Ken Odor
Mike Bishop sits amid the clutter of his new office at Lee-Davis High School , where he has been named the new principal.

Bishop named new Lee-Davis principal
By Ken Odor

Jul 15, 2008

Mike Bishop is back on the job for the Hanover County School system.

Only this time he’s got the top job at Lee-Davis High School.

Bishop could be found recently in the principal’s office at Lee-Davis High School, trying to decide if the shade of light blue paint just applied to the office wall was going to make it.

“Nope, it looks too much like Hanover High’s color,” he concluded.

Bishop last worked in Hanover in 2006, when he taught history at Hanover High School and served as summer school assistant principal. He was also head football coach there from 2003 to 2005.

Before Hanover High, he taught at Courtland High School in Spotsylvania, where he was also the head football coach.

Bishop left Hanover to take an assistant principal job at the new Cosby High School in Chesterfield County.

He had finished his master’s degree and was ready to move up, but didn’t relish leaving Hanover, Bishop recalled in a recent interview.

Hanover superintendent Dr. Stewart Roberson and Hanover principal Carol Cash urged him to apply for the job in Chesterfield, so Bishop went for it, “always with the intention of returning home,” he emphasized.

And when LD principal Stan Jones left to take a job in Hanover School Administration, Bishop was ready.

“I’ve got some big shoes to fill,” said Bishop, “in terms of every principal who’s been here.”

Bishop credited Jones with making the transition seamlessly smooth.

“I’m appreciative of his help,” he said.

One big item on Bishop’s agenda is preparing for the 50th anniversary of the opening of Lee-Davis this fall.

Bishop is the school’s ninth principal.

Although he is now the top administrator at a school with 1,600 students and a staff of 183, Bishop said he has not lost sight of the importance of the classroom.

“It’s important to get into the classroom as principal to see that good instruction is going on,” he said.

“To remember what it’s like to be a teacher is one of the most important things I can do.”

Bishop also acknowledged the unique nature of Lee-Davis, with a cadre of alumni now stretching back for two generations, many who still live in the community, plus the newcomers to the county.

Whatever the challenge, Bishop seems up for it.

He likes to recall what School Board member Earl Hunter once told him.

“I’ve been Hanoverized,” he laughed.

Ken Odor
Mike Bishop stands at the doorway of Lee-Davis High School, where he is the new principal.

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