Longtime Alamance-Burlington school system principal Dr. Julie Hancock Turner has been promoted to serve as the new executive director of elementary education for ABSS.
Turner replaces veteran ABSS educator Dr. Jean Maness, who retired this spring as the executive director of elementary education this spring, capping a 39-year career in public education that began in 1985 with the former Burlington city school system. Maness began her career as an elementary school teacher, before going on to serve as an assistant principal at Andrews and Eastlawn elementary schools and ultimately rising through the ranks to the Central Office post.
Similar to her predecessor Maness, Turner began her career with ABSS in September 2009 as an assistant principal at Smith Elementary School and was subsequently promoted to the principal’s position at Smith in August 2011. She became the principal at Turrentine Middle School in the summer of 2023.
Turner is scheduled to move into her new role as the executive director of elementary education for ABSS on January 6, based on the personnel report that school board members approved earlier this month. She will receive an annual salary of $131,094, which includes the monetary value of benefits such as state retirement and health insurance coverage, based on information that ABSS provided in response to a public records request from The Alamance News.
She holds a doctorate in educational leadership from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro; a specialist degree in education with a superintendent’s license from UNCG; a master’s of K-12 school administration from UNCG; a bachelor’s degree in child development with K-6 certification from Meredith College; and an Associate of Arts degree from Peace College.
Turner is married to the newly-elected Alamance County district court judge and former Alamance County commissioner Craig Turner.
