Laura Young
ECB Publishing, Inc.
Yolanda Smith-Davis is the new principal for Jefferson County K-12 Community Partnership School (JCS). Her appointment was approved by the Jefferson County School Board on Monday, June 23, and she began her duties this week.
“We embark on this journey with a pledge to you, our students and parents, that this will be a year of engaging, meaningful and rigorous work in our classrooms,” Smith-Davis wrote in a statement. “We will continue to build upon and refine our proven foundations of good work, honored traditions and continued excellence in education.”
She offers an open door for stakeholders, parents and teachers to collaborate with her to help the students achieve their best.
Smith-Davis has been an educator for more than 20 years, motivated to enter the teaching profession in order to help students have a better childhood than the difficult one she herself had. She shared with ECB Publishing that her mother had been on drugs and her daddy was in and out of prison, so she was placed in foster care. Determined not to go down the same road as her parents, she relied on her faith to keep strong.
“My mother eventually got off drugs and got her kids back,” Smith-Davis added. “Her journey reminds me that with faith and perseverance, anything is possible.”
It was while waitressing at Ken's Barbecue restaurant and also volunteering to support kids in her community, that a friend encouraged her to consider becoming a teacher. There was a job opportunity as a paraprofessional in the schools, the friend told her, suggesting she look into it. Smith-Davis realized she really wanted to do that. She applied for the job, got it and in this way started down her path as an educator.
“I've always had a love for kids,” she said. “That's my passion.”
While working in staff support roles at Madison Primary School, Smith-Davis completed the necessary education to pursue teaching as a career, first at North Florida College and then at Florida A&M University. With a bachelor's degree in elementary education and her teaching certificate in hand, she began with a first grade class at Madison County Central School (a K-8 campus with more than 800 students) in 2004. She gained experience as a team leader and with teaching various grades over the next five years.
After receiving a master's degree in educational leadership from FAMU, and with encouragement from a principal who saw her leadership potential, she moved into administration at the same school, as an assistant principal. Her responsibilities from 2009-2022 concentrated on preschool through sixth grade and involved the educational program, curriculum improvement, supporting teachers in use of technology, scheduling and helping manage transportation.
During that time she also earned a specialist's degree in principalship from Arkansas State University, in 2018. This allowed her to be promoted in 2022 to principal of Pinetta Elementary School. When she took the helm at Pinetta, the school had extremely low morale, a high rate of staff turnover and a grade of D from the Florida Department of Education.
“I was the first African-American principal at Pinetta since the school opened in 1902,” she said. “I came in, met with the staff, had a plan of action, and we moved the school from a D to a B.”
She tells how she worked side by side with her teachers, in the classroom, to help them accomplish the turnaround.
“That's the type of leader I am,” she said. “I want to be in the trenches with my teachers to help my teachers to accomplish whatever we need to accomplish.”
Her accolades include selection as a District Teacher of the Year, designation as a Turnaround Principal and recipient of a PBIS Silver School Award for highly effective implementation of the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports framework.
Smith-Davis said that although she loves her hometown of Madison, after being in the Madison school district for 24 years, she was ready for a change.
“God had laid on my heart that it was time to take a leap of faith,” she said in a recent interview with ECB Publishing.
She's promised to give 110 percent to guide Jefferson K-12 forward, and she's looking forward to learning about the school culture, getting to know the families who make up the school community and applying her “one school, one team, making a difference” philosophy.
“There's no I in team,” she said, elaborating on her leadership style. “We meet as a team, discuss the pros and cons, and we decide as a team what the school is going to look like. I like supporting teachers, building morale. I am high-energy, and so I like having people who want to come to work. I'm all about celebrating our successes.”
Smith-Davis said she wants to bring families into the school, welcoming their support and involvement. She's also looking forward to connecting personally with each home, and one way will be by continuing Tuesday night “Bedtime Story with the Principal” live broadcasts on her YouTube channel. For older students, Smith-Davis intends to build up participation in dual enrollment and continue to develop vocational opportunities at JCS.
When not attending to school matters, Smith-Davis partners with her entrepreneurial husband, Donnell Davis, in many businesses – a market, a restaurant, a tax service and a construction company. They have been married for seven years, and their blended family includes six children ages five to 26. The youngest two will be commuting with Yolanda to attend Jefferson K-12 for fourth grade and kindergarten. The family loves to spend their vacations taking cruises – usually two or three a year! They are active in the congregation at Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist Church.
Jefferson County Schools welcomes Yolanda Smith-Davis!