Education Archive

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.

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.