MEDIA RELEASE
Brooksville - The Hernando School District has announced new principals for several elementary schools. Dana Kublick is the new principal at Westside Elementary, Julie Sweeney is the principal at Deltona Elementary, and Natasha Saavedra is the principal at Pine Grove Elementary School.
Dana Kublick will be a familiar face to many Westside Elementary staff and families when she returns in her new position as the school’s principal. Before taking on the role as Brooksville Elementary Principal in July 2022, she served as assistant principal at Westside for more than 5 years. Ms. Kublick has spent nearly 30 years in education, with more than 20 of those years with Hernando Schools, starting in 2001 as a third grade elementary teacher at Deltona Elementary. She also worked as an assessment teacher, elementary assistant, and teacher on special assignment before becoming Westside’s AP in 2016. She is also a product of Hernando Schools - having graduated from Springstead High School in 1987. Ms. Kublick earned her BS in elementary education from Wingate University and her Master's Degree in educational leadership from Saint Leo University.
Julie Sweeney takes over at Deltona, where she had been the assistant principal since July 2020. Ms. Sweeney’s career in education began in 2005 as a substitute teacher, before earning her bachelor’s degree in elementary education. She taught third grade in Citrus County, then was hired on as an intensive reading teacher in 2012 at Springstead High School. After earning her Master’s Degree from Saint Leo University, she became the assistant principal at West Hernando Middle School in October 2016. The foundation of Sweeney’s leadership style is her belief in building strong relationships with Deltona staff and families as the first component of student success.
Pine Grove Elementary’s new principal, Natasha Saavedra, started with the district as a fifth grade teacher at Spring Hill Elementary in August 2018. A year later she became the school’s elementary assistant before becoming assistant principal at PGES in September 2021. Saavedra is regarded highly for her ability to empower school teams in using student achievement data to develop high yield instructional strategies in the classroom. Saavedra received her Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education at the University of South Florida and a Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership from the University of West Florida.