New Interim Acting Principal for PS 20
/I just got word that a new interim acting principal has been assigned to PS 20 and by all accounts she is AMAZING. Lena Barbera has been an AP at the lovely PS 261. She had been at 261 since 1996 as a teacher and Math Coach. It sounds like the teachers working with her will have a lot of support because she worked at 261 implementing new curriculum and modeling instructional practices for new teachers. She has been an AP for 5 years. She is a graduate of of Hunter College and Brooklyn College.
For a little more information and a lovely picture (so you can say hi when you see her on the street) you can check out her bio on the PS 261 website
Update: A few people have written to ask what "interim acting" means. "Before a principal or assistant principal is permanently appointed, the DoE often appoints an Interim Acting (IA) principal or assistant principal." this is from the blog jd2718 which explains the appointment process from a UFT teacher's point of view. The interim acting principal goes through the C30 hiring process to be permanently appointed to a school. I was on a C30 committee as a parent a few years ago. A committee is collected of "parent, teacher, school staff, administrator union, and Department of Education (through Region, District etc) personnel." The job is advertised and candidates including the "interim acting principal" are interviewed and their qualifications reviewed. In my situation there was never any doubt that we wanted the interim acting principal to have the job as the best possible candidate. The jd2718 describes it as merely a rubber stamp process. I can't speak to that. I do hope that a new candidate from a strong and well respected program who has considerable skills and experience can bring the school community together.
