Karen Hancock set to take over as principal of Lee County High

LEESBURG — Starting July 1, the region’s largest high school will be under new leadership.

Karen Hancock is set to replace Kevin Dowling as the principal of Lee County High School.

“Kevin Dowling will be moving into the assistant superintendent’s position, and Karen Hancock will be taking over at Lee County High School,” Lee Schools Superintendent Jason Miller said Friday. “We are very excited about Karen’s promotion. She has been with us for a long time and has served the school in several different capacities, working as a guidance counselor and as assistant principal for almost eight years.”

Hancock began her career in education more than 20 years ago as a ninth-grade literature teacher in Worth County before moving to Lee County schools.

“I taught in Worth County until May of 2003 and started at Lee County High School in August of that year, working as a guidance counselor until December of 2008,” said Hancock. “In January of 2009, I took over as instructional supervisor assistant principal.”

For the last 7 1/2 years, Hancock has worked under the tutelage of current principal Dowling.

“I have had the opportunity to wear a lot of different hats over the last couple of years, transitioning into more responsibility, helping Mr. Dowling and becoming prepared in case this position opened up,” said Hancock.

Approaching her role as head administrator with optimism, Hancock said she credits her success to a “great staff/faculty and amazing students and parents.”

The announcement of the change in leadership was made at the school on Friday, and Hancock graciously joked to the staff, “It is going to be hard to get Mr. Dowling out of his office, but maybe we can all help him pack.”

Hancock said her new position will have both challenges and opportunities.

“I am hoping that this transition will allow everybody to excel,” she said. “Letting go of some of the things that I currently oversee will be a personal challenge for me. Realigning with the staff and taking on more community exposure will be a great opportunity, and there will be other challenges, I’m sure, like keeping up with state changes.”

According to Hancock, Lee County High School is expecting 1,365 students in the fall.

“I believe one of the most important roles we play as educators is that when students come to us with their expectations of what they want to do when they leave us, we need to determine what academic, emotional or social support they need from us to meet their goals and prepare themselves for the next step,” said Hancock.

“Students these days are facing a more global environment. Twenty years ago they didn’t really go far away from home, but now we live in such a technological age with social media, cyber bullying and so much online activity available when their brains have not fully developed the understanding as to what to put out there. In the school environment, we are not just dealing with their academics, it is also their socialization, their emotional stability and whatever issues they have when they walk in the school door. We deal with all of that. School is a melting pot of the community. We have to determine what needs they have and how we can best meet those needs.”