Wayne County Schools reassigns five principals, six assistant principals
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on June 15, 2008 2:00 AM
Five new principal and six assistant principal assignments have been made for the upcoming school year in Wayne County Public Schools.
Retirements and vacancies have created the openings resulting in the shift. The new principals will begin their duties July 1 and will be officially approved at the July 7 Board of Education meeting.
Schools with new principals are Rosewood Middle, Eastern Wayne Elementary, Southern Wayne High, Southern Academy and Fremont STARS Elementary School.
Retiring this month are Frances Southerland, principal at Rosewood Middle, and Veda McNair, principal at Eastern Wayne Elementary. Southern Wayne principal Eddie Radford and Southern Academy principal Ed Cromartie, who temporarily filled vacancies at their schools, will also step down.
The changes include:
* Beverly Smith, principal at Fremont since 2006, will take over duties at Eastern Wayne Elementary.
Ms. Smith has more than 20 years of educational experience. She has also been assistant principal at Carver Elementary and curriculum facilitator at Eastern Wayne Elementary and worked as a teacher at Northeast Elementary. Before coming to WCPS in 1999, she was a teacher in the Little Rock School District in Arkansas for 11 years. Ms. Smith earned a bachelor's degree in education in 1986 from North Carolina Central University and a master's in School Administration from North Carolina Central University in 2005.
* Sheila Wolfe will be the new Fremont STARS Elementary principal.
Assistant principal at Tommy's Road Elementary since 2005, she was a physical education teacher at Tommy's Road Elementary, Brogden Primary, Carver Heights Elementary, and Eastern Wayne Elementary.
She earned an associate degree from Mount Olive College in 1980, a bachelor's degree in physical education in 1982 from East Carolina University and a master's degree in school administration from East Carolina University in 2004.
* Susie Shepard will become principal at Rosewood Middle.
She has been assistant principal at the school and prior to that was assistant principal at Dillard Middle School. She also worked as Title I home coordinator at Goldsboro High, as well as a school counselor at Dillard Middle and Goldsboro High. Ms. Shepard has taught at Spring Creek Elementary and Goldsboro High.
She earned her bachelor's degree in family consumer science education at North Carolina A&T State University in 1972. She holds a master's degree in school counseling and completed a master's degree in school administration from Campbell University in 2003.
* Principal at Southern Academy will be Robert Yelverton.
He has been assistant principal at Northeast Elementary, Goldsboro Middle, Rosewood Middle, and Dillard Middle. He has taught at Goldsboro Middle, Goldsboro High, and Mount Olive Middle.
Yelverton earned a bachelor's degree in design tech from Norfolk University in 1993. He earned a teacher's certification in middle grades math from East Carolina University in 2001 and a master's degree in school administration from East Carolina University in 2003.
* Dr. John Boldt will become principal at Southern Wayne High. He comes from Lenoir County Schools, where he was a teacher, assistant principal and principal. He worked 14 years in administration serving grades K-12.
Boldt earned a bachelor's degree in anthropology in 1985 from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, a master's degree in administration from East Carolina University in 1993 and a doctorate in educational administration from ECU in 2004.
The principals have already met with staff at their respective schools, said Dr. Steven Taylor, superintendent. They will spend the remainder of the summer acclimating to the new assignment and readying for the upcoming school year, he added.
New assistant principal assignments were made at six area schools.
* Antoinette Ward, formerly a teacher at North Drive Elementary, will be at Carver Elementary School in Mount Olive.
* At Mount Olive Middle Scool, John Strickland replaces Keith Faison, who is taking a position in Wake County. Strickland previously taught at Dillard Middle School.
* Brian Weeks will be at Northeast Elementary School, replacing Yelverton, who takes over as principal at Southern Academy. Weeks was a teacher at Brogden Middle School.
* Dexter Evans will become assistant principal at Rosewood High, replacing Ellis Cozart, who is retiring. Evans was reassigned to Charles B. Aycock High School as assistant principal this spring, having been principal at Southern Academy.
* Chris Merritt, a teacher at Aycock, will move to Rosewood Middle School as assistant principal. He replaces Ms. Shepard, now principal at the middle school.
* Sonja Emerson, a special education teacher at Edgewood Community Developmental School, will be assistant principal at Tommy's Road Elementary School. Her predecessor, Ms. Wolfe, is now principal at Fremont STARS.