Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools principal revealed as finalist for state’s top honor
LaTresha Wilson, principal of Tuckaseegee Elementary School in west Charlotte, has been named a finalist for the 2026 North Carolina Principal of the Year.
Students, district leaders and the 2025 winner, Jason Johnson, surprised Wilson with the honor Tuesday morning, the second such surprise she’s received in three months. Wilson was previously named Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Principal of the Year on Oct. 3.
“I know that I live and I breathe being a principal and pouring into these kids every day, so it means so much to me,” Wilson told The Charlotte Observer after she was named the CMS principal of the year. “The heart and the dedication that I put into it, I know that it’s unmatched.”
She is now one of nine principals, out of the state’s more than 2,500, in the running for The Wells Fargo North Carolina Principal of the Year award to be announced in May. The award was introduced in 1984.
The statewide 2026 winner will serve as an advisor to the State Board of Education for a two-year term and serves on the Board of Directors of the North Carolina Public School Forum.
Wilson is in her third year as a first-time principal, after previously serving as assistant principal at Paw Creek Elementary School. Over the last two years, Tuckaseegee’s school performance grade from the state has improved from a D to a B under Wilson’s leadership.
Wilson in large part credits her staff and her students for the school’s progress. Tuckaseegee is one of the district’s Title I schools, meaning it has a high proportion of low-income students, and Wilson said students are “shattering stereotypes.”
“When I think of how much Tuckaseegee Elementary has accomplished in the last two years, it just makes my heart happy,” she said Tuesday. “It means so much to be acknowledged for something that I feel I’m called to do.”
Wilson grew up in the neighborhood where she’s now principal, and she said that makes the job, and the recognition, mean even more.
“It feels so good to be able to pour into this community,” she said. “It means so much that I’m able to be a face in the community that cared for me and raised me, and now I’m able to give back to it.”
This story was originally published December 16, 2025 at 10:47 AM.
