Gaither High, 16200 N. Dale Mabry Highway: grades 9 to 12, 1,997 students in 2026-27, a B in Florida's 2026 grades.

Last checked Oct. 11, 2026. Sources: the school’s website, Hillsborough County Public Schools’ 2026-27 school zones, 40th-day enrollment count, the Florida Department of Education’s 2026 school grades file, the federal NCES school directory and the FHSAA’s 2026-27 football assignments.

Gaither High is the Hillsborough County Public Schools high school for grades 9 to 12 at 16200 N. Dale Mabry Highway. The campus has a Tampa mailing address but sits outside the city limits in unincorporated northwest Hillsborough County, on North Dale Mabry Highway.

Gaither opened Aug. 27, 1984, in northwest Hillsborough County and is named for Vivian Gaither, a longtime county educator, according to the school’s history page.

Who to call
Address 16200 N. Dale Mabry Highway, Tampa, FL 33618
Phone 813-975-7340
Grades 9 to 12
District Hillsborough County Public Schools
State school number 29-1551

Principal

Principal Jeremy Klein, according to the school’s staff directory.

Enrollment and teachers

  • District count: 1,997 students on the district’s 40th-day enrollment count for 2026-27, as of Oct. 5, 2026. The same sheet gives the campus a capacity of 2,237 students, so it is 89% full by the district’s measure.
  • Federal count: 2,040 students in the 2024-25 school year, with 85 full-time-equivalent classroom teachers, according to the NCES directory. That is about 24 students per teacher.

State report card

Florida grades every public school A to F on the share of possible points it earns on the measures in the state’s 2026 school grades file: test scores, learning gains and, for middle and high schools, acceleration and graduation. The file sets an A for high and combination schools at 65% or more.

School year Grade
2025-26 B (64% of possible points)
2024-25 A
2023-24 B

From the same file, the share of students scoring on grade level on the state tests in 2025-26:

  • English language arts: 58%
  • Math: 58%
  • Science: 75%
  • Social studies: 84%

The file gives a graduation rate of 94% for 2024-25, and 72% on college and career acceleration (students earning credit through programs such as AP, IB, AICE, dual enrollment or industry certifications).

It lists 64.3% of the school’s students as economically disadvantaged.

The full report card is on the state’s Florida school report cards site. It is an interactive dashboard; the figures above come from the downloadable file.

Attendance zone and feeder schools

Check any address with the district’s Find Your Neighborhood School lookup, or see the district’s 2026-27 high school zone map. Zones do not follow city limits.

Of Tampa’s 212,263 address points in the City of Tampa’s address layer, 36 (0.0%) fall inside Gaither High’s 2026-27 zone. An address point can be a house, an apartment or a business.

Comparing the district’s 2026-27 zone maps with 2020 Census population (shares are of the zone’s residents):

  • Middle school zones inside this zone: Hill Middle (53%), Buchanan Middle (38%), Carrollwood Elementary (6%) and Martinez Middle (3%).
  • Elementary zones inside this zone: Claywell Elementary (28%), Essrig Elementary (25%), Lake Magdalene Elementary (16%), Maniscalco K-8 (13%), Miles Elementary (9%) and Carrollwood Elementary (6%).

Sports and activities

For football in 2026-27, Gaither High plays in Class 5A, Region 2, District 8 with East Lake (Tarpon Springs), Largo, Mitchell (New Port Richey) and Sickles, according to the FHSAA’s assignments.

The school’s athletics page lists football, volleyball, swimming, cross country, golf, wrestling, lacrosse, soccer, basketball, softball, baseball, track and field, tennis and flag football.

Scores and schedules: our Friday night football page and the scoreboard.

Calendar and bell times

Classes run 8:30 a.m. to 3:32 p.m., according to the school’s About page. Students are released early every Monday, according to the district’s calendar.

From the district’s 2026-27 student calendar:

  • Monday, Oct. 12: no school for students
  • Wednesday, Nov. 11: Veterans Day, no school
  • Nov. 23-27: fall break (Thanksgiving week)
  • Dec. 21 to Jan. 1, 2027: winter break; Monday, Jan. 4 is also off, and students return Tuesday, Jan. 5
  • Monday, Jan. 18, 2027: Martin Luther King Jr. Day, no school
  • Friday, Feb. 12, 2027: Florida State Fair day, no school
  • Monday, Feb. 15, 2027: Presidents Day, no school
  • March 22-26, 2027: spring break; Monday, March 29 is also off, and students return Tuesday, March 30
  • Friday, May 28, 2027: last day of school, a 2.5-hour early release

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Frequently asked questions

What grades does Gaither High serve?

Grades 9 to 12. It is a Hillsborough County Public Schools high school at 16200 N. Dale Mabry Highway in Tampa.

What is Gaither High’s school grade?

Gaither High earned a B in Florida’s 2026 school grades, with 64% of possible points. It earned an A in 2025.

What time does Gaither High start?

Classes run 8:30 a.m. to 3:32 p.m., according to the school’s website. Students are released early every Monday, according to the district’s calendar.