Stephanie Woodford

Deputy Superintendent

Stephanie Woodford has spent more than three decades giving back to her community as an educator. Before being appointed as the Area Superintendent for Area 2, Ms. Woodford served as the principal of Lakewood Elementary School in St. Petersburg from 2018-2021.

Ms. Woodford started her educational career in 1990 as a classroom teacher for Hillsborough County Schools and quickly moved into leadership positions.  She spent half of her career as either an assistant principal or principal in both Hillsborough County Public Schools and Pinellas County Schools. Ms. Woodford’s vast experience includes work at the school district level as Chief Human Resources Officer, Manager of Personnel Services, Director of the Gates Performance Management Grant and Assistant Director of School Leadership.

Ms. Woodford describes her time at Lakewood Elementary School as the highlight of her career. The school leader helped build an exceptional team of teachers and staff. She says the school community embraced change and embraced using student data to improve learning and student performance. Also, hard work from students and support from families helped change the school’s culture. As principal, Ms. Woodford provided structure and set high expectations for her students while creating a nurturing environment to help them succeed academically.

As Deputy Superintendent, Ms. Woodford will use the same collaborative approach to help support principals and use school-based data to identify a school’s untapped potential. She believes this approach will help more than 30 schools under her leadership reach new academic heights.

Ms. Woodford earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Elementary Education from the University of Florida and an Educational Specialist degree in Educational Leadership from Nova Southeastern University.

Ms. Woodford grew up in Pinellas County. She’s been married to her husband for 30 years and has two sons. Both she and her husband are proud Warhawks, they graduated from Seminole High School.

 

Phone: (727) 588-6000