Colwell to lead math, science school

The most recent principal who had success in leading North Charleston High School plans to return to Charleston County to head the Charleston Charter School for Math & Science.

David Colwell, who worked at the high school for nearly 20 years as a teacher, athletic director, assistant principal and principal, left the district two years ago to take a principal job at a rural, high-poverty school in Lenoir, N.C.

He grew up in North Carolina and hoped to retire there with his wife, but the desire to be closer to his aging parents and the opening at the charter school prompted Colwell to investigate the possibility of returning home.

"It represented an opportunity to come back and work in Charleston but not have to work in the box that I call the Charleston County School District," he said. "(The district) became a very, very cumbersome bureaucracy."

Colwell became the principal at North Charleston High School at a tumultuous time. His predecessor resigned after an alleged verbal fight with a teacher and an unrelated school riot; but under Colwell's leadership, the school became orderly. The number of students arrested and suspended dropped and test scores improved.

Since his departure, the school has seen continually changing leadership. It's had at least two different interim principals and two permanent principals in two years; and a new principal, veteran educator Juanita Middleton, will lead the school next year. The school also is being reconstituted as a result of its academic failure, which means the entire staff had to reapply for their jobs and new programs aimed at reform will be implemented.

Colwell doesn't have any plans to get involved at North Charleston High School, but he has kept up with what's happened there. He said reconstitution likely was the best option for the school.

"It's sad that it got to that because it didn't have to," he said. "I feel sorry for the teachers who, with me, were extraordinarily hard working, and we were making gains. I feel so sorry for the kids. Those kids are so special."

Park Dougherty, chairman of the charter school's board, said the school's principal from last year, Peter Smyth, will return as a teacher this year. One of the biggest reasons Colwell won out over other applicants was that he was the teachers' favorite candidate, and they had a strong desire to work for him, Dougherty said. Colwell has committed to seeing the school through the renewal of its charter, which will happen in fall 2012.

Colwell's goal is to make the charter school, which opened last fall, the best school in the county. His first day is Wednesday.

"I want to prove it's a viable option for children and parents," he said. "I hope that the district and the charter school can learn from each other. If education is about best practices, then we need to be sharing what we know, what works."

Reach Diette Courrégé at 937-5546 or dcourrege@postandcourier.com.