New principal ready to lead Douglas forward
Michelle Kefford is pumped. And while spasms of enthusiasm seem to come with the job when you’re a school principal, the new principal of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High has plenty of legitimate reasons to be excited.
“It’s coming back home,” Kefford, 44, said.
Those four words explain almost every reason she’s back at the Parkland school, coming full circle from where she began her career 20 years ago as a biology teacher.
Kefford, who begins work at Douglas on July 1, replaces former principal Ty Thompson, who stepped down in May, and co-principal Teresa Hall.
The principal at MSD when a former student opened fire at the school, leaving 17 dead and as many injured on Feb. 14, 2018, Thompson had been under investigation by Broward Schools and reassigned to different duties at Douglas. A popular and exuberant figure at the school, Thompson cited personal reasons for resigning after six years as principal. The investigation, which district officials expected to complete by May, remains ongoing.
Thompson’s departure widened the administrative hole needing to be filled at Douglas. In the wake of 2/14 and the local and state probes that followed, three assistant principals were transferred and a second principal was named. Kefford’s hire is not only a move to fill that void, but to begin building anew.
Kefford declined to speak specifically about past events at the high school but did say she will be re-evaluating policies and procedures going forward.
She has been working on her transition from Flanagan High, where she served as principal for eight years. Her efforts at the Pembroke Pines school blossomed these past two years as Kefford was named Broward’s 2018 Principal of the Year, then in March earned the Florida Board of Education Principal of the Year honor for 2019.
“I love what I do,” she said. “It’s rewarding to work with kids.
“I’m driven by their success. I want to prepare our kids for graduation and what comes next in life.”
A wife and a mother of two, Kefford and her family reside in Parkland. Her oldest son attends Douglas, while the younger boy is a student at West Glades Middle School.
Valerie Wanza, the district’s School Performance and Accountability director, was Kefford’s first supervisor.
“I watched her career grow in the school district and watched as her leadership grew at Flanagan,” Wanza said. “Under her guidance, Flanagan became a consistently A-rated, high-performance school — not just academically, but as an overall school experience.”
Describing her as a highly accomplished school leader, Wanza believes Kefford is the right person at the right time to take the reins at Douglas.
“Michelle will seize this opportunity to go home, help the community recover, heal, and move forward,” Wanza said.
Robert Runcie, at a May 13 press conference announcing Kefford’s appointment, said, “We are grateful to Michelle for taking on this challenge. It speaks volumes to the type of leader she is.”
The Broward Schools superintendent cited the “culture of pride” Kefford built with the staff and students at Flanagan.
“Given her qualifications and her background, we couldn’t be more proud — and lucky — to recommend someone that’s so qualified to fill this important role,” Runcie said.
For Kefford, the most fulfilling aspect of the job is witnessing the success of her students.
“I get to see these kids from their awkward adolescence through to young adulthood,” she said. “Watching (them) attain their goals, receive scholarships, graduate, walk across the stage, go on to college, and to know I’ve made a difference in their life is very satisfying.”
The daughter of two retired educators, Kefford once thought she’d become a veterinarian. She said it was her mom who encouraged her to teach, because of her passion for biology. “I tried it out and never looked back,” she said.