Principal Ben Edmondson

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Edmondson says his wife, Roslyn, has a calm that balances his high-voltage personality. They have two young sons. At Tuptim, Edmondson briefly exchanges his principal’s hat for a parent’s, taking a phone call from his son’s kindergarten teacher and talking tensely about a problem between the boy and a classmate. (Although the family lives in Ypsilanti Township, Edmondson, as a district employee, enrolled his son at Bryant, in part so he’d have a black principal.)

Edmondson calls himself “a risk taker,” and he makes no secret of his desire to be a superintendent. Since leaders who can improve troubled schools are in short supply, that dream is likely to be realized sooner rather than later. But even if his career does take him away from Ann Arbor, he’s already made a lasting impression at Scarlett—and not just for the silver Corvette.   

[Originally published in December, 2008.]