Good afternoon families,
I was out in California celebrating my daughter’s graduation last Friday and delayed the newsletter. There is considerable news to share with you as we close out the school year.
Ms. Rottman will be leaving Shepherd at the close of this school year. In July, she will start her next chapter at Takoma Park where they are in dire need of a school leader with math expertise. She will be the community’s new assistant principal. After working with her for two years, I can say that we all need a little Ms. Rottman in our lives. She is organized, committed, kind, diligent and conscientious. She has been a tremendous partner to me since I arrived at Shepherd, schooling me in the DCPS way from the start. Her attention to detail has made school operations and the logistics of virtual and in person learning run so smoothly. Ms. Rottman cares deeply about the children, the work and our community. She is as sad to leave as we are to see her go. Please join us in wishing her well at arrival, dismissal or one of our moving up ceremonies. We will miss her.
The personnel committee is comprised of Ms. Hunter, Ms. Lewal, Dr. Leonard, Ms. McIntyre and Ms. Montgomery, and we have spent many hours over the last few weeks ensuring we are fully staffed before we close out SY20-21. Thank you so much for your service, team.
Last week, we interviewed two candidates for the Assistant Principal role, and the committee unanimously chose Keiron Phillips as the next Assistant Principal for Shepherd. Mr. Phillips has been in DCPS for the last two years serving as an assistant principal and instructional coach for mathematics. Prior to that, he served as an elementary school principal at a charter school in Hempstead, Long Island. He will be on campus Friday, June 18th for our moving up ceremonies that will take place that day. I hope you have a chance to offer him a warm welcome.
Ms. Freeman, our outstanding instructional coach for mathematics and 504 Coordinator, is moving to Barnard Elementary to continue in that role. Ms. Romero, our fourth grade math teacher, will serve as our new TLI for Mathematics. Ms. Romero will spend half of her time working with our students who are most in need of support and the other half coaching teachers and leading LEAP. Ms. Brenda Brown who has also served as an instructional coach for math will teach 4th grade math. Ms. Blake will serve as our 504 coordinator.
Ms. Jamie Weng will serve as our TLI for English Language Arts. Ms. Weng currently has the same role at the Lowell School where she has worked for the last five years as the primary years reading specialist and literacy instructional coach. Prior to working at Lowell, Ms. Weng served as a teacher and reading resource teacher for DCPS.
Please stay tuned for more updates on SY21-22 next week. I will be able to share our student achievement next week. If you have not already enrolled your student(s), please do so as soon as possible. If you cannot enroll online for any reason, feel free to call the school to schedule an appointment with Ms. Brooks. Thank you for all your support this year.
Star Achievers returns for SY21-22
We are excited to announce that Star Achievers, our before- and after-school program, will resume operations at the start of the new school year. Registration starts June 16th at: sesstarachievers.com.