After 25 years, there is a new Eagle on campus. Following Rick Parker’s retirement, Steve Drye stepped in as East Meck’s new principal on Aug. 1, 2024. Drye, who has experience leading both elementary and middle schools, sees East Meck as his final destination.
“I knew Rick, and the school has a great reputation,” Drye said. “It’ awesome that we’re a diverse school.” On his first day, Drye participated in safety training and tackled human resources tasks, including position exchanges for the new principal at Mint Hill Middle School.
Known for being very organized, Drye knows what needs to be prioritized.
“I have a weekly worksheet that I keep. Every day, I kind of have a task categorized by important and urgent all the way down to not important,” Drye said.
Drye didn’t have any specific polices that he wanted to enact but one that became an issue was the phone policy. The phone policy was already in place at East but was not enforced.
“My thing with the cell phone policy is really just trying to preserve that instructional time, so that when kids are in class, they’re focused on their class, but they also still have the freedom to use their phones at other time.” Drye said.
When it came to meeting the staff, Drye as pleased with the warm welcome. Drye’s commitment to creating a positive school environment extends beyond policies. He sends a “Thought for the Day” email to motivate staff and set a positive tone for the mornings.
Building relationships with students is another priority. “My goal is to really prioritize getting out to know the kids,” Drye said. Drye is also eager to learn how students want to interact with him to build a community.
When East Meck faced threats in mid-December, Drye made sure students were safe by putting the school on lockdown and having police around on campus. He sent emails to students and parents about the threat and asked everyone to speak up if they had any information.
Students getting their education is really important to Drye. He wants students to focus in class and get good grades to be able to graduate high school. “Education is key to opportunity.” In these 100 days Drye has settled in and made a good appearance here at East and is making new family along the way.
