Incoming freshmen at Union High School will see a familiar face next year as Union Middle School Principal Lee Killen moves up to take the lead at Union High School.
The district announced last week Killen would replace Brett Rigby as Union High School principal for the 2019-20 school year.
Killen, an 18-year veteran of Mississippi Public Schools, said he was excited and honored to be making the move from the middle school to the high school.
“I’ve got some big shoes to fill in Mr. Rigby,” he said. “He’s a great man, a good man, and it’s a great staff at the high school, and I’m looking forward to it.”
August, however, will not be Killen’s first time working at Union High School. His career began at UHS in 1999 when he coached softball. Since then, Killen has taught and coached at various schools throughout East Mississippi, including Philadelphia, Newton County and winning a state championship at Leake Academy in 2002.
For the past six years, Killen’s career has turned toward school administration. After receiving his administration degree in 2009, he served a year as assistant principal at Bay Springs and four years as principal of Lake High School before returning to Union last year as UMS principal.
Next year, Killen said, his goal is to “maintain the A-rating that we have currently.”
UHS, like the middle school, already has great staff and positive culture, he said. Maintaining that is his main priority.
“There’s good faculty and staff in place in both places,” he said. “They handle their business well, and I’m just going to be privileged to work alongside them.”
Throughout the year, Killen said he would like to grow the collaboration between the middle and high school teachers that he saw last year as UMS principal. When both schools are on the same page, he said, students benefit.
“I would like to keep that up because it’s so vital,” he said. “We’re all on the same page; we’re all rowing in the same direction. So, we need to collaborate as much as possible, and I would like to keep that up, in fact, increase it.”
Superintendent Tyler Hansford said Killen was a natural choice to fill the high school position. He understands the needs of the school, has the confidence of the staff and has the experience to get things done.
“I’m excited about it. People are excited about it, and based on the response on social media, the community is excited about it.
