Weeki Wachee High’s LaRose Honored as District’s Principal of the Year

The crowd got rowdy and loud for a few moments at the Dec. 10 Hernando County School Board meeting. The reason, though, was far from controversial.
Weeki Wachee High School’s Ed LaRose was being honored as the selection for the district’s 2024-25 Principal of the Year, and clearly many in attendance were happy to see him recognized. So much so that someone even fired off a confetti popper.

“I can say without a doubt that we could not have had a better candidate than one that is a product of our own schools,” said Gina Michalicka, assistant superintendent of teaching and learning. “Mr. LaRose is a homegrown education hero and the best example of inspiring greatness in education. Mr. LaRose’s knowledge base and expertise helps him create an environment where culture and relationships are nurtured, accountability is a daily mission and leading by example is a requirement.

“Ed’s leadership style is all in. He is highly reflective and is always willing to learn more and wants to share that knowledge with others to help continuously improve the learning for his students. In doing so he has become a strong instructional leader in our district.”

LaRose, a 1999 Central High graduate, became principal at Weeki Wachee in 2021 and has worked at all five high schools in the district as either a teacher, an administrator or a coach. He was previously principal at Parrott Middle School.

Michalicka highlighted the processes LaRose has implemented in facilitated lesson planning, the regular use of data to drive instruction and putting the spotlight on connected professional learning. She noted that he presents to other principals in the district with partnering universities, “as well as sharing his campus as a model for others to see highly effective practices at work.

To that end, the past two years Weeki Wachee High has hosted the Teachers in Action Conference, attended by over 1,800 teachers. He is also a member of several district committees including Achievement Gap, bargaining, Aspiring Leaders Academy, transportation, bell times and calendar.

“Ed is a principal you want all of your teachers to work with and your students to grow with,” Michalicka said. “Mr. LaRose strives to always be better. He continuously works on his own practice and is always reaching out and wanting to learn more.

“Beyond his vast knowledge and expertise, Ed is one of the warmest and most caring individuals I have had the pleasure to call my colleague. His relationship-building style, authentic character and humble nature always stands out and makes him a person you want to learn and grow from. We are so very fortunate that Ed calls Hernando County home and continues to help us strive to be better both as people and educators.”

LaRose, who was named the district’s 2010 Teacher of the Year, spoke at the meeting after accepting his newest award.

“I was that student here in Hernando County that needed a place and school was it. So thank you to everybody that’s been a part of that,” LaRose said. “I think that’s important that first that they need to feel a place where they’re supported and we’ve got their best interest in mind, and the rest comes after that.

“People ask me a lot, what’s it take to be a good principal? And I always say the same exact thing, know your head custodian’s favorite college football team. If you figure that out, that means you’re taking the time to talk to people. You’re taking the time to value everybody. And it’s a simple formula, but sometimes it’s a formula that we forgot.

“It’s just knowing our people, identifying what our best practices are and putting them in place, because there’s lots of decisions to be made in schools but students are the top decision at all times. And I hope that in my time here in Hernando County that I’m able to impact many, many lives, but I’m able to be a model for four of them (his children).”

Also drawing a huge cheer from the crowd was Moton Elementary School’s Alexa Neal, who was honored as the district’s Assistant Principal of the Year.

Robin Kidd, a teacher from Moton, relayed a written statement from principal Patty Martin, who was unable to attend the meeting due to her grandson’s Christmas program happening the same night.

“Her loyalty is unmatched. I cannot possibly put into words how much I appreciate all Alexa does for Moton and how much I appreciate her being with me throughout this journey,” Martin said in part of her statement. “She is the perfect person to represent Hernando County as the Assistant Principal of the Year.”

Martin’s statement also told the story of how Neal was a teacher at Parrott when they first met, and how Martin was able to “win her over” in talking Neal into becoming her assistant principal.

“I just want to thank everyone,” Neal said. “I’m blessed to work at Moton. I do believe we have the best students and staff in the district. I’ve never met such hard-working staff. I’m just very thankful to be there with them and I’m thankful for some of the administrators, Miss Martin, Mr. LaRose and Miss (current Hernando High principal Leechele) Booker, who first hired me in the district.”

Bus driver Lonnie Powell was honored as the district’s Veteran of the Month. A native of Tampa, he enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1986. He reached the rank of first sergeant over 25 years of service featuring multiple tours in the Middle East during Operation Desert Storm and Operations Enduring/Iraqi Freedom.

“I challenge all my bus drivers when I talk to them, in the first two weeks that we get our student that we try to remember their first and last names. It’s very important,” Powell said. “We are the first people that get into contact with the students and the last person to get into contact with the students. And our attitude sets a presence on how they’re going to perform in school.

“So I challenge all my bus drivers, remember their first and last names. So when they get on the bus, you call them by their first name, give them a fist pump and tell them to have a good day, and then we can take it from there.”

Later on in the meeting, the Board voted on the recommendation from the School Media Review committee to keep three books in circulation, but with limited access.

The books were “The House on Mango Street” written by Sandra Cisneros, “Graceling” written by Kristen Cashore and “Real Live Boyfriends” written by E. Lockhart. The committee recommended “The House on Mango Street” for grades 6-12, and the other two for grades 9-12.

In the case of all three, the Board voted against the committee’s recommendation and all three books will be taken out of circulation within the district. It was a 4-0 vote against “Real Live Boyfriends,” while the other two were voted down 3-1 with Susan Duval as the lone vote in favor in both cases. Board vice-chairperson Mark Johnson was not in attendance.

One other item of interest in the meeting was the approval of a Memorandum of Understanding with Space Florida, a state agency building a program to develop the workforce for the aerospace industry in Florida while also bringing aerospace-related business to the county. A presentation was made by a representative from Space Florida at a workshop earlier in the day.

“It’s extremely interesting,” Board chairperson Shannon Rodriguez said. “Very exciting for Hernando County students. I’m excited about the program.”