Education Archive

Santa Rosa Education Foundation (SREF) has announced the semifinalists for Santa Rosa Teacher of the Year.

The selection process started with 34 school nominees and has been narrowed down to the top 5.

Jeffrey Mattox and Gabe Davis spent four years basking in the glow of a spotlight that comes from playing sports. They worked hard and played hard, all for the purpose of helping the Navarre football team win on game day.

The former Raider football stars now seek out victory in life instead of on the scoreboard through their efforts of helping others far less fortunate, an effort inspired by their new-found relationship with Jesus.

The little school planted by faith in northwest Florida is growing yet again. 

Lighthouse Private Christian Academy will be opening a new campus January 2021, said Head of School Joanna Johannes.

Kasie Windfelder is still in the midst of switching from her current office to the one reserved for the principal of Navarre High School.

Windfelder has only been in her new job for a week. There are boxes that still need to be moved – those are labeled and currently lined along a wall — and painting that needs to be completed before she is officially settled into the principal’s office.

The pandemic and its restrictions have made things much more difficult for seniors this year.

Here’s how a few of Navarre High School’s seniors have adapted:

For 12 years, Bill Emerson has been responsible for the curriculum and instruction of tens of thousands of pre-K to 12^th-grade students across Santa Rosa County.

His job title was a mouthful: assistant superintendent for curriculum, instruction and assessment. The work was even more complex, navigating changing state standards, classrooms filled to their capacity and a shifting board of elected bosses.

When Brooke Williams was in Kelly Foster’s fourth grade class at Oriole Beach Elementary School, she had no idea she would be in the same school as a teacher.

Fast forward 20 years and Williams is teaching a fourth-grade inclusion class right across the hall from her old classroom and Foster is her co-worker.

In a tearful speech Nov. 17, Karen Barber—former Director of Federal Programs for Santa Rosa County Schools—promised to be the best Superintendent she could be.

Barber took the oath of office at the Santa Rosa County Auditorium, officially making her the first female superintendent in county history.