TAMPA, Fla. — Ensuring equity, building a team and family, and bringing joy to the learning process. Those are just some of the core values at Idea Public Schools Tampa Bay. Teachers and school leaders said they’re doing just that in the classrooms.
“Our scholars feel really comfortable,” said Latoya Spann, the principal at Idea Victory Academy.
Spann is one of four Principals leading the Idea Schools in Tampa. The others are Monique Head, Danielle Peterson, and Latoya McGhee. They are all black women with a passion for teaching and helping their students be the best they can be.
“What I see here at Idea in Tampa, I did not have this experience growing up as a child,” Spann said. “We didn’t have multiple black leaders.”
For her, the joy comes from the students who genuinely are comfortable being open with them and feeling safe enough to talk.
The four principals don’t just look like the students. They can also relate to their struggles. Their stories are similar to the stories they hear from the students.
McGhee’s mother had her when she was 15. She said her grandparents stepped in to help their mom. She struggled, but she never saw her mother give up.
“For me, that is what inspired me,” she said. “I think it was my guiding light that kind of led me into this work.”
She and he mother went to college together, and both are now working for Idea Public Schools. Her mother is a special education teacher. They’ve always had a close relationship, but McGhee said sharing this experience with her mom has brought them even closer.
“Yes, it has. We talk all the time around work.”
Spann has her challenge, too. She grew up one of 8 siblings, living in a two-bedroom duplex. She watched her parents struggle. Her mother worked hard to make sure Spann could go to college and finish. She now has a master's degree and one of the principals in this group of strong black women.
Their circle is small because it is just there are four of them, but they are always there for each other, their staff, and their students.
“Even when it gets hard, we push through. Even when we can’t find our way, we push through,” Spann said. “Even when things don’t look right, we continue to push through.”
Quitting has never been an option for them, and they say it’s not an option for their students.
Their ultimate goal to see their students dog on to live productive, full lives and remember to “always push through.”
