New Lexington High Principal Jennifer McNair

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New Lake Murray Elementary Principal Leisa Clamp

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New Forts Pond Elementary Principal Casey Davis

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The county’s largest school district will welcome a new athletic director and three principals in the new year.

On Dec. 12, Lexington County School District 1 announced that Chad Leaphart, current athletic director and football coach for Gilbert High School, has been hired as the district’s athletic director. Also seeing new hires are Lake Murray Elementary, Forts Pond Elementary and Lexington High School, which will welcome Leisa Clamp, Margaret Casey Davis and Jennifer McNair, respectively, as their principals.

Leaphart will assume his position on Jan. 2, while the three principals will take over their roles July 1.

"It was tough to step away from my current position," Leaphart told the Chronicle. "I have a lot of great relationships with our athletes and coaches in Gilbert, but I am looking forward to building new relationships with our athletes and coaches in all our Lexington 1 Schools and supporting them in being the best they can be."

Leaphart has been a coach and educator for 27 years, beginning his career in the dual roles at Pelion High School. Before making his way back to his alma mater, Leaphart served as head football coach for Swansea High. At Strom Thurmond High, he served as assistant football coach, head track coach and assistant athletic director, and for Pelion High he served as assistant football, basketball and track coach.

This season at Gilbert, Leaphart became the school’s all-time winningest football coach.

He holds a bachelor’s in history/education from Newberry College and a master’s in education from Southern Wesleyan University.

Leaphart replaces David Bennett, who had held the athletic director position since it was created in 2016.

"Be on the move. Go get around, see as many coaches, as many kids, as many principals, as many assistant principals, as many teachers, as many custodians, everybody you can see," Bennett said of the job Leaphart is stepping up to take. "As Coach Leaphart will carry on, he'll learn you can't tell everybody yes all the time. Sometimes you got to say no. "

Leading up to her appointment as Lexington High’s principal, McNair has been an educator for 28 years and is said in a release “excel at working alongside employees, students and families to maintain high standards of growth and achievement in all areas of a school community — academics, arts and athletics.”

Her career began in Lexington 1 at White Knoll Middle, where she taught math, a subject that she also taught at White Knoll High. McNair moved out of the classroom and into school administration in 2001 when she became an assistant principal at a Saluda County elementary school.

McNair came back to Lexington 1 in 2004 when she became the assistant principal at White Knoll High.

“During her 14 years at WKHS, she gained experience in designing student-driven school-wide schedules, developing professional learning pathways and recruiting high quality teachers,” the release states

After her time at White Knoll, she became principal at Meadow Glen Elementary in 2019 after serving one year as assistant principal at Pleasant Hill Elementary.

McNair holds a bachelor’s in math from Coastal Carolina University and a master’s in educational administration from the University of South Carolina. She is also certified in secondary and elementary supervision and math.

Clamp, who is being promoted to lead the school after serving as Lake Murray Elementary’s assistant principal since 2016, is labeled as “a dedicated leader who works hard to build relationships” and has been in the world of education for 23 years.

She began her educational journey as a second-grade teacher in Barnwell. After she had been in the classroom for seven years, Clamp worked as a lead interventionist and assistant principal before she assumed the role of principal for Barnwell Primary School.

Following Barnwell, Clamp helped supervise student teacher interns at the University of South Carolina before joining Lexington 1 as a literacy and math coach for Oak Grove Elementary.

Clamp earned a bachelor’s in elementary education and has endorsements in early childhood and gifted and talented from Clemson University. She received her master’s in education from the University of Scranton.

Davis has been at Fort’s Pond since 2022, where currently serves as assistant principal. She is described as a passionate and dedicated educator, having started her teaching career in 2008 in Chester County. 

Davis taught fourth and fifth graders for 10 years, with four of those being for Lexington 1 at Meadow Glen Elementary. She moved out of the classroom and into school administration in 2019, becoming an assistant principal at Pelion Elementary, where she stayed till she joined Forts Pond.

Davis earned her bachelor’s in elementary education, along with master's in curriculum instruction from Winthrop University. She also holds a master’s in educational leadership from the University of South Carolina.