“The Pack is back:” Swinson and his standards return to transform WHS

“The Pack is back,” Dr. Michael Swinson says with excitement. By this he means, he is back and ready to transform Washington High School into a high achieving school.

Swinson was principal of Washington High School from 2016 to 2021. When he started, the school had a D (52) score given by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction as a measure of student performance, academic growth, school and student characteristics and more. Washington reached a C (64) score by 2018 then dipped to a 59 in 2019 but maintained a C. The DPI did not give ratings in 2020 and 2021, because of the use of remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2022 and 2023, Washington High School dropped to a D score of 53 then 54.

Not to disparage his successors, but Swinson is disheartened by the decline in Washington High School’s overall performance.

“It’s a little frustrating, but it’s not frustrating to the point that I’m disgruntled or angry or anything. I have a plan. I think we can make it work,” Swinson said.

Swinson’s vision for the 2024-2025 academic year is to raise the home of the PamPack’s score from D to C. The following school year, he wants to raise the score again from C to B. The school will maintain a B score but strive for an A every year after. “We’ll be out of a D this year. That is my prediction,” he said.

“When I was here before, we had a different staff, but we moved 12 performance points in one year. So I know it’s possible…I’m very confident we can do that,” Swinson said.

Swinson wants to make Washington High School the “community school” that it was when he was principal by gathering input from the community on how it can improve. “I want it to be the flagship of Beaufort County again.”

It’s no secret that the 2023-2024 academic year was difficult for Washington High School. A g un was found in a sophomore’s backpack in November, the basketball cheer season was brought to an early end in January because of student behavior, and in May an infamous senior prank grabbed the community’s attention.

“I don’t dismiss last year, but I don’t take any of that into account. As far I’m concerned I’m back at Washington High School, and I want to take Washington High School from the baseline of where we are at now, forward.”

The environment at Washington High School that year was far from “flagship” status; however, Swinson has written a strategic plan that is expected to guide the school in the right direction for the next five years.

His plan focuses on placing teachers in classes where they will excel, managing class size, and continuous communication with teachers about curriculum choices, lesson plans and their students’ performance.

Bringing students’ awareness to a myriad of opportunities they can have is part of Swinson’s plan.

Those opportunities include adding more Advanced Placement (AP) courses that students can choose from, and bringing back a teacher cadet program.

“One thing that I want to put into place not this year, but next year – I want to prep this year for next year – in making us an AP capstone school,” Swinson explained. This requires adding two courses that are AP level and coupling one AP course with Honors English II with a research course being offered to seniors. That preparation includes hiring educators who are capable of teaching AP courses.

Teacher cadets is a recruiting tool that creates a pipeline for high school students who want to become teachers. This gives them a behind the scenes view of the expectations and responsibilities of teachers in addition to learning how to effectively engage students in their education. Washington offered this program when Swinson was there the first time, but did not after he left. He would like to bring this program back next school year as a formal school.

Looking to the future, Swinson sees teacher cadets as a way to help Beaufort County Schools hire teachers. His belief is that school districts can grow their own teachers through teacher cadet programs.

“Finding certified teachers, finding young teachers nowadays is a tough thing,” Swinson said. “I want to get the folks that are from Washington who want to come back to Washington here at Washington High School. I think when you have a group of teachers that love the place, who want to be here, want to live here and stay here, then that extends your longevity to maintain  your scores where they should be, to maintain your program where it should be,” Swinson said.

From an administrative perspective, Swinson believes that if teachers are cared for, and students “do not run the school,” they will want to continue working at Washington.

Swinson is a numbers guy. He likes to interpret data, and teaches a statistics course at Pitt Community College.

“I spend a lot of my time in the numbers of the school. I spend a lot of my time staring at numbers trying to figure out some of the things with right teachers and right students in the right classes,” he said.

Swinson enjoys being a high school principal. When he’s not working, he’s often thinking about work – what needs to be done and what can be improved. On the off chance he is relaxing he is either spending time with family, reading or playing video games. He and his children spend quality time playing EA Sports College Football 25. To no one’s surprise, Swinson likes that the game requires characters to study and maintain a certain grade point average to remain eligible for game play. Swinson said his character has a high GPA, but doesn’t get to play often.

Before Swinson returned to Beaufort County, he was principal of D.H. Conley High School in Greenville from 2021-2024. He was an Assistant Principal at Ayden-Grifton High School from 2013 to 2016. In 2000, he started a career in education after a career with the United States Air Force.  Swinson has a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from Weber State University, a master’s degree in Mathematics, and a Master of School Administration degree from East Carolina University. He possesses two doctoral degrees in Educational Supervision and Educational Leadership from East Carolina. He has taught middle school and high school math in Lenoir and Pitt Counties.

Swinson replaces Isaac Lister Jr., who was principal for ten months from July 1, 2023 to May 1, 2024. Lister was reassigned to the Alternative Learning Program at Southside High School as an Instructional Support Leader.

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