At John Hopkins, a new school year means a new leader at the helm.
Last week, the Trojan family welcomed Britnee Scott as the JHop’s new principal. She takes over from previous principal, Carlmon Jones, who transferred to Bay Vista Fundamental Elementary School.
Ms. Scott comes to JHop from Tyrone Middle School. Before coming to Pinellas County Schools, she was an assistant principal in Hillsborough County, where she attended high school. Ms. Scott started her education career in Duval County after graduating from Edward Waters College.
A fun fact about Ms. Scott is she wasn’t originally interested in being an educator. While in high school, she wanted to pursue a future career in cosmetology. She worked on many certificates, but when it was time to take the final big test, she failed just by two points.
Fortunately, Ms. Scott decided that failure wasn’t an option. So, she continued working on certifications for cosmetology while she went to college for sociology.
Her interesting sociology stemmed from a desire to play a role in students and their family’s lives – until she came to the realization that it didn’t offer much money.
Still wanting to make an impact on students, in 2012 she decided to become a teacher.
After three years of working in Duval and eight years of working in Hillsborough as an educator and administrator, last school year Ms. Scott came to Pinellas.
Ms. Scott says that her first impressions of our school have been the “kindness of the students” and being amazed “by how passionate the teachers are”.
Principal Scott states that she has many goals and wishes for the John Hopkins this school year, beating Tyrone Middle School to becoming an A school.
Ms. Scott says she hopes to enhance JHop by not only supporting magnets, but also the traditional side of the school. She wants to provide traditional students with opportunities to learn even more about trade and entrepreneurship, making them more prepared for high school.
“The new GEM of the south system that we have in place is meant to help prepare our students to make better and stronger goals, even if it’s just a little bit at a time,” she said.
