Carolina Springs Elementary to Have New Principal

During a recent special meeting of the Lexington County School District One Board of Trustees, the board approved the promotion of Gregory W. Watchinski to the position of principal at effective July 1, 2012. 

Watchinski replaces retiring CSES Principal Darrell Barringer. 

Watchinski, currently serving as assistant principal at CSES, joined Lexington County School District One and CSES in 2007 from Aurora, Ill., where he served as student services coordinator at Spring Brook Elementary in Indian Prairie School District 204. 

He has 15 years of education experience and began his career teaching second grade at Nancy Young Elementary School in Naperville, Illinois, in 1997. In 2001 he moved to third grade, in 2003 he moved to Spring Brook Elementary School as a fifth-grade teacher, and in 2005 he became the student services coordinator at Spring Brook Elementary. 

A finalist this year for SCASA’s Elementary Assistant Principal of the Year award, he serves as a member of the district’s Common Core State Standard Implementation Team, Schools of the Future Community Task Force, and Job Description Review Committee. 

Watchinski prepared and developed CSES’ AdvancED standards reports, coordinates the school’s Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports system, and facilitates and coordinates special education, 504 and RtI meetings. 

Watchinski received his bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Illinois Wesleyan University and two master’s degrees, one in curriculum and instruction/supervision and one in educational administration, from Northern Illinois University.