Following a dedicated 30-year career in education, E. Ann O’Cain announces her retirement, effective June 16, 2023. O’Cain has spent the last 18 years of her career in Lexington District One including time serving as principal at Gilbert High from 2007 to 2018.

O’Cain began her career in 1993 as a physical education teacher and coach at J.B. Beck Middle School in her hometown of Georgetown, South Carolina. While at Beck Middle School, she was the head coach for B-Team girls’ basketball. She also served as head coach of varsity tennis and junior varsity volleyball and was an assistant varsity softball coach at Georgetown High School. In 1999, she moved to Georgetown High School and served as a special education resource teacher.

In 2000, O’Cain joined Kershaw County School District as an eighth grade English Language Arts teacher at Camden Middle School and later a health teacher at Lugoff-Elgin Middle School. While at LEMS, she was an assistant volleyball coach and head junior varsity softball coach. While in Kershaw County School District, O’Cain completed the Kershaw County School District Aspiring Administrators Program.

In 2004, O’Cain joined Lexington District One as an assistant principal at Gilbert High School and was promoted to principal of the school in 2007. During her time as principal, GHS received the SREB High Schools That Work Silver Award for Applied Learning and was named a Palmetto Gold Showcase School. In addition, O’Cain supported and saw her students earn numerous state and national awards in athletics, fine arts, HOSA, FFA, and Skills USA.

In 2018, she moved to her current role as Section 504 Coordinator and the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Officer.

A former athlete and coach, O’Cain was actively involved with the South Carolina High School League, where she served as 2A Region 3 Coordinator and 3A Region 5 Coordinator. She also served as 2A President-Elect in 2010 and 3A President-Elect in 2017. She was named 3A Region 5 Principal of the Year in 2016.

O’Cain earned a Bachelor of Science in physical education from Coastal Carolina University and a Master of Education in educational leadership from University of South Carolina. A South Carolina School Leadership Executive Institute (SLEI) graduate, she also received executive coaching through the Lexington One Executive Leadership Program. O’Cain served as an AdvancED team evaluator and HSTW team evaluator across South Carolina and earned her coaching certification from the National School Reform Faculty (NSRF) Critical Friends Group (CFG).

O’Cain is a member of the South Carolina Association of School Administrators (SCASA), the Council of Administrators of Special Education (CASE), the Council of Educators for Students with Disabilities (CESD), and a past member of the National Association of Secondary School Administrators (NASSP), the South Carolina Athletic Administrators Association (SCAAA), Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) and South Carolina Association for Career and Technical Education (SCACTE).