Gloria Shearin Harris

Mrs. Harris has thirty-six years of experience in the educational profession with eighteen years as a school principal. Last year, she served on Congressman Glenn Nye's Education Advisory Committee and is currently a member of the Gifted Education 5-year Strategic Plan as well as Virginia Beach Division Strategic Plan for Balanced Assessment. She began her teaching career in the elementary and middle school classrooms and moved into a central office position as a language arts coordinator. As the principal of The Literacy Center (TLC), an alternative school for academically at-risk ninth-grade students, she designed, managed, and provided leadership for an educational program that supported students in their areas of need while furthering their high school educational requirements in their areas of strength. In the first year of attending TLC, all 300 students passed the Literacy Passport Test that they had failed to pass on three previous attempts. In the last ten years, Mrs. Harris has served as principal of Old Donation Center (ODC) for the Gifted and Talented providing leadership for the intellectually gifted program as well as the gifted visual arts and dance programs.