On the corner of Huffine Mill Road across Peterson Avenue in northeast Greensboro sits Bessemer Elementary School. Founded in 1900 with an enrollment of 60 students, Bessemer has grown to a student population of over 500, according to the principal. The school prides itself on the values of growth and community and is led by a homegrown leader from the surrounding neighborhood — Principal Jonathan Brooks, the 2024-2025 Guilford County Schools (GCS) Principal of the Year.

“Every morning for two and a half, three years, I walked past this sign to go to class,” said Brooks.

From 1988 to 1991, Brooks was an elementary school student at Bessemer. The sign he referenced was a welcome sign that was painted in 1981 and has been there ever since.

More than 30 years later, Brooks sits in his office as the principal, down the hall from that same sign, telling the story of deciding to go into the field of education and the growth Bessemer has seen under his leadership to an engaged group of community members.

The group is from the Guilford Education Alliance (GEA) Principal For A Day event. Each year, GEA holds this event during National Principals month as a way to strengthen critical school and community relationships by giving community members a first-hand look at public education.

The Guilford Education Alliance is an independent nonprofit dedicated to advocating for Guilford County Schools. They are relentlessly optimistic about the future of Guilford County and believe great communities have great public schools. They are committed to maximizing support for GCS so that all children thrive and are prepared for the future, according to their website.

This year, 112 community members participated in the event at schools across Guilford County. The day kicks off with a Zoom call with all participating principals and community members. Afterwards, community members shadow the principal for several hours, asking questions and learning about the daily elements of the job.

Dr. Whitney Oakley — graduate, parent, and now superintendent of GCS — helped kick off the event.

“These are some of the smartest, brightest people, and this, I think, is a great opportunity to do some truth telling about what’s happening in our schools,” said Oakley.

Homegrown education leaders

Brooks and Oakley weren’t the only homegrown education leaders who participated in the event. Dr. Zithobile “Zitty” Nxumalo, GEA’s president, is a proud product of GCS and credits GCS for giving her the foundation that has made her success possible. Nxumalo attended Peeler Elementary School and later went on to earn her high school diploma from the Early College Academy at Dudley High School. 

“This is incredible. We love having products of the district at the helm of the district, because we have a unique ability to understand the issues that might exist,” said Nxumalo.

Nxumalo earned a bachelor’s degree in business management as an adult student at Guilford College. She also received a master’s degree in communication studies from UNC Greensboro and has a doctorate in leadership studies from N.C. A&T State University. 

Brooks is an Aggie as well. He played football at A&T while earning his bachelor’s degree. It was playing sports that inspired Brooks to go into the field of education, citing his coaches from high school and college as his inspiration.

“I never planned on being a principal ever. My goal was to be a football and basketball coach, and I would teach just to have something to do until practice started. It didn’t work out that way,” said Brooks. 

While Brooks’ path to coming back to Bessemer was a winding one, he’s happy to be serving the community where he grew up. Originally, he went into teaching so he could be a coach, but after trying out being in administration, he realized that was the passion he wanted to pursue.

“I was happy just being around the kids, coaching sports,” Brooks said. “But once I got into administration, I just loved it. I’ve been an administrator now longer than I’ve done anything else.”

Wins for Bessemer

Since Brooks took the helm as principal of Bessemer in July 2022, the school has gone through several changes. For one, enrollment is up. Increasing enrollment has been a goal of Brooks and his team since he started. According to Brooks, they have 517 students enrolled this year, which is higher than the 436 students they were projected to have. 

One of the many factors impacting enrollment is housing. A local realtor and former teacher shadowed Brooks during the GEA event and was curious about how housing impacted Bessemer. Brooks explained how being in a renter’s market can impact the amount of transition students at the school experience and the overall enrollment.

“Housing directly impacts education and schools,” Brooks said. “Here at Bessemer, particularly, we get a lot of transition, and it’s because we’re in a renter’s market.”

Bessemer is proud to have been the first school to offer telehealth in GCS. In 2022, the school was part of a pilot program with GCS and the Duke Endowment that made the telehealth clinic possible. One of the goals of the clinic is to reduce absenteeism by allowing students to be seen by a health care provider at school.

Another win for Bessemer that Brooks is proud of is the culture they have built as a school. One practice that has helped anchor their culture is their Wednesday meetings. Every Wednesday morning, the whole school has a Zoom meeting where they come together and affirm each other.

“We spend 20 minutes just making sure that they understand how great they are. We do it every single Wednesday,” Brooks said. “We have to. They see failure so often. They have to know that there is space to be successful.”

Wins for GEA

Organizations like GEA work hard to help fill gaps for public schools in their community. One way they fill those gaps is with material support through their teacher supply warehouse, which gives away free classroom supplies to GCS educators. So far this year, the warehouse has given out over $375,000 worth of school supplies and is on track to increase shopping visits by 20% this year.

“The warehouse meets an immediate and really, really important need for our educators, who often spend out of their own pockets to make sure that our students have what they need,” said Nxumalo.

GEA is leading the effort for the sales tax referendum that will be on the ballot in Guilford County this year.

Here is what Nxumalo shared about the referendum:

“As many of you know, Guilford County was one of only four counties that was left out of a teacher pay supplement from the state. …The sales tax is five cents for every $20 spent, and it could actually bring $25 million a year for pay increases for not only our teachers, but our bus drivers, cafeteria staff, and our custodians. …We really need all hands on deck to get our educators what they deserve for all of the time and energy that they’re investing into our future.”

In her closing remarks, Nxumalo encouraged participants to reflect on the positive impact they can each have in their respective communities.

“My challenge for you all as you walk through your assigned schools is to ask yourself, ‘How can I make an impact?’ We all can do something to help make a difference,” said Nxumalo.

Editor’s note: The Duke Endowment supports the work of EducationNC.