Baumholder MS/HS: Administrator Bios

Leah Zamor serves as Principal of Baumholder Middle/High School.  

Ms. Zamor received her Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Nevada, Reno.  She also received her Master of Science from California State University, Northridge.  Ms. Zamor started her teaching career with the Los Angeles Unified School District teaching Math and Science at Northridge Middle School.  In 2003 she seized the opportunity to teach with the Department of Defense Education Activity and has worked at Seoul American High School and Mannheim High School.  She has had the opportunity to serve as Assistant Principal at Mannheim Middle School and Kaiserslautern Middle School.  

Ms. Zamor has a firm belief in collaboration as a 21st century school community, encompassing educators, students and parents to ensure student academic success.  She strives to build strong working relationships, shared leadership, shared responsibility, and taking paradigm shifts to move forward. 

Ms. Zamor has the belief of establishing and maintaining rapport with school staff, parents, community and military support organizations. She supports a high level of accessibility between school and community.   Most important, Ms. Zamor maintains her goal of preparing students for success in a global society.  
 
Leah Zamor is married and has two children. When not in school Ms. Zamor enjoys running, reading and spending time with family and friends.  

Michael De Francesco has been selected as the new Assistant Principal of Baumholder Middle/High School in Baumholder, Germany. He is currently serving as the Instructional Systems Specialist for Assessment and Accreditation in Brussels, Belgium and is excited for this new opportunity to serve the students, staff, and U.S. Army Garrison Baumholder community within the Europe East District.

Mr. De Francesco was born and raised just outside of Boston, Massachusetts. He attended and graduated from Wake Forest University in North Carolina with a Bachelor’s Degree in English. In 2013, Mr. De Francesco earned is Masters in Educational Leadership from The University of Central Florida. 

Michael’s career in education began in Orange County Public Schools in Central Florida. For the better part of a decade he worked teaching English, History, Mathematics, and Avid at Title 1 schools. He taught, at Secondary for the majority of his career. However, he has also worked at Elementary Schools at various times. He finished his time in the public school system working for a year as a Math Specialist for Orange County. It was in 2014 when Michael started working for DoDEA. First, as a Staff Development Teacher in Vicenza Italy as part of the 21st Century Teacher, Learning and Leading program. When that pilot ended, he moved to Sasebo, Japan to serve E.J. King Middle/High School as their Assistant Principal. For the last 3 years, Michael has worked as the Assessment and Accreditation Specialist for the Europe West District. Throughout his career in education, Mr. De Francesco has worked to continuously improve student education, build strong relationships, and foster a caring and safe environment for all.

Mr. DeFrancesco believes that every student can succeed. It is the responsibility of the school to build a learning experience that will best serve the needs of their students and help them to become life-long learners. Working in collaborative teams, teachers and administrators can help students to obtain the education necessary for them to be successful, not just in their preferred career path, but to give them the tools they need to adapt and grow in the face of any obstacle they may meet. Mr. De Francesco believes that four our students to succeed in a dynamic world they must receive a well-rounded education, be engaged in their learning, and empowered to choose their own path.

Supporting and accompanying Mr. De Francesco is Giulia, his wife of 3 years. Ms. Franzina is an accomplished Italian teacher, researcher, and linguist. They are both overjoyed to be joining the Buccaneer family and are excited to work with Ms. Zamor and the Baumholder faculty and staff as part of an established and respected team who have made Baumholder Middle/High School the best place to learn and work in DoDEA.