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September, 2007
I've had the privilege of being the Principal at
Carmel Valley Middle School for three years now and I'm as excited this
year as any in the past. I've spent my entire
18 year career in the San Dieguito Union
High School District as a teacher and site administrator and I
feel very fortunate to work at Carmel Valley Middle
School – we
have great kids, very supportive parents, and one of the best staffs
with which I’ve ever been associated.
I'm a native San Diegan who grew up just
south of Carmel Valley in the University
City and Mission Beach areas. I earned my B.A. in English from CSU,
Chico and then returned to San Diego for graduate school in pursuit
of my teaching credential at the University of San Diego. After
completing my credential, I was lucky enough to be hired at San
Dieguito HS where I taught English and Speech & Debate classes and
coached the Speech & Debate team for six years. During this time I
also completed my Master's degree in Educational Leadership at the
University of San Diego. In 1996 I moved to La Costa Canyon HS when
it opened as a new school in our district and continued to teach
English and Speech & Debate and coach the Speech & Debate team.
After nine years of teaching, I decided to continue my career as a
site administrator and was hired as Asst. Principal at Oak Crest MS
in Encinitas and after three years in that role, I moved to Carmel
Valley MS as Asst. Principal. After learning a great deal from my
predecessor, Mary Bess Holloway, I was lucky enough to be selected
as Principal here at CVMS. For the last five years I've also been in
pursuit of my Doctoral degree in Educational Leadership in a joint
program at UCLA and UC Irvine and will defend my dissertation this
spring (finally!).
My greatest
priority as a principal is to ensure that every student has the
opportunity to learn from teachers who hold high expectations,
who provide students with plentiful support for their learning,
and who also love to be around kids. As such, I spend a good deal of my time
in classrooms getting to know students and observing our teachers and students
as they engage in the process of learning. Spending time in classrooms
allows me to gain valuable information about how our students are
performing, which then helps to guide our school improvement efforts.
Middle school marks the age when students begin to assert their desire
for independence from parents. While this is a very appropriate and
normal stage of adolescent development, I encourage parents to stay
actively involved in the education of their children throughout the
middle school years and beyond. One of the best things you can do to
support your students is to make sure they attend school regularly -
school attendance is one of the strongest and most easily influenced
correlates to academic success. I also encourage parents to communicate
frequently with teachers regarding the progress of your students - our
teachers typically have close to 170 students on their caseload and are
unable to contact parents as frequently as elementary teachers, so it's a
good idea for parents to contact teachers twice a month to make sure all
is well. Support your students at home with daily structured time for
homework, organizational help, and by helping them
organize and prioritize
schoolwork.
I appreciate any feedback, positive or negative, that parents can
provide regarding our school as I believe that unless we are
constantly trying to improve as an organization, we, as educators,
are not doing our jobs. Please feel free to contact me if you have
comments, questions, or concerns. Thank you for entrusting us with
your children!
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