principal of the year

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PRINCIPAL OF THE YEAR
Brian Kingsley from Gulfstream Middle
School is named as Broward’s best!
Stephen
Cummings
There are 234 Principals within the
Broward County Public School District, but
only one received the
distinction of 20122013 Principal of the
Year, Brian Kingsley
from Gulfstream Middle School in Hallandale Beach.
Nominated by Hallandale Beach Mayor
Joy Cooper and Memorial Healthcare
Systems, Kingsley
has combined his vivacious personality
and exceptional leadership skills to rise
through the educational ranks beginning
as a teacher at Olsen
Middle School in 1998
teaching language
Arts, geometry and algebra becoming Intern Assistant
Principal five years
later. He served as Intern Principal at Apollo
Middle School in Hollywood during 20082009 before
appointed Intern Principal at McNicol Middle School in
Hollywood during
2009-2010. Brian’s
latest assignment
came in 2010 where
he started as the Intern Principal at Gulfstream Middle School
and promoted to Principal in 2011.
Kingsley is humbled with this latest
accolade giving kudos
to his accomplished
staff members like
Stacie Conner who
was recognized as
Teacher of the Year at
Gulfstream Middle
School for her exceptional work as a peer
counselor teaching
students to resolve
problems in an amicable fashion rather than
through violence and
a member of the
S.T.E.M. Academy
and Desiree Felder
who was awarded
School related employee of the year as
an administrative assistant and finally,
Steven Carlo who
also teaches at the
S.T.E.M. Academy at
the school while also
educating the children
in American and
World History. Mr.
Carlo is extremely altruistic serving as the
Chair for the Hallandale Beach Relay for
Life to benefit the
American Cancer Society for three years.
Principal Kingsley
brought the S.T.E.M.
(Science, Technology,
Engineering and
Mathematics) program to his school as
he is a visionary realizing that many future
employment opportunities will be afforded
to those with these
skills. One hundred
fifty children are enrolled in this program
and at a recent STEM
Day at Hallandale
High School, his students displayed robots that they
constructed which will
assist senior citizens
among other tasks.
Hallandale Beach is
no stranger for hiring
outstanding faculty for
their schools as Tony
Dutra, a reading
teacher at the Hallandale Adult Community
Center was bestowed
Broward County
Teacher of the Year
honors in 2010 and
Davien Fernandes
Jones, an educator of
social science at Hallandale High School
was a finalist for the
same recognition in
2009.
Brian Kingsley
graduated from Pennsylvania State University and completed his
Master’s Degree at
Florida Atlantic University with a concentration in Educational
Leadership. Kingsley’s achievements
permeate throughout
the community and
not just within the
classroom.
On any given morning, Brian can be
found outside the
school as children arrive directing traffic
and ensuring that the
students get to class.
He was credited with
organizing a very successful and visible
anti bullying campaign
that concluded with a
huge assembly at Hallandale High School
with speeches from
school resource officers like Officer Vera
and Officer McKenzie
from the Hallandale
Beach Police Department on the merits of
staying in school and
clear from gangs concluding with 300 people marching through
the city with signs promoting their issues.
Kingsley credits
Stacie Conner (whose
mother is a very wellknown volunteer in
the community named
Barbara Southwick)
with developing an
anti-bullying curriculum that is used
throughout Broward
County with the theme
“Kindness is priceless.”
Each year Hallandale Beach Commissioner Bill Julian
organizes a food drive
to support the Hallandale Beach Food
Pantry and lays down
the gauntlet among
Hallandale Elementary, Hallandale High
School, Hallandale
Adult Community
Center and Gulfstream Middle for the
school that collects
the most food. Rallied
by Principal Kingsley,
Gulfstream Middle
School has been
champion for the past
two years.
Brian leads by example displaying the
importance of giving
back to the community as he is a board
member for the Hallandale Beach Police
Athletic League and a
member of the Kiwanis Club of Hallandale
Beach. The Kiwanis
club has proudly given
dictionaries to his third
graders the past few
years and donated six
dozen uniform shirts
this year for the students.
Gulfstream Middle
School has accelerated more students
into high school level
math than any other
middle school and
under Kingsley’s guidance and infectious
charisma, enrollment
has grown by twenty
percent at Gulfstream
Middle School.
Congratulations
Principal Kingsley for
a well deserved
honor.
Stephen Cummings
is a past LT. Governor
with Kiwanis International and can be
reached at
954-907-2392.