The staff at Ocean Palms Elementary School recently recognized their standout team members by naming their Teacher of the Year, Jennifer Smith; Rookie of the Year, Kali Wiley; and School-Related Employee of the Year, Michelle Cardona.
Additionally, the school’s principal, Tiffany Cantwell, was named Outstanding School Principal of the Year by the St. Johns County School District.
Smith works as an ESE support instructor and has been a part of the OPE team since 2018. Wiley is a fourth-grade math and science teacher who has been at the school since 2022. Cardona works as a paraprofessional in the pre-K department and has been on staff at OPE since 2021. Each was chosen from among their peers as stars in their fields.
Cantwell has served as principal of Ocean Palms since 2018. Formerly, she served as the assistant principal of The Webster School and was recognized there as the Outstanding Assistant Principal of the district. She has worked in the school district since 2001, where she started as a fourth-grade teacher and later became a curriculum resource coordinator before moving into an assistant principal and later principal role.
