Selbyville Middle School students welcomed a new principal to their school on Monday, Oct. 23 — but only for the day. Delaware State Chamber of Commerce hosted Theodore Dwyer, president of EDiS Co., as the “Principal for a Day.”
The “Principal for a Day” program is a way to get business leaders to spend a day in Delaware schools to work in conjunction with educators. It began in 1993 with 23 CEOs, chief executive officers, visiting different Delaware schools. “From there it just continued to grow phenomenally,” said Janine Sorbello, senior vice-president of the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce and executive director of The Partnership Inc.
This year, 151 schools participated in the program. Sorbello said the program strengthens relationships between businesses and schools, giving both a common understanding of how each other’s worlds work. “Schools see first hand how a CEO runs a business and the CEO sees how a school is run,” said Sorbello.
She said the program also has built many great partnerships with businesses that care about the education of their potential future employees.
Dwyer has been the “Principal for the Day” at three other schools, in New Castle County. He said he enjoys it because he sees how schools operate and gains better understanding of the challenges schools, faculty and students face today.
He also gets the opportunity to reach students. Dwyer sat in on class discussions and provided advice to students where he could. “That’s stuff I use every day,” said Dwyer to Barkley Melber’s eighth grade Algebra 1 class.
Dwyer said he tries to show the students how important the things they are learning today are for their future. “What you’re learning, even in the eighth grade, is valuable later on in life,” he said.
Dwyer’s company, EDiS, is a regional leader in construction and development, and has been working with the Indian River School District for more than six years. They have aided in the development of the new Indian River and Sussex Central high schools and also worked in renovating Lord Baltimore Elementary, Georgetown Middle and East Millsboro Elementary. Dwyer is the director of construction operations.
Selbyville Middle School Principal Byrce Reed said he enjoys the “Principal for a Day” program. Reed allowed Dwyer to shadow him throughout the day to get a feel of the kinds of things he does. Reed said it is the fifth year Selbyville Middle School has been involved with the “Principal for a Day” program.
“It gives us the opportunity to have others come in and see what we do here,” he said. “We like to show off our kids and our faculty.”
Although Dwyer said he really enjoyed the role of principal, one day was enough for him. “It is such a challenge, it would take me 20 years to get the hang of it,” he said.
“And I’m too close to retirement,” he added, laughing.
Dwyer said the day gave him respect for how well the schools are run and kept in such good shape. He said of Selbyville Middle, “It’s a very good school.”