Educator. Mentor. Unexpected Leader.
Glenda Quarles Hammons, Ed.D.
Nearly thirty years in Florida classrooms and central offices, built on one constant: helping the people around her become who they are meant to be.
At no time during my career did I ever have a pre-planned path for where I would be today.
Leadership Philosophy
I believe the purpose of education is bigger than what most systems measure. School should make students more enlightened, more curious, and more thoughtful about themselves, the people around them, and the world they are entering, not just more literate in reading, writing, and math. We have gotten too comfortable teaching to the test and chasing another data point instead of asking what a student actually needs to walk confidently into life after high school. I would happily see school grades disappear altogether. They pull attention away from the person and toward the number.
A great school is built on culture before anything else. People, students and staff alike, have to want to be there, and it is the adults' job to create the conditions that make that true. Structure and expectations still matter. But when people genuinely care about the community they belong to, the rest tends to take care of itself.
Leadership works the same way. I do not believe every person is meant to lead, and I do not believe leadership only flows from the top down. A leader has to be willing to do the work they are asking others to do, side by side, hand in hand. That is where empathy comes from. If you have done the work yourself, you can better understand when the people you lead are struggling. I have learned as much from leaders who got it wrong as I have from the ones who got it right.
Relationships make all of this possible. Staff have to feel safe enough to be honest with the people leading them, which means leaders have to be willing to be vulnerable first. Healthy professional relationships require real listening, not just the ability to talk, and a willingness to compromise, since not everyone in a school gets everything they want all the time.
Public education is at a crossroads. Families are telling us, through the choices they make, whether they feel heard. If we keep moving at our own pace instead of responding to what students and parents actually need, we will keep losing them to other options, and we will keep falling behind the rest of the world. I would like to see educators have more of a seat at the table when decisions about our daily work are shaped. The people closest to the classroom usually understand best what will and will not work inside one.
If I had to put it simply: education should focus on making students better humans, and leaders should focus on building the kind of relationships that make people want to come to work.
Professional Journey
Glenda Hammons did not set out to become an educator. She studied sports medicine, planning for a career as an athletic trainer, and met her future husband, also an athletic trainer, in graduate school. Building that career brought her back to Orlando, her hometown, in the mid-1990s, where she took a position as a non-faculty coach and athletic trainer at University High School in Orange County Public Schools while she found her footing. The pay was not enough on its own, so she moved into the classroom to make ends meet, and found she belonged there.
What followed was a decade split between the classroom and the athletic training room, and eventually across three different Florida counties. She taught ninth grade science and life management skills, worked as an assistant athletic trainer, and later added seventh and eighth grade science at Cobb Middle School in Tallahassee, where she also became department chair and helped coordinate the school's science magnet program. Her family's moves, first to Tallahassee when her husband took a position at Florida State University, then back to Orlando two years later, meant starting over more than once, at Leon High School, Cobb Middle School, and Lake Brantley High School in Seminole County, before she returned to Orange County Public Schools in 2007.
Returning to Freedom High School as a ninth grade science teacher, she began moving toward leadership, first as testing coordinator, then as curriculum resource teacher, mentoring new teachers and leading professional development for staff. In September 2012, that path led her into administration for the first time, as Assistant Principal at Olympia High School, where she played a key role in helping the school earn its seventh consecutive A grade.
Five years at Olympia were followed by a new challenge as Assistant Principal of Instruction at Apopka High School, where she built master schedules and helped the school reach its highest graduation rate on record. She returned to Freedom High School as Assistant Principal in 2020, working with the school’s advanced studies and career and technical education programs and mentoring two newly appointed assistant principals, both of whom have since gone on to their own promotions, one to Assistant Principal of Instruction and one to a high school principalship. With a new high school opening nearby and drawing a portion of Freedom’s enrollment, she chose to move again the following year, this time to help open a new school of her own from the ground up.
On July 1, 2021, Hammons became a founding Assistant Principal at Horizon High School, working alongside two other assistant principals and the principal to build the school's culture, policies, and procedures from the ground up. She led the school's Advanced Studies program and tracked its acceleration rate for students from day one. The school earned a B in its first year and an A in its second, a result of the work she and the English and reading departments put into student literacy from the very start.
In her current role as Senior Administrator of Academic Services at Orange County Public Schools, a position she has held since October 2022, Hammons led the districtwide launch of the Xello Course Planner, reviewing nearly five thousand courses to build six diploma options and ten specialization pathways in just four and a half months, roughly a third of the typical timeline. She mentors newly appointed assistant principals of instruction across the district, helping them learn a job she has held herself.
Nearly thirty years into a career that unfolded one unplanned step at a time, Hammons is beginning to think about what comes next. She is not looking to leave education behind, but she is drawn to the parts of her work she has always loved most: mentoring colleagues, turning complicated systems into something clear and workable, and helping others become the best version of themselves in a new role. Wherever that leads, whether toward professional development, workforce training, or a different way of supporting the field she has given nearly three decades to, it is likely to look like everything else in her career: something she did not see coming until she had already mastered it.
She has said that if she ever wrote a book about her career, she would call it The Unexpected Educator. Given a career built one unplanned turn at a time, from an athletic training room to a district office, it is hard to imagine a more fitting title.
Areas of Expertise
Master Schedule Design and Course Planning
New School Opening and Culture Building
Advanced Academic Planning and Postsecondary Readiness
Assistant Principal Coaching and Leadership Development
Curriculum Support and Staff Mentoring
Education Technology Implementation and Systems Rollout
Athletic Training and Sports Medicine
Notable Accomplishments
Founding Assistant Principal, Horizon High School. Helped open the school from the ground up in 2021, building its culture, policies, and procedures alongside two other assistant principals and the principal. Led the school from a B to an A school grade in its second year, driven largely by an intensive focus on literacy in the English and reading departments from day one.
Districtwide Launch of the Xello Course Planner, Orange County Public Schools. Led the creation and rollout of a new course planning feature in roughly four and a half months, a project that typically takes nine to twelve. Reviewed nearly 5,000 courses to build six diploma options and ten specialization pathways, then trained school counselors across the district and equipped them with resources to train students on how to use it.
Seventh Consecutive A School Grade, Olympia High School. As Assistant Principal, played a key role in helping Olympia earn its seventh straight A grade, part of five years she has called some of the best of her career.
Highest Graduation Rate on Record, Apopka High School. As Assistant Principal of Instruction, helped the school reach its highest graduation rate to date, work that included close collaboration with English teachers and a careful review of graduation rate data.
Mentor to Two Assistant Principals, Freedom High School. Coached two newly appointed assistant principals through their first year in a leadership role. Both have since been promoted, one to Assistant Principal of Instruction and one to a high school principalship.
Recognition Across Two Careers. Named an Administrator Champion by Xello and part of the district team that received a Xello Family Engagement Award, along with the Chief Academic Officer’s Employee award for Student Services for the first quarter of the 2025-26 school year. Earlier in her career as an athletic trainer, served as Secretary and Treasurer of the Athletic Trainers’ Association of Florida, received the Backbone Award from the association’s president, and was nominated to the Athletic Trainers Association of Florida Hall of Fame.
Education
Doctor of Education, Instructional Leadership, emphasis in Curriculum and Program Development, Nova Southeastern University, 2015
Dissertation: The Effect of a Defined School Improvement Process on Student Achievement in Central Florida High Schools
Master of Education, Educational Administration, emphasis in Athletics Administration University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 1995
Bachelor of Science, Sports Medicine Valdosta State University, 1993
Professional and Community Involvement
Member, Orange County Association of Secondary Administrators. Member during her years as a school-based administrator in Orange County Public Schools.
Secretary and Treasurer, Athletic Trainers' Association of Florida. Also held membership in the National Athletic Trainers' Association and the Southeastern Athletic Trainers' Association earlier in her career.
Presenter, OCPS Instructional Leadership Institute, 2026. Presented a session titled "No Pulp All Purpose: Building Clear Student-Centered Pathways to the Future," focused on future readiness and the systems schools need to prepare students for life after high school.
“It’s hard to ask someone else to do something when you haven’t actually done it yourself.”
“Schools need to stop teaching to the test. We need to stop focusing so much on the data and focus more on the person.”
Your Questions, Answered
Q: What is Glenda Hammons' background in education?
A: Glenda Hammons, Ed.D. is a Florida educator with nearly thirty years of experience in K-12 education, spanning classroom teaching, athletic training, school-based administration, and district leadership. She currently serves as Senior Administrator of Academic Services at Orange County Public Schools.
Q: How long has Glenda Hammons worked as a school administrator?
A: She has worked in school administration for more than fifteen years, beginning as an administrative dean at West Orange High School and continuing through assistant principal roles at four different high schools before moving into district-level administration in October 2022.
Q: What schools and districts has Glenda Hammons worked in?
A: Over her career, she has worked in ten schools across three Florida counties: Orange, Leon, and Seminole. Her school-based roles include University High School, Cypress Creek High School, West Orange High School, Leon High School, Cobb Middle School, Lake Brantley High School, Freedom High School, Olympia High School, Apopka High School, and Horizon High School, where she served on the founding leadership team.
Q: What degrees and certifications does Glenda Hammons hold?
A: She holds a Doctor of Education in Instructional Leadership, with an emphasis in Curriculum and Program Development, from Nova Southeastern University (2015), a Master of Education in Educational Administration with an emphasis in Athletics Administration from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (1995), and a Bachelor of Science in Sports Medicine from Valdosta State University (1993). She also holds a Professional Teaching Certification in Florida.
Q: What is Glenda Hammons' leadership philosophy?
A: Hammons believes education should focus on making students better humans, not just measuring what they know, and that leadership depends on building relationships strong enough that staff genuinely want to come to work. She leads by working alongside the people she supervises rather than directing from above.
Q: What are Glenda Hammons' most notable accomplishments?
A: As a founding assistant principal, she helped open Horizon High School and played a key role in leading it from a B to an A school grade in its second year. She also led the districtwide launch of the Xello Course Planner for Orange County Public Schools, helped Olympia High School earn its seventh consecutive A grade, and guided Apopka High School to its highest graduation rate on record.
Q: What are Glenda Hammons' areas of expertise?
A: Her expertise includes master schedule design and course planning, new school opening and culture building, advanced academic planning and postsecondary readiness, assistant principal coaching, and education technology implementation.
Q: Has Glenda Hammons mentored other educational leaders?
A: Yes. She mentored two newly appointed assistant principals at Freedom High School, both of whom have since been promoted, and she currently mentors newly appointed assistant principals of instruction across Orange County Public Schools.
Q: Is Glenda Hammons the same person as other people with a similar name?
A: Not necessarily. There are a number of people named Glenda Hammons in the United States, and her maiden name, Quarles, is also spelled multiple ways. This profile refers specifically to Glenda Quarles Hammons, Ed.D., Senior Administrator of Academic Services at Orange County Public Schools in Orlando, Florida.
Q: How can someone contact Glenda Hammons?
A: She can be reached by email or through LinkedIn, with links available in the footer of this page.