Warner Elementary School’s beloved principal, who was critically injured in a motorcycle crash Friday night in Bear, has died, according the school’s website.
“It is with great sadness that I must share Dr. Terrance Newton passed away this evening after injuries sustained from a motorcycle accident on Friday, March 18th,” Red Clay Consolidated School District Superintendent Dorrell Green said on the school’s web posting Monday night.
Having grown up on Wilmington’s East Side, Terrance Newton experienced violence and poverty that resulted in him working on keeping students away from it – this included cutting students’ hair at school and finding ways to provide Christmas gifts for those in need.
On Monday morning, Wilmington police and firefighters greeted students who were arriving at a school without their principal. The first responders were there to support students and the Red Clay Consolidated School District.
“He is always pushing the positive,” said David Monk, one of Newtown’s best friends since childhood. “He was just an outstanding role model.”
The crash occurred about 10:45 p.m. in the 100 block of Old Baltimore Pike, according to New Castle County Paramedics and Delaware State Police.
Newton was riding a 2020 Harley-Davidson west on Old Baltimore Pike from the area of Christiana Road late Friday when Delaware State Police said he tried to pass a vehicle ahead of him.
As he moved to pass the vehicle on its left side, Newton’s Harley struck the raised concrete median. Newton, who police said was wearing a helmet, was ejected from the motorcycle.
Arriving paramedics found 47-year-old Newton in the roadway. He was treated for a head injury before he was taken to Christiana Hospital in critical condition, according to paramedic Staff Sgt. Abigail E. Haas.
The incident brought requests for prayers from many on social media, including Wilmington City Councilwoman Michelle Harlee, who posted on Facebook: “I am sending a word of healing to Dr. Terrance Newton! I am asking all prayer warriors that know the power of prayer to call out his name and let’s believe God for a miracle for him!”
Others shared photos and pleas for prayers and love for a man many said they admired and respected.
Newton made it a point to always see the future through the children walking the school hallways where he taught, knowing many also walk the streets he did as a kid. Because of that, he always wanted to help them see a life without violence.
“We’re losing people to the streets,” Newton told Delaware Online/The News Journal in a 2015 interview after the killing of 30-year-old Jamar Kilgoe – a family friend he considered his brother.
Because education lifted him from despair, Newton would present this to his students as a way out. He often preaches about making better decisions, such as how to resolve conflicts with words rather than violence.
He always lets them know they are loved.
A force of change: School leader from city streets laments ‘lost generation’
“It makes a difference because they see that people care,” he said in 2015. “Let them know you care.”
Newton would do more than just talk to students about this – he would find ways to show his commitment to them. This includes setting up a barbershop at school, where he would cut students’ hair to show he not only cares about their education, but also wants them to be happy with themselves and how the world sees them.
Bonding with students:Wilmington principal uses makeshift barbershop to bond with students, one cut at a time
When news broke about his in-school barbershop, he found himself on the Kelly Clarkson Show in Feb. 2020 in recognition of his efforts. There, he talked about how cutting students’ hair opened up conversations with the kids – and in the process, reduced suspensions.
Newton would also find families in need, especially around the Christmas holiday, and with the help of the Thunderguards Motorcycle Club provide presents for his students and their siblings. The parents would also receive money to help out.
Making Christmas:Thunderguards deliver Christmas gifts to family in need at Warner Elementary School
Contact Esteban Parra at (302) 324-2299, eparra@delawareonline.com or Twitter @eparra3.
