PRINCIPAL AND BAND DIRECTOR ORCHESTRATE TURNAROUND.
More than 10,000 people took part in the Florida Music Education Association Professional Learning Conference at the Tampa Convention Center. In early January, this crowd witnessed awards being given to two Plant City educators. Dennis Mayo, Principal of Marshall Middle Magnet School won the 2025-2026 Secondary Administrator of the Year Award. This award is given to the school administrator who is not currently employed as a professional music educator, but has displayed ardent support of school music programs. This award recognizes excellence in leadership, encouragement, and promotion of music education in Florida.
Dr. Jeffrey Cayer, Director of Bands at Marshall, nominated Mayo for the award. To fulfill the nomination requirements, Cayer had to get multiple recommendation letters, including one from Hillsborough County Public Schools superintendent (HCPS) Van Ayres, HCPS board member Patti Rendon, and students’ parents.
When the Covid pandemic hit in 2020, it threw the whole country into a chaos nearly impossible to manage. Education suffered—music education in particular, since, due to the shutdown of in-person learning, students could not play together in group settings. When Mayo and Cayer were installed at Marshall at the end of the pandemic, they found the music program had degraded and the instruments and equipment in disarray. So, they initiated a restart. Today, Marshall enrolls 1,089 students, grades six through eight, and 320 of those are in school bands. The school boasts three concert bands of different ability levels, three jazz bands, two sixth grade beginning bands, and a seventh and eighth grade beginning band.
“I remember the music supervisor telling Mr. Mayo, ‘You’ve got somebody here who can rebuild the program. Are you interested in building a great program?’ Mayo said, ‘Yes.’” Cayer recounted. “And he has followed through with every promise he made—from scheduling to funding, to showing up supporting bands at parades and concerts….He has been a fantastic boss to work for…a supporter of the arts, and he allows me to do what I need to do in the classroom to make it successful….with full support from him. So, that is why he was nominated and selected as the Secondary Administrator of the Year.”
“I minimize my impact on this, but I have been corrected many times that not all administrators support their music education to this level,” Mayo commented. “To me it is an easy thing to do. It makes sense. And to see our students just thrive in his program really is a highlight for me. Every time you go to the music rooms, you see students learning at the highest levels of their cognitive ability—the application of their learning, to teaching other students, to being in charge. The music program under his leadership has grown tremendously, and it was my job to support that.”
“I believe Mr. Mayo and I have worked really well together changing the culture of the school—the pride,” Cayer added. “I really take the whole school vision of the school seriously—that if they are in band, they are going to be taking their other classes seriously and that they are going to be model citizens in the hallways.”
In relation to Mayo’s Administrator of the Year award, at the conference, the Florida Bandmaster’s Association also presented Cayer with the Tom Bishop Award, “In recognition of the remarkable positive impact you have made on your band program.” The purpose of this award is to recognize an educator for turning a music program around. Cayer was also given a Music Education Service Award to mark his 30th year teaching.
“Taking our kids on different trips, playing music for different groups—all of that is very important for me to make sure they see the application of their talent,” Mayo said. “But to do that, they also have to be disciplined. Music education brings discipline to a person’s life. They have to be disciplined to put down the cell phone, shut off the television, and focus on their music. That is not easy for an adult to do. But to get our students to do that is kind of special. They are reading, they are synthesizing, they are learning all together. Especially when they bring in the different pieces of music they are interested to play, and challenged to play, it really brings in a historical perspective. “It’s not just providing them with music—there is a reason that music was written, and they always get that historical background in Dr. Cayer’s class….We don’t have to prod the students along—they are running to his class because they know there is something special there.”
Seventy students come from other areas like Polk County and Valrico for this something special. Marshall Middle Magnet School is becoming a destination of choice because of what the school offers in its band program—and other programs as well.
“I have had several parents tell me the reason they bring their students here, and the reason they stay here, is the band program is a major player in their decision,” Cayer said. Music education drives up test scores. It can be taught in a way that is highly academic. “That is something I preach from the mountaintops,” Cayer said. “We are learning math, inflection of voice, physical activity—when you engage the visual aspect, the auditory aspect, and the kinesthetics of playing an instrument, it builds bridges in the brain that cannot be built in any other way.”
“That artistic release and that ability to get lost in the art is a safe outlet for a middle school student going through a very difficult time in their development,” Mayo added.
The educators gave a shout out to Mayor-at-the-time, Rick Lott, current Mayor Nate Kilton, City Commissioner Mary Mathis, and Dr. Joshua Blair at Plant City High School. “There was a whole contingent of people that have really helped Marshall financially and in other ways that have helped us to be able to support Dr. Cayer, and other programs here at Marshall as well,” Mayo said.
When they needed band uniforms, Marshall Middle Magnet School also greatly benefitted from the work of Unity in the Community. Also, the Band Boosters have stepped up to support the work of the music program through things like transportation, grilling and selling hotdogs to raise funds, and helping with organization for performances by these 320 band members.
“It is really a highlight for be to me in a school where the community really champions our success,” Mayo commented.
