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Schools

3 private schools start year with new leaders

At Shorecrest, Mike Murphy takes the helm; at Canterbury it's Mac Hall; and at Academy Prep it's Jim Shearer.

By MARY JANE PARK
Published August 14, 2005

ST. PETERSBURG - Three of St. Petersburg's private schools have new administrators in the new academic year. Neighborhood Times visited with each of them to talk about their emerging roles in the schools they lead.

Jim Shearer tells all the students at Academy Prep they're going to college. He wants them to hear him and believe him; he makes sure their parents get the message, too.

Adults "erupted in applause" earlier this summer after he told them their children would successfully attain higher education, he said.

Shearer succeeds Brenda Thompson as head of school at Academy Prep, a private middle school for at-risk children in grades 5 through 8.

"We require a lot" of students and their parents, he said. The school insists on uniforms and behavioral standards even before children enter a classroom.

"I'm not big on rules," Shearer said, but he does value procedures that maximize learning time. Teachers don't waste precious minutes on extended roll calls. They already have lesson plans written on classroom boards at the start of each day.

Parents sign contracts, as do students and educators. Adults whose fifth-graders attend the school are required to volunteer 50 hours during the academic year.

Shearer said 70 percent of Academy Prep students' parents showed up at an orientation session before school started Aug. 3.

"I'm not used to that," he said. "Academy Prep has so many of the right elements (for success)."

Excellence is the school's informal motto; REACH values (respect, enthusiasm, achievement, citizenship and hard work), its code of conduct and behavior.

Observers may think all of those factors go without saying, but Shearer knows better. For years, he has worked with urban college preparatory programs, most recently with TUMC Academy, a public charter school under the auspices of Tampa United Methodist Centers.

"This setup is what I've spent my life preparing for," Shearer said. "It's the ticket for opportunity for our students."

College discussions begin with fifth-graders, and Shearer wants to make sure students have the opportunity to visit college campuses and to start keeping "Top 5" lists of institutions they hope to attend.

"It's not just telling them (about colleges), but taking them," he said. The road to a successful college career involves preparation and graduate support through high school and afterward, including organizing class get-togethers and college tours for Academy Prep alumni.

Academy Prep's current enrollment is 96. Each student attends on scholarship, valued this school year at $12,500.

Shearer, 41, is married and has two children.

Mac Hall first visited Canterbury in 2003 as a member of the Florida Council of Independent Schools accreditation team. The former upper school principal and director of student affairs at the Trinity Preparatory School in Winter Park was studying toward a specialty degree in education leadership at the University of Central Florida, and he was favorably impressed with Canterbury, even telling friends and family it was the type of place he could envision directing one day.

Little did he know that two years later he would emerge from a field of about 165 candidates to become head of school, replacing Ellen Welsh.

The upper school will field its first football team this year, hosting its first home game against Jupiter Christian School on Aug. 26. A new athletic complex at the upper school's Knowlton campus will have fields for baseball, softball, soccer and football. A press box and concession stand are near completion.

A new swim program is also part of Canterbury's expanded sports and academic offerings. Science and computer labs were added at the lower school, or Hough campus, last year. In addition, the upper school is taking "small steps toward a signature program" in marine sciences, Hall said.

"We're hoping that this will be a part of the puzzle that keeps kids involved" at Canterbury, Hall said. "We want to grow; however, we want to keep our community and family feeling here."

Canterbury, which is affiliated with the Episcopal Church, offers classes from prekindergarten through high school. When the 2005-06 term begins Aug. 23, it is expected to have an enrollment of about 415 students who pay between $7,950 and $11,250 in tuition each year.

Hall, 44, is married and has three children.

Mike Murphy's enjoyment of birding did not lead him to his new post as headmaster at Shorecrest, but the scene outside his window is a perk he enjoys.

"I don't want to take it for granted that I've got an osprey nesting near my office," said Murphy, who moved from Atlanta's Pace Academy to fill the vacancy left after Mary Harden Booker retired as head of school.

The two veteran educators had served together on the board of directors of the Southern Association of Independent Schools, and one of Murphy's sons was the college roommate of a Shorecrest valedictorian.

"When we visited Shorecrest, I felt it had a strong sense of community," Murphy said, lauding the "well-diggers" who "built this school when there was nothing but swamp here" and faculty "who could have taught anywhere.

"They knew they could have greatness right here, and thank God they stayed," Murphy said.

His broad range of interests include sports and leadership studies. He hopes to add what he calls a "service learning program" to the curriculum that will encourage volunteerism and philanthropy and instill a "real commitment to St. Pete."

Parents "pay a lot of money" for their children to attend the school, and Murphy said such a program would add value beyond traditional academic, artistic and athletic offerings.

Shorecrest offers classes from prekindergarten through high school. The 2005-06 term begins Wednesday with an expected enrollment of about 975 students. Annual tuition ranges between $9,460 and $14,190.

Murphy, 55, is married. He and his wife have three children.

[Last modified August 14, 2005, 00:53:19]