bumstead1 - Mr. Umstead's Principal Page

I am rapidly closing out this past school year and looking foward to an exciting new school year. This new school year will provide some new challenges for all schools as reduced funding from the state legislature and county commissioners will force us to cut back on supplies and personnel resources. But we will still provide a high quality education for your child/ren! We have excellent staff returning and with the continued parental support we have experienced, we will continue to move forward towards our School Improvement goals.

On June 16, the school board approved Rossi Wade to become the assistant principal at Swift Creek beginning August 1. Ms. Wade has a background in special education and completed an Administrative Internship at Githens Middle School in Durham. She will start an Assistant Principal page when she begins employment.

We have two new staff members who will be joining us. Mary Alice Ramsey is our new media specialist. She comes to us from West Lake Elementary school and is replacing Ms. Pittman who is the media specialist for Mr. Argent at Lake Myra Elementary. Also joining us is Ashley Huddle, our new music teacher. Ms. Huddle comes to us from Davis Dr. Elementary. She is replacing two part time employees: Tama Bouncer who has become the full time vice president for the NCAE and Jason Royal who has moved with his wife to Tennessee.

Mark the following dates on your calendar:

Meet the Teacher-Thursday, August 20 4:30-6:30

Open House: Tuesday, September 8 at 7:00

Remember that schools starts at 9:05 and will dismiss at 3:45 except on all Wednesdays when we dismiss at 2:45.

Early release days are also on Wednesdays and we dismiss at 1:15 on those days: 9/23, 10/21, 12/2, 2/3, 3/10, 4/21.

My History

I was the assistant principal at Swift Creek from January, 2000 until March 3, 2009 Prior to then, I was the assistant principal at Knightdale Elementary. Before going in to school administration, I taught PE at the middle and elementary school levels in Wake, Chatham and New Hanover counites. I have also coached football, soccer, basketball and track at the middle school level and football and baseball at the high school level. I worked in the newspaper advertising business for five years in the early 80s.

Many of you know that I am an avid UNC fan. I graduated from there in '75 with a BA degree and earned a MAT degree in '76. I have also attended NCCU where I earned my Administration Certification. Sandy, my wife of 33 years, is a retired high school English teacher. We have two children, Brian who works in the Raleigh area and Charlotte who is a teacher for Wake County Schools.

I was a five-time finalist for the WCPSS Assistant Principal of the Year.

My favorite past times are attending UNC football games and playing golf.