New Administrator’s Goal to ‘Set Up Teachers for Success’

Editor's Note: The following is a release from the Valley View School District.

Elizabeth Martinez calls herself “a big picture thinker.”

That’s why she became a school administrator 11 years ago and that’s also why she left her position as principal of Beebe Elementary School in Naperville to become the new director of professional development for Valley View School District 365U.

“I loved being a principal. I loved working with the teachers and the kids and the community,” Martinez said. “But I’m a system thinker. I felt I could help more at the district level.

“Professional Development has become one of the most important aspects of education,” she added. “If we can set up teachers for success and set up administrators for success so they all know how to support kids, that’s when effective learning takes place.”

A graduate of Eastern Illinois University (Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education) and University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (Master’s Degree in Administration and Mid-Management) in Texas, Martinez credits a bad teacher when she was in third grade in Oak Park for triggering her desire to become a teacher herself.

“I decided right then and there I was going to be a teacher and I was going to be an inspiring teacher who doesn’t let kids fail,” she recalls. “That framed my philosophy that teachers need to take responsibility for the learning that’s occurring instead of blaming the child.”

Martinez, whose husband is a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army, taught everything from pre-kindergarten and kindergarten to 1^st, 4^th and 5^th grades and PE and gifted education in school systems in California, Georgia and Texas before moving to Virginia where she served as principal of a private school for several years. Following that she became an assistant principal, principal and ultimately director of student learning and professional development in the well-regarded 73,000 student Prince William County, Va. 88-school system.

“They were pretty cutting edge at that time,” Martinez said. “A lot of the things is talking about, I have experience with in Prince William.”

When her husband retired, the Martinez family moved back to the Chicago area and Martinez’s strong background helped her find a position as Principal of Beebe Elementary School in Naperville Community Unit School District 203. But all along she knew she wanted a district-level position in a diverse community that prepared students for a globalized society.

“It’s an exciting time to come into Valley View,” she said. “I’ve already begun tapping into the people who have been here so I can learn what’s been effective, what is valued and what we need to do.

“Professional development is more than just going to a workshop for a day,” Martinez added. “We will have a purposeful, meaningful and strategic plan for job-embedded professional development. We want our community to take comfort in the fact that we are making a conscious effort to give our teachers, support staff and administrators everything they need to support students and increase achievement.”