- December 20, 2024
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Seabreeze High School is getting a new principal.
Tucker Harris, most recently the principal at Palm Terrace Elementary, will lead the Sandcrabs during the 2022-2023 school year. Harris is no stranger to Ormond Beach, seeing as he also served as principal at Ormond Beach Elementary and Pine Trail Elementary in the past. He is also an alumnus of Seabreeze High School, having graduated in 1994.
Harris will replace Dr. Earl Johnson, who was appointed as the district's chief operating officer during the School Board meeting on Tuesday, June 14.
"I have learned recently to walk the path and take advantage of opportunity and give your all at all times," Harris said. "So I sit here today just humbled to be here, going back to be a Sandcrab."
Harris was the principal at Palm Terrace Elementary for the past four years. The school has a grade of "D," but Harris said that doesn't define "the dynamic work done in one of the most special buildings in our district," and that the school has shown positive growth each year. It is one of the district's Title I schools.
"The work that the faculty and staff do daily is the work most won't do, let alone couldn't do even if they wanted to," Harris said. "I'm honored to have been the principal of Palm Terrace and I'm thankful for the experiences the school has provided. I have learned so much and most importantly, I'm a better person because of these experiences."
School Board member Carl Persis said he first met Harris in 2004 when Persis was principal at Ormond Beach Middle School. He hired Harris as a science teacher. A few years later, his wife, City Commissioner Susan Persis, who was the principal at Pine Trail Elementary at the time, worked alongside Harris when he started as the school's assistant principal.
"Then when he went to Ormond Beach Elementary School, he changed that school from a C to an A, I think the first year," Persis said.
Johnson's appointment as the district's chief operating officer marks a return to a cabinet level position. Prior to him becoming principal at Seabreeze High School in 2021, Johnson was Flagler Schools' executive director of leadership development.
Johnson said he was "humbled, honored and blessed" to sit before the board during his appointment.
"It was just last year that I sat here, in the same seat, and said I would be retiring from Seabreeze High School," Johnson said. "There's a bigger being that controls our destiny and I've learned that."
He said he has been fortunate to work on operations at Flagler Schools, and that he will work hard to make Volusia's operations department works effectively and efficiently. He added that he's looking forward to working with the board, the leadership team, the schools, the community and all district departments to improve VCS.
School Board member Linda Cuthbert said the district is fortunate to have Johnson onboard.
"You are a team player and you will be head of such a skilled team that need your guidance," she said.
Other Ormond Beach schools will also have a new principal come August. Ormond Beach Middle School Principal Susan Tuten is being transferred to Manatee Cove Elementary; the new OBMS principal will be Dr. Rene Clayton, who is currently an assistant superintendent of elementary curriculum and instruction. Pine Trail Elementary Principal Tami Fisher is being transferred to the administrative position of coordinator in student services; the new principal will be Michelle Sojka, formerly the principal of Manatee Cove Elementary.
