By Linda Charlton
There are major changes in the works for Clermont Middle School, but the first of those changes has nothing to do with school district plans to raze most of the campus and rebuild it as a K-8 academy. The first of those changes happen the last day of June when principal Robert “Rob” McCue retires.
Rob McCue is homegrown, a local resident since 1976. The community knows him well and likes what they know. When asked how his deep roots have served him, he says “having built trust within the community, I think it has been extremely helpful over the years.” Noting that he has had students at Clermont Middle whose parents he taught while at South Lake High, he says “they know how fair I treated them. They know I’ll treat their children the same way.”
Rob McCue is currently principal at the very school he himself graduated from back in 1986, when the campus was Clermont High School. He is also a graduate of Clermont Junior High (currently the site of Clermont Elementary) and Clermont Elementary (now the site of Cypress Ridge Elementary). He has spent 28 of his 30-year education career in south Lake County and the other two years — one in Winter Garden and one in Citrus County — he wasn’t that far away. He was on faculty at South Lake High the first year it opened (1993-94), teaching social studies and coaching football, softball and baseball. He served as an assistant principal at East Ridge High, then as principal of Cypress Ridge, South Lake High and, finally, Clermont Middle.
McCue does not know yet what he will be doing as a retired person, but he knows he will figure it out. McCue’s children and grandchildren should take up a lot of his time.
“Part of my desire of retiring this year had to do with the health of my granddaughter,” McCue says. “It didn’t go as I’d hoped. She passed.”
Wife Kara McCue’s take on Rob’s retirement is “OMG! I just want him to get a hobby or a job. I love him so much. He is a great husband and dad. He can’t be home 24/7. Rob is the best man, I have been so blessed with. He loves his family and community. Rob has always been so loving and passionate with his family, friends, and God, which has guided our family. The loss of our granddaughter is a testament to his love and belief, of his faith and commitment to our family, and his commitment to our schools for 30 years. An awesome man.”
“June 30 was my first opportunity to retire,” Rob McCue says. “God’s put it on my heart to step out and look at other things to do. My best hope is that He’s happy with the body of work I’ve done in 30 years, because I’ve done it for Him. I’m in a career, I’ve completed a career, that’s in the business of … helping young people to be successful in everything. There‘s no other career like it.”
McCue did not exit high school with the idea of becoming an educator. He started out in college as a business major, with the idea of going into international business and logistics — but he was also enthusiastic about baseball.
“I coached as soon as I left Clermont High School,” McCue recalls. And he’s clear that it was through coaching he realized that guiding and shaping young people is what he wanted to do with his life.
“Once I decided to become an educator I wanted to become the best educator possible, and coaching was an avenue that helped me achieve that,” he says.
On the question of what changes, if any, have you seen in the students over the years, McCue’s answer is that even though cell phones have become ubiquitous, the students are the same; and the job of educators is now, as it was when McCue was a student, is to help each student find their own gift.
“This is one of God’s creations,” McCue says. “They’re given a gift. It’s not just a gift they get. It’s a gift they have to give away.”
Clermont Middle School next year will be lead by Cypress Ridge principal Scott Voytke, who will have a rare double appointment for one year, after which time Clermont Middle School will no longer exist. The campus will be razed, except for the auditorium and athletic field, and will be rebuilt as the K-8, Aurelia M. Cole Academy.
Wishing you the very best!
