Louisa names Straley new LHS principal

By Barney Breen-Portnoy

Published: April 24, 2008

Louisa County High School will have a new principal July 1. Doug Straley, Louisa’s athletics director, has been chosen to replace Mike Wills, who is leaving to become the principal of Randolph-Henry High School in Charlotte County.
Straley, 35, graduated from Louisa in 1990. He has been the athletics director at the high school for the past four years and has worked in the county school system for 14 years.
“I’m very excited and elated to be able to become principal from the school that I graduated from,” Straley said. “It’s an opportunity to give back to the community that has given so much to me.”
Straley earned his undergraduate degree in exercise science and education from Virginia Tech and a graduate degree from Regent University in educational leadership. Before becoming athletics director in 2004, Straley had previously worked as an assistant principal at both Louisa County High School and Thomas Jefferson Elementary School and as a teacher at Louisa County Middle School.
“Doug is a known quantity,” Louisa Superintendent Deborah Pettit said. “We have all seen his leadership skills. He is a high-energy, dynamic kind of person.”
According to Pettit, more than 20 applications were received for the job, and eight applicants were interviewed.
“What set [Straley] apart during the interview process was both the knowledge he has as well as his vision for where he wants to take the high school,” Pettit said.
That vision, Straley said, centers on making Louisa County High School a “great” school.
“We have a very good school here,” he said. “I want to take it to the next level.”
The School Board voted last week to approve the selection of Straley.
A search for a new athletics director is already under way, said Straley, a member of Louisa’s 1990 state championship baseball team.
In recent years, Straley has worked to build an electric atmosphere at Louisa County football games, with skydivers, a cannon, fireworks and even a live lion during Louisa’s playoff run in 2006.
“Our community here has embraced athletics like nothing I have ever seen,” Straley said. “That is what makes the athletic director’s job so much fun but also very important.”