Antonio Ingram is the director of Baldwin Success Academy and the Baldwin Online Academy, and a long-term veteran of the Baldwin District. Beginning his career as a Social Studies teacher for four years before it was suggested that he would be good in administration, Ingram achieved his Master's in Administration from Georgia College before becoming an eighth grade assistant principal at Oak Hill Middle School. He left Baldwin County to become an assistant principal with the Bibb County Schools before becoming Principal of Midway Hills Academy where he served for seven years. Ingram had just about seen it all, and then the pandemic hit.
"In my first year of working with the Baldwin Success Academy, the COVID pandemic happened, so I was asked to take over that program and run the Baldwin Online Academy as well," said Ingram, "I agreed to do both." The Baldwin Success Academy is different from normal schools because it's enrollment is made up of students who have gone through a disciplinary tribunal and are assigned to the program. Baldwin Online Academy is for those students who, for any number of reasons, may require at-home instruction rather than face-to-face.
"We principals lean on each other. We talk with each other, and we're a big family. There's a lot of camaraderie here in Baldwin County between principals and the administrative staff."
"For one, with the Baldwin Success Academy, you're dealing with students transitioning in and out at a much faster rate," Ingram said, "so you're learning as much about those students and working with them as quickly as possible. For the Baldwin Online Academy, the beginning of the semester is the most stressful period." Ingram added that, on the whole, the principals of Baldwin County rely heavily on one another during times of great stress. "We principals lean on each other," Ingram said, "we talk with each other, and we're a big family. There's a lot of camaraderie here in Baldwin County between principals and the administrative staff."
National Principals Month is about honoring the servant leaders at our schools, and recognizing the amount of stress that they go through in making our students successful at any stage of the educational process. Ingram's position is critical, since he is able to fill in gaps where students might otherwise be unable to graduate. Because of this, he often finds himself bouncing between the two programs. "I have certain times of the day when I work on the Online Academy," Ingram said, "it's generally during the breaks between the Baldwin Success Academy classes."
The continual dance between students online and in-person is important for Ingram, because when first set out to college to be a computer science major, he found himself frustrated by all of the time spent sitting at the computer. Then, one of his teachers suggested that he go into education. "I did my first practicum at Baldwin High School and I enjoyed it," said Ingram, "so that's what drove me into education." Now, Ingram experiences both worlds, the virtual classroom and the physical one, and excels at leading both.
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