Her Story
About Dr. Bobby
I started my teaching career in 2005 in a Head Start program working with non-English speaking students ages 3-5. Neither they nor I could speak each other's language, so the first month we both cried together - I stopped crying after a month, and they continued for the next 2 months, but we finally broke through the barriers where we could understand each other and communicate. I did that for 5 years before moving to Harvey Brown Elementary where I taught first grade students to read, then moved to third grade where I did some coaching and worked as an interventionist. I stayed at Harvey Brown for 13 years total. From there I went to Dishman Elementary in Beaumont, Texas, in a little town called Amelia, where I served as assistant principal for one year and ran their summer school program. In June, I left and went to Cleveland, Texas, working at Southside Elementary for 4 years. Then I came over to Hardin ISD, where I am the first African American woman principal in the district since its establishment in 1949. My typical day involves greeting staff and doing temperature checks with every single teacher in the morning to see if they're okay, if they need a break, or if I need to step in while they get things together. I greet students in the hallways, go in and out checking on students and teachers during lessons, do lunch duty where I build relationships with students and find out what's going on in the school and community, then spend afternoons checking on kids, managing UIL event rosters, and supporting students at their basketball and sporting events. I put them on the bus and send them home, then walk over to the football field or gym. My most notable professional achievement is building relationships with students to impact their adult lives.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Dr. Bobby
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to God. The seat that I'm sitting in right now is a full circle assignment for me. My student was a SPED student that was here in this district, and I created a lot of stink because the district was not meeting his needs. I brought some things to light, we were able to fix some things, and the district got better. But I would have never thought they would have hired me - never ever in a life, in a million years. So when I put in this application, it was in the middle of the night, and I never changed anything, and I was like, oh well. And they had to contact someone else to tell me to answer the phone. So they went through great lengths to get me here, which I would have never gotten here because it wasn't by word of mouth or by anybody mentioning my name. I think it was truly by my resume and God's impression upon their heart that I needed the position, that I was the right fit for the position. So I can only attribute my success to my schooling, of course, you know, getting the credentials, but it was by the grace of God that I got those credentials, because during the time of my doctoral degree, I lost my son. And I just shut down for a whole year, and there's nobody but the grace of God and my community at Abilene Christian University that wrapped their arms around me and got me back on the right track.
02What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Some of the biggest opportunities in our field is getting teachers to come and teach and love what they do, because our kids are different and our parents are different. I'm sitting here now at my desk, trying to find a math teacher. I've had a job posting for 4 months, and I've only had 2 people apply, and the two people that applied have not been certified teachers. That is the biggest opportunity that I'm facing right now - to get the right people in the right seats in front of my kids, because my students deserve the best possible teachers sitting in that seat. And number one, that person is somebody that loves kids and knows their content. But first of all, you need to love my kids, because if you love my students, you're gonna give them the best every single day. The next one is getting my kids to read, because we're technology now. They're reading, but they're not reading literary works. So, trying to figure out how I can put some literary works on their iPhones when they go home, because they can't have them in school anymore.
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