Saying goodbye to David Miles, former principal, Pizitz Middle School

Editor’s Note: After nearly 40 years as an educator, with the last 23 of those serving as principal of Pizitz Middle School, David Miles retired at the end of the 2013-14 school year. Before his last day, Mr. Miles spoke with the Vestavia Voice as he reflected on his career.

Many work their whole adult lives dreaming of the day they reach the milestone known as retirement. Now that it is here, how do you feel?

I am extremely happy for what the future holds, and for the opportunities that lie ahead. I’ve spent 23 years here at Pizitz, and nearly 40 years in this profession. So of course, there is a good bit of anxiety and difficulty in transitioning away from that. 

The folks at Pizitz are good friends of mine. They are not just colleagues. They have been there for me in times when good friends are there for one another. 

Over the years, I have tried to measure and gauge where I was in my career with this thought: I’d rather try to leave with folks wishing I had stayed one year longer than that I had left a year sooner. Hopefully I have left that impression.

To be sure, I am leaving a place I love very much and people I love very much.

What that does mean is that I will no longer have to fight for time to do things I used to have fight for time to do before — things like volunteering at church, traveling, spending time with my wife and visiting with my grandchildren. I’ll also return to my alma mater, Samford University, to do some part-time work. 

Tell us more about what you’ll be doing for Samford University.

I’m not retiring just to sit around all day. I would go crazy! I do want to stay engaged with this profession. What I hope for is to supervise student teachers, and I also hope to advise aspiring principals. Maybe I will even teach a course here or there. What is certain is that I want to keep myself sharp and stay engaged in a profession I very much love.

What legacy do you leave behind? Stated another way, how is Pizitz a better school now than it was when you first arrived?

I can tell you this: Whether it is a better place or not is something for the faculty and staff to determine. I would not be so presumptuous as to determine that. But I hope we have done some good things. 

I am a better man than I was when I first arrived here as principal in 1991. I have learned much from every superintendent, much from the folks who have worked here, and much from the assistants who worked with me. 

I am a far better educator and administrator than I was in 1991.

Whatever Pizitz has gotten out of me is not nearly as much as what I have gotten out of my time here.

Along with your retirement, Pizitz said goodbye to other members of the faculty this year who have also retired. What would you say to Vestavia parents of rising sixth-graders about what they can expect given these administrative changes?

Principals come and go. Teachers are the most permanent fixtures at any school. 

The folks that remain here are individuals I am very comfortable leaving behind.

We are always diligent and careful to bring in folks, especially at the sixth-grade level, but truly across all three grades here, whose primary attributes including being flexible, caring, concerned and interested people who enjoy and love being around children. We want them to know their stuff, of course. Yes, they need to have their teaching certificate, but frankly, kids are not impressed with a teacher’s GPA, class rank or where they went to school.

They are impressed with how that teacher treats them. Do they like me? Do they care about me? Are they flexible? 

Whatever happens to David Miles doesn’t matter. Parents should know that the folks taking care of your children for eight hours a day every day in the classroom are exactly the kind of people you would want to be in charge of your children. They are very loving, kind and competent people.

What will you miss the most about this place and these people, about the community that is Pizitz Middle School? 

I’ve said this in several venues, and I will say it here as well. I have been in many great places. I started out in Mountain Brook in the junior high school and thoroughly enjoyed that. I also worked at Mountain Brook High School, where I had many cherished colleagues. 

But outside of my spiritual family and my physical family, the best thing that ever has happened in my life is my experience at Pizitz Middle School. It is something I will take with me always.