URBANA, Ill. (WCIA) — The Urbana School District 116 will welcome three new employees in principal positions this July.

Tuesday evening, the school district’s Board of Education unanimously approved the employment of the following administrators for the 2025-26 school year:

• Sean Smith
  • Assistant Principal at Urbana High School effective July 1, 2025 (replacing Melissa Kearns)
• Derek Ely
  • Associate Principal at Urbana Middle School effective July 1, 2025 (replacing Imani Carr)
• Lidiya Wang
  • Principal, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School tentatively effective July 23, 2025, pending approval of the 2025-26 school year calendar (replacing Michelle Turner)

Smith graduated from Urbana High School in 2010 and started his career in education as a paraprofessional at Jefferson Middle School in 2017. He earned a master’s degree in special education and transitioned to Edison Middle School as a special education teacher in 2019.

In 2023, Smith became the Dean of Students and Athletic Director at Edison. He then began his role as Associate Principal there and earned a master’s degree in educational leadership in 2024.

Ely currently serves as an Assistant Principal at Champaign Central High School. He previously served as the Dean of Students at Champaign Central and as a physical education and health teacher at the READY Program school in Champaign.

Wang previously served as the Principal of the Pavilion Foundation School for three years. Before that, she was an Assistant Principal at Circle Academy in Urbana.