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| Kimberly Kelley can often be seen directing traffic and greeting parents and students at arrival and dismissal times. |
Kimberly Kelley has a great passion for middle school students. Even though she has taught on the high school level with success, she believes that middle school is the age of development and that is her best fit.
Kelley is the new principal of Barber Middle School in Dickinson ISD, replacing Bonnie Fried, who is the district's new Director of Curriculum Services.
"By the time a student reaches the 10th grade, he or she has already made up their mind if they are going to stay in school or not," Kelley said. "The middle school years, sixth to ninth grade, are the years I enjoy because you get to help them develop their love for school."
The Texas City native comes to Dickinson ISD from Pasadena, where she served as principal at Miller Intermediate. She served as assistant principal at Miller first and then when the opportunity opened, she was promoted to the principal's job.
"I loved it over there," Kelley said. "I'm just a Galveston County girl. I grew up here. We live in Santa Fe and my husband Kevin graduated from Dickinson, so this is where I belong. We are Gators and Kevin has loved going to all the football games and cheering the Gators on."
Kelley has also worked in Alvin ISD and Houston ISD in her career. She has a science and biology teaching background. "I really enjoyed teaching," she said. "I started off teaching middle school in Houston ISD and with those kids you get something different every day. It can be a real challenge, but that is what I like about it."
After graduating from Texas City, Kelley attended College of the Mainland and then the University of Houston Clear Lake, where she received her Bachelor's Degree. She later received her Master's Degree from the University of Houston. Kimberly and Kevin have two daughters, Madeline and Rebekah, and she says while her career is very important to her, family comes first.
"My goal is to balance my passion, being an educator, with being a good mom and wife because my family is very important to me," she said. "Working in Pasadena was difficult because with the commute from Santa Fe, I was not home near enough. I believe that the opportunity in Dickinson was God allowing me to make the change to continue serving as an educator and be the mother and wife that I should."
The new chief at Barber says she wants to make a difference in the lives of her students. "Barber was a great school when I got here, and my intention is work closely with the staff, students and parents to make Barber the best middle school in Galveston County and the state. We are concentrating our efforts on increasing literacy in all core areas, because literacy is the gateway to a student being college and career ready."
It is full steam ahead into round four of the UIL football playoffs after the Dickinson High School Gators pulled off a 21-19 win this past Saturday against Cy-Fair High School. Thousands of Dickinson fans filled the home side of Rice Stadium to watch the Gators extend their undefeated record to 13-0.
A win this weekend would put the Gators only two weeks away from a possible State Championship Game -- with the State Semi-Finals on Saturday, December 13 at the Alamodome in San Antonio and the State Championship game on Saturday, December 20 at AT&T Stadium (home of the Dallas Cowboys) in Arlington.
There are many ways to get into the holiday spirit in Dickinson ISD over the next three weeks through holiday music and winter activities. The community is invited to come and support our students and see the great things they are accomplishing in band, choir, dance, drama and elementary music classes.
