- January 21, 2026
Flagler Palm Coast Principal Bobby Bossardet grew up as a wrestler, an individual sport if ever there was one. He won an individual state championship at FPC and went on to wrestle in college. But when he was named Flagler County School District's Principal of the Year this past November, he gave all the credit to his team.
Bossardet will be honored along with Assistant Principal of the Year Abra Seay at Flagler School's Teacher and Employee of the Year gala on Jan. 26. He spoke to the Observer about Bulldog Pride and three key pieces of advice he received that brought him back to the place where it all started.
The day you were named Principal of the Year, you wrote an email to staff, saying the award was not about you, but was a reflection on them. Can you expand on that?
We have a fantastic team like I had shared in (the email). Whether it's your teachers, your support staff, your clerical team, your custodians, your coaches, your parents, this truly is one Bulldog family. I think it's great for FPC to to be recognized for the success it's seen in the last few years, but I don't think it's about the principal. I think it's about the team approach. I'd be nothing without my team, and these teachers are amazing. Our staffulty and our kids, they’re doing a fantastic job, demonstrating what it means to be from FPC and working hard.
A school, of course, is defined by academics. FPC was a C school in 2021-22, the school year before you became principal. It has been a B school since. What’s the next step?
We got work to do. We got some areas where we've seen a lot of success in our academics over the last three years. We raised our score 30 points, especially in the subgroup of ESE. We've maintained a B. We have increased in every academic area over the last three years. Our ESE, we were on the list for the DOE. We worked with the (Bureau of School Improvement) team, basically the team from the DOE that they send in to work with schools when there is a subgroup that has been flat for several years. ESE was one of those subgroups where our data had been flat.
Under this leadership team, we were still under that threshold of where we needed to be, but we were able to get ourselves out of that hole. One thing I think is really good is, when we came back (to FPC), we identified who our ESE teachers were, and it's a testament to them. When I first started here, we had about 11 support facilitators. We're now up to 19. I think, when we first got here, only three of those support facilitators were certified in another content area outside of ESE. Well, the way we run our model is our ESE support facilitators are pushed into classrooms, and they're there all day. It's basically a supported classroom model, so we'll rotate the kids that are on their caseload through that class. So I'll have two teachers in there. These are ESE teachers. We primarily support (English Language Arts) and math. We have 19 of those folks. Every one of them are certified in ESE and are certified in the content area that they support, whether it's ELA or math, or working on getting that certification.
You are a graduate of FPC. You’ve also been a teacher, athletic coach, dean and assistant principal here. What do you look for when you hire new teachers and staff?
One thing that I'm very proud of is the fact that we have over 50 FPC alumni that have chosen to come back here and work in some capacity, whether it's as a teacher or staffulty member.
When you look at our African-American grad rate, it’s higher than it's ever been, and it's higher than the district average right now. So that was a major focus for us. When you take a look at the demographics of our staffulty, that was something that I wanted to be very intentional with too. We've been very intentional with hiring staffulty members that mirror the demographics of the kids that we serve. I also think that what's so cool about getting your alumni back is these are people that have walked these halls. They understand the community. They understand the kids. A lot of them will have things in common with these kids naturally, because of where they grew up. So, to me, that's a testament of where we're at as a school. This school is about the people and the relationships.
Speaking of the school’s demographics, how are the programs of study and clubs tailored to the students who are here?
We pride ourselves on the clubs and the opportunities that we provide kids, to buy into our school. I think we offer every sport you can think of, except for water polo, in the state of Florida. We have over 40 clubs that are continuing to grow. Some of them have been around for years. Some of them are things that kids are interested in, and they get a sponsor. But I'm very fortunate to have great leaders in my athletic department with Scott Drabczyk and Evana Fretterd (FPC’s activities director). We want to make sure that we have something for everybody. We are very fortunate. We have a fantastic school district, and you can't go wrong with any of the schools. What separates us from the rest of the schools, in my opinion, it's the demographics of the kids that we serve. We've got kids from all over our community. And it always has been that way, so it's important to me that when we come back to a school like this, we have opportunities for all students.
I always use the automotive programs, and then our ag programs as an example. Those are different, when you start taking a look at the different demographics of the kids we serve. The entrepreneurship program that Alex Giorgianni, our Teacher of the Year, leads. That program is the fastest growing and most attended, I would say, program of study that we have here in the district right now, and my hat's off to him. This is a program that an IB student can be a part of and still have an opportunity to be successful, but also a low-level reader also has the opportunity. Back in the day, we used to pride ourselves on our flagship programs. But a lot of those programs required kids to be very successful with academics. What do you do for that struggling reader who can't get into these programs because they don't have the reading ability? Well, they're hustlers. And we wanted to make sure that we provided an opportunity for those kids to want to buy into our school to see an opportunity to be successful, that'll carry on those skills in the real world as well.
You speak a lot about Bulldog Pride How do you define it?
It starts with taking a place you take pride in for kids to take pride in when they walk through the door. Our student leadership does an amazing job. Now, with the link crew committee, these guys are welcoming freshmen before school even starts, to make sure that transition's smooth, but to also demonstrate and showcase what it means to be a Bulldog and all the opportunities that we have.
Whether you're walking the halls, making a presentation at a School Board meeting or attending a football game, you are always wearing Bulldogs attire. What the message you are sending?
It’s a brand. I mean, you don't see me without something that says FPC. I don't care if I'm working or not, that's what you do. You're always representing your brand.
What does it mean to be Principal of the Year?
It's about working together, and it's about wanting everybody around you to be as successful as they can be. So, my leadership team, I'm very blessed to have the folks that are on my admin team, but also the leaders that work under them as well. I mean, these guys, if you ask me, have the ability to be a principal. They chose to stay at FPC, to carry out our mission of setting the stage of what the high school should look like in public education right here. I’m honored to be Principal of the Year. But, it's really about the school being recognized for who they are and what they stand for, and the work that they do every day.
You were the principal at Buddy Taylor Middle School, and then you moved up to district administration, before you came back to FPC. Is this where you aways wanted to be?
This is my dream job. I’ve been very fortunate to work with some great teams. You always get good advice from folks, and there are three things that stick with me all the time. I remember being 23 years old, getting hired here, and you get into teaching and you start looking at how you can advance your career. And I scheduled a meeting with (Principal) Bill Delbrugge. And I said, “Do you think I'm too young to become an administrator?” He said let’s schedule a meeting, we’ll talk about it more. So we wind up having dinner together, and he goes, “Well Bobby, why do you want to be an administrator?” I said, “because I want to make more money.” And he looked at me and smiled and said, “Whatever you do, and throughout your your career, don't chase money. The more money you make, the more money you spend.”
And I remember, (former Superintendent) Jim Tager, the week that he left. We used to go on these long runs together every now and then, and we were on one, and I was loving being at Buddy Taylor. And we didn't know who the new superintendent was going to be yet. And he said, “When you look at the county office, there's four executive directors up right now. I think that three of them will probably be retiring in the next four to five years. There's a good chance you may get the phone call. An opportunity may open up.” He goes, “Here's the advice I’ll give you: Don't trade happiness.”
I like being in the trenches. FPC, first of all, I love this school. This is my family. This place watched me graduate in high school, and pretty much raise me at the time. Watched me get married and have kids and come up through administration. This place has shaped who I am.
What was the third piece of advice?
I remember having a conversation one day with (then Superintendent) Cathy Mittelstadt, just talking about education, and she said, “Bobby, the funny thing about education, if you're lucky, it'll be that one team. If you're lucky, maybe you'll experience it twice. But only once or twice, you'll find yourself working with a team of people that you feel like you could take on the world with. And when you find that group, I advise you to ride that way until you can't ride it anymore.”
