Moore named new principal at Salisbury High; three others also named RSS principals

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, June 30, 2020

SALISBURY — Isenberg Elementary School Principal Marvin Moore has been named principal at Salisbury High School.

The principal at Isenberg since 2012, Moore was among four named to principal positions Monday. He served as the district’s Salisbury area community principal since 2017. He takes over for former SHS principal Luke Brown, who left for the same role at Mooresville High School.

Moore began his education career as a teacher at Hertford County Middle School in 2000. He became the ISS coordinator at North Rowan High School in 2001, served as a physical education teacher at Hanford Dole Elementary School from 2003 to 2007 and as an assistant principal at the school from 2007 to 2012.

He was a college basketball star at Catawba College and served as assistant coach for the college’s men’s basketball program from 2002 to 2012. He received his master’s degree from Gardner-Webb University.

On Monday, Moore said Salisbury High is a natural fit.

He described Isenberg as a global school that places an emphasis on teaching children about the world. Moore said he wants to bring that same atmosphere to SHS. Though, he wants to maintain the school’s focus on science engineering math and technology education

“Both things are very important in the world we live in,” Moore said.

Moore’s appointment on Monday was enthusiastically approved by the Rowan-Salisbury Schools Board of Education, with member Travis Allen giving him a “big yes.”

Also announced Monday, Marae Reid has been promoted to principal at Overton Elementary School, taking the place of Candice Austin.

Reid has been an assistant principal with the district since 2007 and served in capacities as a testing coordinator, bus coordinator, support coordinator and dean of students. She previously worked as a classroom teacher with RSS. She began her career as a teacher with Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools.

She earned a bachelor’s degree from Bloomsburg University and two master’s degrees from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and Catawba College.

Jessica Rivas also was named principal at Hanford-Dole Elementary School.

Rivas has been an assistant principal at Monroe High School since 2018. She began teaching with Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools in 2012, taught at Thunderbird Prep Academy from 2014 to 2015 and at Holy Trinity Catholic Middle School from 2015 to 2018.

She earned a bachelor’s degree by UNC Charlotte, a master’s from Queen’s University and a specialist certificate from Appalachian State University.

Amy Pruitt was the final principal appointment on Monday. She will be familiar to district families as the director of Horizon’s Unlimited.

But Pruitt’s appointment is different. She will serve as principal for the district’s new virtual K-8 school. Last week district administration received the go-ahead to create the school and planned on naming a principal immediately.

Pruitt said she will remain director of Horizons — a position she’s held since 2015. She has worked at Horizons for the past decade and spent her entire career, beginning in 1990, with RSS.

She earned her bachelor’s from Lenoir-Rhyne University when it was Lenoir-Rhyne College, her master’s from Catawba College and a master of school administration add-on from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.

About Carl Blankenship

Carl Blankenship has covered education for the Post since December 2019. Before coming to Salisbury he was a staff writer for The Avery Journal-Times in Newland and graduated from Appalachian State University in 2017, where he was editor of The Appalachian.

email author More by Carl