Dr. Michelle Pettiford

My journey in education spans 27 years and was deeply influenced by my mother, who was a teacher assistant working specifically with students with disabilities in our public school. Although my first love was to be a pediatrician working with children with special needs, I fell into education when I was working in a facility with students and adults with disabilities and was presented with the opportunity to get my master's degree for free. I started as a teacher in a public but separate school, meaning it's in the public system but all students there have some form of disability, working with students with every type of disability from severe and profound all the way up to behavioral emotional disabilities. I then moved to a regular public school because I wanted to find out what it was like integrating those students with students who don't have disabilities. My colleagues and friends pushed me to move beyond the classroom, even though I had no desire and was comfortable where I was, telling me I had too much to offer. I left the classroom and ventured into instructional coaching, coaching teachers to become better educators. For me, the difference is that teachers just teach the curriculum and go by the book, but educators are educating students for their future, making connections with their world and what they like to do, helping students see that they have a voice and a future regardless of what it looks like right now, so they can see that light at the end of the tunnel. I've been blessed to work at the elementary, middle, and high school levels, and I've been fortunate to work at whatever level my son was in school so I could understand what I needed to do as a parent. My niche has really been middle school and high school, and that's where I am now as an assistant principal.