Representatives from the award’s sponsor Wells Fargo, as well as the N.C. Department of Public Instruction, joined Haywood County Schools administration in recognizing Fox as one of the state’s eight finalists for 2020 Principal of the Year.

Last summer, Fox was voted by her peers to represent Haywood County Schools as Principal of the Year. Last month, she interviewed for the Western Region title.

Fox will interview for the Wells Fargo 2020 NC Principal of the Year in mid-February, and the winner will be announced in May.

Fox grew up in Haywood County Schools and graduated from Pisgah High School.

Watching her father serve as the principal at Pisgah, along with having supportive and inspiring teachers, stirred Fox into pursuing a career in public education.

“I really looked up to my dad and respected him for the school leader he was, and I had many other mentors along the way,” Fox said.

After graduating from Western Carolina University in 2004, Fox accepted a teaching job at Enka Middle School.

In 2009, she returned to her Haywood County roots as the health and physical education teacher at Central Haywood High School. In between teaching and starting a family, Fox earned her master’s degree in school administration.

Fox was named assistant principal at Pisgah High School in 2012 where she learned the ropes of secondary education administration for five years.

“Having my own children made me a better principal,” Fox said. “When you become a parent, you really see the human side of this in a different way. I want to treat our students the way I would want someone to treat my own.”

In 2017, Fox became Haywood Early College’s third principal.

The school is an academically rigorous, technologically-focused educational opportunity that enables students to earn a high school diploma and an associate degree in four or five years.

“We’re a school where innovation means more than iPads and eBooks; it means a faculty committed to finding the most effective teaching methods,” Fox said. “Our school has created a culture of responsibility, maturity, and scholarship.”

Since its inception, the Early College has excelled academically. The Early College has received an ‘A’ performance grade score every year since the N.C. Department of Public Instruction began grading schools in 2014. Under Fox’s leadership, the school has exceeded growth markers and increased its numerical score an additional 10 points.

“Haywood Early College has been a very good school for several years,” Dr. Bill Nolte, Haywood County Schools superintendent, said. “With that said, Lori Fox has led the school to another level by redirecting the focus from getting students into community college to getting students graduated from the community college and into a university.”

Currently, Fox works with 11 faculty and staff members assisting 185 students meet their academic goals.

Fox has challenged herself and her staff to focus on the words ‘new’ and ‘better.’

“It’s well known that stagnation breeds complacency,” Fox said. “Not a day passes without reflection on how we can better design a schedule, provide more opportunities, challenge our students academically, and provide a truly individualized experience.”

Frequently, lessons at the Early College cover the same topic from different academic perspectives.

Math teachers have found inspiration in having their classes focus their number crunching on topics from other classes, whether it is estimating the volume of the Grand Canyon or conducting a statistical analysis of famine.

The culture Fox has created at the Early College challenges teachers to take lessons from one-sided to multifaceted.

Covering the Great Depression in a high school history class is typical. Timing it with biology to show epigenetics in action is not.

Students learn the history of the Great Depression in one class, then a few hours later in biology class, students see how it caused widespread changes in diet that reverberated across generations.

Fox encourages collaboration not only among her staff regarding lesson plans, but also among students socially and academically.

“Students study together, participate in clubs together, visit universities together, and volunteer to help others together,” Fox said.

It is not uncommon to see Fox alongside her students at club meetings or volunteer opportunities.

At school, Fox regularly meets with students and their parents to reflect on educational goals and future college and career opportunities.

When she is not meeting with students, she is sitting down with her staff, at meetings with local administrators, or talking with other principals from around the state about how to make the Early College and its students even more successful in the future.

“I think the most important role of a principal is to be a visionary,” Fox said. “Our adaptability as educators to the everchanging education landscape is paramount to the success of our students. You have to envision a culture, create it, and then protect it.”

Fox hopes to continue the school’s momentum of pursuing excellence going forward and to remain a school that prepares its students for successful college life and future careers.