Hobbton Middle School has both a new principal and an assistant principal/instructional coach. Gaynor Hammond and Dana Allen will fill the roles, respectively. Hammond transitions from Midway High School, where she served as principal. Before Hobbton Middle, Allen served as the assistant principal and instructional coach for Hobbton Elementary School.
For the 2025-26 school year, Hammond was named Sampson County Schools’ Principal of the Year. In the past, she has served as assistant principal for Midway Middle School.
Superintendent Dr. Jamie King shared that Hammond thoroughly enjoyed the middle school culture.
She was unavailable for comment this week.
King expressed his excitement “that Hobbton Middle will have a new principal who has experience and knowledge of Sampson County and the Hobbton community.” The superintendent also acknowledged the principal position now open at Midway High, saying, “We hope to have a candidate at the July 27 meeting for that position…currently, all principal positions, except for Midway High, are filled.”
When interviewed, Allen said she’s a Hobbton Wildcat through and through.
“I went to Hobbton Elementary, Hobbton Middle School, and Hobbton High School,” she said. “I left and went to Campbell University for four years, and never interviewed anywhere except for Hobbton Elementary, and that is where I started my career. I graduated from Hobbton High School in 2005, and I started at Hobbton Elementary in 2009, teaching fourth grade.”
Allen taught fourth grade until she transitioned to the library as a media coordinator, a position she held for two years during the COVID pandemic. Then the instructional coach position became available. Before having an instructional coach at Hobbton Elementary, Allen explained that the school only had district coaches. “I was one of the first group of school-based coaches. I think there were three of us who started that.”
As an instructional coach, Allen managed the curriculum and instruction and helped support teachers with youth curriculum and professional development throughout the year. “I was just kind of there for support for whatever teachers needed, and I also supported the principal, helping enforce district initiatives,”
Allen said. After a few years as an instructional coach, she earned her administration degree and, last year, was her first year as an assistant principal.
Allen said it was a great experience being assistant principal at Hobbton Elementary.
“I was with people I was comfortable with and able to learn from. At Hobbton Elementary, I worked with the best teachers, so they taught me just as much as I taught them. It was challenging at times, but it was rewarding because I worked in a place that I loved and was home to me. Also, my children were at Hobbton Elementary, and most of my family is at Hobbton. I have lots of friends and their children in the Hobbton district, so it made things easy.”
Moving to Hobbton Middle seemed a perfect transition.
“I think the middle school needed a familiar face, and I kind of wanted a fresh start to see the other side,” she attested. “I’ve always loved middle school. I kind of just wanted a change, but also I want to be able to support the school and make it something this county is proud of.”
Allen is still on summer vacation. She is communicating with the interim principal and working on some things from home, and is looking forward to officially starting on Aug. 3.
“I’m excited about all of it. I’m excited about being able to be in a building with the students that I’ve had previously at Hobbton Elementary. That’s going to be exciting because I’ll be a familiar face to them, but they will also be familiar faces to me; I’m excited about having the athletic side at the middle school, because that’s something I didn’t really have at elementary school … and being able to learn the staff at Hobbton Middle School.”
Allen said she is looking forward to this new adventure and opportunity. “I really hope that we can build a school that our community, students, teachers, parents, and everyone is proud of. I want everybody to feel safe and supported, and I really hope to work on academics, athletics, safety, and accountability.”
“Once a Wildcat, always a Wildcat,” Allen stressed.