HillsboroughSchools.org<\/a> website, McCahan (who spent the last five years as principal at Shields Middle School in Ruskin, said, \u201cAs your principal, I am thrilled to welcome you to another exciting school year. Our dedicated staff is committed to providing a supportive and challenging environment where every student can thrive. We believe in fostering a community of respect, responsibility, and excellence. Whether you are a returning student or new to our school, we are here to support you every step of the way. Let\u2019s make this year memorable and full of achievements.\u201d<\/p>\nMcCahan succeeds Kevin Stephenson, who is the new principal this year of Sgt. Smith Middle School in the Citrus Park area.<\/p>\n
Welcome, Kelly!<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Principal-Kelly-Wackes-Talking-to-Kids-1.png\")
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Kelly Wackes is already a familiar face to many New Tampa residents, as she served as the assistant principal at Clark Elementary in West Meadows for the past five years and has been part of Hillsborough County Public Schools for the last 11 years \u2014 first as a math coach and then as a teacher.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis week, getting to know the staff has been amazing,\u201d Wackes told me just before the 2026-27 school year began. \u201cEveryone has been so welcoming.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She said she is proud to be the new principal at Chiles, as this is the school\u2019s 25th year of existence, \u201cand it\u2019s never been anything other than an \u2018A\u2019-rated school,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd, all of us \u2014 the teachers, staff, parents and students \u2014 are committed to continuing that tradition of excellence. Our motto this year is, \u2018Honoring the Past, Soaring into the Future.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Wackes, who holds a Master of Education (MEd) degree from the University of Central Florida in Orlando, said her oldest child is entering the 4th grade and is still at Clark, \u201cbut my youngest is starting Kindergarten with me at Chiles. I\u2019m so excited for this year!\u201d<\/p>\n
She added that the 25th anniversary celebration for Chiles has been temporarily set by the District for\u00a0March 5, 2027.\u00a0\u2014 GN<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The beginning of the 2026-27 school year in Hillsborough County (unfortunately for our schedule) began on Aug. 10,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":366991,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-366990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=366990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366990\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/366991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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