Palmetto Middle School’s new Principal Dr. Judith Anton has had quite an eventful summer.

Principal Dr. Judith Anton

First, Anton was pleasantly surprised to find out at the beginning of the summer that she had been chosen for the 1999 Outstanding Assistant Principal Award for the State of Florida at the high school level. Next she went on a long awaited and well-deserved trip to Africa with her husband, and then on to visit their son at his home in Atlanta.

Finally, while in Atlanta, they had to cut the trip short because she found out she had been named to her first principal’s position, and it was at Palmetto Middle.

"The reputation that Palmetto Middle has around the county, and for that matter, around the state, is unbelievable. It is a school that motivates and directs young people in a positive fashion, and it has a community that really feels good about the job it does," Anton said.

Anton’s background is as elaborate as it is impressive. She earned her degree in Secondary English Education from FAU, her master’s degree as an Educational Specialist from Nova, and her doctorate from Nova in National Educational Leadership (with a focus on middle schools).

Interspersed with that are 16 years of distinguished service as a teacher in the Miami-Dade Public Schools system, two years as the Language Arts Curriculum Coordinator for Dade County, three years as assistant principal at Mays Middle, and 10 years as assistant principal at Coral Park Senior High.

"During that time frame I also went through all the various training programs required for prospective principals and then some. I even spent two summers as principal, one at Norland Middle and the other at Coral Park Senior. And for the last years of my stay at Coral Park, I was the principal’s designate, and subbed for the principal quite a bit during absences," she said.

Anton is a South Florida native, graduating from Hialeah High. For the last 30 years she’s lived in south Miami-Dade County, just west of S. Dixie Highway and Pinecrest in the Pine Acres area. "We bought the house when my son was just a baby and fell in love with the community. There’s been no reason to leave ever since. We love it more than ever," she said.

Inevitably, in the course of daily events, she’d hear about Palmetto Middle.

"Whether it was reading about them in the papers, or hearing teachers at other schools talking about it, or just seeing tremendous test scores and attendance figures, it was clear that one of the best schools in the state was right in my backyard," Anton said.

Anton would like to continue the exceptional work done by her predecessor, Janet Hupp, and is working closely with students, faculty and staff, and parents to do so.

"Mrs. Hupp was very successful and popular here, and programs like her ‘What’s up with Hupp?’ were instrumental in making everyone feel involved in the school’s evolution. I’m a big believer in keeping lines of communication open between the school, community and parents, and those programs act as an enabler for open discussion," she said. "I have every intention of keeping those programs and once I get a better feel for everything we’ll decide where to go from there."

Anton also said that the faculty and staff had been very welcoming and that she was working her hardest to really get to know them.

"When I was introduced during summer school as the new principal, the entire staff that was in town came in at 8 a.m. to meet me. Now many of them were on vacation, as we have staff (and students) not only from Palmetto, but also Glades and Southwood here for the summer, but they came out anyway. I was honored by that, but that is typical of how deeply these people care for and are concerned about what they do," she said.