By A.P. Dillon
RALEIGH — A Newton-Conover City School district principal has been named the 2020 Wells Fargo North Carolina Principal of the Year. Since 1984, 41 Principals of the Year and 264 regional recipients have been recognized for the award.
Kisha Clemons, principal of Shuford Elementary School, was given the honor at an Aug. 28 luncheon at The Umstead, in Cary.
Prior to becoming the principal at Shuford Elementary in 2016, Clemons was the principal of Elizabeth Duncan Koontz Elementary School in the Rowan-Salisbury School System for two years and spent five years as an assistant principal at Catawba and Mountain View elementary schools in Catawba County.
During her initial year in education, Clemons was as a music teacher and band director in Beaufort County Schools. She also taught music and served as band director in middle schools for five years in Catawba County.
“Kisha says visitors to Shuford Elementary see students who are learning, engaged and empowered, but underneath is what others don’t see,” State Superintendent Mark Johnson said at the awards presentation. “It’s the hard work, the persistence, the failure. It’s the journey.”
The 2020 Wells Fargo Principal of the Year receives $3,000 for personal use and $3,000 for his or her school. Clemons will also receive professional development and resources supporting global awareness in the curriculum for their staff courtesy of Education First and resources to help combat child hunger from No Kid Hungry NC. In addition, she will receive a custom-made NC Principal of the Year signet ring and a complimentary two-night stay at the new Hampton Inn & Suites Downtown Chapel Hill-Carrboro.
Clemons joins the 2020 Burroughs Wellcome Fund North Carolina Teacher of the Year Maureen Stover, a science teacher at Cumberland International Early College High School in Cumberland County Schools. Stover, who teaches science teacher at Cumberland International Early College High School, was named in July.
