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New school superintendent Kevin Hendricks discusses his plan for the Pinellas county schools at Melrose Elementary on Sept. 16. "I understand what's important to accelerate learning at schools," said Hendricks.

On Thursday, Sept. 15, new Pinellas County Schools superintendent Kevin Hendricks visited Melrose Elementary School at 6 p.m. to present his goals for the next few years in education. He had seen various other schools in the county prior to Melrose, giving these speeches and truly getting familiar with the local schools, rather than the broad term of ‘education’ itself. Some of his goals are to raise the district’s letter rating from below an A to just that, to elevate academic performance and to introduce college career centers to high schools.

“I can’t speak to how you should get to the moon because I was never an astronaut, but I went to school so I know how to do that,” Hendricks said.

The superintendent moved to Florida in the 3rd grade from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and went on to work at Northeast High School, Dunedin High School, Pinellas Park High School and other schools in the district in a variety of job positions. In his freetime, he likes to go on jogs, read and coach little league baseball. Hendricks says he has big dreams for the district, and he’s going to make those dreams come true.