The School District is proud to announce that Kelly Stedman, Principal at James Stephens Elementary has been named Principal of the Year. David Howdyshell, Assistant Principal at Estero High School, has been named Assistant Principal of the Year. Their nominations for the state award in each category have been forwarded to the Florida Department of Education.
“I am absolutely honored to represent the hard work being done by all of the teachers, staff members, students and families at James Stephens Elementary,” Stedman says. “The last six years have been dedicated to personalizing student instruction and creating an engaging learning environment for every student and I am certain our focus in these areas is the reason for our success.”
Stedman has been Principal at James Stephens Elementary since August of 2018. She first joined the school in 2016 as Assistant Principal. Under her leadership this year teachers have been able to close the achievement gap caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. She strategically budgeted and scheduled a guided reading framework into two grade levels and the students involved will be reading on level by January. She also developed a plan for grades 3-5 where at least three teachers would be able to provide student specific remediation and enrichment.
Stedman was previously the District’s Assistant Principal of the year for the 2016-2017 school year and she went on to be named Florida’s 2017 Assistant Principal of the Year. She started her career with the District as a teacher in 2004 and in 2014 was hired as Assistant Principal at Veterans Park Academy for the Arts.
Assistant Principal of the Year David Howdyshell has been the Assistant Principal at Estero High School since 2017. Previously he was a math teacher at Estero and Oak Hammock Middle School. This year he’s been teaching three math classes on top of his administrative duties. He’s created a weekly mentoring period for students to check their grades with teachers, get help as needed and participate in team building activities. Howdyshell also increased student progress monitoring and implemented extra small group instruction to keep students on track to graduate.
“I am very honored to be named AP of the Year as there are many other great assistant principals in this district positively impacting their staff and students,” Howdyshell says. “It has been a blessing to work with really great students and educators throughout my career here in the county. I am very thankful for this awesome privilege to be able to serve in our schools.”
The Florida Department of Education will announce the finalists for state Principal of the Year and Assistant Principal of the Year in January and announce the winners in late February or early March.