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Shorecrest has new middle school leader
By JON WILSON © St. Petersburg Times, published November 5, 2000 ST. PETERSBURG -- A longtime educator with national credentials has been named to lead Shorecrest Preparatory School's middle school division. Patricia Craven, currently a social studies teacher at John Hopkins Middle School, will assume her new duties in July 2001. Her responsibilities will include overseeing a new fifth- and sixth-grade center. Craven will replace Marsha Hirsch, who has led Shorecrest's seventh- and eighth-grade division for 11 years. Hirsch will take a more active role in a national student leadership program she has been involved in for the past four years, said Mary H. Booker, Shorecrest's Head of School. Craven, 52, was chosen for the post after a quiet search, Booker said. "We did interview very quietly a few people, but we did not conduct an open search," Booker said. "The reason is that it was clearly obvious that the best person for the job was sitting right here." Craven has worked with students of middle school age -- typically about 10-14 years old -- for 19 years as a teacher, department leader and curriculum specialist. She has a master's degree in curriculum and instruction, and in 1999 was named a National Board-certified teacher in early adolescence/social studies-history, becoming the only such teacher in Pinellas County, Booker said. Craven most recently has taught sixth-grade social studies at John Hopkins, but has taught pupils through the 12th grade during her career. She has taught in Germany and Hawaii, in addition to the Pinellas County school system. She has been at John Hopkins since 1994. "I can't say how pleased our community is to have someone with her credentials in town who can take over this program," Booker said. John Hopkins principal Edward Baldwin said it was an honor to have someone from his faculty chosen for the Shorecrest job. "She's an excellent teacher, an outstanding leader on our campus, and she'll do a wonderful job there," Baldwin said. Craven was out of town late last week and couldn't be reached. One of her first challenges will be guiding Shorecrest's new fifth- and sixth-grade center. Though part of the middle school division, it will be a program separate from the seventh- and eighth-grade center, and will be conducted in a separate building. Groundbreaking for the new building is scheduled Dec. 1. Craven's husband, James, has been head of Shorecrest's upper school division, which includes grades nine through 12, since 1997.
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