Stein named Lake’s top principal

Credited with increasing the school’s grade on the state’s report card, Mount Dora Middle School Principal Jacob Stein has been named the Lake County school district’s principal of the year for 2019-20.

Superintendent Diane Kornegay gave him the news during a surprise visit Wednesday, when she also stopped by East Ridge High School in Clermont to notify Charles Feld he has been picked as assistant principal of the year, according to a district news release.

In a nomination letter, Eustis Middle School Principal Abigail Crosby wrote that her mentor Stein boosted his school’s letter grade, now a B, and “made positive strides in almost every academic area ...He has also taken on the role of middle school representative, listening to the concerns and questions of the other nine principals. His organization and years of experience have guided many of us in various situations.”

Stein, who will be in the running for the statewide Principal Achievement Award for Outstanding Leadership, began with the district in 1998 as an exceptional student education teacher at Eustis Middle School.

He later taught science at Mount Dora High, hospital homebound students and coached swimming. Moving into administration, he has served as assistant principal at Windy Hill Middle School in Clermont and East Ridge High before being named Mount Dora Middle School principal in 2014.

Feld has been with the district since 1998, starting as an exceptional-studenteducation teacher at Umatilla High School and has been East Ridge High assistant principal since 2013.

East Ridge High Principal Julie RobinsonLueallen, in a recommendation, wrote that Feld “has been instrumental in our success as he has taken on an active role of supporting our vision that we will achieve 100 percent graduation rate.”