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Adams Middle Marks 50th

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By COURTNEY CAIRNS PASTOR

cpastor@tampatrib.com

Published: December 31, 2008

FOREST HILLS - Belinda Serrano has taught at Adams Middle School so long that it's not uncommon for students to tell her she taught their mom or dad.

Last year, Serrano had five students in her math classes whose parents she had taught.
Serrano started her 29th year at Adams in August. She came to the school - then a junior high - after two years at Robinson High and didn't think she would enjoy the younger students. Instead, she found a school and students she loved.

"I got here and thought I had died and gone to heaven," Serrano said. "I just didn't want to go anywhere else."
Serrano is not alone as Adams celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.

The school has four teachers who have taught there 20 years or more, including LeAnn Garcia and Valerie Fernandez, who also attended as students. Debra Hall, who came to Adams in 1981, said the staff has formed lifelong friendships.

"We're really dedicated to this school," Hall said. "It's almost like we grew up here."

Former Principal George Gaffney did grow up there. He attended Adams from seventh through ninth grade and returned in 1984 as a physical education and health teacher and coach. He left for seven years only to come back as principal for three years. His wife, son and siblings also attended Adams.
Gaffney is an area director for the school district, though he does not oversee Adams.

As a teacher, Gaffney found himself working with colleagues who had taught him. Returning as principal, he oversaw some of the children of his former students.

Adams has the feel of a neighborhood school with "nice, down-to-earth families," Gaffney said. Teachers stay and generations return because of the community.

"You get parents from Forest Hills, Lake Magdalene, the edges of Carrollwood," Gaffney said. "The people in the community like the community, and they stay in the community."

Current Principal Odalys Pritchard runs into people all the time who attended Adams.

"As I go around talking about it at school meetings or the public, it seems like everybody taught at Adams or was a student here. It has a tremendous history," Pritchard said. "I am very honored because I am in wonderful company."

The school sold personalized bricks to students, staff and alumni to mark its 50th year. Past principals received a brick they could have engraved at a "golden anniversary celebration," held last month. The event attracted about 300 students, 78 staff members and 18 former staff members, Pritchard said. Superintendent MaryEllen Elia spoke.

Changes have come throughout the years.

Adams opened in 1958, surrounded by horse farms and dirt roads. It was farther north than most schools.

Today it serves 1,300 students, who have become more diverse in recent years. Pritchard has noticed a change in the racial makeup and in families' economics since she started as assistant principal in 2000. The school has enough low-income families to qualify as a Title 1 school.

At the same time, it has remained strong academically. It has received an "A" from the state six of the past eight years and a "B" the other two years. Science teacher Lisa Byrd and reading coach Sheryl Goodman received awards last year for being top teachers in the district in their disciplines.

Academically, its biggest shift took place in the mid-1990s when the Hillsborough County School District moved students in sixth- and seventh-grade centers into newly created middle schools. Ninth-graders who had attended Adams were shifted into high schools, a move that prompted some of the longtime staff to leave to become high school teachers, Serrano said.

Its physical face changed as well. Adams benefited from a renovation and expansion in 2004 that gave the middle school its first gymnasium.

The gym provided students with a place for pep rallies, dances and extramural sports. Pep rallies had been divided by grade level in the cafeteria because Adams didn't have anywhere large enough for all the students. Dances took place outside in the courtyard, which the students enjoyed, but now they enjoy having dances inside.

Students would see other schools' gyms when they traveled for sports and come home to a school where they had to practice outside. Now they have a new facility as well.

"I think that helped them get more school pride," Pritchard said.
Gaffney stops by occasionally to say hello and see old friends. He said Adams is a great school with a great faculty.

"The community should be very proud of what they have there," Gaffney said.

Reporter Courtney Cairns Pastor can be reached at (813) 865-1503.

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