Roanoke County Schools approve Jean Brammer as Penn Forest principal

Penn Forest Elementary School assistant principal Jean Brammer will take over as the school's leader.

The Roanoke County School Board approved two personnel measures during a brief and informal meeting early Wednesday.

Brammer was tapped as the school's principal. She replaces Linda Wright, who was named the system's director of elementary instruction and technology in July. She had been principal at Penn Forest since coming to Roanoke County in 1995.

Brammer has been assistant principal at the school since 2005. She joined the division in 1980 as a teacher at William Byrd Middle School and became assistant principal at Green Valley Elementary School in 1997. She left the school system in 2000 and later returned to work at Penn Forest.

She has a bachelor's degree in special education from James Madison University and a master's degree in guidance from Virginia Tech. She also completed a certificate of advanced graduate study in educational administration at Tech.

"I'm proud Jean is serving as the principal at Penn Forest," Superintendent Lorraine Lange said in a statement. "She's been a part of Penn Forest for many years and I know that school will be in great hands."

Board members also named Chris Morris, Hidden Valley High School's athletic director, as the new assistant principal at Hidden Valley Middle School. He takes the place of former assistant principal Beth Mast, who will be moving to Botetourt County Schools.

Morris has been with the school system since 1994, when he started as a teacher at Cave Spring Middle School. He taught there for eight years before moving to Hidden Valley High School, where he was a teacher, coach and later the school's athletic director. During his tenure he coached Hidden Valley's boys basketball team to two Group AA state semifinal appearances and worked with Roanoke County native Luke Hancock, who played for the University of Louisville during its NCAA men's basketball tournament championship run in April.

Lange said in a statement that Morris' skills and experience will be positive for the school.

He has a bachelor's degree in English from Roanoke College and a master's degree in educational leadership from Radford University.

Both staffers will begin their new roles as soon as possible and their former positions will be advertised immediately, officials said Wednesday.

Brammer and Morris were not present at Wednesday's board meeting, but Lange said they will be introduced to the board in August.

"Congratulations to these two," board Chairman Jerry Canada said before he called the quick meeting to a close.

Staff writer Robert Anderson contributed to this report.

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