- July 16, 2026
Christina Donohue wants to help Beachside Elementary's sea turtles continue "making waves."
That's the school's motto for next year. To Donohue, as Beachside's new principal, that means they will continue creating positive momentum.
"Sometimes it's a child reading independently for the first time," she said. "Sometimes it's a teacher trying an innovative lesson and sometimes it's a family becoming more involved in the school community, and that makes a tremendous impact on our students, and those small ripples create waves."
Donohue has been in education since 2005, having started as an elementary school teacher. In 2010, when she was teaching fourth grade, she was named the Brevard County District Teacher of the Year.
Shortly after, she decided to become an administrator and worked at both the middle and high school levels in Brevard.
What brought her to Volusia County Schools? She was impressed by the district.
"That positive momentum in Volusia County last year — them earning an A, and then again keeping that momentum for another A this year," Donohue said. "They've had tremendous work that they have been doing."
Plus, she added, when there's a change in your professional career, she believes that helps you become a better educator.
She's been passionate about professional development since she was named Teacher of the Year in 2010. While in Brevard County, she founded and led a Teacher Leadership Council for seven years.
"I started to question, like, how can we build our network of teacher leaders?" she said. "How can we strengthen and continue to build on that capacity? Because here's the important part: We have to have strong teachers who want to stay in the classroom. We need strong teachers that also want to work outside of the classroom and support other teachers and build our new teachers. But we also need strong teachers that want to become administrators."
Her goal for the next school year is to build on Beachside's academic excellence, while making it "the heart of our community," where children, their families, educators and community partners work together for student success. She's also proud that Beachside is an A-rated Title 1 school, because that is a signal collaboration is present among these groups.
But an A grade is not the finish line, Donohue said.
"That A represents the hard work that our teachers and our students — all of our faculty and staff and our community — are doing," she said. "But it tells the summary of individual students' successes, and so in there, we still have students that need to reach their highest potential, and so that's the work."
Donohue is excited to be at Beachside. From the moment she arrived, she has felt welcomed, both at the school and district level, she said.
"Community members are already reaching out, and that tells me they care about the children at Beachside," Donohue said. "That has developed a strong foundation, and I want to be a part of helping that continue the story."
