HISD officials have announced the principals of the year for 2014, and two of those campus leaders will be representing HISD at the regional level of the contest.
One honoree was chosen from each campus level this year. They are:
- Hilarion Martinez (Marshall ES)
- Noelia Longoria (Ortíz MS)
- Melissa Jacobs (Houston Academy for International Studies)
Hilarion Martinez first joined HISD as a teaching assistant at Sutton ES in 1997. He has also served as a bilingual teacher at Ketelsen ES and the principal of Browning ES and Burbank ES. When the district absorbed the former North Forest ISD in 2013, Martinez became Marshall Elementary School’s first new principal under HISD.
Noelia Longoria, who was also named Principal of the Year in 2012, had her school selected to showcase the great things going on at HISD during last year’s Broad Prize committee visits. She was also one of the first principals to be chosen for the Lead Principals Initiative in 2013, which pairs highly effective principals with other campus leaders at similar schools to spread the district’s best practices more effectively.
Melissa Jacobs has been the principal of the Houston Academy of International Studies since that school first opened in 2006. Her campus is known both for the global focus of its specialized instruction and the outstanding opportunities it provides students for learning through travel.
The 2014 Principals of the Year were chosen through a new, data-driven process, which was employed to identify the district’s most effective principals. They will be formally recognized at the district’s annual Celebration of Excellence on May 1. Martinez and Longoria will also represent HISD at the Region IV Principal of the Year banquet later this spring.
Aaron Daitz never intended to stay at HISD for three decades. But after getting a call from HISD recruiters, the former math teacher accepted a job in the district’s Research Department in 1984. “They needed someone to manage six programmers who performed statistical analysis,” said Daitz, now a senior compliance analyst and the district’s PEIMS coordinator, “and I figured it would be a good stepping stone.”
Fast forward 30 years, and Daitz is still a member of Team HISD. And though he has held a number of different positions in that time, the common denominator in all of them has been numbers.
“I like working with data, statistics, and computers,” he said. “For me, it’s not stressful. I guess I’ve been around long enough that nothing really fazes me anymore.”
Daitz says his favorite part of the job is making sure that data is accurate, so schools can maximize the funding they receive from the state. “PEIMS is the district’s bread and butter,” he said, “because funding is based on data.”
Daitz officially marked his 30th anniversary with the district on April 16, but several other employees are also marking theirs this week (April 13–19). See if you know anyone on this list:
30 years
- Rosemary Fuentes, senior student information rep., Federal and State Compliance
20 years
- Berry Conley Jr, warehouser, Food Services
- Moreno Daniel, clerk, Operations Administration
- Kenetra Provo, clerk, Kashmere Gardens ES
15 years
- SanJuana Silva, teaching assistant, Field ES
10 years
- Nicolas Alvarado, customer service rep., Information Technology
- Philip Camp, teacher, Milby HS
- Monica Davalos, teacher, Berry ES
- Dolores Del Bosque, clerk, Dávila ES
- Eulogio Gonzalez, custodian, Construction & Facility Services
- Harris George, custodian, Construction & Facility Services
- Ramiro Magana, crossing guard, Burbank ES
- Renesiaha Marshall, instructional specialist, Foerster ES
- Antwon Mercier, plant operator, Construction & Facility Services
- Carolyn Newhouse, bus driver, Transportation Services
- Patrick O’Heron, teacher, Sharpstown Intl. School
- Molly Prescott, teaching assistant, T. H. Rogers MS
- Maria Tejada, custodian, Construction & Facility Services
- Evelyn Udoete, associate teacher
5 years
- Maria Altamirano, custodian, Construction & Facility Services
- Juan Figueroa, custodian, Construction & Facility Services
- Agueda Banda, non-instructional aide, Oates ES
- Darrell Bell, bus driver, Transportation Services
- Leslie Busby, team leader, Crossing Guards
- Joseph Carmouche, lecturer, MacGregor ES
- Maria Chavez, teacher, Helms ES
- Joe Christopher, teaching assistant, Pershing MS
- Sherry Mitchell, clerk, Furr HS
- Jacqueline Mouton, bus driver, Transportation Services
- Ronashy Ricks, attendant team leader, Food Services
- Jeffrey Shalin, teacher, Lamar HS
| Check back next Friday for more April Milestones. Leave a comment below if you’d like to congratulate any of the above employees. |
In this week’s I Am HISD, which features district students, graduates, employees, and other team members, Pin Oak Middle School Principal Susan Monaghan talks about what first brought her to Texas from Michigan, when she knew she wanted to lead a campus, and the secret to her success as an administrator.
You’ve been a member of Team HISD since 1983, when you were hired as a third-grade teacher at Lockhart Elementary School. Since then, you’ve also served as a counselor and an assistant principal at various schools. What made you decide to go into administration?
I grew up in Michigan, in a small town called Ludington. It only had a population of about eight or nine thousand people. But I had a really great assistant principal in high school there who I really connected with, and I remember thinking, “Someday, I want to do that.” He was quite an inspiration.
Oh! I didn’t know you were a Michigander. What brought you down here?
Actually, they were recruiting in the early 1980s, saying come on down, we’ve got jobs for you. And it was really hard to get jobs up there at the time, so a huge number of people ended up moving down here. One of the running jokes at the time was, “The last one out, turn off the lights.”
You were the principal at Lovett Elementary School for six years before coming to Pin Oak Middle School. What are some of the biggest differences between leading an elementary school and running a middle school?
Well, first of all, the size. Middle schools are so much bigger. I wasn’t used to having an assistant principal, and now I have four. And it’s also different in that there’s more of a shared responsibility with other administrators I’m working side by side with. Not that I handled everything administratively at Lovett, by any means, but I couldn’t delegate things like teacher evaluations to someone else.
The time commitment (at a middle school) is also much greater. The kids are older, so there are more activities in the evening and on the weekends. I don’t mind, because I consider it a part of my job, but it’s not at all unusual for me to work a 12-15-hour day.
Lovett is a fine arts magnet, while Pin Oak’s focus is on languages. Did that require any adjustments in thinking on your part to make the transition?
No. The only other change was learning about languages and trying to staff them. At Lovett, we had a whole budget devoted to that, but here, the budget is much smaller, so we had to get creative in trying to staff for five different languages. Our offerings need to align with the elementary school the students come from and the high school they’re going to, but we definitely focus on what’s most popular. Hebrew is just impossible, because the parents want it, but the kids don’t want to take it. They prefer to receive their Hebrew instruction outside of school.
Still, we have an amazing, amazing staff of language teachers now, so I hope we don’t have any changes for a long, long time. They are all so experienced, and it took a long time to get the balance just perfect.
You’ve been an administrator for about 15 years now, earning regular promotions along the way. To what do you attribute your success?
I’ve just had a really great team of people supporting me: Anastasia Lindo, Julia Dimmitt, Ann Sledge, Anvi Utter. All of those people were so accommodating, and there just wasn’t a dumb question I could ask. I think our middle school principals are such a collaborative group. It’s not like, “Well, I’m just going to do this thing on my campus and not tell anyone else about it.” This job is difficult enough, and it’s really important that we all lean on each other and help each other out.
I understand you’ve been tutoring eighth-grade students at Forest Brook Middle School in reading on Saturdays. What made you volunteer and why is doing so important to you?
Dr. Rick Fernandez actually sent out an email to me and Kim Heckman at Pershing, asking if we had any teachers who might be interested in helping. I felt bad he didn’t have many takers, so I told him I was happy to help out, but that I would much rather do reading and math.
It was a great experience. Even though it was on a Saturday morning, the kids were so receptive to doing the work, and they had the coolest group of teachers. They did a great job of making it interesting for the kids. They did short fun things, and kept it exciting, like, “Who’s going to be the first one to read this passage and answer this question?” I so hope the kids’ scores come back proving they worked hard, because they really did.
| If you know a graduate, student, employee, or other member of Team HISD who should be featured here, please email us at info@houstonisd.org. |
Since HISD first launched its partnership with Doug Lemov a few years ago, educators in middle schools across the district have been implementing the strategies described in his book, Teach Like a Champion, with great results.
One of the most popular techniques is called “threshold,” in which teachers greet each student with a smile, direct eye contact, and a handshake upon their entrance to the classroom.
But sometimes, kids just aren’t in the mood to be sociable, so here’s how one teacher handled it:
“There was a certain scholar who had been in a funk the whole day,” explained Mical Roy, a seventh-grade reading teacher at Edison Middle School. “And when it came to the young agitated scholar’s turn to give me a high five, he said, ‘Man, I don’t feel like doing this (expletive)!’ I asked him kindly to consider having a different outlook on his day, and to re-think his actions. He proceeded, giving me a high five, and marched into class. Now, things could’ve gone much worse, either in the way I responded or in the choice he made after I encouraged him to think positively. But I received much praise for the way I handled it, and it truly proved to me that perception is everything.”
| Had a breakthrough in your classroom? Tell us about it! Just send an email to info@houstonisd.org briefly describing your situation, and we could feature it here. |
This week’s Shout Out goes to Martha Cortes, a plant operator at Hartman Middle School, from Abel Villagomez, an associate teacher there.
“Hartman has never looked as good as it does now,” explained Villagomez. “I truly believe that if Ms. Cortes was taken from Hartman…the school would go on, but it would not be in the tip-top condition it is now.”
Villagomez also praised Ms. Cortes for her cheerful demeanor. “She meets and greets people with a smile even on a bad day,” he said. “She can make a bad day into a pleasure just with small talk.”
| Know someone who deserves a shout out? Send an email to info@houstonisd.org with the subject line “Shout Out for eNews!” and tell us why. |
If you are a campus-based member of Team HISD who participates, sponsors, and/or coaches any UIL-sanctioned or co-curricular activities, then the State of Texas requires you to be certified in the administration of Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation, Automated External Defibrillator, and First Aid (CPR/AED/FA).
Stipend payments are dependent upon this certification, so if you need the training, please sign up now for the session being offered from noon until 4 p.m. on April 22, to ensure that the district is in compliance with this legal requirement.
For details, please login to the employee portal, click on eTRAIN, and search for course code AL3100.
Register for online food allergy training by April 19
Teachers, nurses, and other campus-based staff who need training on food-based allergies can complete their certification online between April 21 and May 9 by signing up for course code HM2046, session 0032 in eTRAIN.
Participants will learn about the definition of a food allergy, food allergy reactions and anaphylaxis, common foods that can cause allergic reactions, how to recognize the signs of an allergic reaction, the correct action to take if an allergic reaction is suspected, epinephrine use, and suggested emergency procedures.
This course satisfies state mandated regulations related to Food Allergy awareness.
Registration for this course closes on April 19.
Since HISD’s Office of Communications first launched its current version of Friday eNews in October of 2012, “I Am HISD” has proven to be one of its most popular features.
These weekly profiles highlight students, alumni, employees, and other team members who could be perceived as the “face” of HISD, and of the more than five dozen stories that have appeared in this section since its inception, some of the most-read entries have been about families of educators.
Whether it was the “Crooks of HISD” (brothers Clayton and Dameion Crook, who serve as principals at two different schools) in the July 12, 2013, edition; the LaPadulas in the Jan. 24, 2014, edition; or the Vaughns in the June 14, 2013, edition, people love hearing about combinations of families who work in HISD.
We’ve already received a few suggestions for other families to feature, but we’re always eager to hear about more. So if you know of two or more members of Team HISD who are related, please send us an email at info@houstonisd.org and tell us about them. Be sure to include any interesting trivia you might know about them, such as unusual hobbies, unpublicized accomplishments, or other details. They may be featured in an upcoming edition of Friday eNews!
Giving one’s body adequate rest is critical to functioning well in our day-to-day lives.
That’s why the Onboarding and Organizational Development Department is offering a new professional development session to help employees understand the basics of sleep so that they can understand how its quality affects their health, productivity, and emotional well-being.
“Sleep: Understanding the Basics” will take place from 9 a.m. until noon on Wednesday, April 16, 2014, in room 3C12 of the Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center (4400 W. 18th St., 77092), and participants will learn about:
- the components of good sleep habits
- treatments for sleep disorders.
Interested employees should register on eTRAIN using course code #BN0038.
Make an impact by making NO impact: Go green April 19-27
Could you go a full week without making an environmental impact on planet earth? How hard would it be to live and work without wasting precious resources? Could you live without creating any trash or using any electricity? Could you save money? Be healthier?
Space Center Houston is partnering with The No Impact Project for its first annual Earth Day Celebration and is planning a No Impact Week Challenge for individuals, schools, families and aerospace companies April 20–27 register here.
Want to grow as a professional? Join Toastmasters!
If you’ve been trying to think of a way to advance in your career, look no further. HISD has a new Toastmasters club that can help you develop the skills you need.
Toastmasters is a nonprofit organization that teaches public speaking and leadership skills through a worldwide network of clubs. Members learn more about public speaking, how to conduct a meeting, how to listen effectively, and how to provide constructive feedback. HISD’s Toastmasters club currently has 30 members and is accepting applications. It received its official charter on Jan. 9.
To see if Toastmasters is right for you, come sit in on one of the monthly meetings. Meetings take place on the second and fourth Thursdays of every month from 5:05 p.m. until 6:30 p.m.at the Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center (4400 W. 18th St., 77092), in either the cafeteria or Room 1E02.
All new members will receive a manual and resources about how to become a better speaker and more confident leader.
For more information, please contact Kim Golden or Theresa Campos at 713-696-0600 or kgolden@houstonisd.org and tcampos@houstonisd.org.
Apply to Fallingwater residency by April 30
Educators who long to explore the world of legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright can do so this summer at his masterwork in Mill Run, Pennsylvania through a residency at Fallingwater.
The deadline to apply to this program is Wednesday, April 30, 2014. For complete details, click here.
Get LinkedIn! Join the HISD Employee Group for Discussion, Updates
The Houston ISD LinkedIn group is a virtual meeting place where district employees can connect, collaborate, and share information and ideas. If you have a LinkedIn profile, please take a moment to join the group—just select “group” in the drop-down search menu and enter “Houston ISD,” then click “join group.” If you don’t have a LinkedIn profile, go to www.linkedin.com and create one. Please be sure to list your employer as Houston ISD.
A dozen educators from an equal number of campuses across HISD have been named finalists for the district’s annual Teacher of the Year awards.
One finalist will claim that title at the elementary level and another will win the prize at the secondary level.
Here are the finalists for the 2013–2014 school year:
Elementary level
- John Augustine (Sinclair ES)
- Stephanie Blow (Fonwood ES)
- Alma Guerra (Bruce ES)
- Katy Rodgers (Parker ES)
- Rebecca Stewart (Benavídez ES)
- Rashmi Vashistha (Golfcrest ES)
Secondary level
- Angela Arterburn (Revere MS)
- Dominique Brown (Austin HS)
- Lynn McGowan (Forest Brook MS)
- Diane Morrow (Davis HS)
- Samuel Saenz (East Early College HS)
- Matthew Sawyer (Black MS)
The winners will be announced at the district’s annual Celebration of Excellence on Thursday, May 1.
