Education Archive

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.

Games, pep rallies, signing days and even photos with the homecoming court. If there is something going on at Navarre High School, Brian Noack is usually there.

For more than a decade he’s been the principal of the school and now he’s moving on, taking over as the Santa Rosa County Director of High Schools starting Dec. 1.

It’s hard for one to determine if room 402 at West Navarre Intermediate School is a concert hall or a classroom.

Janet Bryan’s third graders are singing along to music by The Beatles as they work on an art project. This teaching approach is by design and Bryan has leaned on it during her 21 years of teaching. She’s been at WNI since 2005.

Fifth-grade inclusion teacher Annie Scott comes from a family with 100 years of teachers. Teaching is in her blood.

“There has never been a doubt in my mind that this is what I wanted to do,” she said.

Annie Scott was recently named Teacher of the Year at Holley Navarre Intermediate School, where she has taught for five years.

Superintendent-elect Karen Barber officially takes the lead of Santa Rosa County School District Nov. 17.

Navarre Press asked her to share her vision for the district over the next four years.

First grade teacher Stacy Durham was named Teacher of the Year for West Navarre Primary School (WNPS).

She has been teaching in Santa Rosa County for 17 years. Durham joked about retiring after claiming to have taught first grade to the daughter of one of her previous fourth grade students.

Daniel Schmidt has always had a knack for teaching, though it is a skill developed under decidedly different circumstances.

A retired Lt. Colonel whose service included Operation Desert Storm in the early 1990s, he became a mentor for others while in the Army.