Mr. Frank Gomez
What’s good Silver Knights?
I’m super excited to be invited into the Castle! I’m Frank Esteban Gomez, I sign my name Frank E, and most people call me Frankie. I began my career in education as a temporary PE Coach at Mascotte Elementary in 2008-2009, after changing careers from Broadcast Journalism. My undergraduate degree is in Mass Communications with a specialization in Broadcast Journalism from Florida International University in Miami, Florida where I was born and raised. During that undergraduate work, I took a few education courses to fulfill required number of credits for scholarship requirements and become a better conversation partner with a beautiful young woman who is now my wife and the best teacher I know. We now have three children: Francisco (10), Sebastian (7) and Gabriella (5). My wife, Rebecca, teaches at Mascotte Elementary School. She’s gone back and forth between 4th and 5th grade during her 15 years there.
After working at sports radio stations in Miami for a year after college graduation, my wife and I moved to Lake County in August of 2008 (where we had met as teenagers volunteering at Camp Horizon off Sunnyside Drive here in Leesburg). I worked on fulfilling what I feel was a calling towards education and earning teaching certifications, starting with Social Studies 6 – 12 and Physical Education K – 12. After working that temporary PE job at Mascotte Elementary I earned certifications in Elementary Education K – 6 and Early Childhood Education Pre-Kindergarten – 3rd(ESOL Certification and Endorsement as well). I taught 2nd Grade at Groveland Elementary for three years, becoming Grade Chair and Rookie Teacher of the Year for the school. I then joined my wife at Mascotte Elementary as a 2nd Grade Teacher and 2nd Grade Chair, and earned Teacher of the Year for the school. As I took on various leadership roles at Mascotte, I earned my Masters’ Degree in Educational Leadership from West Florida University. My last year in the classroom I taught 5th Grade (all core-content subjects) and then earned an Assistant Principal position at East Ridge Middle School where I have been since. As an Assistant Principal I have, among many other duties, developed Master Schedules and Bell Schedules, led school safety and facilities, and served on a committee helping the district to develop the new self-contained folder to replace the Go-Kits. I have also been overseeing the Math Department at East Ridge Middle School, seeing a 31 point gain overall in Math-related school grade reported categories after my first year in 2018-2019, and gaining back 30 of those Math-related points this year in 2021-2022 after the initial bounce-back 2020-2021 school year showed the pandemic had stolen all that ground we had gained. I’m eager to bring these experiences to the Castle, and to continue my journey as a life-long learner.