Tampa Teacher's Passion Was Educating Students
By RUSSELL RAY The Tampa Tribune

Published: Aug 15, 2007


TAMPA - Education makes life better.

Students of James Gatlin heard that over and over. It was his motto.

The man who educated generations of Tampa students died Tuesday from 
what his wife, Evelyn, described as complications from a previous illness. 
He was 69.

"This is a great loss to the school district, the community and 
the children of Hillsborough County," Superintendent MaryEllen Elia said. 
"He was a teacher and an administrator who was dedicated to the 
community and to the students."

"Gat," as his friends called him, began his 45-year teaching and
administrative career with the Hillsborough County school district in 1963,
teaching agriculture at Bethune School. In 1972, he was named dean of 
boys at Buchanan Junior High School, and in 1978 was promoted to principal.

From 1984 to 1994, he was principal of Chamberlain High School. He retired
in 2003, but that didn't last.

He was back the next year, serving the district as assistant principal 
for the Meacham Alternative School. He was later named principal of 
Middleton High School, the same school he graduated from in 1957.


Middleton was one of two high schools serving Tampa's black teenagers 
during segregation.

"Jim was truly committed to children, and I think everyone had a sense 
of that," school board member Doretha Edgecomb said. "He could be tough 
and serious if necessary, but he could also be silly and show his sense 
of humor, and I know the kids respected that."

Gatlin taught students that "responsible people don't gravitate 
toward trouble," Edgecomb said.

At 6-foot-5, Gatlin was an intimidating figure, but the kids loved him, 
Pete Davidsen, former deputy superintendent of schools, told the Tribune 
in October 2006.

"I don't care if it was the troublemaker type or the straight-A type;
everybody liked him," Davidsen said. "I always had a lot of respect for him."

As one former student put it, "He made school fun."

Former students told the Tribune that Gatlin also won praise for his 
strength and sensitivity in the weeks after the abduction and murder 
of Chamberlain student Stephanie Collins in November 1986.


Reporter Russell Ray can be reached at (813) 259-7870 or rray@tampatrib.com.