Principal’s Message

July 8, 2024

Dear Pine View School Parents, Students, and Friends:

What a wonderfully busy close of the 2023-2024 school year, and we hope that everyone has enjoyed the start to a relaxing summer- ready, rejuvenated, and excited to begin another amazing year at Pine View continuing our tradition of excellence! We want to take this opportunity to celebrate some of the amazing achievements and successes at Pine View, and look forward to the new school year in 2024-2025! We closed out a wonder year with a graduation ceremony at the Van Wezel on May 19- graduating an amazing senior class, celebrating their achievements, next stages in their educational
journeys, the two military academy appointments, the over $6 million in scholarships and merit, as well
as 20 National Merit Finalists!

This same time last year, I was pleased to announce that our school grade scored the highest
number of total possible points in the school grade calculation by the State of Florida- and an increase
over the previous year. This year, preliminary data suggest that will continue and our student scores
have increased, again! Our Advanced Placement data demonstrate that we administered almost 2,000
AP exams in 32 subject areas, and the overall pass rate (students scoring a 3 or higher on the
internationally standardized exams) was an incredible 98%! In addition, a remarkable 73% scored a 4 or
5 on the exams. Increasing our overall pass rate is a wonderful accomplishment, and doing that while
also increasing the number of students sitting for highly rigorous college level courses and exams is truly
noteworthy. Kudos to these students and teachers. Our school grade data on FAST English Language
Arts (ELA) and Math assessments is equally celebration worthy as not only did our percent of overall
total points earned increase, our students and teachers did this while ensuring that Learning Gains in
both ELA and Math increased, as well. I anticipate that Pine View will once again, have the highest
grade in the state, and will continue to be recognized a School of Excellence.

This summer, our faculty and administrative team has been hard at work recruiting some
incredible new colleagues to join our Pine View family to replace a few retirements, as well as to address
increases in enrollment. We look forward to our community getting to know the new faculty and staff
hired this summer, and we will introduce them soon! Also, please, join me in welcoming our new High
School Assistant Principal, Mrs. Kira Bryant. Mrs. Bryant has a Mathematics background, and was an
Assistant Principal for Curriculum prior to joining Pine View. She is very excited to work with our high
school students and families. Ms. Lana Marcotte will be continuing as our Assistant Principal for
Curriculum, supporting grades 2 through 12, and we are excited that she is continuing in this role.

One last celebration, we have been notified that our schoolwide PBIS plan has been recognized
as a Platinum Award winner for this year! This was the first year that Pine View submitted our plan for
evaluation to the state, and following an audit and on-site review, the state has recognized Pine View
with the highest award level. Kudos to Ms. Grace Madden, our Behavioral Support Facilitator, and the
entire PBIS team, for their work in helping to set high expectations for our students daily- “be kind, be
strong, and be well!” There will be a recognition ceremony at a future School Board meeting.

Our theme for the coming year at Pine View is, “Where curiosity sparks innovation!” We have
already begun working on our School Improvement Plan for the coming year, and there is always room
for growth in improving the experiences and opportunities we provide for our students at Pine View,
and we look forward to a wonderful 2024-25!

We appreciate all the positive support from the Pine View School parents and our community,
and look forward to another great year- continuing our tradition of excellence! Go, Pythons!

Stephen P. Covert, Ph.D.
Principal

“Continuous effort – not strength or intelligence – is the key to unlocking our potential.”

― Winston Churchill