Parent Teacher Magazine Charlotte-Mecklenburg School March/April 2019 | Page 9

CMS Principal Dr. Timisha Barnes-Jones named Southwest Region Wells Fargo North Carolina Principal of the Year
West Charlotte High principal moves up to statewide competition
A principal in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools has been chosen as the
Southwest Regional Principal of the Year. Dr. Timisha Barnes-Jones, who leads
West Charlotte High, will advance to competition for the state principal of the
year.
The interview team for the regional event included the 2018 SW Regional
teacher and principal of the year, and the SW Region Wells Fargo community
liaison. Wells Fargo sponsors the competition.
The team said that Dr. Barnes-Jones was not only a great leader but she
was indefatigable in her work at West Charlotte. Team members also praised
her for a strong focus on equity, an ability “to do more with less” and her
success in creating and maintaining a constant and positive culture for staff
and students.
“I am humbled and honored,” Dr. Barnes-Jones said after the
announcement Jan. 8. “I was so glad that I could tell the story of how we
brought the polish and the pride back to West Charlotte. It felt good to
represent West Charlotte and CMS at the regional level.”
Dr. Barnes-Jones has been an educator for more than 21 years, 19 of
them in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. She began her career early, singing
in public by the time she was 9 years old and winning a role in the movie
“The Color Purple.”
She began her work in education by teaching music in what was then
Renaissance Elementary (now Renaissance West) and Winterfield Elementary.
She then shifted to high school, joining the faculty at Phillip O. Berry
Academy of Technology, where she started a school chorus and helped write
the school song, which is still in use today. She taught chorus and orchestra
at Olympic High, chorus at Independence High and became an assistant
principal, helping to close E. E. Waddell as a high school (it is now a K-8
language academy). She was then assistant principal at Vance High before
joining West Charlotte as an assistant principal of instruction and then
becoming co-principal and finally principal.
Dr. Barnes-Jones earned her bachelor’s degree in music from Davidson
College, a master’s degree in education from the University of North Carolina
Charlotte and a doctorate in education from Gardner-Webb University.
Dr. Barnes-Jones will now compete with seven other regional winners
for the title of 2019 NC Wells Fargo Principal of the Year. The winner will be
announced May 10.
Living history
Minister shares civil rights experiences with Windsor Park students
History came to life Jan. 18 for Windsor Park Elementary students
and teachers with a visit from civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Lee Douglas
Sr. Douglas, who was the president of the Montgomery (Alabama)
Improvement Association (MIA) during the civil rights movement of the
1960s, helped plan the 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery.
As he made his way toward the school cafeteria to speak, Douglas
saw student drawings and stories about him and the civil rights
movement lining both sides of the hallway. He stopped to look at each
one with his daughter and grandson who accompanied him, expressing
appreciation for the students’ work. As he entered the cafeteria, a slide
show began to play. Created by music teacher Wendy Wiseman and first-
grade students, it included photos of him with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,
photos of him with his family and ended with a student thanking him for
his contributions.
“There is so much history wrapped up in my brain that I don’t really
know where to begin,” Douglas told his audience. “I was a grad student
in Atlanta, Georgia, before I became involved in the movement. I had no
idea that I would be involved because before that time I was finishing my
college work. Thus, going to get my doctorate in ministry, that’s when I
met Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who had organized the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference.”
“We decided to take a stand,” he said. “We would divide into groups
and go to restaurants and hotels, anywhere that was segregated. We
would test the segregation laws to see if they would serve us.”
His first experience in the civil rights movement experience occurred
when he and other area students took action to desegregate the Atlanta
capitol cafeteria, which was funded by all Georgia residents. Douglas—an
African-American born with albinism—went into the cafeteria alone. When
he was served, the other African-American students followed but were
refused service. The action resulted in arrests and a lawsuit, Douglas and
Reynolds vs. Vandenberg, which successfully ended racial separation at
all facilities in the building.
His speech made an impression on the students.
“When Rev. Douglas told the story about being perceived to be
white, it stuck with me,” said fifth-grader Kai Lane. “I went back to my
classroom and the saying ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’ came to my
mind.”
Fourth-grader Mia Harris said Douglas reinforced her thought that
everybody should be treated the same.
“I make friends because of who they are, not what they look like,”
she said.
Douglas talked about the Constitution and the Declaration of
Independence quoting passages from each. Mia Goodman, a fourth-grade
teacher, was equally moved.
“What impressed me the most was his emotion when he repeated the
words from the Constitution. It came from his heart,” said Goodman.
Douglas said he likes to speak with students because he likes to
shape young minds. When he was younger, he said, his faith made him
unafraid. He had a strong sense of what was right and was willing to
stand up for his principles.
“I lived for the cause and I was willing to die for the cause,” he said.
Parent Teacher Magazine •March/April 2019 • 7