•New Whiteville High School principal is restoring in-school suspension and revamping the still-new freshman academy.

By FULLER ROYAL
Staff Writer

With 28 years of education experience, John Westberg is set to lead the more than 800 students and staff of Whiteville High School when they return next month for the 2007-08 school year.

Returning students will find a “seasoned” school leader who doesn’t mince words when handling situations.

“What you see is what you get,” said Westberg, who described his leadership style as “proactive.”

“I’m up front,” he said during a Tuesday interview. “Kids and teachers will know what I expect. I will be in the halls and on the grounds. I’ll get to know them and they’ll get to know me.”

Westberg reported to work earlier this month, meeting staff and faculty as they dropped by the school.

He said that he has met most of the staff and is impressed with those he has seen.
Westberg said that while much of his background is in coaching and athletics, he knows that it takes a sound academic background to compete.

He said that WHS will continue its involvement with the High Schools That Work program.
Another area of focus will be boosting the one-year-old freshman academy concept where ninth-graders are “eased” into the more formal atmosphere of high school.

Most high schools in the state have either started freshman academies or are in the process of organizing them.

Westberg said that WHS needs additional Advanced Placement courses and he hopes to expand what’s offered.

He also wants to see the return of a forensics or debate team.

As for discipline among the students, Westberg said he has no tolerance for any student showing disrespect for a teacher.

He said he is “firm, but fair.” To that end, he has reinstated the in-school suspension program. There will be a room in which to immediately place students with discipline issues when they occur.

In-school suspension (ISS) was stopped one year ago after complaints from teachers that it wasn’t working. Several board members had also voiced concerns that it wasn’t being run correctly.

The new ISS room will be in one of the wooden outbuildings, isolated from the rest of the students. ISS students will eat their lunches in the room and will not have an opportunity to mix with other students.

ISS students will work on the assignments they are missing by being out of class.

Westberg was born in Florida. At age 5, his father, a school principal, moved the family to Albany, N.Y. to work in the state’s education department. Later, the family moved to Long Island, N.Y. where his father again was a principal.

Westberg grew up there. He attended Radford University in Radford, Va. where he played basketball, worked as a graduate assistant and earned a degree that allowed him to teach numerous courses, including health, physical education and English.

“I got into education because I love to coach and teach,” he said. “I have a passion for it.”

His first teaching job was in Pulaski County, Va. He later returned to Long Island to be the head football coach at a high school. He said he was exposed to several of the top high school football coaches in the country who taught him a lot about football organizations.

He spent 18 years in Long Island.

“As I got older, I had always wanted to be a principal,” he said. He returned to Pulaski County as an assistant principal at a high school.

Wife Ann and their four children were with him. He said the Virginia lifestyle was a better one than they had experienced in New York.

The superintendent who had hired Westberg in Virginia moved to the Brunswick County Schools and brought Westberg and his family along.

Westberg served as the assistant principal at North Brunswick High School before making his way to the principalship of Bandy’s High School in Catawba County.

He stayed there for two years before discovering the WHS job opening.

“This job opened up here in Whiteville and I jumped at it,” he said. “I’m excited to be able to come to Whiteville.”

The Westbergs have four children. Older son Erik is an inside linebacker coach at Lane College in Jackson, Tenn. Older daughter Amy is a sophomore at Cape Fear Community College. Younger daughter Melissa will be a sophomore at WHS this fall. Younger son Greg will be a seventh-grader at Central Middle School.