The longtime principal of Tampa Palms Elementary is moving on but leaves behind a strong base on which the school can thrive.
By EVE LEBERSON
Published March 21, 2004
TAMPA PALMS - Betty Lou Turner hurdled myriad obstacles as principal of Tampa Palms Elementary School - some more challenging than others.
Take, for example, the 24-foot-high rock wall she climbed. Or getting doused with water from a hose. Both stunts were incentives for her students to raise record amounts in school fundraisers.
There was the time she spent the night with assistant principal Kimberly Keenan atop the school roof one muggy October night last fall. It was the result of a challenge posed to her 900-plus students to collect $15,000 in the fall fundraiser.
Students cleared more than $22,000. Turner and Keenan slept under the stars.
Actually, "we did not sleep at all," said Keenan, who was hired by Turner seven years ago. "There were mosquitoes the size of your hand attacking us. But we talked the whole night long."
Keenan said she'll miss the wacky adventures shared with Turner, who after 15 years is leaving the Tampa Palms school for Anderson Elementary School in South Tampa.
"She is a phenomenal person to work with," Keenan said. "She inspires excellence in everything she does."
It's a big change for Turner, who's worked at the school since it opened in 1989. It was the first public school built in the New Tampa area.
But the 32-mile round-trip commute from Turner's home in South Tampa had taken its toll.
"I adore Tampa Palms . . . but the drive was really a bit much," Turner said. "I had the opportunity of moving south and I jumped at it."
Her drive now will take only 12 minutes.
"I'm totally saddened for me, but thrilled for her," said guidance counselor Diane Brown, who's worked with Turner for nearly 20 years at three different schools.
Anderson Elementary isn't unfamiliar territory for Turner; she taught there for a year in 1980. "I know the lay of the land, the design of the facility," she said.
Her career with Hillsborough County schools began in 1976. She has been a teacher or staffer at Anderson, Chiaramonte, Forest Hills, Mitchell and Tinker elementaries.
In 1989, Turner helped open Tampa Palms Elementary as assistant principal and was named principal in 1997.
Turner said her focus as principal "is to be sure every child has the opportunity to make all the gains they can make so that as adults, they can basically do or be anything they want to be. I'm the foundation."
She left for Anderson earlier this month but will continue to spend two days a week at Tampa Palms until a new principal is hired.
Turner's spirit won't be forgotten. PTA president Susan Hollowell said the money that Turner helped inspire students to raise this past fall will be used to replace classroom computers.
"She has always been very open to doing whatever we have asked her to do in the name of the school," Hollowell said. "She's always been a good sport."
She added: "As sad as everybody is to see her leave, I know Tampa Palms will thrive because of the foundation it sits on."
