As Rob Britt prepares to retire as director of Blount County Schools, his legacy is noted where it first began, the choral room at William Blount High School.
During a concert Thursday night, April 21, Principal Rob Clark surprised Britt with the announcement that the room is being named after him. Clark called Britt, who hired him to be band director at the school, a great mentor, friend and colleague.
A plaque hanging above the room recognizes Britt for his 36 years of service to Blount County Schools “and for leaving a legacy of a love for music, education and leadership.”
After earning his master’s degree at the University of Tennessee, Britt began his career with BCS as the choir director in that room in 1986.
All he wanted to be was a choir director, Britt recalled during a reception in the room after the ceremony. “I was a bit of a lost puppy,” he recalled of his school years, when he first joined the choir to please his mother and grandmother, with whom they lived.
It was his choir director who showed Britt opportunities. Eventually, Britt said he realized, “I want to do what this gentleman’s doing. I want to impact young people’s lives in a positive way and get them to see that they can go on and do great things.”
Britt calls being the choral director a “dream job,” and he credits the William Blount principal who hired him, Galen Johnson, and other principals with mentoring him and encouraging him to go into administration. When he was thinking of leaving his role as assistant principal, Principal John Davis provided new opportunities that prepared him to then open Carpenters Middle School in 2001 as principal. Britt became director of schools in 2009.
One of Britt’s hires at CMS was a former choir student at William Blount, Mike Brewer, now coordinator of special education for Blount County Schools.
Brewer credits Britt with teaching him what Brewer calls the “PAT method,” to be positive, approachable and a team player. “I really saw that in him, and I try to do that now,” Brewer said.
During the concert Thursday, April 21, William Blount also honored longtime choral director Carol Bellgrau and her late husband, Ray, who served as sound technician for the school. A new plaque in the choir room thanks the couple for their years of service.