
The New Hanover County school district’s newly revamped Spanish immersion program now has a new leader.
The board of education recently named Leigh Ann Lampley as principal of the International School at Gregory, according to district spokeswoman Valita Quattlebaum.
The school—formerly Gregory School of Science, Mathematics and Technology—will be the site of Spanish immersion beginning in August.
Late last year, a divided school board voted to move the program, currently housed at Forest Hills Global Elementary School, to Gregory as part of sweeping reforms to the district’s struggling magnet schools. The motion passed 4-3, with members Lisa Estep, Tammy Covil and Bruce Shell dissenting.
Lampley comes from Moore County in the state’s Piedmont region, where she has served as principal of West End Elementary since 2009. Like Forest Hills, West End has an active and engaged Spanish immersion program that works in partnership with the Visiting International Faculty Programs.
“Ms. Lampley was instrumental in the creation and development of this Spanish immersion program,” Quattlebaum said.
Prior to her involvement in immersion, Lampley worked as an elementary school administrator in North Carolina and is a former classroom teacher.
The school board approved a two-year contract for Lampley that expires June 30, 2018.
Other administrative changes at county schools include:
- The appointment of Laney High School principal Allen O’Briant to Director of Secondary Education. O’Briant has previously served as an assistant principal at Laney, as well as head of Noble Middle School and a teacher and coach at Trask Middle. He will finish out the school year at Laney while the district begins the search for a new principal.
- The hiring of Pender County principal Diego Lehocky as principal of Sunset Park Elementary. Currently the leader of Penderlea School, Lehocky has also worked as an educator and administrator in both New Hanover and Pender counties.