BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Jo Clark doesn’t seek the spotlight, but sometimes your actions can’t help but place you in it.
Clark was voted as Bradford Elementary’s School-Related Employee of the Year and was announced in December as the Bradford County School District’s SRE of the Year.
The honor comes after having worked just two years in the school district.
“I was surprised — honored, humbled and surprised,” Clark said.
Being named Employee of the Year certainly wasn’t something she was striving for.
“I just want to do the job,” she said.
Bradford Elementary Principal Cassie Melvin said how Clark does her job makes her school lucky to have her.
“We are so blessed to have Ms. Jo at Bradford Elementary,” Melvin said. “I knew from the moment she came in for an interview that she was going to fit right in. She is one of the most compassionate people I’ve ever met. There isn’t a day that goes by that she isn’t greeting staff members or students with a smile.”
Clark is in the perfect place in which to reveal those smiles. Her desk sits in the hallway behind the front office and across from the clinic. It’s a high-traffic area that allows her the chance to see so many students and co-workers.
As for her job, it’s almost a question of, “What doesn’t Clark do?” She assists in the clinic and with attendance and data entry. Melvin said Clark is also the point person for the food program, ensuring that students in need receive food bags weekly.
“Sometimes, I’m at the front desk,” Clark said. “It’s just wherever they need me.”
Melvin said you’ll even find Clark mentoring students if the opportunity arises. That’s no surprise if you talk to Clark, because for her, the job is all about the students.
“I just love the kids,” said Clark, who is no stranger to working with children. She did so for more than 20 years in music ministry at Madison Street Baptist Church, which has been her church home for approximately 30 years.
Perhaps it’s appropriate to mention her church because Clark said Bradford Elementary is the place where God wanted her to be after working in retail for 30 years. In fact, the only place she applied for a job was the Bradford County School District.
“This is where I felt the Lord was leading me,” Clark said.
Clark grew up on a farm in Webster in Sumter County. When she married Bo Clark, Starke became her home.
Starke was already Bo’s home. People knew who he was and followed his exploits on the football field for Bradford High School and then the University of Florida.
“I was always ‘Bo’s wife,’” Clark said.
As someone who prefers to be in the background, that was OK, but she did have to change somewhat due to working in retail.
Clark worked at the Sears Catalog Store in Starke with Harold “Bish” Bishop and Wanda Bishop. She said Wanda told her, “Jo, you have to talk to people.”
She must’ve done OK after that, because she said Bish used to tell her, “Once (Wanda) said that, it’s like you never stopped talking.”
Clark next worked at Denmark Furniture. She remembered how understanding S.G. Denmark and his son, Steve, were when she explained that her family had to be her priority.
“When I first interviewed with Steve and S.G.,” Clark said, “I told them, ‘I’m a wife and mother first. Then I’ll be a dedicated employee.’”
Clark said she never had to miss any events with involving her children.
Her children were also like Steve Denmark’s children.
“He always said we were family,” Clark said. “He and my husband had become best buds.”
When Denmark decided to open a Sears Hometown Store in Starke, he named Clark its manager. She had been working alongside him for 17 years.
The Sears Hometown Store opened in October 2009 and consistently earned Five-Star Excellence Awards as well as Premier status, which it enjoyed since 2013. In 2018, the Starke store was named the top Sears Hometown Store in the country.
However, the corporate office filed for bankruptcy in 2022, which led to the eventual closing of the store.
Clark didn’t want to take on the same level of responsibility that comes with managing a retail business. With her husband having passed away Jan. 15, 2022, she figured it was time to slow down.
She still wanted to do something, though, and appears to have found her niche at Bradford Elementary School.
“Of course, I love it being close to home, but I love being able to help with the kids,” Clark said, adding, “The endless hugs are amazing. So many of them are so loving and sweet.”
The smiling face that Melvin talked about could be interpreted as demonstrating Clark’s love for her job. That is true. Clark said, “It’s an awesome environment. Everybody here is wonderful.”
The smiles could be the result of the love she has for children.
Yet she also smiles for another reason: it might just be the thing a child needs.
“That may be the only smile they see that day,” Clark said, explaining that you never really know what’s going on in a child’s life away from school.
If Clark has her way, she’ll continue to show up at Bradford Elementary School with smiles for as long as she can.
“I told them the other day, ‘Look, I’ll do my best not to die at my desk, but I’ll work here until I die.’ You don’t need to sit home and stagnate,” Clark said. “As long as I can be a blessing and do my job, there’s no place I’d rather be.”
