Carroll celebrates longest-serving employee Granville Hibberd for 50 years of work

Carroll County Public Schools’ longest-tenured employee Granville Hibberd, 76, of New Windsor, received thunderous applause when he was recognized for 50 years working for the school system, at an employee recognition ceremony on the evening of April 24.

“I enjoy the school atmosphere,” Hibberd said, “but it’s kind of amazing when you figure you’ve been alive 76 years, and you’ve gone to school 69 of the 76 years.”

Hibberd, an instructional assistant at Francis Scott Key High School, has been an aid to the science department for 21 years. Prior to working at FSK High, he taught at Manchester and Elmer Wolfe elementary schools.

Hibberd said coaching soccer brought him to Francis Scott Key High School, which was a full circle moment for him.

“I’m actually at the school where I coached and graduated,” Hibberd said, “so it’s been wonderful. The school system has been great to me and I love watching kids grow up. Now I don’t know any [kids] because I’m just behind the scenes fixing up labs and working with chemicals.”

Francis Scott Key’s assistant principal, Josh Rutter, 38, of Taneytown, first met Hibberd when Rutter was a junior at the school in 2002. Hibberd was a social studies teacher at the time and stepped up to teach psychology that year and had Rutter as a student.

“He really poured himself into that,” Rutter said, “and it wound up being a really interesting class. It was one of the more enjoyable experiences I had, just because he was very real to us.”

Hibberd is known in the school community for his hard-working and dependable nature, passion for education, and penchant for forging relationships across multiple generations of students and staff, Rutter said.

“In our conversations he would always talk about the relationship piece of education,” Rutter said, “and how impactful that can be. That’s something that I know personally I’ve taken and used in much of my career.”

Alison Stull, science instructional leader and chemistry teacher at FSK, met Hibberd 28 years ago, when she was a new teacher.

“He’s just so easy to talk to,” Stull said, “he really cares about people as a as a whole. He’s willing to listen to what you have to say, he’s not going to kind of give you lip service. He generally listens and cares about people.”

Hibberd also holds incredible institutional knowledge of how things work in the school system, Rutter said. Hibberd remembers lessons taught at the school decades ago and is happy to offer advice about the best means of instruction to reach students.

“He’s a great mentor,” Stull said. “Sometimes I’ll go in and I’ll tell him what problem I might be having, or concern with classroom management or with something classroom-related, and he’ll offer great advice and solutions. He has a wealth of knowledge, and he’s kind of a mentor towards me, because I’m able to go to him and talk to him and get unbiased opinions and suggestions from him.”

Stull said Hibberd does a wonderful job of making life easier for science teachers in his current part-time role, which involves setup and storage of science department laboratory equipment.

“He’s passionate about the folks in Carroll County,” Rutter said. “Obviously he stayed here, and the longevity is just unheard of.”

Rutter said the Hibberd shares halls with students whose parents he taught or led to soccer championships.

“He has created some relationships and has so much pride in the building and in the community that he’s served for so long,” Rutter said, “and those kinds of things are important to him.”

Hibberd stumbled into his profession, he said. Although his mother was a teacher, he declined an education scholarship when he enrolled in Washington College, only to become a teacher regardless.

“It’s amazing to have lived this long,” Hibberd said. “Actually, I think the job has has helped me age. It gives me a place to go in the morning.”

Hibberd said he will likely retire after this school year so he can travel and spend more time with his wife and dog.

“I’ll miss it,” Hibberd said. “It’s hard to give up something that’s been so good to me.”