Gulf High School Faculty

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Philip Altshuler is the technology specialist. He joined the Gulf faculty at the start of the 2004-2005 school year. He previously taught at Pasco, Mitchell, and River Ridge High Schools. He attended Gaither High School and the University of Florida and USF. His wife is a teacher at Weightman Middle School.

Alba M. Alvarez joined the Gulf faculty during the 2007-08 school year. She teaches Spanish. Before coming to Gulf, Ms. Alvarez was the ESOL instructional assistant at Pine View Middle School. She was born in Cali, Colombia, and taught elementary school at Colegio Villegas. She came to the U. S. five years before coming to Gulf. Her daughter attends Land O'Lakes High School.

Claudia Alwood joined the Gulf faculty at the start of the 2005-06 school year. She teaches social studies in the pre-International Baccalaureate program and teaches AP Government. She most recently taught at River Ridge High School; before that, she taught for one year at River Ridge Middle School and earlier taught at Pine View Middle School.

Dan Barrus teaches English. He has been teaching at Gulf since 1978. He graduated from Gulf High School in 1974. Mr. Barrus attended Howard University in Washington D. C., St. Mary Of The Plains College in Dodge City, Kansas, and The University Of South Florida. He has a B.A. In English Education.

Lisa Barrus teaches Photography classes and Art. She received her teaching degree from New York Institute of Technology in Old Westbury, N. Y. She is in her 22nd year teaching at Gulf High and is the Team Coordinator for the Institute of Communications and the Arts learning community.

Michele Belknap joined the faculty at the start of the 2007-08 school year. In her first year she will teach Spanish I and Algebra I-A. She taught Spanish at Clearwater Catholic High School and Spanish and Art History at Derenne Middle School and St. Andrews on the Marsh School, both in Savannah, Ga. She also taught English as a second language in Spain, where she lived for three years. She graduated from Clearwater Central Catholic High School in 1985 and earned a B. A. degree in Spanish and International Cultures from Georgia Southern University and an M. A. degree in Spanish Language from Middlebury College in Vermont.

Bruno Buonsanto joined the Gulf High School staff at the start of the 2008-09 school year as our ISS instructor. Mr. Buonsanto is a 1989 graduate of Gulf High School. He is the defensive coach for the Gulf Middle School football team. Mr. Buonsanto is a Navy veteran. He has served as the manager of a landfill in Hudson and worked for Waste Management Inc. and Peterson’s Service Corp. He is married to Roxanne Buonsanto, who is a Gulf teacher and our cheerleading coach. They have a daughter who is a sophomore at Gulf.

Roxanne Buonsanto began teaching at Gulf in the 2006-07 school year. She teaches Career Prep and JPTS. Mrs. Buonsanto was born in Kansas City, Kan. She graduated from Tarpon Springs High School in 1987 but attended Gulf High School in the 9th grade (when Mr. Evans was one of her teachers). She has a B. A. degree in Criminal Justice from USF. Her husband Bruno Buonsanto is the ISS instructor at Gulf. They have five children including a daughter who is a varsity cheerleader at Gulf. Mrs. Buonsanto is the Gulf varsity cheerleading coach.

Phyllis Butler joined the faculty at the start of the 2008-09 school year. She teaches health occupations. Mrs. Butler has been an assistant director of a skilled nursing facility. She has been a nurse for eight years. She was born in St. Petersburg. She is a Hudson High School graduate and attended PHCC. She has three daughters, two of whom are students at Hudson High School.

Jennifer Cooper joined our staff on January 7, 2008. She teaches intensive reading. Ms. Cooper has a degree in Elementary Education from USF. She is a 2003 graduate of J. W. Mitchell High School, where she made states in hurdles under Coach Buono, who was also her math teacher. Mrs. Buono is now an assistant principal at Gulf. Ms. Cooper was born in Tampa.

Frances Costa joined the Gulf faculty at the start of the 2005-06 school year. She teaches biology honors, biology, and chemistry. She previously taught at the PACE Center for four years. She moved to New Port Richey from Long Island six years before coming to Gulf. She holds an M. S. degree in Biology from SUNY at Stony Brook. She teaches Anatomy & Physiology at St. Petersburg College.

Angela Cotney is the guidance counselor for students whose last names begin with E-K. She joined the Gulf faculty at the start of the 2004-2005 school year. She has an M. Ed. degree and an Ed. S. degree from the University of Florida. She previously was the guidance counselor at Hawthorne High School in Alachua County. She attended Gaither High School in Tampa. Her father is Mark Cotney, who played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1976 to 1984 and subsequently coached for two years.

Linda Dale teaches science at Gulf High School, both during the regular school day and in the Adult Education program. She has been teaching at Gulf since the 1993-94 school year. Before coming to Gulf, she taught for seven years in Norfolk, Va. She holds a B. S. degree in Elementary Education from the College of Charleston in South Carolina, an Associate's degree from George Washington University, and has done additional course work at Tidewater Community College and Old Dominion University. Mrs. Dale was the first Pasco county teacher at the high school level to attain certification by the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards, achieving certification in Adult-Young Adult Science in 2000.

Kelly Davey is a guidance counselor. She joined the faculty at the start of the 2006-07 school year. She was previously a guidance counselor at Hudson Middle School for six years. Before that, she was an ESE counselor for the Pasco County school district. She was born in Philadelphia and attended Plymouth-Whitemarsh High School there. She has a B. S. degree in Psychology from the University of Southern Maine and an M. S. degree in Counseling from Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia.

Sean Davis is a 1984 graduate of Gulf High School. Sean attended Bethune Cookman College from 1984-1986 where he played in 22 games as a member of the MEAC champs under head coach Larry Little (Miami Dolphins). Mr. Davis finished his football career as a captain of the KCAC champion St. Mary of the Plains Cavaliers, Dodge City, Kansas, who were ranked 5th in the nation in the NAIA. After a severe car accident delayed Sean's graduation for a year he returned to Kansas and earned his Bachelors degree in 1991. Upon earning his bachelors in 1991 Sean began working at the Institute of Logopedics (currently Heart Spring) where he had his first experience with Autism. Mr. Davis went on to earn his Master's Degree in Behavior Disorders from Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kansas. While in Kansas, Mr. Davis taught Elementary and Middle School P.E. Mr. Davis also taught Adaptive P.E. to severely handicapped and blind students along with P.E. at an alternative school. During Mr. Davis' last year in Kansas he opened the North West Kansas Regional Juvenile detention Center in Wakeeney, Kansas. Sean returned to Gulf High School in February of 1996 to open up Gulf High's first unit designed to serve students who are severely emotionally disturbed (SED). Prior to returning to GHS Mr. Davis helped open the James Irvin Education Center in Dade City and was the first Behavior Specialist at R.B. Stewart Middle School in Zephyrhills. Mr. Davis has also coached football and wrestling over a number of years and is currently an assistant wrestling coach for the two time defending champions of the Sunshine Athletic Conference here at Gulf High School. In addition to being a Behavior Specialist at Gulf High School Mr. Davis also works with Autistic Children in Pasco County who are extremely aggressive and he spends his summers working in Juvenile Justice programs throughout the county.

Nicole Deg joined the GHS faculty at the start of the 2007-08 school year. In her first year here she will teach language arts and will be the yearbook sponsor. She previously taught at a middle school in Hillsborough County. She was born in Brooklyn, N. Y., but graduated from River Ridge High school in New Port Richey in 1994. She attended Gulf High School in 1990 and was a member of Total Sound. She has a B. A. degree in Mass Communications/Broadcast News from USF. Her husband Chris is a Pinellas County deputy. They have two children, who were ages 3 and 8 months when she started at Gulf.

Travis DeWalt joined the Gulf High School faculty in the 2000-2001 school year. He is the wrestling coach and an assistant football coach and girls weightlifting coach. DeWalt is a 1990 graduate of Gulf, where as a student he was a state wrestling champion. He then went on to become a three-time NAIA All-American and team MVP at Briar Cliff College in Sioux City, Iowa. His 121-20 record made him the most victorious wrestler in the school's history. He coached for ten years before coming to Gulf, most recently as head coach at Hinton Community School.

Steve Donaldson holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Bellevue University in Political Science and a Master of Education in Educational Leadership from St. Leo University. He currently teaches Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) classes, coaches the school’s girls’ tennis team, and sponsors the Young Democrats Club. Donaldson has previously taught at Hillsborough Community College (HCC) for an electrical apprenticeship program. He is a retired U.S. Air Force Intelligence Officer (retired Major) and former business owner. He currently resides in Trinity and has resided in the Tampa area since 1992 and Pasco County since 1999. Donaldson is married with three children and two grandchildren.

Judith Duncan joined the Gulf High School faculty at the start of the 2007-08 school year. She is the ESOL paraprofessional. Before coming to Gulf she served in a similar capacity at Gulf Highlands Elementary School for one year. She was born in Chihuahua, Mexico, and earned a B. A. degree in Education from Chihuahua College. When she joined our faculty, she had lived in the U. S. for eleven years. Her husband, Ron Duncan, works for Bank of America. They have three children.

Jena Ferry (formerly Jena Bigley) joined the Gulf faculty at the start of the 2005-06 school year. She teaches World History. She is from New Jersey and is a graduate of LaSalle University in Philadelphia.

Debora Foote will be teaching four sections of ninth-grade English, one of which is an honors class, and one section of twelfth-grade English Honors. This is Mrs. Foote's first year as a teacher. She interned last year at Gulf under Dr. Wildey and Ms. Winslow. She is originally from Beacon, New York, but has lived in Florida for nineteen years. She formerly was a legal assistant. She is married and has three children and two grandchildren. She attended St. Leo University.

Steve Franks joined the Gulf faculty at the start of the 2006-07 school year and taught graphics art. In the 2007-08 school year, he will be teaching Reading and Read 180. He also coaches football and boys and girls weightlifting. He was previously an airline captain. Mr. Franks was born in Corpus Christ, Texas. He attended high school at Northeast High School in Elizabeth City, N. C. He earned a B. S. degree in business administration from USF. He and his wife Cynthia have two daughters, Heather, who is a teacher in Atlanta, and Justine, who is a sophomore in high school.

Jennifer Fugate will teach Integrated Science and will be the JV cheerleading coach. She joined the Gulf faculty at the start of the 2004-2005 school year. She has a B. S. degree in biology with a minor in psychology and a B. S. degree in chemistry with a minor in physics from Maryville College in St. Louis. She was born in St. Louis and grew up there. She previously taught at Ridgewood High School, and earlier taught at Zephyrhills High School for four years. Before becoming a teacher she worked for Sea World and for National Marine Fisheries.