Dr. Simone Wilkinson

I've been in education since graduating college in 2008, nearly 20 years total. I'm currently an assistant principal at a high school, where I've served for 10 years, and before that, I was an assistant principal at an elementary school for 3 years. My day-to-day involves supporting teachers with instruction, supporting students with attendance, academics, or behavior, working with other support staff so students have what they need to succeed, and connecting with families. I manage our instructional leadership team and the instructional coaches to help teachers improve their craft. I also work as a leadership coach, freelance writer, and speaker because I really believe in lighting the path for others and sharing the information I have with others in different ways. When I was younger, I was really into theater and dance, living in New Jersey close to New York City and going to a lot of Broadway shows. I started attending and working at a theater camp in the summer and really grew in love with helping others and working with younger kids, which led me to think about becoming a theater teacher. What drove me to education was the drive for equity and having really good educators that supported me throughout my career as a student, so I wanted to give back and ensure that other students had opportunity. I completed my dissertation in March 2025, which was something I wanted to do for a long time and was really passionate about. I'm an aspiring school principal and hope to have my own building within the next 5 years. I'm also currently working on taking my dissertation to submit it to a peer review journal.