Welcome to Pine Tree High School, home of the mighty Pirates! My name is Cindy Gabehart and I absolutely love getting to be the principal of PTHS! We have the best teachers, students and staff members anywhere!  We work hard and care deeply about our students. 

I started my educational career in Richardson ISD as a math teacher, English teacher and tennis coach.  After living in the Dallas area for ten years, my family moved to Longview and I taught math at Pine Tree High School for nine years before becoming one of the assistant principals at PTHS.  After four years of being an assistant principal, I moved to Pine Tree Middle School as principal. I was the principal at Pine Tree Middle School for three years before returning to Pine Tree High School as the principal. I am beginning my thirteenth year here!

Our theme this year is “Givers and Dreamers.” We want our students to learn how exciting and fulfilling it is to be givers and care for the people around us.  We want our students to know they can reach their dreams!  PTHS has many opportunities for students to prepare for the future.  We ask that students do three simple things:

1.       Show Up

2.       Act Right

3.       Work Hard

Thank you for giving us the privilege of working with your son or daughter! We are excited for 2020-2021!

Mrs. Chandler is beginning her 15th year in education and her fourth year as an administrator at PTHS.  She is a second generation Pirate and extremely honored to be working in her alumni district.  Mrs. Chandler has worked in Mt. Pleasant, Sherman, Jacksonville, Marshall, and Longview ISD prior to returning to Pine Tree.  She has taught a variety of subjects including: Pre-AP W. Geography, AP World History, U.S. History, Sociology, AP and IB Psychology, IB Theory of Knowledge, and Dance. For nine of those years she served as a varsity drill team director.  Mrs. Chandler earned her Bachelor of Science in History from the University of Texas at Tyler in 2005 and her Master's in Education from the University of Texas at Tyler in 2015.  She and her husband have two children both of whom attend Pine Tree schools.  They enjoy spending family time together and home remodeling.  Mrs. Chandler hopes to continue the Tradition of Excellence that Pine Tree ISD has set for each and every student that walks the halls as a Proud Pirate.  Mrs. Chandler may be reached at [email protected] or 903-295-5031 ext. 1107.

Hello, I am Beeper Kraus and I have been a part of Pine Tree for most of my life. I am a graduate of Pine Tree class of 2000 and have 7 years of teaching Special Education and coaching basketball and golf here at home. I received my bachelor’s degree from Stephen F. Austin State University in Education and Kinesiology as well as receiving my Masters in Educational Instructional Leadership from Lamar University.  My wife teacher Kindergarten at Pine Tree and we have two children Kingston and Kourtlyn. We love spending time with the family and trying to keep up with the kids. I am more than excited to be a part of the High School I call home and in a position to make a difference in our school and community. I can be reach at [email protected] or  903-295-5031 ext. 1108.

Educating children has been my passion since the age of 18.  My love for working with children started with my participation of summer camp at the YMCA as a youth counselor and has grown from there into 25 years of service in public education.  My belief is every child can learn given the proper circumstances.  What is more important though, is what we are doing with the children that don’t learn.  My charge is to find the way for all students to succeed whatever that may look like for each individual.
     I moved to the United States when I was 5 years old from Europe.  In my 13 years of formal education I lived between Texas, New York, and Louisiana due to my father’s work in the petroleum industry and during holidays and summer breaks visited my family in Europe.  I was fortunate to be able to gain experiences from these regions of the globe.  I graduated from Mercy Academy in New Orleans, Louisiana and received my first degree from Brazosport College and continued on to The University of Houston where I received by Bachelor of Science and began my public school career in 1992.  I was a teacher in the general education setting for three years and developed a passion for helping students with special needs and learning disabilities.  In 1996 I returned back to school and earned by certification in Special Education and continued my career helping students in many different roles for the next 11 years.  During this time I served as a lead teacher for the Special Education department at several different grade levels K-8, a Content Mastery Center Coordinator and a Campus Special Education Coordinator.  I moved to East Texas in 2003 and with the encouragement of a past administrator returned to school again to obtain my master’s degree.  I graduated from The University of Texas at Tyler with a Master of Education in Educational Leadership in 2006 and continued my educational career in administration that year.  In the past 11 years I have served as a campus principal, and an assistant principal in grades PK-12, and a curriculum consultant.

I have taught for Pine Tree for 16 years and this is my third year as an administrator.  I began teaching in '01, and started out with only math classes.  I ended up adding an all level certification in art and taught art for several years before returning to the math classroom.  I taught math, art, and PE at ExCEL and served as their lead teacher.  It was at ExCEL that I was encouraged to get my masters degree and pursue an administrative position.  I am challenged everyday in my current position, but I absolutely love it more than I ever thought possible.  I look forward to another busy, but amazing school year.

My name is Stephen English I am in my 28th year of public education. I have a wife and two kids.  My wife is a math teacher here at Pine Tree and my daughter is a math teacher at Pine Tree Junior High.  My son works for Trane air conditioning and is a mechanical engineering student at the University of Texas at Tyler.   I have worked as a maintenance man, teacher, coach, assistant principal, principal and director. I began my career as a coach working in Hemphill, Hardin, Arp, and Anahuac.  I have worked in a leadership capacity in all but one of my years as an educator. I was a head baseball coach for 12 of the 13 years and was promoted to defensive coordinator in three different schools. My administrative career began in Anahuac as an assistant principal.  I was later named Junior High principal in Pittsburg and High School principal in Riesel and Bremond ISD. I now serve as the Director of Student Services at Pine Tree. I am proud of the progress our district has made in just one year and am excited about what the future will bring here at Pine Tree.  We are instilling lofty goals and expectations for our students and they are rising to meet them. It will not be easy but to quote Mr. Clugston “we aren’t selling easy we are selling special.”