Lake Wylie High School has its first principal, as do two other Clover schools
Lake Wylie High School along with two other new schools have their first new principals.
The Clover School District named Ninth Grade Campus principal Calub Courtwright to lead Lake Wylie High. It’ll be the district’s second high school, after Clover High School, when it opens next year.
Courtwright also was principal at Clover Middle School from 2013 to 2023. He joined the district in 1999 as a teacher at Crowders Creek Elementary School in Lake Wylie. He became assistant principal at Crowders Creek in 2007 and was principal at Bethany Elementary School from 2010 to 2013.
Lake Wylie High’s first principal is a proven leader at every level he’s served, said district Superintendent Sheila Quinn. At the Ninth Grade Campus, 94% of students under Courtwright’s leadership are considered on track for graduation.
Courtwright is a graduate of Geneva College in Pennsylvania, with a master’s in educational leadership from Winthrop University. His goal, Courtwright said, is for the new Lake Wylie High to set a standard for high schools across the Southeast.
Roosevelt, Liberty Hill get new principals
Roosevelt Middle School and Liberty Hill Elementary School also are on track for an August opening next year. The school district named Maurice Thomas as Roosevelt’s first principal, and Shavon O’Brien to the same role at Liberty Hill.
Thomas has been principal at Crowders Creek since 2022. He was assistant principal for three years prior at Bethel Elementary School, after starting in education as a school counselor at a Gastonia, North Carolina, middle school in 2013. Thomas holds undergraduate and master’s degrees from Winthrop, and a doctorate in educational leadership from Gardner Webb University.
Energy, a focus on data and a collaborative style are strong suits, Quinn said. Experience as a counselor also is important for engaging with middle school students, she said.
O’Brien has been principal at Bethel Elementary since 2018. She was assistant principal at two Gaston County middle schools prior to that. She also was an instructional facilitator at a Belmont elementary school, also in Gaston County, and a first grade teacher at a Pineville, North Carolina, elementary school in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools district.
O’Brien holds degrees from Clarion University in Pennsylvania and an administrative license from Wingate University in North Carolina. Along with a strong educational background, O’Brien also has positive relationships with many of the families who are likely to send to students to her new school, Quinn said.
New schools in the Clover district
Clover School District voters passed a $156 million bond three years ago to build a new high school. It’s on what’s now called Cannonball Run, the former Daimler Boulevard between S.C. 49 and Hands Mill Highway. It’s just north of Big Allison Creek.
Two years ago, the district decided to speed up the timeline for borrowing against the bond. Using the maximum tax millage straight away instead of increasing it in steps would generate more than $50 million.
The district used that money and borrowing below the amount that would require another public bond vote to build what will be the district’s eighth elementary school. It’ll go beside the new high school.
Opening a second high school will free up room at Clover High’s Ninth Grade Campus, which will become the district’s third middle school.
Details like attendance boundaries for the new schools haven’t been set.
Lake Wylie High will be York County’s ninth high school among its four public school districts. The Clover district will join the Rock Hill and Fort Mill districts — three each — with multiple high schools. The York district will become the county’s only single high school district.
The Clover district has about 9,000 students. About 29% of those students are in high school. Clover is the third largest district in York County, behind Fort Mill and Rock Hill.
