School Leaders Share Ideas, Collaborate For Better Learning

Good educators never stop learning. They also never stop teaching.

Last Friday, Paramus elementary and middle school principals were joined by fellow area principals to take part in Literacy Leaders' Network workshop, which Paramus' own Stony Lane School Principal Thomas Marshall started about two years ago.

The group of K to 8 principals meets several times a year to collaborate and share ideas with the goal of being what they call "teaching principals" making themselves better leaders by being able to teach their teachers for the benefit of increasing student literacy.

Marshall, who has a background in staff development, leads this group which is made up of about 55 principals from all over parts of Bergen County and some from other county school districts as well such as Essex. Marshall says they host workshops about  5 or 6 times a year.

Last Friday brought about 28 principals to the workshop which Memorial School hosted. The group members work together studying how to be instructional leaders, focusing on literacy and today's common core standards and they take what they learn and implement it in their own school buildings, explained Laverne O'Boyle, Memorial School principal.

One of the components of Friday's workshop included a visit to Katilin Moran's third grade class where Marshall conducted Reading Workshop with the students, an effective tool the schools have been using to help students expand their reading and writing skills. The principals then broke into teams of two to work individually with the students in the classroom.

Mahwah's Joyce Kilmer School principal Mike Deturo attended with his colleague Kevin Ulmer, principal of George Washington School in Mahwah. Deturo calls it a "strong support system" working with other administrators in Bergen County. They are able to share ideas which they they can implement into programs that benefit the students, he says.

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