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Board Names School For Medal of Honor Recipient

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By COURTNEY CAIRNS PASTOR | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 6, 2007

CITRUS PARK - CITRUS PARK - A new middle school will honor a Tampa man who died while fighting in Iraq and received the Medal of Honor for his courage.

The Hillsborough County school board voted on Tuesday to name the middle school being built behind Citrus Park Elementary for Army Sgt. 1st Class Paul Ray Smith. The school is expected to open in August.

Board Chairman Jack Lamb said the tribute was fitting with Veterans Day just around the corner.

Smith, a 1989 Tampa Bay Technical High School graduate, was killed in action in 2003. He and his platoon were building a holding pen for Iraqi prisoners near the Baghdad International Airport when they came under attack. He organized his men to fight back and climbed on an armored personnel carrier and began firing with a machine gun.

Exposed, he was fatally wounded, but Smith is credited with saving more than 100 Americans and killing at least 50 Iraqis. He was 33.

President Bush posthumously awarded him the Medal Honor, the highest award for bravery, in 2005. He was the first veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom to receive the commendation.

Community members submitted several names for the school, and some spoke at the meeting this week, advocating for former district administrators James Gatlin or Marion Romens as well as sibling war veterans the Vila Brothers.

Also at the meeting, the board approved moving Twin Lakes Principal Holly Saia to Shaw Elementary. She replaces Gloria Kolka, who will retire from the school district next month. Saia begins her new position Nov.19.

Saia began her career as a teacher in 1985 at Eisenhower Middle School. She taught at Robles Elementary and served as a guidance counselor at Seminole Elementary and in 2001 was appointed assistant principal at Mort. She has been Twin Lakes' principal for two years.

Saia said her experience working at Title I schools gives her the experience to handle the needs at Shaw Elementary. Title I schools are designated to receive federal money because they serve a high number of low-income students.

"I'm certainly going to miss Twin Lakes, but I look forward to going to Shaw," Saia said. "I believe my background will assist me, and I look forward to continuing the models Kolka has successfully implemented."

Reporter Michele Sager contributed.

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