Project Description
Yecenia Martinez
Principal, Bob Graham Education Center
Miami, Florida
Fellow
Yecenia Martinez began her career twenty-two years ago in Miami-Dade County Public Schools. During her career, Yecenia has held various leadership roles such as Reading Coach, Lead Teacher and Assistant Principal. She has been a Principal for twelve years and she has led Bob Graham Education Center for the past eight years. Bob Graham Education Center serves over one thousand five hundred students in prekindergarten through eighth-grade setting which offers many programs such as a full-time program for children with Autism, as well as programs for the Gifted, Law Studies, Extended Foreign Language, Robotics, Advanced Academics and High School Courses.
Bob Graham Education has been an ‘A’ Rated School by the Florida Department of Education since its inception eighteen years ago. Yecenia strongly believes that this fine educational center has maintained its ‘A’ status due to her belief in empowering all stakeholders.
As a school leader, she believes in developing healthy, civic-minded, innovative individuals. She believes that as educators one must empower students to reach their maximum potential and become caring, reflective, life-long learners with a sense of social responsibility.
James Jackimczuk
Assistant Principal, Bob Graham Education Center
Miami, Florida
ALLY
James Jackimczuk has been an employee of the Miami-Dade County School system for the past 31 years. He began his career as a teacher for 11 years, focusing on sixth-grade math and science. Later in his teaching career he began to take on leadership roles at school which inspired him to earn a master’s degree in educational leadership.
Over the past 20 years as an assistant principal, he has had the opportunity to work at four different school sites. Each of these settings brought unique circumstances and experiences that have proved to be an invaluable resource. Presently at Bob Graham Education Center, he has helped sustain the school’s 18 year run of being an A-rated school. It takes a team effort to hold such high standards year after year, but he does have specific responsibilities at Bob Graham.
He is the test chairperson and data coordinator. He works closely with the IT specialist as the technology resource contact. He oversees the daily public school bus transportation during arrival and dismissal. He is looking forward to meeting and overcoming the challenges that lie ahead as we reopen our school after the pandemic.