Principal returns to Lowcountry

How much difference can a principal make to a school?

Just ask a group of Lenoir, N.C., residents who visited Charleston in mid-August to help David Colwell, the former principal at West Caldwell High School in Lenoir, begin his new career as principal at the Charleston County Charter School for Math & Science.

'He's the best principal I ever worked for,' Carol West, a biology teacher at West Caldwell, said of Colwell. 'I really hate losing him.'

His most outstanding quality is his leadership ability, she said. 'He can set goals for everybody to meet.'

West and husband Myron West, their children, and a family friend came to Charleston to wish Colwell well as he takes on his latest challenge.

Expect great things from Colwell, Carol West said.

'We came to see the campus and to tell all the teachers here what a great principal they are getting,' she said while touring the campus at the former Rivers Middle School.

'He doesn't bluff,' added Carol West's daughter, Morgan, a rising senior at West Caldwell.

Colwell has made a return to the Lowcountry. Two years ago, he was principal of North Charleston High School, and for 19 years before that, he was a teacher and athletic director at the school.

Colwell is among the new principals hoping to make a difference in Charleston County schools. Others newly heading nearby schools are Andrew Halevi at Septima P. Clark Corporate Academy; Christy Thompson, James Island Elementary; Mark Shea, St. Andrew's School of Math & Science; and Latetia Staggers, Charleston County Child and Family Development Center.

Susan Haire, communications officer for the Charleston County School District, said some 42,500 students will attend district schools this year. She said new school buildings and renovated older ones opened this month for Moultrie Middle School, Mount Pleasant Academy, Orange Grove Elementary School and Zucker Middle School of Science.

New or renovated buildings are expected to open in early 2010 at Sanders-Clyde Elementary School, North Charleston High School and the School of the Arts. Later in 2010, the district hopes to open the new Ashley River Elementary School building, Haire said.

Six schools opened this month as new partial magnet schools:

Chicora School of Communications: An elementary magnet.

Memminger School of Global Studies: A university partnership school.

Mitchell Math and Science Elementary School.

Advanced Studies at Haut Gap Middle School.

Laing Middle School: Science and Technology for a New Generation of Learners.

Zucker Middle School of Science.

For more information, see www.ccsdschools.com.

Reach Edward C. Fennell at efennell@postandcourier.com or 937-5560.