The familiar clunk of Principal Todd Holden's cowboy boots won't echo through the hallways of West Iredell High School for much longer.
Holden, who has been at the school for six years — including four as principal — is leaving to take a job at the Iredell-Statesville School central office. There, he'll be the executive director of secondary education and career technical education (CTE).
Holden takes over for Dale Ellis, who held the position on an interim basis after Ron Hargrave moved to another post within the district. Steve Hill, the former executive director of CTE, retired last year.
Holden, who has more than 25 years of experience in education, was selected from a pool of eight finalists — four in-house candidates and four from outside the district.
"This is a great school district where the competition was stiff," he said. "I'm amazed I was chosen."
In his new position, Holden will be in charge of 18 schools — two alternative schools, two early colleges, two International Baccalaureate Candidate Schools, seven middle schools and five high schools.
"I was helping 1,000 kids, and now I'm helping 11,800," said Holden, who will take on the new job full-time in early March.
Holden said he will provide support and instructional leadership to all the schools under his umbrella as they work toward reaching the goals set in their school-improvement plans. He'll also play a key role at the Career and Technical Center in Troutman, which will begin a remodeling phase in March.
Holden said leaving the comfort of West Iredell High School and its family of students and staff members won't be easy.
"Leaving West will be the hardest thing I've ever done in my educational career," he said. "I can't be (at West) all the time, and that'll kill me."
School secretary Cricket Barnette, who has worked with Holden for his six years at the school, has mixed emotions about his departure.
"I'm sad, but glad for him," she said. "He deserves a promotion because he's a hard worker."
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