School Administration
Mr. Bobby Godwin, Principal
My name is Bobby Godwin, and I am excited to be the new principal at Elizabethtown Middle School. I have been dedicated to education for 15 years, beginning as a business teacher for the first nine years of my career and then serving as an assistant principal and athletic director for the past six years.
As principal of EMS, I look forward to working with our community and families to ensure our students receive the support they need to succeed. I believe that by establishing a collaborative environment where the efforts of our teachers and staff are combined with community and family involvement, we will see significant academic growth.
While I have only been in this role a short while, I’ve already had the pleasure of meeting many of the merchants and community members. This is a community that takes pride in its school and its history, and together we have the opportunity to help our students be successful.
I am excited to work with Bladen County Schools, the Elizabethtown Middle School community, and look forward to a successful school year. Go Cougars!
Mr. William Johnston, Assistant Principal
Mr. William K. Johnston, Jr. is a lifelong resident of White Lake, NC. He is a product of Bladen County Schools. He attended Bladen Lakes Primary, Bladen Middle, and graduated from East Bladen High School on May 20, 1998. Johnston began his career with Bladen County Schools as a Teacher Assistant at Booker T. Washington Primary in 2003.
In 2012, he was selected as the teacher assistant of the year for Booker T. Washington, and went on to be named Bladen County Schools Teacher Assistant of the Year, District 4 Teacher Assistant of the Year, and was named the North Carolina Teacher Assistant of the Year by the North Carolina Association of Teacher Assistants. Johnston was also elected as the first Male State President of NCATA in 2015. During his time with NCATA, he earned 3 Associate's Degrees from Bladen Community College - (Associate of Applied Science in General Education 2011, Associate of Applied Science in Criminal Justice 2012, and Associate of Arts in College Transfer 2012).
In 2013, he completed his Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from Fayetteville State University. Developing a love for learning led Johnston to complete his Master of Science in Criminal Justice from Fayetteville State University in 2016. Always desiring to become a teacher in 2017, he accepted a first-grade teaching position with the Public Schools of Robeson County at Tanglewood Elementary. While at Tanglewood, he taught first-grade for four years, third-grade for one year, and served as an Academic Coach for one year. In 2019, he completed his Master's in Elementary Education from Grand Canyon University.
Wanting to make a greater impact and difference led Johnston to complete his Master's in School Administration from Grand Canyon in 2022. In August of 2023, he was named an Assistant Principal at E. Melvin Honeycutt Elementary, which is part of the Cumberland County School System. Wanting to come back home and to his roots led Johnston to apply for an Assistant Principal position with Bladen County Schools.
I am honored to be named the New Assistant Principal of Elizabethtown Middle School. Together, I believe that we can achieve great things at ETMS. This is the year of turnaround, and our scholars will achieve great things because we believe in them! Dr. Haim Ginott once stated, "If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming. I look forward to helping the administration, teachers, and students become what they are capable of becoming.
"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." - Nelson Mandela