Dr. Justin Bartholomew accepted a position as superintendent of Pentucket Regional School District in Massachusetts last week, and he turned in his resignation as principal of Northwood High School on Monday, May 21.
Bartholomew attended school in the district from kindergarten to senior year of high school before attending both Boston University and Northeastern University. He then moved to North Carolina while earning his doctorate in education leadership from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
“There are only two places you’d ever want to have [the superintendent] position: the place you grew up, and the place where you spent a huge chunk of your time,” Bartholomew said. “It is really exciting for this opportunity to be at home.”
Bartholomew has spent 16 years in North Carolina and was a science teacher and football coach at Chapel Hill High School when his career in education began. He eventually became assistant principal of Chapel Hill High School before being named principal of Margaret B. Pollard Middle School and later becoming principal of Northwood in October 2013.
“In my time at Northwood, my greatest success has been being able to see students every year walk across that stage and being able to see them get to where they want to be,” Bartholomew said.
Bartholomew attributes his success as principal of Northwood to his colleagues and peers.
“I’ve probably accomplished nothing, because while I might go and talk and help get some things organized, it’s the people in the building that do most of the work,” Bartholomew said. “I’m a big picture person; I have ideas of where we want to go, but I think the teachers and the students and the community members are the biggest part of things that we’ve accomplished.”
As his five years at Northwood come to an end, Bartholomew reflects on his time spent with the faculty and student body in a positive way.
“I want to give a big huge thank you to everyone that has given me these opportunities and to all of the students I’ve been able to work with,” Bartholomew said. “Everyone around [Northwood] has been a huge support to me and I hope I’ve been able to give back just a little bit of that to everyone else.”
– By Rachel Stoner
