EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE

Dear Colleague,

Of all the honors of my career, few mean more to me than this one: the privilege of serving you. This page could easily be a list of my titles and degrees, but it isn’t about me. It’s about you. The school leaders who carry our schools on your shoulders every single day. So let me tell you plainly what I do, and what it means for you.

When decisions are being made about your profession, I am your voice at the table. I bring the needs and concerns of our membership directly to the Superintendent, the Cabinet, and our School Board members, always collaboratively and always in your interest. At the state level, through our affiliation with the Florida Association of School Administrators, I watch the legislation and policy that shape your work and advocate for the protections you deserve. I also take our voice to Washington, D.C., because the decisions made there reach right back to your campus.

When you have a concern or a question, I am here for you, personally and in confidence. Reach out, no worry is too small.

When you feel you are being investigated or targeted, OCASA is your first call. I will mobilize the professional team we have built to support you. You have a Professional Standards Advisor and a Member Advocate ready to step in the moment you have questions or a situation begins to develop. If it moves to a Pre-Determination Meeting (PDM), OCASA will be right there with you. If it ever goes all the way to the State of Florida, we have legal counsel working on our team every step of the way. You will never face any of it alone.

Rest assured you have a strong, sustainable association that is built to serve you, its programs, its advocacy, its finances, and its future.

I am not here only for advocacy. I am also here to help you chart your future and grow as a leader.

I do this work for one reason. I have the deepest respect for you.

I spent thirty years in Orange County Public Schools, and I loved every one of them. I was a substitute teacher and a special education teacher. I was a dean, an assistant principal, the first Hispanic middle school principal, and the first Hispanic high school principal of one of the largest schools in Florida. I served as an executive director, an associate superintendent for Exceptional Student Education, and an area superintendent. I know the weight you carry, because I carried it too. 

I know what it is to make the hard call, to hold a building together through change, and to have every eye turn to you for direction. 

That is why I respect you as much as I do, and it is why there is no work I would rather do than stand behind you.

My career of service is not finished. I continue it now for others, for our school leaders. So here is my promise to you. With me in your corner, you have nothing to worry about. 

Bring me whatever you are facing, and I will stand beside you the whole way. And through it all, I will always be your biggest cheerleader.

With deep respect,

Anna