Longtime Keene elementary school principal honored before retirement

Walls of the gym were lined with pictures of Cate and yearbooks since the beginning of his career with the Keene school in 1979.

Cate, 81, of Westmoreland, will enter retirement on July 1, after serving 44 years as principal of Symonds Elementary School.

Robb Malay, SAU 29 superintendent, presented Cate with a commendation award on behalf of Gov. Christopher Sununu.

The plaque thanked Cate for 59 years of service as an educator. Cate first started when he served as teacher at Westmoreland School from 1964 to 1967 and at Franklin Elementary School from 1967 to 1969. He then served as principal of Roosevelt Elementary School from 1969 to 1979 and Symonds from 1979 to 2023.

Malay first met Cate in 2015 when his own children were attending Symonds. Since the beginning, Malay said, he had felt Cate to be a strong leader and had trusted his character.

“He is a sponge of history and knowledge,” Malay said. “He can easily draw from experiences that he’s had when talking about complex situations and provide perspective others in the conversation might not be aware of or have the experience with. It’s like losing a set of Encyclopedia Britannica.”

Malay added that the position will be a big set of shoes for Cate’s successor Susan Grover to fill, but she’s “incredibly sharp” and will carry forward all of the good things about Symonds and will add her own uniqueness to it.

Grover was named the new principal of the school in early May and will take over the position July 1. She is the current principal and instruction coach at John D. Perkins Academy in Marlow.

Before being appointed as principal Grover was a 4th-grade teacher at Symonds from 2001 to 2021. She described Cate as a mentor and one of the smartest people she knows.

“He’s taught me that when you have an issue you need to solve, to look at the big picture and don’t solve anything too quickly ... That’s one of the things I’m going to take with me,” Grover said.

Grover said she feels passionate about carrying on traditions Cate has fostered. Among these continued traditions is the annual Symonds Circus held every May, weekly assemblies that bring students together and the ringing of the old school bell annually by 5th graders who are graduating into middle school.

“There are so many rich traditions that this school hangs onto and the ones that are so loved are the ones I will work hard to continue,” Grover said.

Ben White, assistant superintendent, described Cate’s prioritization of students as the center of their conversations and added that Cate’s respect for everyone in the district further accentuated his impact as an educator.

“He has an appreciation for everyone, regardless of their level of experience or expertise in a particular area and he approaches each meeting and stakeholder the same way,” White said. “He has so much to give, but also appreciates what everyone brings to the table. I think that’s really what has founded Symonds’ culture to be so inclusive of everyone’s various talents and abilities.”

Cate used his interest and passion for data to calculate the enrollment projections for the future of Symonds School, which White said the school board has used to staff its classrooms.

“If you know school enrollment, it’s hard to track, and he tracks that at such a granular level that he’s usually only off by five to seven kids … He will come with the data, and we can trust him and that level of institutional knowledge he has,” White said.

More than 70 names were written in a guestbook dedicated to Cate, all accompanied with messages from attendees thanking him for his 44 years as Symonds’ principal.

Cate said that he has tried very hard to keep children, parents and his school happy. The secret to that, he said, is being service-oriented and keeping the emphasis on working with kids.

“I’m surrounded by good people, that’s the key to the whole thing,” Cate said. “We have very coherent thoughts and beliefs about kids, it’s very harmonious. It has made it a pleasure to come to work and be of service.”

Cate plans to take his love of service with him as he gets involved with educational politics in his post-retirement life, he said.

“We have a pretty active group of alumni, teachers and other people here and they are active in the community,” Cate said. “I’ll probably join them in some of their activities.”

Although he’s unsure what exactly to tackle, he wants to use his interest in data to help people understand the local school system better. With 59 years of experience in education, Cate doesn’t want his ideology to be lost and wants to leave it behind for future successors.

Nicki Crank, a 4th-grade teacher at Symonds, said when she was first hired as a paraprofessional, she perceived Cate as a quiet and subtle man. Over the years she’s learned he is someone who tackles “big-picture issues” well, which is something she’s put into her own professional growth.

Cate’s interest in asking for input from staff is what Crank admires most.

“He’s always there to talk to us and give guidance and allow us to come into our own thoughts and realizations about situations,” Crank, from Keene, said.

Alli Carr, a 3rd-grade teacher, said when she thinks of Cate, the word “trust” comes to mind.

“When it comes to decision-making and trying to make the best choices for the way we teach our kids, he really listens to us,” Carr said.

Cate has always put emphasis on the importance of arts and student enrichment, which is something Carr appreciates.

In honor of his conviction for arts and student development, the Dick Cate Enrichment fund was announced May 17 and donations were accepted at Wednesday’s commemoration event. Joan Murphy, who was a Symonds School Elementary counselor for 23 years, said the fund “truly represents who Dick is.”

Murphy helped spearhead the creation of the fund in Cate’s name. The enrichment fund will provide Symonds with resources to host special programs and activities, according to the news release announcing its establishment.

“It’s dedicated to the betterment of children,” Murphy said. “No child should leave elementary school discouraged, and sometimes the enrichment programs can be just the thing that reaches children in different ways.”

To Murphy, Cate is a remarkable man, who is the most child-centered educator she has ever met. Everything he did was collaborative and he really trusted his staff to do its best, she said.

“He worked with each of us to share our uniqueness with the school community,” Murphy said. “I couldn’t have asked for a better mentor for 23 years.”