Shelba Levins served as Chapel Hill High School’s interim principal the summer and fall after Charles Blanchard retired in early April of last year. With new principal Steven Sullivan taking the reins in December, Levins reflected upon her time at the head of our “thriving village.”
“I’ve been here for five years, but it was a little nerve wracking, of course, because I had never done it before, but it was a very exciting time—getting the opportunity to have a chance of running a school and trying to keep the ship going until a permanent principal was put in place,” Levins said.
The Campbell University graduate has served as an assistant principal for the school since 2019, though students, as might be expected, took more notice of Levins in her role as interim principal.
“Ms. Levins has always been a good role model for our school and has made a positive impact on many of my peers,” senior Aidan Rhee said.
That positive impact, Levins said, was attributable to the team around her and the support Levins received in her temporary role.
“I had a lot of support from the district and also from the assistant principal Ms. [Allison] Scercy. She was with me all summer; we were planning all summer,” Levins said.
Levins also received support from Valerie Akins, who served as interim principal last spring after Blanchard retired and was appointed Executive Principal Coach at the start of the school year. Levins said the three of them worked together just to get the school ready and decide what the focus would be for the year.
“Of course, our focus for the year was ‘We Are A Thriving Village,’ which goes back to our mission and vision statement of the school,” Levins said.
One of the biggest challenges, Levins said, was that she didn’t have a full administrative team for most of first semester. Assistant principal Dorian Locklear didn’t arrive until September, and, until Sullivan took over in December, the administrative team was one person short.
“That [was] the biggest challenge—trying to make sure we attended all the meetings, make sure that we engaged with all the students on our caseload,” she said
With just two assistant principals, that caseload was considerable, Levins said, with each assistant principal assigned responsibility for roughly 800 students.
Still, students may not have noticed that the school was an administrator short.
“Ms. Levins ran the school so smoothly,” senior Eera Singh said. “Being an interim sounds like a difficult job to take on.”
Levins said her experience as interim principal has made her a greater asset to the school.
“I’ll be a better leader here at Chapel Hill High,” Levins said.
And while she hopes to lead her own school in the future so that she can do it on her own terms, Levins said her time as interim principal was unexpected but a source of personal and professional growth.
“It has been a great experience,” Levins said. “I am so happy that I did it.”
