Principal shakeup: Leon County announces new top administrators at seven schools
Leon County Schools announced new principals for seven district schools for the 2022-2023 school year on Monday.
Montford Middle School, Swift Creek Middle School, Sabal Palm Elementary School, Fort Braden K-8 School, Conley Elementary School and Apalachee Elementary School have new leadership starting this week.
Killearn Lakes Elementary School will transition its new principal at the end of the 2023 year.
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"I am very excited about the class of 2022 and the leadership they will bring to their school," said Superintendent Rocky Hanna. "It's their time to shine, and they've waited for this opportunity for a number of years. It's time for them to step up and become a leader in their school community.
Montford's principal, Lewis Blessing, had been a principal at the middle school for 10 years. This past year, however, he faced backlash from parents' rights advocates who complained for letting students take part in a protest against the Parents' Rights in Education bill, also known as the "Don't Say Gay" bill by critics.
"That had absolutely nothing to do with him accepting a position in the district office," Hanna said. "Being a principal at a school for a decade or more is not easy. It's a lot of stress, and I appreciate the work that Principal Blessing did during his decade at Montford Middle School. An opportunity presented itself at the district in academic services, and it gave him a chance to move on to another phase in his career."
Blessing, who will become the new director of curriculum services at the district, is being replaced by Anthony McQuade, who has been an assistant principal at Lincoln High School for three years.
Fort Braden's principal for 14 years, Jimbo Jackson, died in late May of this year after a long battle with COVID complications. He was 55.
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The new principal for Fort Braden is Todd Lanter, who has spent the last four years as an assistant principal of Godby High School.
Apalachee Elementary School
Pam Hightower, formerly the director of Title I schools and the principal of Bond Elementary School, will take the helm as principal. Former principal Tiffany Williams will move to Lively Technical College.
Conley Elementary School
Ben Threadgill, who has been the assistant principal at W.T. Moore for the past six years, will be the next principal of Conley. Former principal Jason Koerner will move on to become principal at Swift Creek Middle School.
Killearn Lakes Elementary School
Jenny Blair will become the next principal of Killearn Lakes. She has been the assistant principal at Godby for the past eight years. Former principal of Killearn Lakes Brenda Wagner will retire at the end of the school year. Blair will become a principal in transition in December and then full take over in June 2023.
Sabal Palm Elementary School
Shannon Davis. who has been the assistant principal at Sabal Palm for the past three years, will take over as principal. Anicia Robinson will become the new director of elementary schools at the district.
Swift Creek Middle School
Jason Koerner, formerly the principal of Conley Elementary School for four years, will become principal of Swift Creek. Sue Rishell is retiring from the district.
Contact Ana Goñi-Lessan at AGoniLessan@tallahassee.com and follow her on Twitter @goni_lessan.
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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Leon County announces new principals at seven schools
