Switzer says. "I want them to say, 'This is the best.'" The school's test scores are high, extracurricular clubs are flourishing and the school is finding success on athletic fields. This year, Newsweek included Ardrey Kell in its annual list of "America's Best High Schools" — and ahead of all other Charlotte- Mecklenburg Schools.
"I don't stress about this job. I get to go home at night and see my family. I can always go home and
be okay." — Ardrey Kell Principal
David Switzer
He Knows Heavy Burdens
As principal, Switzer juggles
Despite joining the Air National Guard as a college freshman, and later flying in the Air Force, David Switzer always knew he would become an educator.
FALL 2012
the competing needs of 2,400 students, their demanding parents, 170 staff members and his school- district bosses. It sounds like a heavy burden, but Switzer shrugs off that talk. He has dealt with heavier burdens. You want to talk about stress? How about working in close quarters in a large plane traveling hundreds of miles an hour, thousands of feet above hostile territory? Or completing two tours in Iraq and three in Afghanistan? Or finishing a master's in education from a tent city in Saudi Arabia?
continued on page 37 BALLANTYNE MAGAZINE 35