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A trio selected to lead three new schools will face a historic challenge as controlled choice begins.
By WAVENEY ANN MOORE, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published September 5, 2002
ST. PETERSBURG -- The three new schools built in predominantly black neighborhoods as part of "controlled choice" have principals. Now all they need are teachers and students.
That's the interesting challenge the principals share: For the first time in Pinellas public school history, they have to recruit all of their pupils. Under the district's dramatically new way of matching students and schools, no one will automatically attend any of the schools.
For each principal, Wednesday's announcement means quite a change:
-- Joan Minnis, 54, leaves Garrison-Jones Elementary in north Pinellas, one of the highest FCAT-scoring schools in the county. The state has given it an A four years in a row. She will run Thurgood Marshall Middle, a fundamental-style school in Childs Park.
-- Robert W. Poth Jr., 43, will run Douglas Jamerson Elementary, which will use math and engineering to attract students to its campus near Gibbs High School. He leaves Ridgecrest Elementary, the county's only magnet school for gifted students.
-- Denise Miller, 45, will run James Sanderlin Elementary, across the street from Lakeview Fundamental. She hopes to start the county's first primary years International Baccalaureate program.
The appointments are pending School Board approval, expected later this month.
The new schools are part of a multimillion-dollar construction program worked out under a settlement with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund to end decades of court-ordered busing for desegregation.
In the past, students were assigned to schools based on their addresses. Beginning next fall, the county will be cut into attendance areas of several schools. In each area, schools will compete for students, using special programs or themes called attractors.
Until 2007, court-imposed racial ratios will remain. That means some schools, many in predominantly African-American neighborhoods, will have to woo students who aren't black.
An ability to attract parents and their children loomed large in the hiring of the new principals.
"It must be a person who has the ability to market that theme to parents and cause parents to want their children to come to these new schools," said area superintendent Lewis Williams, in whose jurisdiction both Thurgood Marshall and James Sanderlin fall.
The three won't officially start their new jobs until second semester, but don't expect them to hold off until then. They must hire all of their staffs. And children who want to attend the schools when they open next August must apply by Dec. 13.
"I thoroughly love my job," said Minnis, who has been a principal since 1986. "I like what I do. I love education. I love the challenge."
Minnis, who has been at Garrison-Jones since 1994, also served as principal of Curtis Fundamental and Campbell Park Elementary. The East Lake resident plans to commute to her St. Petersburg job, which will pay $81,684.
Minnis, who is married and has one son, said her new job is centered not on what she will do but rather on what the school will do.
"This is going to be an opportunity for people to build a community. Who wouldn't want to be involved in something like that?" she asked.
Unlike other district fundamental schools, Thurgood Marshall, 2130 40th St. S, will not draw its students from across the county. It will take students only from attendance area A, which runs from the Sunshine Skyway bridge to the Gandy Bridge. Minnis does not think that her school, which will stress back-to-basics and personal responsibility, will have any trouble attracting students.
"It's going to be exciting," she said of her new job.
In a way, Miller will be going back home. The new James Sanderlin Elementary, 2350 22nd Ave. S, was built on the site of the former St. Petersburg Challenge School, where she once was principal.
"I like new challenges," Miller said of her new position. She has extensively researched the primary years International Baccalaureate program that -- it is hoped -- eventually will be the school's theme.
"There's a lot of things you have to have in place before you can even go for authorization," she said. "A lot of things we are already doing in Pinellas County fit in really nicely with this theme. It really hikes the expectations for all kids."
Miller, who is unmarried but raised her nephews for several years, said the program will also emphasize responsible citizenship, compassion and a global view.
She said she is ready to sell it to the neighborhood and beyond. Miller, who has a doctorate from the University of South Florida, will make $61,690.
"Whoever wants me, I will be there, talking and sharing," she said. "I am very energetic about what it's all about."
Miller said the phones are on order for her new office.
Poth, the youngest of the three principals, is married and has six children ranging in age from 9 to 19.
He heard the news at 10 a.m. Wednesday. "It was a shock," he said.
The Pinellas Park resident is excited about his new job, which will pay $61,690, but he is sad that he must leave Ridgecrest.
Poth has a deep love for mathematics and wants to pass that passion to those he teaches. Jamerson Elementary, 1200 37th St. S, will use math and engineering to attract students.
"Any time you can excite kids, if you can create that environment in a school, that is where they'll want to be. That's what we hope to create. That's what we will create," he said.
Poth is already thinking of the teachers he will hire.
-- Staff writer Kelly Ryan Gilmer contributed to this report.