3913 W Cass St
Tampa, FL 33609

This school is the cause of the worst years of my life. It contains a genuinely violent atmosphere with no care for the well-being of students. I recall being punched in the face in front of an Assistant Principal and for them watch as blood pours from nose, only to show me no care and only mildly reprimand the student who threw the punch. Teachers anespecially administrators don't care about the children in this school. Furthermore, the principal, Odalys Pritchard, is a truly deplorable human being. How insecure does one have to be to torment and power-trip over children?

We were lucky enough to send our son to Grady for all 6 years, but we moved away after our daughter finished 1st grade and she has had a couple of years at a new school for comparison. That comparison really emphasizes how fortunate we were at Grady; the new school is solid, but Grady was exceptional. Grady has plenty of advantages in terms of resources, but the school is also a tightly-knit community and we felt a lot of love and support from everyone while we were there.- The school is relatively small, with small grade and class sizes so that students and families get to know each other.- Both principals we worked with were wonderful at their job and they set the tone for an administration that was friendly and superbly organized. Little things like the parental drop off and pickup process seemed to proceed like clockwork with no wasted moments.- The teachers were all above average or even better and the kids learned a lot. Test scores are some of the best in the state, with very few stragglers. We were amazed by how much they asked of the students (e.g. 4th graders learning an 11-sentence paragraph structure for their writing assessment), but they worked nonstop on what they had identified as important and got the kids to absorb it and practice it.- The specialists are phenomenal and did so much to execute an individual education plan for us. They were proactive in meeting with us to report and plan, they brought in multiple people to help, they listened to our input, and they had worked together for years.- The PTA did a superb job of communicating and planning. Some of the families at surrounding schools in South Tampa seemed a little status-conscious, but I thought families were a little more relaxed and accepting at Grady.We would 100% recommend Grady to any parent considering it. It's an amazing school and we still miss it on a regular basis.

As a substitute teacher I see all sort of schools and types of student behaviors. We all know how we were as kids, when it was a sub day... In my experience, Plant High School is my number 1 choice when it comes to subbing. The students are well behaved, the staff is always helpful, most students do the work I assign while filling in for the teacher (which is unheard of at most schools), and I never leave the school being glad the day is finally over because of behavior. I personally would recommend this school as a good option for parents looking for good academics, student life, and being less worried their child is going to learn bad habits.