School Administration
Kamaal Ahmad, Principal
Kamaal S. Ahmad is going into his second year as the principal of Lexington Universal Academy. Before his current stint as principal, he was an assistant principal in the Granite School District (Salt Lake City, Utah), for two years, and a teacher for seven years. He is passionate about student well being, student growth, and student achievement.
Mr. Ahmad has a M.Ed. from the University of Utah, in Educational Leadership in Policy; a B.S. in Special Education, from Utah State University; a B.A. in Philosophy, from the University of Kentucky; and an A.A. in General Studies, from Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College.
Mr. Ahmad is former University of Kentucky football player, and boxer. He coached college football at Weber State University, where he was the Director of Football Operations, Recruiting Coordinator, and NFL Liaison. Mr. Ahmad was heavily involved in the community in Salt Lake City, and is looking forward to being involved in a similar capacity in Lexington. He loves to read, speak in Spanish, play chess, and cook.
Basimah Shalash, Assistant Principal
Basimah Shalash has been part of the LUA staff since 2010. She began as a long term substitute for middle school math and science. Then joined as a full time teacher in 2011. She taught for 7 years before becoming Academic Director in 2018. In 2022, she became Assistant Principal.
She is a Lexington native but moved to Dayton, OH as a child and graduated from Wright State University in 2007 with and Bachelors of Science in Chemistry. Then she relocated to Lexington in 2010. She received a Master’s of Education in 2015 and a second Master's of Arts in Education with P-12 school administration certification from Georgetown College.
She is happily married for 16 years and a mother of four children, one is an LUA alumni and three who attend LUA. She is looking forward to an exciting school year of allowing students to gain academic and Islamic knowledge to apply in their everyday lives.
Briana Raissi, Administrative Deen
Ms. Briana has worked in the education field as a teacher and administrator for over 20 years, teaching at the elementary, middle, high school, and post secondary levels. She holds a Masters in Education and a TESL certificate. She loves to travel and cook.
Hope Omran, Office Manager
Hope Omran was born in Illinois and moved to Lexington at the young age of three. She graduated from Tates Creek High School and attended the University of Kentucky. She has a Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing and a Bachelor’s of Arts in Business Administration. She started working at Lexington Universal Academy (LUA) in November of 2007 as a part time assistant to the treasurer. In June 2008 she became the office manager. She is the wife of Mahmoud Omran and the mother of five children., Sajidah, Jadallah, Dua’a, Nasreen and Jalaal. Jalaal attended LUA from kindergarten to eighth grade. She also has one granddaughter, Kawthar. She is also a current ISCK Board member. She is deeply committed to the vision of LUA.