Passion restored: Tiffany Biggs named as assistant principal at Baccus Elementary

Many educators across the nation are leaving their profession as teacher shortages and higher workloads lead to more and more cases of teacher burnout.

But for Tiffany Biggs, her passion for teaching has been restored — and it’s all because of Granbury ISD.

Biggs was recently named as the new assistant principal at Nettie Baccus Elementary School, which is her second position in the district following her instructional specialist role at Acton Middle School.

“AMS was an amazing experience,” she said. “I got to do a lot of the administrator things that I've been trying to do anyway. Jen Pennington, the principal there, she did a great job of helping guide me on growing and leadership aspects.”

A native and current resident of Joshua, Biggs first felt the calling to become a teacher when she was inspired by her first-grade teacher, known to the students as Mrs. Wilson.

"My first-grade class was in this little white house, which was the original schoolhouse for Joshua, and her whole room was just covered in dinosaurs,” she said, reminiscing. “It was just like a fantasy land for me as a little kid, and was just a safe place. From that moment on, literally in first grade, I went, ‘I'm supposed to be a teacher.' I knew that's what my job was my whole life, and I stuck with it."

She said Mrs. Wilson impacted her life in such a way, that she still remembers her at age 37.

"I think that's such a beautiful thing to impact people's lives for the better, and then they look back and remember you fondly 30 years later," Biggs said. “That means you've done something — impacting and bettering the world, just a couple of kids at a time."

Biggs met her husband, Bobby, during her junior year of high school and they have been together ever since. The couple just recently celebrated 20 years of being together by visiting Greece for a special anniversary trip.

In 2010, Biggs started her teaching career in Joshua, where she coincidentally first met Baccus Principal Julie Rohleder.

“Julie was my principal in Joshua when I was a teacher in fifth grade,” Biggs said. “Our daughters are very good friends. We've known each other a really long time.”

Biggs said she looks up to Rohleder, both as a principal and a leader.

"I was at the school (Rohleder) was at in Joshua first, and then she took it over three years after I'd been there, and it was kind of a sinking ship,” she said. “But she built that thing up and just really turned that whole school around, so it’s a similar story to Baccus. My job, I feel like, is to learn from her, so I can be the kind of leader she is and impact change on a greater level.”

Even though she has only spent a year in Granbury ISD, Biggs said she has had an incredible experience in the district.

“I really do love how (Granbury ISD) fosters growth in their own and how they do a great job of taking care of their people here, which is integral — especially at this time for teachers when they are leaving the profession in boatloads,” she said. “But this place has restored my passion, so I just want to say ‘thank you’ for that.”

Biggs and her husband Bobby have two daughters: Katelynn and Addison, and they enjoy traveling together as a family — especially to Disney World.

“I just like to experience new things, new places, and new cultures,” she said.

Biggs added that she is looking forward to her new role at Baccus, and “getting back to the little kids.”

"I've been in secondary for a while, so I'm pretty excited to see the littles and get some experience on that end in a leadership capacity,” she added. “As an instructional specialist in middle school, I supported teachers and I helped kids a little bit, but now to go back and do it on an elementary level and watch it carry all the way through, I think that's really incredible, too.”