Principals Honored for Superlative Support
Twenty-one school leaders were honored during the 2011 Recruitment Excellence Awards, the third such year the Office of Teacher Recruitment and Quality (TRQ) has offered these awards.
TRQ asked newly hired teachers to nominate Principals who had provided them with superlative support during their first year in a new assignment. (Many who responded were first-year teachers.)
The Department of Education received more than 200 nominations and selected 21 school leaders to receive the award on May 17 at Brooklyn Borough Hall.
The recipients were Jane Aronoff, David Bowell, Reinaldo Diaz-Lens, Joeletha Ferguson, Ilene Goldstein-Harnett, Constance Hahn, Greta Hawkins, Jameela Horton-Ball, Marlon Hosang, Damon McCord and Patrick Finley (Assistant Principal), Laura Mitchell, Doreen Murphy, Carmen Parache, Anthony Pisacano, Jennifer Rehn-Losquardo, Fortunato Rubino, Kelly Shannon, Timothy Sullivan, Crystal Taylor-Brown and Christine Walsh.
During the ceremony, teachers and school leaders heaped praise upon each other in a surprisingly emotional display. Teachers read aloud from the essays they had submitted to support their nominations. Words such as dedicated, supportive, helpful were commonly employed. In response, upon accepting their awards, Principals spoke glowingly about the teachers, speaking about their determination, natural ability and devotion to children.
