New teachers join the Gulf faculty

GULF HIGH SCHOOL, Aug. 14, 2006. -- Several new teachers have been added to our faculty at the start of the 2006-07 school year.

Dawn Byrd is a dropout prevention language arts teacher, coming here from Texas.

Susan Carr is a new guidance counselor. She was previously a guidance counselor at Palm Harbor Middle School for 23 years. Her entire career has been as a guidance counselor. Before she was at Palm Harbor Middle, she was at Fitzgerald Middle School in Pinellas Park, and before that, she was Tarpon Springs Elementary School. She was born in Fort Lauderdale and attended Stranahan High School there. She a B. S. degree in Elementary Education from FSU and an M. S. degree in Counselor Education. She is an avid Disney collector.

Kelly Davey is a new guidance counselor. She was previously a guidance counselor at Hudson Middle School for six years. Before that, she was an ESE counselor for the Pasco County school district. She was born in Philadelphia and attended Plymouth-Whitemarsh High School there. She has a B. S. degree in Psychology from the University of Southern Maine and an M. S. degree in Counseling from Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia.

Daniel Delgardo will teach Social Studies in the Dropout Prevention program. He will also be the head coach of the boys JV basketball team and an assistant coach for the boys varsity basketball team. Last year he taught at the Milburn Academy. He previously taught at Boston Renaissance School. He was born in Boston. He attended Lexington High School in Lexington, Mass., and has a B. S. degree in Sociology and Criminal Justice from Boston University. He was the captain of the basketball team at Boston University. He and his wife Yamilka had their first child two months ago.

Lynn Galvin-Murray will be the ESOL coordinator.

Kristin Henion will be a discipline para.

Teresa Herzog will run the ISS program. She comes to Gulf from Anclote Elementary School where she had five years experience in Parent Involvement, a Title I program. She grew up in Palm Harbor and has lived in Pasco County for the last 15 years. She has four children. One attends Gulf High School, two are twins in the fourth grade at Anclote Elementary, and the other child is one year old.

Natalia Keritsis will join our reading program. Last year she taught Intensive Reading and Psychology at Marchman. She was born in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, and graduated from Nizhny Novgorod Linguistic University. She taught English as a foreign language in Russia for twelve years. She came to the U. S. in December 2004. She loves art and especially drawing.

Joe Lampkin will join the Social Studies department, teaching Word History. He recently taught at River Ridge Middle School for one year. He is a retired army officer, having reach the rank of Major. He was in the business world for 12 years. He was in supply chain management and holds professional certifications from Georgia Tech. He was born in Morgan City, Louisiana. He attended high school at Robert E. Lee Senior High School in Houston. He has a B. A. degree in Social Studies Education from McNeese State University in Lake Charles, La. A daughter, Jessica, graduated from GHS in 2004.

Jeannette McCabe will teach English. She previously taught English almost 18 years at Dunedin High School in Pinellas County and most recently taught English for one year at River Ridge Middle School. She was born in Buffalo, N. Y. She attended three high schools in New York state and graduated from Fox Lane High School. She attended George Washington University and the University of North Florida. She graduated magna cum laude from UNF and holds a B. A. degree in Literature and English from there. She came to Florida in 1974. She has a grown daughter who was recently engaged and she has two stepsons, one of whom is in the Navy currently in the Mediterranean.

Deborah Pitcock will teach Algebra I, Algebra II, and one section of Spanish I. She has taught in Pasco County for 32 years. She taught 8 years at Gulf Middle, 15 years at Land o'Lakes High, one year at Bayonet Point Middle, and most recently 11 years at Ridgewood High School. She was born in Battle Creek, Michigan, and grew up in Mt. Clemens. She attended L'Anse Creuse Senior High School. She has a B. S. degree in Spanish Education from the Ohio State University and a Master's in Administration from the University of Tampa. She has two children, one of whom attends Land o'Lakes High School, and she has two dogs.

Jeffrey Scheifla is a new guidance counselor. He had eleven previous years of experience as a guidance counselor, at Hudson High School, Richey Elementary School, and Seven Springs Middle School. He was born in Buffalo, N. Y., and lived in Hawaii for five years. He has lived in Florida for six years. He and his wife Jhen have a two-year- old daughter. Mr. Scheifla says he loves to cook.

Marcia Shapiro will teach Art and one section of Read180. She is a 2006 graduate of the Ringling School of Art and Design, where she majored in Illustration. She was born in Queens, N. Y., and came to Florida at age five. She attended Calusa Elementary School, Bayonet Point Middle School, and Ridgewood High School. She reports that she went backpacking in Europe this past summer, traveling in Great Britain, Italy, Spain, and Germany.

Heather Simon will teach four sections of 10th grade English and on section of 9th grade English. She taught 8th grade English last year at Cypress Lake Middle School in Fort Myers. She was born in Sharon, Pa., and attended high school at West Middlesex High School in West Middlesex, Pa. She has a B. A. degree in English literature from Slippery Rock University. She and her husband John have three boys. Her husband works for Pasco County in the finance department.

Robert Smith will teach American History and World History. This is his first teaching position. Mr. Smith was born in Tampa. He graduated from Chamberlain High School there in 1971. He has an A. A. degree from HCC and a B. A. degree in history with a minor in Secondary Education from St. Leo University. He was employed for nearly 30 years for a local electric utility in Tampa. He has five children. He and his wife have a small farm near San Antonio in eastern Pasco County.

Eric Starkey will teach Reading and Read180. He actually joined our faculty last year, after the start of the school year, and taught reading. He is a graduate of FSU and has been a substitute teacher at Gulf on and off since 1989.

Brian Wright will teach in the ESE/SLD program and will be an assistant football coach. Mr. Wright holds a Rank 1 in Special Education from the University of Louisville. He was born in Louisville and attended Southern High School in Louisville. He recently taught for five years at Western High School in Louisville, and before that, at Southern High School and Kennedy Metro Middle School, both in Louisville. He has been a football coach at Western, Male, Southern, Moore, Bullitt East, and Waggener High Schools in Kentucky.

Bill Yale will teach Integrated Science. Mr. Yale has substitute taught in Pasco County for six years. Mr. Yale was previously the corporate manager for safety and training for Union Carbide Corporation. He has a degree in chemical engineering from Widener University in Chester, Pa. He was bron in Swarthmore, Pa., and attended high school at Archmere Academy in Claymont, Del. He has lived in Florida for 13 years.

In addition to these new teachers, we have several other new staff members. Connie Balaban will be the secretary for the ESE Department and other offices. She was formerly the Principal's Secretary at Locke Elementary. Her daughter Nicole graduated from GHS in 2006. Sandy Gustafson will be in the attendance office this year. Morris Greco will be the new registrar. David Van Mensel has been named the new Plant Manager.

This article will be updated as we obtain more pictures and biographical information.