KERNERSVILLE, N.C. -- There’s nothing wrong with a fresh set of eyes. That’s the whole idea behind a new plan in the Winston-Salem Forsyth County Schools district.
“It happened out of a conversation,” says Brad Craddock, principal at Glenn High School in Kernersville. “I was like anytime you want to come to my place and look around and get a fresh set of eyes on some of my issues and I'll return the favor and come to your place and look at your campus with a fresh set of eyes.”
Thus, the concept of the principal swap was born.
Craddock was having this conversation with Donald Wyatt, principal at Sedge Garden Elementary while the two were sitting next to each other at the district’s monthly principal meeting. The two agreed to take a look at each other’s campuses to try and spot anything out of the ordinary or ways to improve upon safety.
Friday, Craddock stopped by Sedge Garden Elementary to walk around with Principal Wyatt, who had already visited Glenn High School. He says they looked at arrival times, dismissal times, large movements of students and other general safety protocol on campus.
“We looked in rooms,” Craddock explains. “You know, some of my rooms are much easier to hide in than others so we looked at some of those. It was just a basic overall safety audit of each other's campuses.”
Wyatt says he’s already found ways to improve in his school.
“One of the great things about this is being able to take my elementary eyes over to the high school and having Mr. Craddock come over here,” Wyatt tells. “He has a much more open campus, so we have a much more secured campus just because of the layout of the buildings.”
Both Wyatt and Craddock say Winston-Salem Forsyth County Schools Superintendent Dr. Beverly Emory supports the principal swap. They hope to pair up with other principals and do safety checks throughout the school year.
“I have learned that a fresh set of eyes is a great thing to have for school security,” Wyatt says.