Long-Standing Central Park Elementary Principal Retires

■ SCHOOL NEWS Long-Standing Central Park Elementary Principal Retires

The Plantation City Council honored one of the fixtures of education in the city, Central Park Elementary Principal Cherise Coleman, who is retiring. The city presented Coleman with a proclamation at its May 25 meeting. Coleman spent 42 years in Broward County public schools. In 2004 she came to Central Park as an assistant principal after first serving as an assistant at Rock Island Elementary.

After eight years of working alongside Principal Dee Knabb, Cherise took the helm at the school in 2012 upon Knabb’s retirement.

The proclamation noted that Coleman is a familiar and welcoming figure in the car loop, using her bull horn to get students inside the school before the bell rings each morning. She prides herself on running a school the community can be proud of, while ensuring that students are safe in her care.

“She is active in every aspect of the children’s education and encourages the continuing professional development of the staff,” read Council Member Denise Horland, who led the school’s parent organization when her children attended the school. “Cherise is highly regarded within the school system due to her extensive knowledge and her willingness to assist her fellow principals in making their own schools shine. She has truly loved every aspect of her career as an educator.”

Cherise met her significant other, Mark Bates, during her freshman year at McArthur High School in 1974, and they were together until his passing in 2010.

A life of public service was clearly modeled for their two children; Corey, who is now serving as a firefighter/paramedic in the City of Naples, and Sydney, who followed her mother into Broward County Public Schools and is pursuing her Master’s degree in Speech and Language Pathology.

Coleman is embarking on a two-week vacation to Yellowstone National Park with her children in July, and a trip to Vermont with her education friends in October. “Relaxation does not come easy to her,” the proclamation read. “In fact, most have never actually seen her do so because Cherise is always in motion! “

Her twin sister, Patrice, bets that Coleman will be “back out in the workforce by the end of the year.”

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