Thirty years ago I began my career in education. I have taught every grade level from Kindergarten to 8th grade. After being in the teaching profession for eight years, I accepted a position at Seminole Public Schools. While I am eternally grateful for the experience obtained from former districts, I knew from the moment I joined the faculty at Seminole that I had truly found my home; that I would spend the rest of my career as a Chieftain. Since working at Seminole, I have become a National Board Certified Teacher and received a Master’s Degree in School Leadership. Seminole is a unique place where children are loved, nurtured, educated, and encouraged to reach their full potential. This in turn has successfully created some of the finest, most upstanding citizens and professionals in the state of Oklahoma. I have been fortunate enough to experience the pride in seeing my own children graduate from Seminole High School and am currently watching my grandchildren flourish in our school system.

I began teaching at Northwood Elementary under the excellent leadership of Mrs. Claudia Willis and remained there for fourteen years. After my fourteenth year, I knew I was ready to use my Master’s Degree in School Leadership. As luck would have it, I was given the incredible opportunity to become Principal at Woodrow Wilson Elementary. For the past eight years, I have been the leader, friend, confidante, and family member of the wonderful faculty and staff at Wilson. I have learned so much in my time there and often say, “I wish I had known then what I know now!”

Next year, I will enter a new role as the Head Administrative Principal at Woodrow Wilson Elementary and Northwood Elementary. I am excited to return to the building that helped cultivate my love for Seminole Public Schools while still being part of the home and family I found at Wilson Elementary. Mrs. Tina Kean will join me as the Assistant Principal at Wilson. I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Mrs. Kean for many years. She started her career at Sasakwa, Oklahoma in 1999 and has taught Pre-Kindergarten, Kindergarten, and 1st grade at Seminole Public Schools for the last 20 years. When asked what her goals are for Wilson Elementary, she confidently stated, “I am excited to begin this new adventure working and leading for a school district that I’ve been part of for 20 years. I am inspired daily by the staff and leaders that work for Seminole Public Schools and I welcome my new role. My goal as the upcoming educational leader of Woodrow Wilson Elementary is to inspire leadership and growth with my new team. I look forward to building positive relationships with the staff, students, and parents at Woodrow Wilson. My five year goal is to build an inspirational reading program that promotes an effective literacy action plan to guide a school-wide literacy movement.”

At Wilson, that has been our focus for many years. We have built a very unique and successful reading program that has been observed and implemented by many school districts. Over the past eight years, many schools have requested to visit our school and learn what makes our program so unique. In addition, we have been invited to speak at conferences and teacher training to help neighboring school districts build intervention programs similar to our model. Our students not only receive grade level instruction, but also receive individualized intervention according to any reading deficits a student may be experiencing. This has been very beneficial to our students. How ever, research shows that curriculum and instruction are ever-changing. Next year, we will be implementing a new, research based intervention program that will cater to not only our lowest readers, but our highest readers as well. Our overall goal at Wilson is for our students to soar to their full potential and aid in the effort to promote and encourage literacy by becoming fluent readers. This goal is based on the philosophy that “All Children Can Learn.” In order for that to happen, we will put a plan in place for each child and continue to differentiate instruction to meet the needs of every student.

Mrs. Kean will be the perfect complement to the Woodrow Wilson Elementary family and I can not wait to watch our children continue to grow! As always, “It’s a great day to be a Chieftain!”