Education Archive

Special Olympics Florida recently announced the winners of several awards, each recognizing a person or organization who has gone above and beyond to help Special Olympics reach more people and fulfill its mission of ensuring people with disabilities are treated with respect and given opportunities to compete in athletics. One of the awards, the Marilyn Grigsby Award, was awarded to Navarre High School for more than a decade of support for Special Olympics Florida in Santa Rosa County. According to Special Olympics Florida, the Marilyn Grigsby Award recognizes organizations that provide sustained service, leadership, and impact over five years or more.

Holley Navarre Middle School Assistant Principal Peter Della Ratta is leaving the school district to become the Vice President of Institutional Advancement at John Melvin Christian College in Pace. The college is only a few years old and is still going through the accreditation process. In his new role, Della Ratta is responsible for tending to the college’s academic affairs, assisting in handling the business of the college, and helping coach the school’s burgeoning baseball program.

The Santa Rosa County School District announced East Bay K-8 Principal as the Innovative Principal of the Year.

The Gulf Scholars Program of The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, has selected the University of West Florida to join the program’s fourth cohort. UWF will receive $525,000 over the course of five years from the Gulf Research Program to prepare undergraduate students to address pressing environmental, health, energy and infrastructure challenges in the Gulf of Mexico region. This preparation will include courses, workshops, field experiences and a major research or creative project in partnership with a local or regional organization centered on the Gulf of Mexico region known as a Gulf Impact Project.

Sarah Pena attended West Navarre Primary as a second grader.

It was then that she knew that she wanted to one day be a teacher.

Each year, students across Holley Navarre Primary School need help with regulating emotions, social interactions, and developing skills to be more successful in school. Luckily for them, they have Krista Galvan. Recently named Holley Navarre Primary’s teacher of the year, Galvan serves as the school’s social thinking teacher, a position she has coveted for a long time.

When Amy Fitch interviewed for a teaching position at West Navarre Intermediate nearly two decades ago, she said she was asked if she had a grade preference.

An employee of Santa Rosa County District Schools has resigned from their position after an investigation found that the employee had engaged in “financial improprieties.” In a statement to Navarre Press, the school district said the resignation came after the employee, later identified as Kelly Short (Allen), was informed of action that would be taken against her employment both immediately and through recommendation of the school board at their next regularly scheduled meeting on Nov. 19, 2024.

In nearly 20 years in education, James Fox had never been nominated for teacher of the year.

That all changed this year when Fox was named Navarre High’s Teacher of the Year.

East Bay K-8’s Megan Christian always wanted to be a teacher.

The school’s choice for teacher of the year is now in her 11th year in a classroom. She has been at East Bay K-8 for three of those years. Christian, who grew up in Mobile, Alabama, said she first knew she wanted to be a teacher in elementary school.