As a teacher and leader, Amos Simms-Smith operates from a point of optimism, looks for students’ talents and gifts, and tries to divine their potential.
To draw out the youths’ latent abilities, educators must see students for who they are, create a welcoming and safe environment, and emphasize the pupils’ role in the success of their classroom, program or school, he said in a recent GazetteLeader interview.
“We want kids to know that you care,” Simms-Smith said. “That’s when you start to develop trust, and when you have that trust, that’s when you start to make significant gains.”
Simms-Smith, who most recently was assistant principal at Parklawn Elementary School, this summer became the new principal at Navy Elementary School in Fair Oaks.
“It’s been fantastic,” he said. “This community here is very welcoming. The staff is enthusiastic and really proactive in getting things ready for the start of the year.”
Navy Elementary will have about 850 students this fall and its enrollment has been growing, Simms-Smith said. Except for one position, the school is fully staffed to meet the pupils’ needs, he said.
The school benefits from a strong PTO and parental involvement, he said. The new principal met Navy Elementary’s incoming kindergartners Aug. 11.
“Just to see the look on their faces, being so excited to come to school, it’s a great thing to see,” he said.
Simms-Smith, who grew up in Pittsburgh, has spent his entire career in education and started off as a science-and-technology teacher at Timilty Middle School in Boston.
He moved to Virginia in 2003 when his future wife attended the University of the District of Columbia. He began working at Fairfax County Public Schools as a science teacher and later science-department chairman at Langston Hughes Middle School.
Simms-Smith later became a specialist in the admissions office at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology, where he served as a liaison to prospective students and their parents.
Administrators there chose him for the newly created position of outreach specialist in the admissions office. Simms-Smith planned and implemented strategies to increase interest in the school among middle- and elementary-school students.
“In some ways, it was the best of both worlds,” he said of the experience. “I got to learn how the county works and was able to collaborate with lots of different people in lots of different departments.”
Simms-Smith in 2015 became assistant principal at Westbriar Elementary School, where he established model discipline practices based on “responsive classroom strategies.” These addressed pupils’ intrinsic motives for learning and fostered a sense of community at the school, he said.
“If we’re displaying positive behaviors, that itself becomes a motivating factor because it helps everyone move forward,” said Simms-Smith.
Simms-Smith in 2022 transferred to Parklawn Elementary School to serve as an assistant principal. He created and implemented the Parklawn Student Monitor Program, which used student monitors to relieve some teacher duties throughout the week to free up an additional hour’s worth of planning time for homeroom teachers in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade.
Not only did teachers benefit from the arrangement, but monitors got to experience working in schools and some eventually became instructional assistants, he said.
A distance runner who has completed 16 marathons and five ultra-marathons over the past decade, Simms-Smith organized the Parklawn Elementary School Running Club in which more than 80 students in grades 2 through 5 took part.
Besides running techniques, the club had health and wellness components, Simms-Smith said. The students eventually participated in a 5-kilometer run with students from Glen Forest Elementary School.
“It was a great program,” he said. “It was interesting seeing students from where they started, where the running of a 5K seemed impossible for them and seeing them put in the work to build up their endurance and be very successful.”
Simms-Smith comes from a line of educators: His father taught high-school social studies and his mother was a pre-kindergarten instructor.
“It’s in my blood,” Simms-Smith said. “Along with that, service has always been a big part of my growing up – just finding different ways to give back. Education is an amazing opportunity to do that.”
He holds a dual bachelor’s degree in anthropology/human biology and psychology from Temple University, a master of education degree in curriculum and instruction from Harvard University and a certification in education administration from the University of Virginia.
Westbriar Elementary principal Mary Tam said Simms-Smith forges connections with students and families.
“Relationships and connections are important to him and he is very sincere in developing those relationships with all stakeholders,” Tam said.
Simms-Smith “is a great listener and values feedback on what is going well and what could be improved,” she added. “This allows him to know the ins and outs of the school and various programs and initiatives.”
