JACKSONVILLE, N.C. — Lisa Marshall, of Northwoods Elementary School, has been named the 2023-2024 Onslow County Schools Wells Fargo Principal of the Year.

On Friday, surrounded by her staff, students, and family, Marshall was surprised with the news at her school by a group of district leaders.

Marshall has more than 20 years of experience as an educator and has been with OCS since 2006. After starting her career in another county, she joined OCS as a teacher at Northwoods Elementary and has since gone on to serve as the assistant principal of Northwoods Elementary for seven years and as principal for the past three years.

Marhsall’s staff say that her dedication to creating a positive and supportive environment for her school are unmatched. In her nomination letter, Northwoods Elementary School Assistant Principal Megan Bond said Ms. Marshall’s “consistent presence and support have created positive relationships with the community that surrounds our school.”

“…She consistently supports, encourages, and motivates our staff. In turn, they support, encourage, and motivate our students,” Bond said.

NWES teacher Kimberly Kammerer shared that Marshall makes her and her colleagues feel like they are capable of anything they set their minds to.

“Ms. Marshall addresses each of us staff members in such a positive way that we feel as if we can succeed in whatever task she sets before us. Without her ever saying that she was training us to become leaders, she has created natural leaders.

“I no longer fear stepping out of the box and trying something new since arriving at NWES.” In addition to creating a positive environment at her school, Marshall has made it her mission to improve student proficiency. At the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year, Northwoods Elementary was identified as a low-performing school, based on the previous year’s testing data.

Through Marshall’s leadership and unwavering dedication to supporting student and staff success, Northwoods Elementary went on to not only exceed their growth goals in the 2022-2023 school year, but also were identified as being in the top 25 percent of all schools in North Carolina in terms of year-over-year growth and were able to exit low-performing status.

A committee comprised of district staff members, last year’s principal of the year and last year’s teacher of the year interviewed Principal of the Year finalists before making a selection.

Next, Marshall will go on to compete at the regional level.