Surprise struck the faces of two school leaders Thursday morning as they were named Marion County’s top school administrators.
Melissa Forsyth, principal of Liberty Middle School in Southwest Marion County, is the 2021 Marion County Principal of the Year. Forsyth was named principal at Liberty Middle in 2017 after serving as assistant principal there. She joined the district in 2005 and was Marion County’s 2008 Rookie Teacher of the Year.
Forsyth is a graduate of North Marion High and holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Social Science Education and Education Leadership from the University of Central Florida and Saint Leo University, respectively. She leads more than 1,300 students at Liberty Middle and directs teaching throughout the school’s Advancement via Individual Determination (AVID) program.
Meantime, Rebecca Miller, an assistant principal at nearby Marion Oaks Elementary, was conducting a formal teacher evaluation when her morning was interrupted to become Marion County’s 2021 Assistant Principal of the Year.
Miller graduated from Vanguard High School and holds degrees in elementary education from the University of Central Florida and Educational Leadership from Saint Leo University. She joined the district in 2010 as a teacher at South Ocala Elementary and worked at Fort King Middle and Ward-Highlands Elementary. Miller helps direct learning for more than 800 students on her Marion Oaks campus.
Forsyth and Miller now advance to the state competition, where the Florida Department of Education will select Florida’s 2021 Principal and Assistant Principal of the Year.
For more information, visit http://www.fldoe.org/teaching/recognition/.