‘Domino effect’ leads to new principals in Horry County

Two Horry County schools are getting new principals a month before classes start.

At Myrtle Beach Primary School, Christel Arnette will take over for Cece Nance.

Arnette has been assistant principal at St. James Elementary School for five years, and has previously been an assistant principal at Myrtle Beach Primary School.

She has a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education and a master’s degree in education leadership and supervision, both from the University of South Carolina.

At Conway High School, Lee James will be taking over for Velna Allen, the district’s executive director of secondary education, who was acting as the interim principal at the school last year.

James was principal of Conway Middle School last year and previously was the assistant principal at Green Sea Floyds High School for four years.

He earned his bachelor’s in science from Lander University and a master’s in educational leadership from the University of South Carolina.

Horry County Schools spokeswoman Teal Britton said the district had been planning to hire an associate principal at Conway who would train under Allen for a year before taking over, but because of James’s interest and experience, he was hired as the principal.

“Frankly, we’ve had so many people change and that in essence creates a domino effect,” said Britton. “With having Lee already embedded into the Conway community as he is and already working with Velna in some shared work at the secondary level makes him a very viable candidate, although the transition is late.”

This story was originally published July 18, 2016 at 6:03 PM with the headline "‘Domino effect’ leads to new principals in Horry County."