Sarasota County Schools has announced that Brentwood Elementary School’s John Weida is the 2020 Principal of the Year, and Booker High School’s Merlin Schenk is the 2020 Assistant Principal of the Year. Both recipients were recognized at district administrative and school staff meetings. 

Weida has been an educator for 34 years, and has served as assistant principal at both Booker Middle School and North Port High School as well as an Exceptional Student Education liaison, behavior teacher and an Exceptional Student Education teacher, among other positions. Schenk was assistant principal at Sarasota High School before assuming his current role, where he oversaw the school’s successful Cambridge AICE program. He also served as a mathematics teacher at Sarasota High School, and received the school’s Teacher of the Year award in 2010.

Both Weida and Schenk are now in the running for Principal of the Year and Assistant Principal of the Year, respectively, at the state level; Sarasota County Schools has received two prior Florida Principal of the Year awards. Alta Vista Elementary’s Dr. Barbara Shirley received the honor in 2014 and Booker High School’s Dr. Rachel Shelley in 2017.