At the end of this month, School District of Osceola County Superintendent Dr. Debra Pace will officially retire, ending an education career that spanned over three decades in the classroom, principal’s office and boardroom.
The spring concluded a final school year that ended with “lasts” — the final graduation ceremonies, Teacher of the Year banquets and other things she did “one last time” since becoming a teacher at Osceola High School in 1986.
While she will meet with the public at a farewell event at the Silver Spurs Arena Heritage Club on Friday from 5-7:30 p.m., she took a few minutes last week with the News-Gazette to reflect on her past, present and immediate future.
Osceola News-Gazette: Have you been getting nostalgic these last couple weeks?
Debra Pace: It’s somewhat bittersweet, as I’ve loved my time in the District and the people I’ve worked with.
ONG: This all almost didn’t happen. What were your aspirations when you were at the Auburn University?
Pace: My aspiration when I graduated from St. Cloud High School was to become an international lawyer, with ideas I wanted to travel. After a quarter at Auburn I realized how much I valued being home with family, it’s all I knew. I still love trade work. Then Pete (Pace, her husband) and I got engaged my senior year and that changed thoughts of law school. I found I love education, learning and helping others learn, so I found my way into the classroom (as an English and Spanish teacher) and loved it ever since.
ONG: Any particular memory that sticks out from your time in the classroom?
Pace: In my second or third year, I got to teach dual enrollment English composition, and had many of my English I honors freshman students, so it was like I already knew them and we had the most exciting year learning writing and I saw those kids develop in an amazing fashion. I truly have great memories of Osceola, when I knew nothing about what I was doing, when I had to be reminded not to lose my keys or grade book, and when someone said, “We need someone to sponsor …” and I was like, “Okay!” It was fine because it gave me a chance to grow.
ONG: Then you moved up and became a dean, assistant principal and principal.
Pace: I was at Poinciana High for 13 years, and my kids grew up there. I was able to transfer to Harmony High in 2006 when Dan Parker and his wife moved to Tennessee. My kids were in high school then.
ONG: After a couple of years, then a couple more as a deputy superintendent here in Osceola County, talk about your move to the Brevard County district.
Pace: It was interesting because I’d never considered leaving the district before. It was a difficult decision but one of the best from a career standpoint. Going to a district that didn’t hire its leadership team from outside before that, and learning a new way in a larger district that was high performing — you had kids on the Space Coast whose parents really were rocket scientists and surfed before school — I learned so much as associate superintendent for Human Resources. It was a diverse set of responsibilities from staffing, creating interviews and evaluations, training, labor negotiations and risk and benefits — I was in charge of their health care plan and retirement. I learned a tremendous amount about people, and was proving myself every day based on my work and earn everyone’s trust and respect.
ONG: And then the Osceola superintendent position came open when Melba Luciano retired in 2016.
Pace: It was a great first few months because Ms. Luciano was still on board, much like I will be for a few weeks, we bounced ideas off each other to get context on things I wanted to amend. At the same time I was able to hire people and we got a really good jump start. It was great.
ONG: It turned into seven years, and you say it didn’t feel that long. Why?
Pace: Between hurricanes and the pandemic, we got good at crisis. The staff knew if I was going to an Emergency Operations meeting I’d come back with the things we have to do and implement the plan. We took care of students, we took care of teachers and kept them informed about what’s going on. The new superintendent can count on that our team will know what to do.
ONG: You heard from people, like staff and teachers, at every Board meeting about pay and other conditions. Having been in those shoes yourself, how did that make you feel?
Pace: The input we get is valuable, even when it’s harsh. We still need to hear it, for those people it’s reality. We have to understand that to help them be successful and feel valued. All our jobs are critically important so teachers can do their best work for students. It’s hard. We worked through the pandemic and our staff were true emergency responders, they showed up. We still see some of the impacts and have been working super hard to still catch kids back up to where they need to be.
I’m most proud of, in these seven years, is the strength of our district leaders. The superintendent’s No. 1 job is to make sure we have great principals and assistant principals and people in place to support them. The teacher in the classroom has the No. 1 impact on student learning, right behind that is the impact of the school leader who establishes the culture of high expectations and accountability.
ONG: What’s your best advice to your successor?
Pace: Understand and appreciate the engagement of our community in supporting education in Osceola County, and great partnerships with governmental agencies. All have to work together to help be the best we can be and establish that quality of life we seek. He’ll have his own vision, but I’m confident in his success because we have strong people stepping up to support his leadership.
For the next year I’ll be spending a lot of time as a “granny nanny” and looking forward to supporting my growing family, and reset myself, taking care of my family and my health for the next 12 months. After that, we’ll see what’s next.
