New Broughton High principal enters with a ‘healthy respect’ for the historic school
Janiece Dilts will become just the sixth principal to lead Broughton High School since 1970 when she takes the helm of the historic Raleigh high school next month.
The Wake County school system announced Tuesday night that Dilts, the principal of Holly Grove Middle School in Holly Springs, will transfer to Broughton on Jan. 3. Dilts said she had to jump at the chance to lead what’s considered by some people to be the flagship high school in Raleigh and Wake County.
“Whenever you enter a school that has a reputation like Broughton, there’s a healthy respect that you want to honor while working to create new traditions,” Dilts said in an interview Wednesday as she drove to Broughton to meet the staff. “I’m humbled and respect the strong leadership that’s been there.”
Broughton, which opened in 1929 near what is now the Village District, has educated some of Raleigh’s most prominent families. It’s the oldest high school in Raleigh still being used.
Broughton has enjoyed unusually stable school leadership. Turnover among high school principals is much more common at other schools.
Dilts will take over for Elena Ashburn, who has been Broughton’s principal since early 2017. Ashburn worked to make Broughton more inclusive and was recognized as the 2021 North Carolina Principal of the Year.
Ashburn is leaving Broughton to become the school district’s Central Area Superintendent.
Watching students graduate
It wasn’t always Dilts’ intention to become a high school principal.
Dilts, 45, started her education career in 2004 in Florida teaching middle school and high school English. She relocated to Wake County in 2008 to teach English at Holly Springs High School.
Dilts said her original plan was to spend her entire career as a classroom teacher. But over time she wanted to have more of an impact than just on her own students.
She credits Tim Locklair, who was Holly Springs High’s principal at the time, with encouraging her to consider a career as an administrator. Dilts served as an administrative intern under Locklair, who is now the superintendent of Moore County Schools.
Dilts went on to become an assistant principal at Millbrook High School in Raleigh. She joined Holly Grove Middle in 2014 as an assistant principal before becoming its principal in 2018.
Once she became an administrator, Dilts said she knew she wanted to lead a high school.
“You can’t replace the intrinsic value of seeing students walk across the stage at graduation because that’s literally what every educator is looking for when kids enter kindergarten,” Dilts said.
‘Flagship school’
Dilts lives in Raleigh with her husband and two children. She already has firsthand knowledge of Broughton families from her son playing on a Raleigh baseball club.
She will be paid a salary of $124,875 to lead the 2,100-student high school located on St. Mary’s Street.
Dilts knows that she’ll have many eyes looking on her, including the many Broughton alumni who are still involved in the school.
“It’s a humbling experience to serve in Wake County’s flagship school,” she said.
