2025-2026 Administrative Promotions, New Hires, and Changes 

At the May 7, 2025, meeting of the School Board, the Hampton School Board approved the following administrative promotions, effective July 1, 2025:

New Assistant Director

April Fry has been promoted to assistant director for the department of special education. 

 

Fry began her career in education in 2004 with a neighboring school division and joined Hampton City Schools in 2007 as a special education teacher at Barron Fundamental Elementary School. She later collaborated with Head Start to help pilot a joint program with HCS. In 2015, Fry transitioned into the role of special education instructional coach and was subsequently promoted to special education coordinator. After a brief departure from Hampton City Schools, she returned in 2024 to resume her role as a special education coordinator.

 

She holds a bachelor’s degree in school-age care from Concordia University, St. Paul; a master’s degree in education from Old Dominion University; and a post-master’s certificate in educational leadership and administration from The George Washington University. 

New Principals

Marye Branchling is returning to Hampton City Schools as an elementary principal. Her school is unassigned at this time. 

Branchling has served the past two years as an elementary principal for Portsmouth Public Schools. Before her time in Portsmouth, Branchling served as the principal at Machen Elementary (one year), the principal of Asbury Elementary School (five years), and as an assistant principal at Phenix PreK-8 School. Prior to Hampton, she was an instructional math coach and math teacher in Norfolk Public Schools and a math intervention teacher in Toledo, Ohio.

She earned her bachelor’s degree in middle childhood education from Lourdes College and her master’s degree in educational leadership from the University of Virginia.

 

Damien Collins has been promoted to the role of elementary principal, with his school assignment to be determined.

 

Collins joined Hampton City Schools in 2021 as a special education teacher and case manager at Mary S. Peake Elementary School. In 2022, he was promoted to academy principal at Hampton High School, where he has spent the past three years as a valued member of the Crabber family, overseeing the International Baccalaureate Academy, the Virginia Ship Repair Association Maritime Academy, and the Academy of Technology and Engineering (2022-2023).

 

Prior to his time with HCS, he served for six years as a special education teacher at Rivermont School in Hampton.

 

He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Virginia Commonwealth University, a collegiate professional license in special education from Old Dominion University, and a master’s degree in urban education and administrative supervision from Norfolk State University.

New Assistant Principals

 

Llewchean (Llew) Radford will be joining Hampton City Schools as an academy principal, with his school placement to be determined.

 

Radford has been a high school mathematics teacher at Heritage High School in Newport News since 2016, where he has also served as lead mathematics teacher for the past three years. Prior to his time with Newport News Public Schools, he spent five years as a special education teacher at Rivermont Private Day School in Hampton and one year as a mental health counselor at the Rivermont Alternative School. In addition to his work in education, Radford has held various coaching roles, including varsity girls soccer, varsity boys volleyball, and varsity boys basketball.

 

He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a master’s degree in accounting, both from Wagner College, and earned his Education Specialist (Ed.S.) degree from Old Dominion University.

 

Travis Riddick has been promoted to the role of academy principal, with his school placement to be determined.

 

Riddick has served as a dean at Phoebus High School since 2023. Before that, he spent eight years at Syms Middle School—four years as an eighth-grade math teacher and four years as a middle school science teacher. During his time at Syms, he also held key leadership roles, including serving as the 21st Century Program Coordinator for three years and as a Climate and Culture Coach for two years.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in middle school education from Bob Jones University and a master’s degree in educational leadership from Regent University.