East Bay Shines As High Schools Grades Show Dramatic Improvement

A recent press release by the Hillsborough County school district revealed that Blake, East Bay, and King High all increased from a D to an A, while the Brooks DeBartolo Charter School made the same leap.
Interestingly 16 of 27 traditional high schools improved at least one letter grade, with eight schools earned an A grade, compared to two last year.
Pleased with the results East Bay High School Principal Sharon Morris spoke highly of what was accomplished by her staff and the students.  
“The results, which we are quiet happy with are indicative of the true East Bay,” Morris said. “The grade is now calculated using a variety of factors like graduation rate, AP results, College and Career Readiness along with FCAT. Now our focus is to maintain our stand.”
Morris drew attention to the schools’ dedicated faculty, who had worked hard to meet the individual needs of all students, evident in programs such as Saturday school, which has been growing steadily for the past few years and sports the support of approximately 20 teachers, helping the close to 200 students who can work on FCAT skills or AP assignments.
 “Our teachers’ dedication and the time they give in behalf of our students are commendable “she said.
In addition to all that is going on in the classroom every day, the students also get assistance during their lunch, before school and after school.
Morris was happy to report that AP enrollment at East Bay has steadily increased, while pass rate went up 3 percent last year.
“More students are taking the ACT and SAT and the pass rate for the Industry Certification exams has also increased,” she said.
While Morris emphasized a total team effort and would not single any one individual, she did name a couple of students that deserve some extra recognition including Brett Belliveau and Dalton Mullen who had earned a perfect score on the Math FCAT and a perfect score on the Reading FCAT last year respectively.
As for what’s next on the school’s list of things to do Morris had just one thing to add when she said, “Keep doing what we have always been doing and do not lose focus.”