Jessica Avery might be new at her job as the principal of Elephant’s Fork Elementary, but at least she’s in familiar territory.

Avery has been assistant principal at Elephant’s Fork the last three years. She has been at Suffolk Public Schools for her entire teaching career, starting as a special education teacher at Nansemond River High School and then teaching at Booker T. Washington and Oakland elementary schools.

She took a circuitous route to the education profession. Her undergraduate degree is in criminal justice, and she wanted to be a police officer but never got into it. She also spent some time in the military before her husband, also an educator, convinced her to try teaching.

“I can’t imagine any other way now,” she said. “I love education.”

She went into special education because, at the time, one could get a provisional license for it while continuing education. She eventually earned master’s and education specialist degrees from Regent University.

“I realized I wanted general education, because I wanted to teach more kids,” she said. That began a natural progression to administration, because a principal can have an effect on the whole school.

“If the kids trust you, if they know you care about them, everything else will fall into place,” she said.

Avery said it has been a smooth transition for her, because she worked closely with her predecessor, Andre Skinner, who left to become the director of the Pruden Center for Industry and Technology.

“I’m very grateful they decided to keep me here,” she said. “I love Elephant’s Fork.”

She is especially excited because of the improvement Elephant’s Fork showed on the Standards of Learning tests last school year. It was the only school in the division to post double-digit increases in the pass rate in every subject area.

“I’m so proud of all the efforts we’ve made,” she said. “It was an all-district effort. When (the students) come in the first day of school, we want to celebrate them.”

Her goals for this year are to build relationships in the community and look for ways to involve parents more.

“I changed offices,” she said. “I know what we’re doing. I’m just continuing on with our mission.”