She’s Wake’s top principal. Now she’s been named one of the best in North Carolina.
Ruth Steidinger, the principal of Olive Chapel Elementary School, got a big Christmas present on Thursday.
Matt Bristow-Smith, the 2019 North Carolina Principal of the Year, and Wake County school leaders surprised Steidinger at the Apex school with the news that she is one of the state’s eight finalists for 2020 Principal of the Year. Steidinger was chosen as the state’s North Central Region Principal of the Year.
Steidinger was told she would be attending a cultural arts celebration in the school auditorium. When she walked in, students and staff erupted in applause. Students held up signs saying “We Believe in You” while teachers held up pictures of her face.
“I’m so eternally grateful for this community and I said this earlier and I’ll say it again,” Steidinger said at the ceremony. “These last 4 1/2 years have been my best. They’ve been my best because you’ve made me the leader that I am today.”
Steidinger will find out in the spring if she’s named the state’s top principal. No Wake County principal has won the state award since at least the early 1980s.
Steidinger was named Wake’s 2019-20 Principal of the Year in October.
Steidinger has served in Wake County for her entire 30-year career, with the past four years as principal of Olive Chapel Elementary. The percentage of teachers saying the school has an “atmosphere of respect” went from 39% in 2014 to 86% in 2018, according to a state survey.
Steidinger started her career in 1989 as a math teacher at Athens Drive High before becoming an assistant principal at Apex High and then principal of Dillard Drive Elementary.
She also has worked at the district level as director of literacy and senior director of middle school programs, high school programs and later of academic programs.
This story was originally published December 19, 2019 at 1:56 PM with the headline "She’s Wake’s top principal. Now she’s been named one of the best in North Carolina.."
