- December 22, 2024
-
-
Loading
Loading
For the second time, Hamlin Elementary School Principal Angela Murphy-Osborne has been named principal of the year for Florida by the National Association of Elementary School Principals.
Murphy-Osborne is only one of two principals to receive the honor twice, and she is the only one to receive the honor twice in the same state.
She traveled in October to Washington, D.C., accompanied by her 89-year-old mother, Kathy Murphy, and childhood friend Janet Lanham, to accept the honor with 36 other National Distinguished Principals.
“It’s very humbling to receive this honor,” Murphy-Osborne said. “I put a lot into my work, and I love what I do and being a principal. Every day, I wake up feeling very blessed to be a principal. I honestly never thought I would be a principal, because I had a pretty difficult time in school growing up. Instead, that experience inspired me on this journey to ensure other children are provided with the tools they need to succeed in a comfortable and safe environment.”
AN UNFORGETTABLE JOURNEY
NAESP’s NDP program honors outstanding elementary and middle-level principals who ensure children acquire a sound foundation for lifelong learning and achievement. Each year, NAESP congratulates principals from across the nation and U.S. overseas schools for their exemplary achievements.
Principal honorees are selected by NAESP state affiliates and by committees representing private and overseas schools. Criteria for selection of the principals require the honorees are active principals of schools where programs are designed to meet the academic and social needs of all students and where there are firmly established community ties with parents and local business organizations.
This year, the organization recognized 37 NDPs: Thirty-five public school principals — one pre-K or kindergarten, 29 elementary, three middle-level and two K-8 — one representing the U.S. Department of State Overseas Schools and one representing the U.S. Department of Defense Education Activity.
The 2024 class of NDPs was honored in Washington, D.C., and the trip culminated with an awards banquet Oct. 11.
“The importance of principal leadership has never been more important, as schools and communities continue to recover from the challenges of the past few years,” NAESP Executive Director Dr. L. Earl Franks said. “That is why we are so proud to recognize the outstanding leadership of the 2024 class of NAESP NDPs. These principals lead highly successful learning communities and serve as examples of excellence for all school leaders.”
During her visit to D.C., Murphy-Osborne joined other principals from their winning states for a series of events, including tours of the White House, the monuments and the Department of Education, as well as attended several training sessions. Each winner also was asked to give a three-minute speech about themselves and their educational experience.
“It was really interesting learning from all the different principals about their experiences and the different structures and guidelines in each of their states,” she said. “Everyone was so different, but also we all shared a big commonality in our love for education. We all love our kids, and we all want a better future for them. We also all shared a love for our staff, who I know have become my family here at Hamlin Elementary.”
Murphy-Osborne said receiving the award the second time meant even more than the first.
“My mother got to accompany me the second time — she had a stroke seven years ago, and I help take care of her and my disabled husband, who also had a stroke around the same time,” she said. “I didn’t have the personal challenges I do now as a first-time winner. So, getting the honor the second time — despite all of the challenges I have in my life— meant more. I knew I won several months ago, and I was just asking God to please let my mother live long enough to go on this trip with me. I took her, and she was actually the life of the party. The principals (who) were there and their husbands were dancing with my mom in her wheelchair, and the band came down and sang to her. She had the best time.”
‘HAMLIN ELEMENTARY IS SPECIAL’
Murphy-Osborne grew up in West Virginia with her parents and her foster siblings — some of whom have special needs. She said one of her favorite activities growing up was playing school with her foster brothers and sisters.
She came from humble beginnings, with her father working as a coal miner and her mother working in a hospital. She said her parents worked hard to get herself and her siblings through college.
Murphy-Osborne received her special-education degree from Lock Haven University in Pennsylvania and went on to Nova University, where she received her master’s and doctoral degrees. She started as a teacher in Pennsylvania before moving to Florida. She served as a dean at Pine Hills Elementary School and later became assistant principal at Magnolia School.
She previously served as principal of Palmetto Elementary School for two years and Spring Lake Elementary School for 10.
She worked in Title 1 schools — schools in which children from low-income families make up at least 40% of enrollment — for 24 years. In only one academic year, Murphy-Osborne helped a school that had earned an “F” letter grade achieve “A” status.
She helped to open Independence Elementary School in 2015 and served as its principal for seven years before helping to open Hamlin Elementary in August 2022 in Horizon West. Hamlin Elementary helped to relieve Water Spring and Whispering Oak elementary schools.
“Hamlin Elementary is special,” she said. “There’s one major difference between this school and the other schools I’ve served at, and that’s that if parents have an issue or there’s a situation that comes up that they’re not necessarily happy with, they give a solution to the problem or they come and talk with you. They’re gentle in the way they approach any situation they bring up. It’s a wonderful community here, where we work together every single day to help make a difference. I feel like everything we do here is above and beyond for the kids.”
Because of what Murphy-Osborne has been through with her family over the last few years, she said her perspective on life has changed.
“I used to live to work,” she said. “I just wanted to work, work, work. Now, I work to live. My mother and husband had strokes, and now my life is different. I come to work, and I love my work, so I always give it 100%. But now when I go home, I take time for my family. For a lot of years, I didn’t do that. I just want happiness, peace and to live each day like it’s the last.”
