HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. -- The Hillsborough County school district is trying to turn around 50 of its worst performing schools.

  • Forest Hills Elementary School has received D, F grades
  • Rachael O'Dea is school's new principal
  • 14 teachers moved over to help struggling school

One of them is Forest Hills Elementary School, which has 920 students.

Educators have been huddling to outline their strategy to turn things around.

"Coming into this situation, I was not aware of the differences between the schools," said teacher Nikki Byer. "I had a slight understanding, but being in it is a completely different thing."

Byer is one of 14 teachers moved over to help the struggling school. She is part of a new initiative to reverse years of academic underachievement, and she spent weeks getting up to speed.

"So far, we've had a chance to look at data and seeing the need there, I feel like we have a lot of things in place," she said.

One of those things is a new administration. Rachael O'Dea was named the new principal of Forest Hills, bringing 15 years of education and experience to the table.

"I do feel, based on what we have planned for this year, we're going to make a large impact on students' achievement," O'Dea said.

She has an uphill climb ahead of her. Over the last four years, the school received either a D or an F grade from the district. Administrators are now tasked with raising the overall academic success to get a C grade.

Failure to do so could result in an outside review and a possible eventual recommendation for closure. O'Dea said she isn't worried.

One veteran teacher is also optimistic.

"Having been here before, I can attest that the title 'achievement school' is more than a label this time around. It's truly a movement," said teacher Diana Ramirez.

The school has not outlined specifics on what exactly administrators are planning except to say the focus will be responding to students' individual academic levels.

"I'm not nervous. I'm excited," Byer said. "I think it's an honor to be here and be able to impact the students."