Anitra Andrews' Mom

Polo Park's new principal says middle schoolers have special appeal

By Laura Ammerman, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Published: Wednesday, July 26, 2006

For Marcia Andrews, there's just something special about working with middle schoolers.

"I am a middle school person ... I think that when you can make a difference at the middle school level, you can really make a difference for high school," she said. "It's a time when the children are changing ... they need a lot of counseling, support, assistance and caring."

Andrews, a 33-year veteran of the Palm Beach County School district, is the new principal at Polo Park Middle School. She replaced former principal Connie Gregory. Andrews, 56, earned a bachelors degree in education at Florida Atlantic University and a masters degree in administration and supervision at Nova Southeastern University. Her career in education began in 1973 when she taught sixth-grade language arts at Jefferson Davis Middle School (now Palm Springs Middle) in Palm Springs. Since then, Andrews has worked as an assistant principal at Jefferson Davis and as principal at Bear Lakes Middle in West Palm Beach. For the past three years, she's worked as administrative director for recruitment and program planning, a job that she says helped her develop a specialty in teacher recruitment.

"I can bring experience from all of my 33 years," Andrews said, "from being a teacher and a former principal as well as a district level administrator to enhance the wonderful qualities that the school has in place."

Though she said she's always loved working for the school district, the job at Polo Park Middle School gives Andrews the chance to do something she's never done before: Serve the community where she lives.

The 20-year Wellington resident remembers the days before the area had its own schools. Students in the western communities rode buses to schools in the eastern part of the county. Her daughter, now a teacher at Royal Palm Beach High School, took the bus to Forest Hill High School and graduated just a year or two before Wellington High School opened.

"I've never had an opportunity to work in my community," she said. "This is big. I'm pretty excited about that, having been here for 20 years and seeing all the schools open, but I was usually working at the district office or doing something else."

Andrews said she's pleased with the staff at Polo Park Middle School and the school's A-rated ranking.

"I'm joining an 'A' team, very outstanding from the academic side," she said. "This is a school where people love to come and work. It's very well organized, very well run. It's a winning team."

This year the school will have 97 teachers and about 1,700 students, she said. Next school year, the number of students should decrease to about 1,100 kids because a new middle school will open east of State Road 7 between Forest Hill Boulevard and Lake Worth Road.

To maintain the focus and energy she needs to manage about 1,700 middle school students and almost 100 teachers, Andrews balances her work with the rest of her life. In her free time she jogs, plays tennis and spends time with her daughter and son-in-law and four grandchildren, which include 4-year-old triplets. She and her husband Robert have been married for 35 years.

She said she encourages teachers and other workers at the school to strive for balance in their lives.

"[I want] all of our support people - the whole 'village' - to be balanced in their lives so that when they come (to school) every day, they'll be excited about making the difference in the lives of students."

Copyright © 2006, The Palm Beach Post.