Gaither High School

Tampa, FL 33618

Phone: (813) 975-7340
Fax: (813) 975-7349
District: Hillsborough

6

GreatSchools Rating

public • Grades 9,10,11,12 • 2016 students

Gaither High School, a public school located in Tampa, FL, serves grades 9-12 in the Hillsborough.It has received a GreatSchools Rating of 6 out of 10, based on a variety of school quality measures.

Gaither High School is a public school located in Tampa, FL. 2016 students attend Gaither High School.

School Ratings

Category Rating Details
Test Scores 6/10 The Test Score Rating examines how students at this school performed on standardized tests compared with other schools in the state. The Test Rating was created using 2025 Florida Assessment of Student Thinking data from Florida Department of Education, and using 2025 Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking data from Florida Department of Education.
College Readiness 4/10 The College Readiness Rating uses this high school's graduation rates, college entrance exam participation and performance, or AP, IB, or Dual Enrollment participation to determine how well schools are preparing students for success in college and beyond. The College Readiness Rating was created using 2019 Average SAT score data from Florida Department of Education, using the following data from the 2021 Civil Rights Data Collection: percentage of students enrolled in IB, AP or Dual Enrollment classes in grades 9-12, using 2025 4-year high school graduation rate data from Florida Department of Education, and using 2026 demographic data from Florida Department of Education.
Student Growth 7/10 The Student Progress Rating measures whether students at this school are making academic progress over time based on student growth data provided by the Department of Education. Specifically, this rating looks at how much progress individual students have made on state assessments during the past year or more, how this performance aligns with expected progress based on a student growth model established by the state Department of Education, and how this school's growth data compares to other schools in the state. The Growth Rating was created using 2025 Student growth data from Florida Department of Education.

Worrisome patterns of chronic student absenteeism have been identified.

Posted: April 27, 2026

Esta escuela no sirve para nada es un lugar sin ley ni orden donde los muchachos se pierden totalmente la escuela no apoya a los padres ni a las familias es sálvese quien pueda no ponga a su hijo aquí

Posted: April 27, 2026

Posted: April 27, 2026

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Posted: July 20, 2025

Admin is great and Gaither was an A school 24-25 school year.

Posted: July 20, 2025

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Posted: July 20, 2025

Posted: January 21, 2024

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Posted: January 21, 2024

Posted: January 21, 2024

sucks. half of the students only go to walk and listen to music

Posted: March 6, 2023

Terrible experience dealing with the administration. This was years ago, so hopefully, the bad eggs are gone, but from what I can tell, most of those incompetent, unfit staff members have been promoted to higher positions within the county school system. Ever heard of Channing Tatum? He absolutely hated his experience at this exact school. That was almost 20 years ago, I and I can personally confirm it has not become any better.

Posted: March 6, 2023

Posted: February 24, 2022

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Posted: February 24, 2022

Posted: February 24, 2022

El servicio y la atención en las oficinas son terribles , el personal te deja en espera en el teléfono fácilmente 30 minutos, si no dominas el lenguaje inglés correctamente te tratan como basura, recoger un estudiante para una cita , es todo un logro pues no puedes entrar a la oficina tienes que llamar y nunca contesta, si necesitas orientan para documentos de atletismo nadie sabe nada , nop Esta escuela y su personal en la oficina es todo un desastre

Posted: June 4, 2021

STAY AWAY FROM BAND!!!!

In short this schools eh. Take it from me a student there are great parts of this school and really REALLY corupt parts. The good parts are alot of the teachers and elective teachers are very good at there jobs and are very supportive. Now the bad. Due to the recent lay offs they have fired every right leaning/ conservitive teachers, as well as all of the young teachers. Also stay as far as possible from the band and conversivtory program, it may seem like a great idea at first but Alverez and Dell (both teachers of the program) will distroy your passion for music. They are very corupt. In obtaining there members they force middle schoolers into signing life changing contracts. They will NOT let you leave these contracts as well as forcing you to lose 2 electives for your entire high school career. I have tried to contact the staff about this problem and unfortuatly they know, they all know, and they dont care. It really is sad to see the staff of this school forcing students through something so corrupt. I thought school was to teach kids about the world and get them ready for it and help them learn from there mistakes not forcing them through terrible conditions.

In short play your cards right and you will have a great experence.

Posted: June 4, 2021

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Posted: June 4, 2021

Posted: May 17, 2021

Outstanding music program headed by 2018 BHS/NAfME Mucis Educator of the Year.
Debbie Cleveland, aka Mrs. C is great and really cares about her students. She goes above and beyond.

Posted: May 17, 2021

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Posted: October 18, 2019

Stay away from the Music and Leadership Conservatory! The mandatory marching band will cost you far more than just getting those (AP & Dual enrollment) humanities credits at HCC, and you don't have risk having your student being carted off on an ambulance like what happened earlier this year.

Posted: October 18, 2019

The STEM classes are okay about homework but the Band program has 15 hour Saturdays and 11 hour rehearse-a-thons.

Posted: October 18, 2019

The STEM teachers are fine. Chorus is great! Band teachers are under investigation by the Fed Dept of Ed - BEWARE!

Posted: October 18, 2019

The leadership at the school has no integrity, compassion, or respect for parents, students, or district policies.

Posted: October 18, 2019

Morrill and Eisenhauer are two condescending, arrogant, hypocritical, buffoons that could not manage a Taco Bell.

Posted: October 18, 2019

The Band Dept recently lost several student's confidential medical information forms, and their solution was to threaten and bully the students for replacement forms by threatening their grades without even explaining what happened to the original forms. They are under a Fed investigation for FERPA violations for this.

Posted: May 24, 2017

Posted: May 24, 2017

Posted: May 24, 2017

My disabled child was treated very badly by school staff and administration at Gaither.

Posted: May 24, 2017

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Posted: May 24, 2017

Posted: April 23, 2015

As a parent, I have always taken pride in being a part of each school my child attends. Always wanting to lend a hand and offer my freetime to any program. Since the principal and AD have been changed to the current members, this is not encouraged or accepted because they don't want to do more work than they have to. When I as a parent want to help and offer my time and services but always have been told NO because it would cause more work for them or the people involved. They only want to do what is required and have never chosen, at least all the times that I have offered, to do anything extra. Not the type of school I would reccommend if you are interested in "the interest of your child". Their interest is only in what works for them (the principal and AD) Truly sad

Posted: March 10, 2015

In the last two years the administration has gone downhill. The AD is very disrespectful toward students and peers. Because he rules with fear instead of respect, many will not approach since he makes people feel stupid or unimportant. Not a role model I would want my children around.

Posted: September 12, 2014

Gaither is a good school to go to if you are looking into the athletics program but the student affairs office staff is very rude to parents, students, and other staff members. They do encourage individuality and having fun at pep rally's etc.. but also dont show much respect to students and most teachers allow the students to cuss, have out phones and put on inappropriate media without the parents consent.

Posted: May 6, 2014

This school is fantastic for academics, sports and their very large marching band program. The band program has had an instrumental affect on many kids. So, many of the kids are high achieving and a lot of that is just the hard work and determination that they show for both the band program and their academics. I have been impressed all 3 years that my daughter has been there and look forward to her final year as well as when my younger child attends Gaither. The entire staff at Gaither is incredibly dedicated and cares tremendously about the student body. Responses from teachers and staff from phone calls or emails is quick aside from what we know to be busy times (beginning of year, FCAT testing or AP testing). In those cases, the teachers have their hands full. The kids are wonderful and truly treat one another with the utmost respect. Fantastic school!

Posted: July 9, 2013

This school, admin, teachers and staff will make youy thrive if you wish. They will pick you up when you are down, and show you humility when you reach the top of the world.

Posted: July 4, 2013

Very nice school, excellent administration, great students, tutoring available. However, horrible staff teachers in the Exceptional Education Department. They have no clue, as how to help students with LLD or exceptional education needs in any core academic area such as math, reading and/or science. The football coach does not return parent phone calls, teachers do not respond to emails. Regular education teachers are excellent. Overall, this would be a five star school if they did an overhaul within the Exceptional Education department, encouraged/afforded more students to play sports, and worked harder at helping all students succeed.

Posted: January 19, 2013

Both my boys had a great 4 years here. My oldest was involved in the Band program which is one of the best in the county. My youngest just graduated and participated on both the baseball and football programs, which were both well run. Academics were challenging, and they both graduated with over a year of college credits and earned several academic scholarships. I was pleased with both the administration and faculty, and would recommend this high school to any parent looking for a solid school that supports both the arts and athletics..

Reviews provided by GreatSchools

# Name Type City State Overall Rating Distance
1 Westchase Neighborhood/Subdivision Tampa FL 7 mi
2 Hyde Park Neighborhood/Subdivision Tampa FL 12.1 mi
3 The Pavillions Apartment Complex Tampa FL 15.5 mi
4 Avelar Creek Neighborhood/Subdivision Riverview FL 22.6 mi
5 Panther Trace Neighborhood/Subdivision Riverview FL 23.2 mi
6 FishHawk Ranch Neighborhood/Subdivision Lithia FL 24.4 mi
7 Fish Hawk Ranch Neighborhood/Subdivision Lithia FL 25 mi
8 Harbour Isles Neighborhood/Subdivision Apollo Beach FL 25.4 mi
9 Fishhawk Ranch Neighborhood/Subdivision Lithia FL 25.6 mi
# Name City State Overall Rating Distance
1 South Tampa Tampa FL 11.7 mi
2 South of Gandy (SOG) Tampa FL 14.5 mi
3 Fishhawk Ranch /Lithia FL Lithia FL 25.1 mi
Base Distance
MacDill AFB 16.8 mi.
Coast Guard Clearwater 17.5 mi.
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