Last Friday, Sedge Garden Elementary Principal Donald Wyatt changed out of his Care Bear costume into a navy blue shirt tucked into his jeans. It looked like a casual Friday outfit from the back, but when he turned around to reveal a giant white “6” on his shirt — and his assistant principal joined him with a matching “7” to complete the Gen Z meme reference — it was clear the school’s Halloween celebrations were in full swing.

But it was just another day for Wyatt, who regularly dons costumes throughout the school year: superheroes, Elf on the Shelf, Chewbacca, Willy Wonka, and many others.

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“I’ve got a lot of costumes, more than any 45-year-old male should have,” he told Scope News. “For Halloween, it’s really just a matter of which one I want to pull out.” 

The tradition began during his first stint at Sedge Garden, when he served as assistant principal and principal for a combined five and a half years until 2020.

“We’re not here to be silly; we’re here to educate students and make sure they’re learning, but I try to do it in a fun way,” Wyatt said. “I try to see it through a kid’s lens and make it a place kids want to come to. I like to dress up. I like to be a big personality that students can trust and respect and lean on when they need to … because the happier they are, the more they’re going to learn.”

He continued the tradition through his time as principal at both East Forsyth Middle School and Mount Tabor High School.

“When I moved from [elementary school] to middle school, one of the questions I got most was, ‘What are you going to do with all your costumes?’” Wyatt said. “My answer was simple: I’m going to wear them. And I did. I wore them at the middle school and I wore them at the high school — and the kids loved it.”

“We have kids that come from all sorts of trauma and have to grow up way too quick. But even when you’re grown up, you don’t have to be grown. You can still be a kid.”

Wyatt said his decision to become a principal — and eventually move up to the high school level — came from a desire to have the greatest impact on the largest number of students possible. Now back at Sedge Garden, a school of fewer than 800 students compared to Mount Tabor’s 1,400, his priorities have shifted.

“I live in Kernersville. I’ve always considered it home,” Wyatt said of his decision to return. “I’ve run the gamut of pre-K through 12th grade. It’s time for me to come home — to finish out my career in my community with the elementary kids that have always held my heart.”

Wyatt returned just months after allegations of maltreatment against a teaching assistant in the preschool program led to then-principal Angela Reeves being suspended.

​​When Scope News asked how he plans to lead in light of the incident, Wyatt said:

“I don’t believe it has to be about an incident, because what we know in the news that happens in schools is oftentimes far worse outside of schools. You’ve got students who are seeing things daily in their neighborhoods, who bring that kind of trauma.

“Coming back here, I think I already have a certain level of trust with the community because they’ve seen what I’ve done. Allowing every student to know they have a trusted adult makes them more likely to confide in you about the things they don’t want to talk about with others. It’s really important that, as a faculty, we’re able to do that individually. So the beginning of helping the community heal is building that trust — by being open, honest, listening and offering ways to support them.”

Emily Hermanson, former music teacher during Wyatt’s first stint as principal and now a parent of students at the school, welcomed his return.

“He is a positive force and brought a lot of energy to the school,” Hermanson said. “He is particularly great at building relationships with students, parents and the community. I trust that he will keep students at the heart of any decisions that must be made.”

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