Sand Pine principal bids adieu to education career

The only principal Sand Pine Elementary has ever had spent her last day with students Wednesday, giving out awards, eating going-away cake and reminiscing about her 40 years in education as she heads into retirement.

The day could have been a melancholy one, but Ginny Yanson, 63, was having none of that. She said the time is right to step into the next stage of her life after four decades as a teacher, assistant principal and principal.

"Pasco County has been fabulous to me," Yanson said.

Today was the last day of the school year for students in Pasco. All across the county, more than 60,000 students tucked away the textbooks and headed into the summer.

For one school, Sanders Memorial Elementary, it was the end of an era. That school is closing indefinitely for a pending renovation project. The Sanders students will move to the new Connerton Elementary come August.

At Sand Pine Elementary, the school will go on as before, but it is the Yanson era that is coming to a close.

Yanson became Sand Pine's first and, until now, only principal when the school opened in 1998 to provide much-needed relief to crowded Quail Hollow Elementary, where Yanson had served as principal for 12 years. Quail Hollow's student population had grown to about 1,300, more than double its capacity.

As Yanson moved into her new school in the Meadow Pointe development, Pasco's growth followed.
Sand Pine opened over capacity and by 2005 the school had more students in portable classrooms than in regular classrooms.

"A lot of people think if you bring in portables, it's OK," Yanson said.

Those extra students, though, put a strain on campuses because facilities such as the cafeteria, the media center and the parking lot weren't designed for so many people.

The upbeat Yanson dealt with the crowding as best she could, vowing at the time to "make it as pleasant as we can for everybody." Eventually, more elementary schools sprung up in Wesley Chapel to absorb some of the student overflow.

In the meantime, Yanson and her teachers kept educating.

Because that's what she always did. Early on, Yanson discovered she loved teaching more than anything.

Yanson is a Tampa native, but she started her career at a school near the Mexican border in Arizona where she taught the children of migrants and Cocopah Indians.

It was near perfect. She told her husband, "I can't believe they are paying me to play all day."

"Teaching was just so much fun," Yanson said. "It wasn't like work to me."

She spent two years at that school and another five in Flagstaff before she returned to Florida 33 years ago and took a teaching job at Schrader Elementary in Pasco County.

A year later, she became assistant principal at Hudson Elementary. She also served a stint as assistant principal at Moon Lake Elementary before she earned her promotion to principal at Quail Hollow.

The school provided Yanson with one of her favorite memories. For two years, Quail Hollow put on "Circus of the Kids," an educational program that weaves in academics while turning children into jugglers, trapeze artists and acrobats.

Circus performers came to the school to train the children and Quail Hollow took its act on the road, performing for other schools.

"It was such a great community thing," Yanson said.

The school also participated in a student exchange program, somewhat unusual for the elementary level. French students came to Quail Hollow and some Quail Hollow students traveled to Paris.

"That was pretty unique," said Yanson, who also brought the exchange program to Sand Pine one year.

Not every memory is a happy one. In December 1997, Quail Hollow students were performing their winter program at Victorious Life Church on Old Pasco Road. A father who had parked his car at a nearby country club was struck and killed by a car as he walked toward the church.

"That was really difficult," Yanson said. "Some things are just beyond our control."

Another low moment came over Labor Day weekend in 2000 when 10 teenagers broke into Sand Pine and vandalized the school. They used sledgehammers to smash computers, televisions and doors.

They sprayed a fire extinguisher into the cafeteria's walk-in cooler, destroying the food inside.

Officials estimated the damage at more than $100,000.

"It literally looked just like a war zone," Yanson said.

In the latest issue of the Sand Pine PTA newsletter, PTA President Peggy D'Alessandro praised Yanson for her support of the organization and her dedication to children.

"It has always amazed me how, even after all of these years, her eyes would still light up and she would seem almost as excited as the children were to hear all about our plans for fun events and programs," D'Alessandro wrote.

Ask Yanson what she plans to do in retirement and her first response is a cheerful, "Nothing."

That's inaccurate, though. She's part of a dance club called the Beach Boppers. She's also involved with a Gasparilla krewe and hopes to be more active with that. Yanson's mother lives in an assisted living facility and she wants to help put on programs for the residents there.

She's happy that her assistant principal, Todd Cluff, is set to take over at Sand Pine.

Yanson is happy about one other thing, too.

An elementary school principal's day starts long before students arrive. She gets to sleep in now.