This is Kelli Coble’s first year in her role as Student Support Coordinator/Counselor in Training at Central Elementary and she has taken to her new duties like a duck does to water, and that led her to being named the school’s Staff Member of the Year for 2022-2023.
Her official duties include testing, 504 and being the RTI coordinator. Her “unofficial” duties go far beyond that.
“My passion at school is working on culture and climate and doing the things that are not really anyone else’s specific job,” Kelli said. “I am always looking for ways to make good things better and help fix some of the not-so-good things that happen. I tell the students my job is to make sure everyone is happy! And that is truly what I want to do! This is the best job that I never knew existed. I love it!”
Kelli and her husband, David who is the Facilities Director for VISD, owned their own business here for many years, but after their daughters graduated from college they came to a place in their lives where they wanted to have more purpose in their lives other than just going to work every day. She joined VISD and Central Elementary in 2018, teaching Science and Social Studies for 3 years and Math and Science for 1 year.
“VISD opened its arms to both of us and has given us the opportunity to be a part of something bigger that is helping build tomorrow by growing the children of our community,” she said. “I love Vernon and VISD.”
A graduate of Odessa Permian High School, Kelli lived in Odessa all of her life before going off to college at Texas Tech University, where she met David. They lived in Odessa for a while after college, but after their oldest daughter was born, they started looking for a way to get back to Vernon. They moved here in 1989.
“It has been a great place to raise our family,” Kelli said.
Their three daughters were all honor graduates of VHS and went on to graduate from college. Leslie is a high school assistant principal at Wiley; Morgan is a social worker; and Jennifer is a special ed/content mastery teacher at Burkburnett High School.
“I feel like all of their career choices were fostered by the experiences, teachers and support they received from being a part of VISD.”
Kelli’s lone hobby is being ‘Puddin’, to David’s ‘Pops’, to their two grandchildren – 2-year-old Jackson and 4-month-old Harper Kate.