BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Nichole Stafford began her education career as a kindergarten teacher and is now a high school administrator. As she likes to say, “I’ve been from one end to the other.”
The new Bradford High School assistant principal never envisioned herself working at either end or at any point in between, but since going into education, it has proven to be a natural fit.
“To be honest, it wasn’t a dream growing up to be in education, but once I got in it, it has been very rewarding,” Stafford said.
Stafford, who is entering her 15th year in education, starts her journey as an administrator at a school that’s familiar to her. She spent the last two years at BHS as the testing coordinator.
She’s also a 2001 BHS graduate.
“Growing up here, going to school here and graduating from here, I never saw myself as an administrator here,” Stafford said, “but I think it’s pretty awesome. It’s rewarding. I think it’s a good opportunity. It’s a great time for me to learn and grow professionally here.”
Stafford had been thinking about a medical-related career coming out of high school. That changed when she and her husband, Matt, welcomed their son, Matthew, into the world.
“After I had my son, and I started really working with him on learning how to read letters and understand sounds, it really just sparked my interest (in teaching),” Stafford said.
Stafford earned a bachelor’s degree in Elementary K-6 at Saint Leo’s University. She taught for half a year at the former Brooker Elementary School, but her first full year was at Lawtey Elementary, where she began teaching kindergarten. She spent seven years at Lawtey before moving to Bradford Middle School.
“There was a lot of growth for me professionally moving from elementary to middle,” said Stafford, who taught fourth and sixth grades besides kindergarten. “It was a great learning experience for me.”
Stafford credited Teresa Patterson for being a mentor to her at BMS. She said Patterson helped her teach in accordance with state standards.
“I’m not sure I would’ve survived without her,” Stafford said. “She was my saving grace my first year as a sixth-grade teacher.”
During her four-year stint at BMS, Stafford would become a mentor for new teachers.
“I liked just being a support to them and being their go-to person for whatever they needed — giving advice and suggestions,” Stafford said.
It was while at BMS that Stafford decided she wanted to go into administration. She saw that as an extension of what she was already doing at BMS as a teacher mentor. Administration would give her more opportunities to help fellow educators as well as students.
“I’ve always been goal-oriented,” Stafford said. “I always feel like pushing forward.”
While she was pushing forward and working toward her master’s degree in Educational Leadership through the University of West Florida, she became testing coordinator at BHS.
“I got to learn the dynamics and the culture here at Bradford High,” Stafford said. “That makes the transition (to assistant principal) a little easier. I’ve built relationships already with the teachers and the staff.”
Stafford was surprised to get an opportunity so soon to be an assistant principal, especially at BHS, which had a new assistant principal last year in Crystal Williams. Williams, though, is now the new principal at BMS. Stafford said she learned a lot from Williams last year and knows she can reach out to her still, even though she’s on a different campus.
“She has a lot of knowledge,” Stafford said. “If I have questions, she will shoot me a text back. She’s been very supportive of me. She has been a great asset for me, too.”
Another asset, of course, is Chris Coffey, who’s entering his second year as principal at BHS after six years as the school’s assistant principal.
“I feel like he knows everything about this high school,” Stafford said.
Stafford said things at the high school move at a fast pace, even for someone who considers herself a good multi-tasker. That’s an area she believes Coffey excels in.
“There are so many tasks at the high school level — so many things going on — but he seems to manage it all very well,” Stafford said, adding, “He gets the job done. I like that because I don’t like keeping things undone. If I start something, it needs to be finished. If I tell you I’m going to do it, it needs to be done.
“He’s like that. I admire that in him.”
Besides having the two leaders to look up to last school year, Stafford had the chance to do such things as sit in on data and administrative meetings and participate in classroom visits as part of instructional walks.
“My first year as a testing coordinator, I felt like I didn’t have a lot of time to do all of that because I came in and had to basically learn everything on my own,” Stafford said. “I didn’t have anyone to train me per se. I had to sink or swim.
“As I transitioned into my second year as testing coordinator, I had all of that under my belt. I was able to get into more of the administrative roles and be able to sit under (the administrators) and learn and grow.”
Stafford jumped right into the fire, so to speak, fulfilling administrative tasks this summer during times when Coffey was absent, as he and his wife, Hailey, celebrated the birth of twin boys earlier this month.
“With Chris out with the babies, I’m having to do all of the interviewing and things like that,” Stafford said. “It’s been great. It’s been a learning opportunity.
This will be quite the exciting school year for Stafford. She will not only begin her journey as an administrator, but observe the senior year of so many students she taught her first year in kindergarten. Her son is also a senior.
Stafford became a little emotional when discussing how she would be on stage for students she taught in kindergarten and fourth and sixth grades.
“The saying is once you teach students and call them your kids, they’re your kids forever,” she said. “These are my kids.”
As she prepares to gain an entire school’s worth of kids as an assistant principal, Stafford said her goals include establishing new relationships and building upon those she’s already created since she’s been at BHS.
Another goal is to find that balance between her job and life outside of work. She knows that’ll be tough her first year as assistant principal, but she believes that over time she can have that balance that she promised herself and her family she would maintain.
“Before I took this job, I wanted to pray and get peace about it, and I did,” Stafford said, adding, “Anything new is time-consuming. I know that going into this, but I’m OK with that. I think it’s going to be a challenge probably, but that’s OK.”
The life part of the balance will include tending to cattle and spending time on what she and her family call their “little slice of Heaven.” They bought a 60-acre farm in Lawtey less than a mile from where they were previously living. Stafford said she didn’t grow up on a farm, but her husband, who’s also a BHS graduate, did. His family had a chicken farm in Brooker.
Stafford called it a “new adventure.” It’ll be one of two such adventures as she prepares for her first year as an administrator. She said she and Coffey are eager for the 2024-25 school year to arrive.
“We are both excited and ready to hit the ground running,” she said.
