When one door closes, another door opens.

Bullitt East alumni and principal, Willie Foster, will not be returning to Charger Nation next year.

Foster has guided Bullitt East to new levels over the years. He has worked hard to make East better than it was when he first took over as principal.

After becoming a top ten high school of distinction, Foster’s time is coming to an end and will be moving on. “I think one of the things you always have to look at when you do this job is timing and fit. I’ve been here four years and we have accomplished a lot and there was some opportunities at the district level and so really you have to step back and evaluate where you are, whether you’re still learning and growing and you also have to monitor your own gas tank and one of the things I feel like is that not necessarily that my tank is on E is just time for something else to fill my tank up,” said Foster. He informed the staff about the change yesterday during a staff meeting and via email to all staff members.

Foster accepted a job to serve as the Director of College and Career Readiness and Innovative Programs for Bullitt County Public Schools. “I will oversee things like engineering, early childhood education, and business programs. I will oversee the vocational school, the BAMS program, the Discovery school, I will work with JCTC for dual credit, I will work with business partnerships for Co-op opportunities and things like that so a lot of very different things that I have had very little pieces of those things here but that’s what I’ll do full time,” said Foster. He accepted the job on May 27.

Leaving Bullitt East was not an easy decision for Foster. “I thought a lot about it. You know it’s an emotional time of the year, you know the end of the year comes with a mixed bag of emotions anyway. Graduation is by far the most favorite thing that I do. The school year can be nuts but graduation is awesome, it’s special to watch our students make it, it’s special to watch our staff in their robes, it’s just an awesome day. So to walk away from that positive thing and say oh yeah I’m also accepting a new job is hard; so it was a tough decision and obviously not something I took lightly, but again you have to go back and evaluate the big picture, which I’ve done and it will be alright, I will be a wonderful new person,” said Foster.

Foster will miss the students the most. “[ I will miss] the students, I love doing things where our students are involved. I love going to events, I love being in classrooms, I love talking to students and in reality as a principal I don’t get to do that stuff near enough; I deal with other stuff but the one thing I’ve told people since I’ve been here is that people come and go whether it is students, staff, principals, whomever, we have a rich tradition of people coming, spending their time here and leaving better than they found it and I knew when I was hired four years ago that I wasn’t the first principal and I knew I wasn’t going to be the last. I hope in some small way I leave it better than it was,” said Foster. Since Foster took over for Debby Atherton four years ago, student enrollment has went up, the school expanded with the addition of the college and career readiness center and East has soared academically over his time as principal.

Foster told the staff in an email, “Although not always the easiest, this job has been the most awesome experience in my life.  I am so very proud of what we have accomplished and hope in some small way that I leave it better than I found it.  I appreciate each of you more than you will ever know.”

He was able to talk to the Charger Nation staff about his change in jobs. One thing Foster worried about was losing momentum, but he was very happy about the timing and was happy he got to tell the staff personally about his decision rather than telling them in the summer when they are off and not all together. “A change also comes with a little bit of uneasiness but I’m confident there is going to be a great pool of applicants and I’m confident that our council is going to pick an amazing new principal,” said Foster. He will be as supportive as he can. He will make sure the new principal is aware of where Bullitt East is as a school and make sure they see the new schedule for next year. Foster will show the new principal all of the site base and budget stuff. Foster has offered to stay as long as the board needs him to stay at Bullitt East. He is currently scheduled to stay until the end of June and expecting to officially start his new job July 1.

As Foster prepares for his new job, he told the staff, “Thank you for an incredible four years.  Thank you for working to change the lives of young people each day.  Most of all, thank you for making Bullitt East the BEST High School in Commonwealth!”