By Emmy Benton, News Editor and Samuel Smith, Opinions Editor
Since 2014, Crissie Weeks has served the students of First Flight High School in numerous ways. She has been the assistant principal at FFHS since July of 2020, and her previous roles at the school include being an English teacher and the Instructional Technology Facilitator. After so many years working with high schoolers, an administration reshuffle will result in her taking a new role in the lives of elementary school youths.
“I’m very excited,” Weeks said. “Change is hard and I’m a little nervous about going to a place that I’m not used to, so it’ll be new but it’s exciting. I get to learn and grow there, so I’m excited.”
Weeks will be moving to First Flight Elementary to be the assistant principal following news of the retirement of Dr. Jodie Mitchum at the end of the school year.
Filling the vacancy left by Weeks, Spanish teacher and Assistant Athletic Director Mora Newton will step into the role of assistant principal.
Newton has worked alongside middle and high school students in a more hands-on manner for roughly 11 years, and the recent administration changes have given her a chance to take a more top-down approach at the education and management of students.
“The connection I had through the athletic program, students saw me not just as a teacher, but in other areas,” Newton said. “I hope to have a good rapport, good connection, with some students that I wouldn’t have seen in my classroom, whether as a Spanish teacher or in other classrooms, co-teaching.”
The changes have been cause for excitement in the case of Newton’s promotion, but a bittersweet goodbye in the case of Weeks.
“We’re selfishly sad to lose Mrs. Weeks. She’s definitely more than just a coworker, she’s a friend that I’ve known for three and a half years,” First Flight High Principal Chuck Lansing said. “…We’re feeling a sense of loss in that regard, but then we’re also juxtaposing that emotion with this happiness and pride for Mrs. Newton and the fact that she’s a very deserving individual. Now her leadership will thrive and we’ll get to benefit from that.”
Newton has many years of experience in the leadership field and is the eighth Dare County Schools teacher to take part in the Emerging Leaders program that Dr. John Farrelly began about two years ago as a way to recognize teachers who are interested in moving up the administrative ladder.
“They saw people – teachers, curriculum specialists – who maybe had the desire and potential to grow into more of a leadership role,” Newton said. “We had to let them know what our interests were, what our goals were, and they invited people to start getting a little bit more information about those different roles.”
Lansing is confident in Newton’s ability to lead and knows that this new role suits her well.
“I think she brings a wealth of experience from outside of First Flight when she was living in California and worked as an administrator there,” Lansing said. “I think she has an established leadership style and wants to have her role and impact widened on the whole school level.”
While Weeks is sad to be leaving the work environment she’s been in for nearly eight years, she knows that Newton will thrive in this new role.
“Mrs. Newton is going to do a wonderful job,” Weeks said. “Sometimes when you leave a place, you worry that it’s not going to be the same there without you, but I have the utmost confidence in her. She’s going to do great.”
Junior Emmy Benton can be reached at 23bentonem58@daretolearn.org.
Junior Samuel Smith can be reached at 23smithsa22@daretoearn.org.
