Urbana District 116 promotes two administrators to middle school principals

Melissa Kearns (left) and Imani Carr are currently both serving as assistant principals at Urbana District 116 schools. They were both selected to serve as principals for middle schools starting in the fall.


The Urbana school district has selected two administrators to serve as its next middle school principals.

Imani Carr will lead the sixth-grade-only school the district is that’s projected to opening in the fall. The new facility is being built on the site of Wiley Elementary to reduce overcrowding at the Urbana Middle School.

She is currently serving at the middle school as an assistant principal at Urbana Middle School.

Carr has run childcare and publishing businesses in the past and has been a fifth grade and language arts teacher.

Melissa Kearns will take over as principal of the Urbana Middle School after the current head of the school, Derrick Cooper, steps down in June at the end of the academic year. She is currently an assistant principal at the district’s high school and has experience teaching middle and elementary school students.

The A District 116 spokesperson said both women will transition into their new roles this summer.

“I’m excited about this transition for all of our families and I’m looking forward to showing you all what Urbana looks like and what Urbana represents.” 

The school board decided in 2023 to close Wiley Elementary and reopen it as a sixth-grade center to reduce crowding in the middle school.

Emily Hays

Emily Hays started at WILL in October 2021 after three-plus years in local newsrooms in Virginia and Connecticut. She has won state awards for her housing coverage at Charlottesville Tomorrow and her education reporting at the New Haven Independent. Emily graduated from Yale University where she majored in History and South Asian Studies.