About Jose Martinez

Mr. Martinez moved to Central Florida in 2002 after graduating from Haverford College in Haverford, Pennsylvania, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in History. He began his teaching career with Orange County Public Schools in 2002 as a Bilingual Transitional Social Studies and Reading Instructor at Union Park Middle School. During his time in this role, he worked directly with students who were new to the United States, were struggling to learn English, and oftentimes lacked reading skills in their native language. It was in working with these students that he realized the importance of advocacy and support for students with a broad array of challenging circumstances.

While serving as an administrative dean at Freedom Middle School, he earned a Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership from Nova Southeastern University. He then transitioned to the role of assistant principal at Meadow Woods Middle School. Following his time at Meadow Woods Middle School, he served as the assistant principal at Lake Nona Middle School. While at LNMS, Mr. Martinez was recognized as the Orange County Association of School Administrators (OCASA) 2012-2013 Middle School Assistant Principal of the Year. In 2014, he was selected to lead Lake Nona Middle School as the principal. While serving as the principal of LNMS, he was recognized as the 2013-2014 Orange County Association of Education and Media (OCAEM) Distinguished Administrator of the Year, subsequently followed by the 2014-2015 United Way Fine Arts Middle School Principal of the Year.

It was in 2015 that he had the opportunity to dive into serving students on a larger scale by being appointed as the principal of Colonial High School. With a change in demographics since it’s inception in 1958, it was in 2015 that Colonial saw its first Hispanic principal. Raised in Brooklyn, New York as the son of Puerto Rican parents, Mr. Martinez has always had a personal connection and understanding regarding the struggles faced by many of our minority students. In 2016, Florida Trend Magazine recognized Colonial High School among the best state high schools, and in 2017-2018, Colonial High School raised its school grade to a B and had its highest graduation rate in its history. In 2017-2018, he was recognized as the United Way Fine Arts High School Principal of the Year, United Arts of Central Florida, followed by the College Board Fellow of the Year. Additionally, he was an OCPS recipient of the Outstanding Partners in Education Award for being the first to respond after Hurricane Irma. Finally, he was honored with the Unsung Hero for Community Resilience- Florida College Access Network Summit Award. The following year, he was selected to present on the topic of leading a response effort to support displaced students of disaster at the College Board Preparate Conference in San Antonio, Texas.

In 2018, Mr. Martinez transitioned to the role of Executive Area Director serving the East Learning Community of Orange County Public schools. During his transition to the executive area director role, he was a finalist for the OCPS Principal of the Year for his leadership as principal of Colonial High School. He also has served as the Area Superintendent, supporting and leading 29 elementary and middle schools serving over 18,000 students alongside his team in the East Learning Community.  Mr. Martinez has also served as the Chief of High School and currently is the Executive Leader over High Schools where he supervises 23 high schools and supports over 61,000 students.  Mr. Martinez is dedicated to this community and in seeing all students of Orange County Public Schools succeed. Toward that end, he believes that through empowering and working alongside school leaders, he can have a positive impact on the outcomes of student achievement and on each student’s future success