Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

CLEMMONS — The new principal at West Forsyth High School is a familiar face.

The Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools Board of Education approved West Forsyth Assistant Principal Ayanna Sutton-Chaplin to replace outgoing principal Kevin Spainhour, who accepted an administrative position with the school district earlier this year. 

Sutton-Chaplain was among three names of new principals announced in a Wednesday release from the school system’s communications director, Chris Runge.

Sutton-Chaplin has been an assistant principal at West Forsyth High since 2021. She began her career with WS/FCS as a teacher at Atkins High School and later served at Mount Tabor High School. Transitioning into administration, she served as the assistant principal at Kimmel Farm Elementary School before becoming an assistant principal at Walkertown High School. 

She holds a bachelor’s degree from Winston-Salem State University and a master’s degree in educational leadership from Gardner-Webb University.

She will take over the role immediately.

The other new principals included in Runge’s announcement were Christie Brown and Rachel Sanchez of Rural Hall Elementary and Kernersville Middle, respectively.

Brown began her career with WS/FCS as a teacher at Forest Park Elementary School. She later transitioned into school administration. She held positions as assistant principal at Mineral Springs Middle School and Paisley IB Magnet School, and she is currently assistant principal at Flat Rock Middle School.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Winston-Salem State University and a master’s degree from North Carolina A&T State University.

She begins her new role on Sept. 1.

Sanchez has served as assistant principal at Kernersville Middle since 2015. Prior to joining WS/FCS, she was as a classroom teacher in Guilford County Schools, where she served for 10 years. In WS/FCS, she initially took on the role of instructional facilitator at Mineral Springs Middle before joining Kernersville Middle.

Sanchez holds an administrative license and is a National Board-Certified teacher in early adolescent English language arts. She earned her master’s degree from the University of North Carolina Greensboro, where she also completed her post-master’s certificate in school administration. 

She begins her new role on Aug. 1.