Duty is on his third superintendent contract, entering his 11th year at the district.
But he told LINK nky he would have laughed if told he’d ever become superintendent.
He’s a coach at heart.
It remained a constant during his entire 27-year career as an educator, as he shifted from the classroom into administrative roles.
Duty served as Lincoln Elementary School principal in Dayton before joining Southgate as superintendent in 2016.
He previously taught at Erlanger-Elsmere Independent Schools.
As a coach and former track star, he’s brought his competitive side to the job.
When he took the superintendent role, his guiding goal was leaving the district better than he found it.
“Tell us something we can’t do and watch us do it,” he said.
Since its founding 125 years ago, Southgate has remained one of only a handful of K-8 public school districts in Kentucky, home to only 161 students last year.
Fading graduating class portraits dating back to the early 1900s hang in the school’s auditorium, sometimes featuring only six students.
Bettering the district hasn’t meant a big rebrand, Duty said.
Rather it’s meant leaning into the district’s history and the experience of a small, community school.
“This place has been here for 125 years for a reason,” he said.
“You feel it when you walk in the doors,” he said.
Word of the Southgate experience has traveled during Duty’s tenure, especially in recent years, Duty told LINK nky.
He’s seen a big uptick in students who pay tuition to attend from outside the district.
In the last few years the district has had to create a waitlist for those students.
“When families experience us and they share that good news, then people inquire about it and want to be a part of it,” he said.
Aside from becoming a destination, he’s proud of the district’s big jump in kindergarten readiness scores since implementing an all-day preschool program.
Duty said he wants to see those readiness scores and other state assessment scores continue to improve.
Even after graduates head to high school elsewhere, Duty hopes Southgate remains a home, and a foundation for their future.
“Education is a ticket,” he said.
“Nobody can take that from you,” he said.
Lia Salvatierra is a journalist with Report for America, a service program that helps boost coverage of underreported topics and areas throughout the United States. To help LINK nky continue to provide this kind of reporting, you can make a tax-deductible donation here.
