The Okaloosa County School Board on Monday night unanimously approved the appointment of Niceville High School Principal Charlie Marello as the district’s new Director of Human Resources.

• Superintendent Marcus Chambers presented Marello’s appointment during the April 13 board meeting, outlining a career that spans more than two decades across two Northwest Florida school districts.

Marello is a graduate of Niceville High School, Okaloosa Walton Community College — now Northwest Florida State College — and the University of West Florida. He spent his first 15 years in education in the Walton County School District, where he progressed from teacher and coach to a teacher on special assignment with administrative duties, then to assistant principal and principal of Emerald Coast Middle School.

Emerald Coast Middle earned an ‘A’ School of Excellence rating every year during Marello’s three-year tenure as principal, according to the district. He joined the Okaloosa County School District in 2013 as principal of Destin Middle School, which also earned ‘A’ School of Excellence status each year during his three-year term. He has served as principal at Niceville High School for the past 10 years, where the school was also named an ‘A’ School of Excellence under his leadership.

Marello has served on the Florida High School Athletic Association Board of Directors, served as an honorary commander and is the Northwest Regional Director for the Florida Association of Secondary School Principals. He is married to his wife, Allison, a teacher at Ruckel Middle School. Their son Brock is a junior at Florida State University, and their daughter Sarah was recently accepted into the College of Music at Florida State University, where she will enroll in the fall.

After the board’s vote, Marello delivered an extended and emotional speech thanking those who shaped his career.

He began by praising the district’s human resources team under the leadership of Lindsay Maxey.

• “This group makes great things happen for our school system and they don’t get recognized enough for doing all the behind the scenes stuff, like getting our schools staffed and making sure we get paid and mentoring new teachers,” Marello said.

Marello credited Chambers as a professional mentor whose career in Okaloosa mirrored his own trajectory in Walton County — from teacher and coach to assistant principal to principal.

“You gave me the opportunity to join the Okaloosa County School District at Destin Middle School, and you became such an incredible professional mentor to me,” Marello told Chambers.

He said he set two goals when he came to Okaloosa: to do his best work for the students and staff at his schools every day and to not let the superintendent down.

• “So goal one will look a little different now — to do the very best work that I can for all of the students and staff of the entire school district, and to never let you down,” Marello said.

Marello reflected on his decade leading Niceville High School, saying he approached the job “the way that I do everything, which is all in.”

“If it was happening at that school for the last 10 years, there’s a pretty solid chance that I was there for it, which is three, four, sometimes five nights a week,” he said, thanking his family for accommodating a schedule that often kept him away from dinner.

He described the staff at Niceville High not just as colleagues but as family, referencing a line from “Ted Lasso”: “There’s the family that you’re born with and the family that you meet along the way.”

• “My family grew exponentially over 10 years at Niceville High School,” Marello said. “Gonna miss you guys very much.”

Marello singled out several colleagues by name. He thanked Dr. Lee Hale, whom he has known since their days as middle school and high school sports rivals, for supporting him during a difficult stretch as principal. He said it was then-Assistant Superintendent Hale who came to Niceville High, picked him up and told him, “You’re the only person I know that could do the job the way you’re doing it at Niceville High School.”

He also spoke about his supervisor, Sheila Lightbourne, whom he credited with giving him the confidence to pursue the district-level role. Marello said he confided in her during a summer evaluation that he didn’t think he had the energy to continue as principal but didn’t know what he had to offer at the district level.

“She said, ‘I’m tired of hearing you sell yourself short. You could work at the district level and you’ll be very good at it and you have a lot to offer,'” Marello said. “That talk from her is what gave me the confidence to go ahead and pursue this.”

Marello also singled out Choctaw High School Principal Michelle Heck, who was in attendance, calling her a trusted colleague and friend. He described a relationship that began with occasional one-on-one conversations outside the high school principal group chat and grew into something deeper.

• “If you want to survive and thrive in this business, you better get yourself a principal bestie who you can talk to, confide in and unload on,” Marello said. “Michelle Heck was that for me.”

He closed his remarks by sharing a story about his daughter Sarah, who rode to school with him every day during her freshman and sophomore years before she could drive. Marello said he once floated the idea of leaving Niceville High for a district-level position, and Sarah’s reaction was immediate.

“So you stayed there all four years with Brock. So you would just leave me?” Marello recalled her saying. “Who would I go to if I need help? What if I needed something out of your office? Who’s going to hand me my diploma?”

Marello said he told her to forget it — he wasn’t going anywhere.

With this appointment coming just weeks before graduation, Marello said he made one request of Superintendent Chambers: to still lead the Niceville High School graduation ceremony for the Class of 2026, deliver the speech and hand out diplomas — including to Sarah.

Chambers granted the request.

“Whomever the new principal at Niceville High School is, they will be way smarter and way better at principaling than I ever was,” Marello said, “but their very first graduation ceremony will already be planned out for them.”