For 29 years, Tim Scott has reliably brightened Charlotte Latin School. He’s retiring this summer, but every day he was here, whether he was digging soil as a groundskeeper, coaching students on the tennis courts, or driving students on the school bus, he left the school and its community better than he found it.

Alex Kern ’11 remembers how much Scott meant to her when she was a Lower School student riding the bus to campus from the Myers Park neighborhood. “He knew us, he knew our interests, he was always smiling,” she says. “We spent an hour with him every day — he was just as much of a mentor as a teacher or a coach. A lot of the kids wanted to sit at the front of the bus to sit as close to Mr. Tim as possible.” When Kern came to work at Latin last year (she’s now the Alumni Relations Manager), she was delighted to have a reunion with Scott. “He’s so beloved, but he’s so quiet and humble,” she adds. “He’s the person I think of from those formative years at Charlotte Latin. When I was a child and I saw him, I knew I was going to have a happy day.”

For his part, Scott says simply, “I’ve always wanted to do my best to make a difference with these kids in the little amount of time I have with them.”

Is there a trick to driving a bus?

Believe it or not, it’s just like driving a car. It’s frightening at first because it’s so big, and you can’t let your guard down. You’ve got to learn to use your side mirrors, because that’s where you see everything. It’s an important job: I’ve got 50 kids on my bus and I always try to get their day started in a positive way. 

Do you ever wake up in a bad mood yourself?

Of course; I’m human like everyone else. It’s funny — the kids are so intuitive. They’ll say, “Mr. Tim, are you okay?” I couldn’t ask for any more from my time driving a bus. These kids have treated me with the utmost kindness and respect. But you never know what’s going to come out of their mouths. There was one year when I had three siblings on my bus, and the youngest one, in kindergarten, came on the bus one morning and he was dragging his feet. I asked him what was wrong and he said, “Mr. Tim, have you ever just woke up cranky?”

Who were you when you arrived at Charlotte Latin 29 years ago?

A much younger, more energetic man. I went to school and got my associate’s degree, and I thought I was going to do something in business. But the more I started thinking about what I really wanted to do, I knew that was not going to make me happy long-term. I’m a big outside person. I came from a big family — I have five brothers and sisters — so we always stayed outside playing whatever game we were playing. Just make it home for dinner: with five brothers and sisters, if you want something to eat, you better get there on time.

How has your job changed?

When I first got hired, we had grounds and fields and maintenance and custodial, and I would mostly do grounds. Now they’ve put it all in one big facilities department, but I’ve always done the same job. Right now, we’re trying to spruce up as many areas as we can for the different events we’ve had the last couple of months. So what that’s entailed for the last month or so is we’ve been putting out mulch after mulch after mulch.

Latin has a lot of outdoors space, which must be both a blessing and a curse for you.

Yes. It’s a beautiful campus, but we’ve never had a big crew, so by the time I make my loop, it needs to be done again. I’m just working in the moment day-to-day, but I feel like other people have noticed. They go out of their way to thank me and that means a lot.

Do you have any advice for home gardeners?

It’s difficult maintaining something: it takes a lot of time, effort, and money. If you want something to look good, you’ve got to love it and you’ve got to put your full effort into it.

Why are you retiring now?

It’s been a difficult decision because Charlotte Latin is in my blood. But I’m close to 66 and this is a tough, physical job. I’m excited but nervous because life is going to be so different for me. I’m looking forward to having an unstructured schedule. And my son and I have a little landscape business, so I’m going to be able to help him, which I’m looking forward to because it will allow me to work with him and deepen our relationship. And I’m going to play a lot more tennis.

How much tennis have you been playing lately?

Not as much during the school year, so three or four times a week.

How did you end up coaching tennis?

Latin learns what you like to do, and then sometimes they will try to get you to help out. So when they found out that I played tennis, they said, “Hey, would you be interested in working with the tennis team?” So I helped the varsity coach, and then I did the JV team for a few years, and then I did the majority of my coaching with the Middle School kids.

If we attended one of your tennis practices, what would we have been most likely to hear you say?

“Let’s just have fun today.” I love to see kids have fun and excel. There’s a lot of pressure in life, and they also have schoolwork, so I tried to make it as relaxed as I could, but to make sure that we were working for a reason.

What have you learned during your time at Latin?

I’ve learned that we’re all in this together. Even though my particular position is not as important as some other people’s positions, I always felt like I was part of Latin. If you feel respected and appreciated, it’s going to bring out the best in you. But I’ve learned that’s the way I am anyway: I always try to do the best I can. I’ve given everything I had to this job, and I’ve loved the time I spent here and the time I was able to spend with the kids. I’m thankful for how they’ve treated me and respected me through the years, and I’m definitely going to miss that. It meant a lot.