Meet the Principal: Sherri Frick

You’d expect any school principal to say they would do anything for their students. But how many would dance with them during music class? In high heels?

“Now nobody can say that Mrs. Fricke doesn’t have rhythm,” Mabry Elementary’s new leader said to a group of spent fourth graders after swinging with them to Rockin’ Robin last week. 

After leaving the music class, Sherri Fricke discussed how going to such lengths to connect with her students takes precedent over her mundane administrative duties. “It’s kids first,” she said. “Anything that can be done tomorrow, can be done tomorrow. Paper work and emails can wait for tomorrow. It’s also delegating, and balancing everything that needs to be done – meeting with parents, assisting in the lunchroom, classroom walk-throughs, making sure the custodians are cleaning.”

As the new Mabry principal, Frick has moved from the helm of one long-established and well-situated South Tampa school, Ballast Point Elementary, to another. Located at 4201 W. Estrella St., Mabry draws from a variety of neighborhoods on the west central peninsula, including some of the more affluent ones like Beach Park, Culbreath Isles and Sunset Park.

“It was a fabulous school,” Frick said of Ballast Point, “It was beautiful. But this school has a lot more parent support. Our PTA is a lot bigger. It’s a different clientele. Ballast Point had some great parents, but it was a lot more working parents. Here I have a lot more support with the stay-at-home moms. The families are very involved.”

As for any changes she’d like to make, Frick wants to make careful evaluations first. “Mabry’s a pretty high performing school,” she said, “so you want to look at what areas are maybe a little lower. I’ll ask principals at Gorrie or Roosevelt, where are they performing, how is their third grade reading? Then I look at where we can improve. Our fourth grade is third in the district, but our third grade is fourteenth in the district. “I would like us to be the number one school in Hillsborough County, and we have the resources for it. But the main thing for me is that all my kids make a year’s worth of growth.”

Frick graduated from high school in Conestoga, Pa., in 1988. That year she entered Shippensburg University, and graduated from there in 1993 with a degree in elementary education. Frick then moved to Tampa for a job teaching kindergarten at Roland Park. After a year the school was converted to a middle school, which prompted her to transfer to McDonald Elementary in Seffner. “I like early childhood,” Frick said of her preferred age group. “They just have a love for learning and they seem to have that awe moment, which as a teacher motivates me.”

Frick taught kindergarten for two years at McDonald, then moved to third graders at Philip Shore in Ybor City in 1996. After three years she became the school’s curriculum resource teacher. Also during her tenure at Shore Frick earned her masters degree in educational leadership from the University of South Florida in 2001.

In 2004 she was named administrative resource teacher at Roosevelt Elementary in Palma Ceia. Later that year she made assistant principal there, and remained there until getting the principal post at Ballast Point Elementary in 2008.

She landed the principal’s seat at Mabry in July, and cut her commute to about five minutes. She lives in the nearby Golfview neighborhood with her husband Jeff, and their daughters Abigail, 10, and Sloan, 8. The children attend Roosevelt Elementary.

As for Frick’s administrative style, she says, “I believe in the open door policy. Especially with my staff members, I am very open with other ideas. I always try to get as many involved as I can. We’ve had a great beginning of the year. And they’ve welcomed me with open arms.”