Walter M. Williams High School - Leadership

Leadership

The first principal, Calvin C. Linnemann, served from 1951 to 1957. He had previously served as principal of Burlington High School, and was a published author in the NASSP Journal. He was also a Sunday School teacher at Burlington's First Baptist Church and was later superintendent of schools.

The second principal of Williams, Lester R. Ridenhour (1915–1985) served from 1957 to 1960. He had previously served as principal of Broad Street School (the former campus of Burlington High School), and prior to that as assistant principal of Williams. In 1983, he received the Outstanding Alumni Award from East Carolina University, where he had completed degrees in 1939 and 1949. While at East Carolina, he played baseball, football, basketball, and tennis. He was inducted into the East Carolina University Sports Hall of Fame in 1979 (www.ecupirates.com). The Lester R. Ridenhour Memorial Scholarship is presented to residents of Alamance County who attend East Carolina University.

The third principal of Williams, Cleet C. Cleetwood (1923–2007), a 1943 graduate of Appalachian State University, served an abbreviated administration from 1960 to 1962, at which time he was scheduled to be reassigned to the central office, but turned in his resignation instead (later serving as Superintendent of the Greenville City Schools system in Pitt County, c. 1971). At Appalachian, he had lettered "in football, basketball and baseball, (later) he was called into service with the U.S. Air Force, serving during World War II as a B-17 navigator. He enrolled at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he earned his master's degree and lettered in varsity baseball. Prior to coming to Williams, he had begun his career in education coaching football, basketball and baseball at Rocky Mount High School in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. Following a period of playing professional baseball, he began work at Duke University toward his doctoral degree." (http://www.thepilot.com/stories/20070529/news/obits/20070529Cleetwood.html). Even into his late 70s, he played basketball with the state senior games (The Pilot, January 30, 2000).

The fourth principal of Williams, Jesse Weldon Harrington, who came to Williams from New Hanover High School in Wilmington, North Carolina was the longest serving principal, serving from 1962 through 1978. Born and raise in Moncure in adjacent Chatham County, he earned his bachelors degree in business administration from what is now Elon University. He was serving as principal during the period covered in the book Black Coach in which author Pat Jordan described him as exhibiting a "busy but relaxed exterior" (Jordan, Black Coach, p. 136). He is the only former principal at the school to have a scholarship exclusively for Williams High seniors named in his honor. Mr. Harrington now lives in the Wilmington area.

The 1980s saw three principals. Marsh Lyall served as the fifth principal from 1979 to 1983. Lyall departed to assume the superintendency of the Wilkes County Schools.

Clinton E. Leggett served as the sixth principal from 1983 to 1986.

After serving as principal, the seventh principal of Williams, Harold Brewer (1986–1992)later served as Superintendent of Montgomery County Schools (from 1996–2001), and later Senior Associate for Organizational Development for Durham Public Schools (from 2001–2002)and then as Sr. VP for Programs for the Centers for Quality Teaching and Learning, based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Prior to 1996, he was the assistant director of the Principals' Executive Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for two years. For a time, he was also Assistant Superintendent for Burlington City Schools. Prior to coming to Williams, he had served as an administrator in Duplin County and Moore County, as well as eight years of business management in the textile industry. Brewer held an ED. Specialist, (6yr) degree in school administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; a master's degree in school administration from Appalachian State University; and a bachelorˆs degree in psychology from what is now the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. He most recently served as Senior Vice-President for Programs for the Centers for Quality Teaching and Learning based in Raleigh, North Carolina. It was Brewer who set the goal of achieving distinction as a Blue Ribbon School. A reminder of the Brewer era is the phrase "Brewer the Great" inscribed in concrete on a sidewalk running parallel to Bulldog Alley. Mr. Brewer's son served as student body president one year.

These were followed by the eighth principal, James Daye (1992–1994), who had previously served as principal of Watauga High School in Boone, and had served at the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, and the ninth principal, Donald Andrews (1994–1996). Andrews later served as superintendent of the Harnett County Schools, and since 2005 has served as Superintendent of the Randolph County Schools, southwest of Burlington.

Phillip Deadmon served as the tenth principal from 1996 to 2001. Upon his retirement, Jack Butler served as interim principal in 2001.

Gary Thornburg, who in June 2010 retired from the principalship of Cedar Ridge High School, served as principal from 2001 to 2005. Mr. Thornburg was recognized as the 2005 Regional Wachovia Principal of the Year. It was during Thornburg's administration that the Academy of Finance was established.

Dr. George W. Griffin, formerly of Apex High School and North Carolina Central University served from 2005 to 2007. Nola Taylor, the school's first female principal, was appointed in 2007, and served until 2011. Ms. Taylor, a graduate of Indiana University and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro came from principalships in Guilford County Schools. She now serves with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.

Joe Ferrell was named as Ms. Taylor's successor in July 2011. At the time of his appointment, he had served as principal at Eastern Guilford Middle School since 2004, and previously had served as principal at Hunter Elementary School in Greensboro. In Person County, he taught at the elementary and middle school levels, and served as an assistant principal at Northern Middle School in Roxboro. Ferrell holds degrees from Elon University, North Carolina State University, and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Here are listed the principals in chronological order:

1. Calvin C. Linnemann (1951–1957, six years)
2. Lester R. Riderhour (1957–1960, three years)
3. C. C. Cleetwood (1960–1962, two years)
4. Jesse W. Harrington (1962–1978, sixteen years)
5. Marsh Lyall (1979–1983, four years)
6. Clinton E. Leggett (1983–1986, three years)
7. Harold Brewer (1986–1992, six years)
8. James Daye (1992–1994, two years)
9. Donald Andrews (1994–1996, two years)
10. Phillip Deadmon (1996–2001, five years)
11. Jack Butler (2001, interim)
12. Gary Thornburg (2001–2005, four years)
13. George Griffin (2005–2007, two years)
14. Nola Taylor (2007–2011, four years)
15. Joe Ferrell (2011–present)

With the exception of Jesse W. Harrington (who served for sixteen years), no principal has served longer than six years. As many as seven other principal's terms can be included in the length of Harrington's term.

The current assistant principal team consists of Anita Barefoot and Mark Gould. While there have been approximately forty assistant principals since the school's opening in 1951, perhaps the best known and most influential is Jerome Evans, who was appointed assistant principal at the same time he became head football coach in 1970. Although known primarily for his coaching role, his administrative leadership ensured a peaceful transition through the period of integration, serving as assistant principal for over two decades. His life story and influence is still taught to students as part of the curriculum of the history course covering the 1960s. Another former assistant principal, Lairron G. Guthrie, concurrently served as Mayor of Burlington from 1973 to 1975, and later served as guidance counselor. Dr. Patricia Bason served as assistant principal from 1983 to 1988, and later served on the faculty of Elon University. She was succeeded by Shirley Faircloth, who served from 1988 to 1997. Ms. Faircloth had previously taught English, served as advisor to The Barker for fourteen years, and founded the Williams English Honor Society. Although she served as assistant principal for nine years, her total length of service at Williams was twenty-nine years. John Heath served from 2008 to 2012, having previously served at Cedar Ridge High School. Kent Byrd served from 1998 to 2000, and later served as principal of Southern Alamance High School before joining the staff of the central office.