LARGO, Fla. — Pinellas County Schools Superintendent Dr. Michael A. Grego plans to retire at the end of the current school year.
Grego, whose career in Florida's public education system spans 42 years, made the announcement Thursday morning. He said his last day would be this summer.
Grego told 10 Tampa Bay it felt like the right time to step away because of how far he thinks the district has come in the last decade. He was first attracted to the position because Pinellas County Schools needed a lot of help.
"I saw so much work that needed to be done and I loved the work," said Grego, who spent 28 years working in the Hillsborough district.
During Grego's time with Pinellas County, the district's overall graduation rate rose from under 70 percent to 92 percent. He's most proud of the improvements in minority students. The graduation rate among Black students went from 56 to 86 percent, and Hispanic students saw an increase from 64 to 92 percent.
Grego said he and his team started to work backwards. If you wanted success at the 12th-grade level, you needed to start interventions in 6th grade.
"We can predict our graduation rate by how strong our 9th and 10th grade classes are," said Grego.
While he's lead through a lot of obstacles including major budget cuts during the recession, hurricanes, and new safety overhauls amid school shootings, nothing has rocked the educational world like the pandemic.
"You learn to deal with the challenges in a way that serves the community," said Grego, who will never forget the way district staff worked to get meals to families and virtual instruction to students in the early days of the pandemic.
Public schools around the country will have to deal with the fallout from the pandemic including staff shortages and learning loss.
Pinellas County Schools is dealing with a substitute teacher crisis that Dr. Grego says is already looking up thanks to an "all hands on deck" approach.
The district increased pay, started to recruit people who recently retired or those still in school at St. Pete College. Even employees working in the administration building volunteered to fill-in when needed.
"We take problems, analyze them, and then attack," he said.
Perhaps the biggest long-term fear for parents and educators is making up everything our young people lost during the pandemic.
Dr. Grego is a proponent of more learning, outside the school building including summer programs and technology that allows students to continue learning at home. He believes it's the only way to improve and recover.
"Education now can’t just be when the bell rings in the morning and the bell rings in the afternoon and we’re done. That’s how you close gaps."
Grego's last day will be July 1, but he says he has a lot of work to do between now and then; and he's confident the leadership team in place will take the district to new heights in the coming years.