The School District of Manatee County is proud to celebrate two outstanding leaders in education. Sam Webb, Principal of Samoset Elementary School, has been named Principal of the Year, and Dr. Lisandra Tayloe, Assistant Principal of Lincoln Memorial Middle School, has been selected as Assistant Principal of the Year.
Both honorees will advance as nominees for the Florida Department of Education’s prestigious Principal and Assistant Principal of the Year programs. The Principal and Assistant Principal Achievement Awards for Outstanding Leadership recognize exemplary school administrators for their contributions to their schools and communities, according to the Florida Department of Education. The program honors leaders who have spearheaded initiatives to increase student performance, promote safe learning environments, and establish partnerships with parents and community members.
Bios:
Principal of the Year: Ms. Webb is the proud principal of Samoset Elementary. Prior to Samoset, Principal Webb served as the Principal at Abel Elementary from August 2020 to May 2025. During the 2023-2024 school year, she led Abel, a Title 1 school, to its first A grade since 2011. Abel continued its success as an A school for the 2024-2025 school year as well. Prior to Abel, she served as an Assistant Principal at Braden River Elementary (2015-2016) and Samoset Elementary (2016-2020). Ms. Webb has a Master’s in Educational Leadership from the University of South Florida.
Assistant Principal of the Year: Dr. Lisandra (Lisa) Tayloe is an accomplished educational leader with a strong commitment to student achievement and school improvement. She earned her Doctorate in Educational Leadership from Florida Southern College and her Master of Education in Educational Administration from East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania. Her career in education began in 2007 as a high school teacher, where she spent nearly a decade in the classroom before transitioning into an instructional coach role. In 2020, she was appointed Assistant Principal for Student Affairs and later Assistant Principal of Curriculum in Hillsborough County, bringing her instructional expertise and leadership experience to transformative schoolwide initiatives. Originally from New Jersey, Dr. Tayloe joined the School District of Manatee County in January 2022 as an Assistant Principal at Louise R. Johnson K–8 School of International Studies. She currently serves at Lincoln Memorial Middle School. She is a proud resident of Manatee County and remains deeply dedicated to fostering a positive, rigorous, student-centered learning environment in the community she calls home.