This principal makes house calls every week

WOODBURY, NJ - The Evergreen Avenue Elementary School students are on the edge of their desk chairs at 2 p.m. every Friday.

This could be the Friday their principal visits their house with a Stand Out Student award and a pencil that says it all: My principal is proud of me.

It's Principal Tom Braddock's goal to visit every one of his 296 pre-K to grade 5 students at home by the end of the school year.

With about 15 visits every Friday afternoon since September, Braddock is on target to meet the goal in June, when he completes his first year at the Woodbury school's helm. He's made 240 house calls already, with some kids in smaller classes picked more than once for the honor by their teachers.

"You would think I was Santa Claus or a celebrity coming to their home," said Braddock, 41.

"The kids are waiting for me, looking out the windows. They can't wait until I come."

On Friday, fifth-grader Melania Kee, 11, watched through the front door for Braddock to walk the path from the curb to the stoop.

She opened the door, her brothers and stepfather Thomas Ross behind her awaiting the certificate presentation.

Melania was "a ray of sunshine" all week her teacher wrote on the certificate. The girl's "positivity is contagious."

"Most of my positivity comes from Mr. B," Melania said.

She picked out her pencil, and gave Braddock a hug.

"She's a rock star," the principal told her stepfather.

It was his third visit to the home since the start of the school year.

Melania is a two-time Stand Out Student winner. Her fourth-grade brother Amare, 9, won the honor in October.

"They're very competitive," Ross said about the children.

"Anything they can compete about, they'll be the best. It keeps morale up."

Academics come first in his household, Ross explained.

"This school district is more intimate," he said, noting the family moved to Woodbury for the smaller class sizes at Evergreen Avenue School.

"We pay more to stay in this area, but it's worth it."

The principal's visits are appreciated, Ross said. "It lets us know he cares," he said.

Families are usually shocked when Braddock rings the doorbell.

"The old-school thought is, 'Man, if the principal is coming to our house, we had to do something wrong,' " he said.

But when Braddock comes knocking, it's a "welcome surprise," he said.

"I have been invited to stay for dinner, and I have stayed at some places. The hospitality of some families is amazing."

The visits are also remarkably eye-opening.

"I look through a very different lens now after going to all of their homes. It's not only opened my heart, but opened my mind," he said.

"It's allowed me to look at each child in a much more loving and understanding way."

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