W.T. White Principal Michelle Thompson
W.T. White will be under new leadership when students and staff return from winter break in January.
After more than four years as principal, Michelle Thompson is resigning as of Jan. 8 to complete her educational doctoral leadership program and to work in Dallas ISD’s Central office.
“She gets to take her skills to a bigger platform,” says North Dallas trustee Edwin Flores. “When you find talent, you keep on promoting from within and moving them up to the right place.”
In a letter to W. T. White families and faculty, Thompson says the decision took “many months of deep soul searching and reflection.”
“I am what we call ‘ABD’ (All But the Dissertation) and it is time for me to finish my program of studies and reach the goal I set for myself too long ago,” the letter continues.
But it won’t be an unfamiliar face taking charge of the high school. Elena Bates, assistant principal of Marsh Middle School, has been named the new acting principal.
Bates, who the district hired in 2000, previously was a teacher, varsity swim coach and, later, the assistant principal of W.T. White.
“It’s not the first time it’s happened, and it won’t be the last,” Flores says of the mid-year transition. “I’m just happy we have someone like Elena Bates to take over.”
