{"id":19680,"date":"2013-02-19T08:25:42","date_gmt":"2013-02-19T13:25:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/?p=19680"},"modified":"2013-02-19T08:26:28","modified_gmt":"2013-02-19T13:26:28","slug":"van-burens-new-principal-arrives-in-time-for-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/?p=19680","title":{"rendered":"Van Buren\u2019s New Principal Arrives In Time For Program"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY IRIS B. HOLTON<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sentinel City Editor<\/strong><\/p>\n

Derrick Gaines <\/strong>has been a member of the Hillsborough County School District for more than 20 years. He most recently served as the Assistant Principal of Administration at Middleton High School.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, Gaines<\/strong> learned that he earned a promotion to principal and was assigned to Van Buren Middle School as its principal.<\/p>\n

Gaines <\/strong>arrived just in time to be a participant in the school\u2019s Annual Black History Program.<\/p>\n

A native<\/strong> of Hillsborough County, Gaines<\/strong> attended the public schools of Hillsborough County. He graduated from King High School in 1982, and continued his education at Florida A & M University, where he earned his B. S. degree in Education.<\/p>\n

After graduating Gaines <\/strong>taught in the Leon County School District for several years before returning home. For the past 24 years, Gaines <\/strong>has served as an educator and coach.<\/p>\n

In 2003, Gaines<\/strong> was promoted to Assistant Principal for Student Affairs at Sickles High School. Two years later, he was appointed Assistant Principal for Administration at Tampa Bay Technical High School.<\/p>\n

In 2007, Gaines<\/strong> was transferred to Middleton High School to serve as its Assistant Principal for Administration. His most recent appointment was on February 5th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

In keeping with the theme, seven students participated in a play known as \u201cThe Graduate,\u201d<\/em><\/strong> created by twin sisters, Dr. Philetha<\/strong> Tucker-Johnson<\/strong> and Dr. Phyllis Tucker-Wicks, <\/strong>of Bles\u2019d Productions.<\/p>\n

The play, which took place in the school\u2019s gymnasium on February 13th<\/sup>, focused on a fictional school known as The African American Institute Of Black Studies.<\/p>\n

In the play, the Valedictorian takes a trip with other students to hear what some students produced for their final presentation. The final presentations included tributes to such notables as The Jackson Five, Alicia Keys, Don Cornelius, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Whitney Houston, <\/strong>and Malcolm X.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>As the Valedictorian talked, other students did a skit about the person she was speaking about. Ross Anderson <\/strong>said, \u201cOne student, Mark Coleman, <\/strong>recited the entire \u201cI Have A Dream,\u201d<\/em> <\/strong>Speech and received a standing ovation from the students. He was very good.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to the play, fifteen students selected a theme and submitted an essay. The winner of the essay contest was Johanna Couchman, <\/strong>daughter of Dr. Marcus Coachman. <\/strong>The theme she selected was \u201cLook at the diversity in the United States. What are the benefits of such a diverse society.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Pictured:<\/strong>\u00a0Johanna Couchman was the winner of the essay contest. She is shown with Principal Derrick Gaines.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor Derrick Gaines has been a member of the Hillsborough County School District for more than 20 years. He most recently served as the Assistant Principal of Administration at Middleton High School. Earlier this month, Gaines learned that he earned a promotion to principal and was assigned to Van […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":210,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","pmpro-has-access"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/210"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19680\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}