The Washington High School Performing Arts Center was abuzz with the voices of hundreds of Beaufort County teachers, as Superintendent Don Phipps and North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper welcomed teachers to the new school year Monday morning.

“Where in the world did summer go?” Phipps asked the audience, after a joint color guard from Washington and Northside high schools presented the colors and the Southside Seahawks band played the National Anthem for the assembled crowd.

After welcomes from Phipps, Beaufort County Board of Education chair Cindy Winstead, state Board of Education representative Becky Taylor and local North Carolina Association of Educators President Naomitress Cobb-Summers, also a reading specialist at John Cotten Tayloe Elementary School, new Assistant Superintendent Mark Doane took the podium. Doane welcomed the schools individually, as teachers and staff from each cheered, waved pompoms and exhibited other shows of school loyalty in pep-rally fashion.

Several Beaufort County Schools’ staff and faculty were recognized for their dedication and longevity: sisters Ann German—42 years as a BCS bus driver—and Kay Reddick—39 years and 11 months as a teacher’s aid; Patty Wardrep, a 39-year BCS veteran and an instructional facilitator at John Small Elementary School; Joe Tkach, the district athletic director and head of driver’s ed, who also has 39 years with the school system; and Dallas Boyd, whose 54 years of professional experience is invaluable to the school system’s maintenance department for the past 24 years.

Cooper also welcomed teachers back to school and shared his  memories of Beaufort County Schools on the court. Cooper, who grew up on a tobacco farm in Nash County, recalled road trips to play basketball against the Pam Pack.

Cooper has been an advocate for public education in his 14-year tenure as attorney general, and he gave a bit of background as to why: his mother was a public school teacher, he’s a product of the public education, as are his three children.

“You are responsible for so much as teachers,” Cooper said, pointing out that teachers are charged with not only teaching, but the oversight of students’ social interactions and safety.

Cooper praised Beaufort County Schools’ “It’s OK to Say” tip line, in which students are encouraged to anonymously report cases of bullying or illegal conduct by classmates, and stressed the importance of routine lockdown drills, should an emergency situation occur.

But Cooper drew the biggest reaction from the crowd when he spoke of the state letting teachers down.

“Our state has not done enough for you,” Cooper said to cheers from the crowd.

He went on to say that teachers deserved to get paid significantly more than they do and be given the tools and supplies they need to ensure they teach to the best of their ability.

“(North Carolina) needs to do more to attract people to this profession, which should be respected and valued,” Cooper said.

A standing ovation greeted Cooper’s departure from the podium, while Phipps issued an invitation to Cooper to return — whether in his current role as attorney general, as a private citizen or as an elected official of another office.

Cooper is expected to be the Democratic candidate in North Carolina’s 2016 race for governor.