Now They Like Principal's Office

By STEVE KORNACKI The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 7, 2007

Returning to become principal of the high school you attended became an odd trend this school year in Pinellas County, where three first-year principals came home to lead their alma maters.

Al Bennett of St. Petersburg High, Keith Mastorides of Clearwater High and Paula (Downs) Nelson of Boca Ciega High in Gulfport returned to take that Beach Boys' "Be True To Your School" attitude to new levels of loyalty.

Not one envisioned himself or herself in this job while in high school, where two of them were sent to the principal's office for minor transgressions. They came to value the role of being head administrator, though, while teaching and evolving.

Nelson and Mastorides both were special education teachers and said the patience they learned in that role benefits them now.

Mastorides, Class of 1987, can't wait for his 20th class reunion this summer at Clearwater Beach.

"How many can go back to their 20th and say they are the principal at their high school?" he said.

Going back to your old school as principal tugs at your heart in strange and rewarding ways, and it allows you to see the circle of life as an educator, the principals said.

Here are their stories:

Nelson has worked for John Leanes in 17 of her 24 years as an educator, following him from one school to another until coming back to Boca Ciega in 2005 to be his assistant principal.

"His vision was for me to step in as the principal here, and he was training me all the way," she said. "I kept going where he was because I believe you align your vision with somebody else's vision, and that is where you need to be."

She organized a surprise retirement party for Leanes on April 26 that was attended by more than 2,000 at the school's football stadium, and they hugged before she introduced him to the cheering crowd.

"She's like my daughter, and I love her enthusiasm and commitment to excellence in education," said Leanes, who spent this school year as a special assistant to Pinellas County Superintendent Clayton Wilcox. "Because of her leadership skills, my plan was to mentor her and have her replace me. She has a unique talent to be creative and to understand the vision and the kids."

Nelson will help implement two significant changes at "Bogie" beginning this fall, with a switch from four 85-minute class periods to six 55-minute classes and the beginning of a four-year construction project that will create a new high school in phases on the same property off 58th Street South.

She has adopted the title of a Jimmy Buffet song about life after Hurricane Katrina - "Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On" - as a slogan to help weather the changes. Students picked up on it and painted a mural with those words on it in her office.

"I love what I do," Nelson said. "I love the energy from the kids."

Her baseball team bat girl warm-up jacket hangs on another office wall, a reminder of her days as a student. She also was on the swim team, sang in the chorus, was voted "most contributing" in her senior class, served as the wrestling team scorekeeper and was a varsity cheerleader.

"If there were boys around," she said, "that's where I was."

The principal said she only got sent to the principal's office once: "For skipping and forging a note from my mom."

She graduated from St. Petersburg Junior College and the University of South Florida, where she served as sweetheart of Sigma Chi. Nelson is divorced and has two children, Zachary, 13, and Kellie, 17, a junior at Clearwater High.

"Kellie is one of Keith's leaders there," she said.

Crimson And Gray

Mastorides walked out of his office and glanced at the framed portrait photos and paintings of Clearwater High's principals.

"There's Mr. [Ed] Evans," he said. "He was one of the principals when I was here and a great guy. He knew the kids by their first names and made a big impression on me. I'm glad to be following in his footsteps."

Mastorides said becoming an administrator for special education students after teaching learning disabilities for eight years sparked an interest in becoming a principal.

"And the principals I worked under were stars, too," he said, mentioning Alec Liem and Harry Brown at Palm Harbor University High and Peggy Landers of Dunedin Middle School.

Mastorides received his degree in education at USF before getting a master's degree in educational leadership from Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale.

"Now I have an opportunity to work with more kids and touch more lives," he said. "The opportunity to come back to your school and make a difference is exciting."

Bolstering the curriculum with ideas such as more advanced placement courses has been his first-year focus.

"And I think it helps that I'm in touch with the school's traditions," Mastorides said. "Everything on campus is being painted crimson and gray. Somehow the gray had been replaced by white. But we're going back."

He was a photographer for the Aqua Clara yearbook and started a pep club at the school.

"It makes me feel so good," Mastorides said of being back. "Who gets to walk the same halls they did as a kid in this job? Now I get to chaperone the same homecoming and prom dances I went to."

Winning Traditions

Bennett was a basketball starting guard in the Class of 1980 at St. Petersburg High and got a degree in education at the University of Florida. He wanted to teach and coach, plain and simple.

"If you had told me 25 years ago that I would be the principal," Bennett said, "I'd have said, 'No way!'"

He chuckled and added, "Sometimes I think, 'Am I the principal of this school?' I should be out kicking a can. But I'm the principal."

Vryle Davis, the tough, taskmaster of a principal when Bennett walked the halls of this historic, 81-year-old school, spoke with him after speaking at a faculty breakfast to kick off the year.

"He teased me about my basketball days," Bennett said. "He said, 'You could shoot, but you could not jump a lick.' He was always a positive figure in my life."

Bennett got the administration bug while teaching, and he earned a master's degree in educational leadership at USF before becoming an assistant principal at St. Petersburg High from 1994 to 2000.

Bennett, whose wife, Cindy, is an assistant principal at Largo High School, said the principals he has worked for here - Barbara Broughton, Tom Petit and Linda Benware - prepared him for the head job.

He was principal at Riviera Middle School in St. Petersburg before returning to his alma mater this past fall and the same principal's office where he once was sent for skipping a class to take home a sick friend.

Enrollment has risen from 1,700 to nearly 2,400 since he attended, and two buildings have been added along with a dozen portables. But the classic essence of the school, with its well-landscaped junior and senior courtyards, remains.

The best of times as a Green Devil came on the basketball court, where he was the co-captain of a 19-win team as a senior and scored 28 points against Countryside High that year.

"Building a winning tradition is what it's all about," he said.

Reporter Steve Kornacki can be reached at skornacki@tampatrib.com or (813) 731-8170.