Burlington High School Principal Finalists Announced

From the Burlington School District:

The Burlington High School Principal Hiring Committee has announced three finalists for the BHS principalship. The candidates are Steve Berbeco, who most recently served as Deputy Commissioner for the Child Development Division of Vermont’s Department for Children and Familie; Gregory Kirkland, an assistant principal at Clayton County Public Schools; and Lauren McBride, the current interim principal at Burlington High School.

All candidates will participate in a virtual Community and Staff Forum on April 15, from 6 to 7:30 PM. Stakeholders will have the chance to hear candidates answer questions about their qualifications and their hopes for the future of education and BHS. The forum will be live via Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/94271708131 and will also be streamed to the District’s YouTube channel.

Meet the Candidates

Steve Berbeco

Steven Berbeco is an experienced leader in education, successful in innovating systems-level change for diverse, multicultural populations at the district, state, tribal, federal, and international levels. Most recently, as Deputy Commissioner for the Child Development Division of Vermont’s Department for Children and Families, Steven achieved significant stability in the child care market by developing nationally-recognized child care grant programs, and promoted equity access to education by collaborating with and providing technical assistance to superintendents on supporting children during schools’ remote learning days. As superintendent for a geographically isolated junior high/high school on a Native American reservation, located on an 880-acre campus, Steven increased the graduation rate, improved students’ college and career readiness, and reduced instances of youth self-harm and pregnancy. He amplified students’ voices by establishing a student representative to the school board, meeting with student government monthly, and initiating culturally-based talking circle restorative practices that resulted in a reduction of out-of-school disciplinary consequences. His community engagement strategy generated meaningful input on racial equity, which resulted in the placement of linguistically and culturally appropriate art and supportive posters throughout the schools. Steven supported student learning outcomes by adopting a research-based literacy program, expanding a college-credit distance learning program, and working with nutritional services to provide after-school snacks for students in the tutoring program. Steven has taught high school history, A.P. Art History, A.P. Government, and Arabic, and directed programs including the Arabic Summer Academy for high school students in Boston and a program at Harvard University for aspiring Arabic teachers. He authored and published Marhaba!, a widely-used curriculum for high school Arabic. Steven has held several federal education positions, including Department Chair, Curriculum Specialist, and Senior Advisor on Language Teaching for the U.S. Department of State, and Dean for the U.S. Department of Defense’s language teaching institute. He has also worked closely with teachers as a Director of Program Evaluation for the Global Language Network, Instructional Coach for the American Councils for International Education, and as a mentor teacher. Steven established a virtual service-learning exchange between Native American students and students from Mali, and as a teacher he co-chaperoned an annual trip to Europe and a trip to Qatar. Steven was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He has an M.A. in Theoretical Linguistics from Indiana University, Bloomington, an A.M. in Historical Linguistics from Harvard University, an M.A.T. in English Education and an Ed.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from Boston University, and a graduate certificate in school law from the University of Connecticut School of Law. He graduated with high honors from Wesleyan University. His publications include articles and books on theoretical and practical curricular studies, teacher training, education policy, and linguistics, as well as learning games and op-ed pieces. Steven has been interviewed by Vermont Edition and other print, radio, and television media. Steven serves on several boards for his local community, volunteers at the Association of Africans Living in Vermont, and he is proficient in several languages. Steven lives in Winooski with his wife, children, and a handful of chickens.

Answers to provided essay questions:

A.) Tell us about your unique background, characteristics, experiences, and talents and how they might support the District’s core value of diversity.

B.) Describe your greatest passions as an educator and how we would see them in the classroom. Students benefit from diversity in their education in many ways and by many means: when an educational institution offers a wide range of courses that draw on otherwise uncommon or unknown themes and sources; when a student engages actively with peers who come from different backgrounds and have dissimilar worldviews; and when a student has an opportunity to explore the world’s many cultures, peoples, languages, and places through various media and first-hand experiences. The most important educational benefit of diversity, and its active component inclusion, is to support students in the development of a self-awareness of how their own world view depends so much on the constellation of internal and external factors that make them who they are. A goal of diversity and inclusion,then, is to cultivate a generation of students who approach others’ views with curiosity and respect instead of suspicion and condescension. When students are able to hold multiple perspectives in their minds at once,they become better able to experience the network of our world as many people facing similar challenges, and not a place of veiled threats and us-versus-them. In my professional life as a teacher, I have focused my efforts on creating benefits for my students on three levels: the students’ relationship to the materials we are studying, my classroom practices, and my choices around the material that is available to the students.

C) Identify a significant issue facing educators within the next few years. Describe the values, skills, knowledge that you bring to the role that would be advantageous to the successful management of this issue and demonstrates that you are ready for this role. Provide evidence that you have used these skills in working through a current/recent issue. I have learned a great deal about diversity, equity, and inclusion through working on a Native American reservation and with East Asian populations including Japanese and Korean nationals, through training Arabic teachers from several countries in the Middle East and teaching mixed-age classes in a refugee camp, and as a high school Arabic teacher in an urban area. I came to understand the importance of the diversity of my classroom when I was teaching Arabic in a program that included Arabs and non-Arabs, Muslims and non-Muslims, and heritage speakers and students with no previous experience with the language. As a non-Arab and non-Muslim, I began to address the “elephant in the room” directly. I developed the structure of my Arabic classes around a central idea that students should own their learning and personalize it as much as possible. This contributes to the positive classroom learning environment and student success in approaching a language and culture from many angles. As a classroom teacher I made use of pedagogical techniques that encourage all students to contribute to class discussions and learning. I relied on a variety of practices that allow for individual reflection and work, and I also prompted pair and small group work. When discussing politically sensitive topics, I asked “What is an argument in favor of…” instead of “What do you think about…”, to make room for diverse opinions without forming opposing camps. My classroom materials for Arabic represented a broad scope of voices from across the Arabic-speaking world, both present-day and historical. It is my aim as a teacher and an administrator that students understand that the multiculturalism of America is not so different from the multiculturalism of diverse areas of the world like the Middle East and North Africa. I feel that it is important for students to hear many of the active conversations as portrayed in movies, music, short stories, newspaper cartoons, and other media, so that they have a more nuanced understanding of what it means to speak different languages in the world today.

Lauren McBride

My name is Lauren McBride and I am in my third year as an administrator here at Burlington High School. This year marks my 12th year in education. I have taught in elementary school, served as a consultant where I developed units of study and have coached educators on instructional pedagogy. I served as the Interim Director of the Literacy and Humanities for the Massachusetts Department of Elementary Education, supporting school improvement efforts across the Greater Boston area. I have experience cultivating school based leadership teams, using data to drive decision making and promoting creativity to provide authentic and meaningful learning experiences for students.

I started as the Assistant Principal at Burlington High School in 2018. In the subsequent years I have expanded my skill set to include working with high school aged students and their educators. Being an assistant principal is often considered synonymous with discipline and behavior management. While these were certainly components of my job, I have worked closely with our Lead Teachers, larger student support team (including case managers, counselors and student support), and faculty and staff to understand student needs and increase student engagement. Ensuring all students have access to a welcoming environment in which they can thrive is more than a desire to me – I believe it is a fundamental right that I am strongly committed to. All students thrive in an equitable and engaging learning environment – a belief I carry into the principal role and operationalize daily with my staff, coworkers, colleagues, and others in the district.

2020 was a challenging year for everyone in education, and it certainly taught me more about being an administrator than I could have imagined. From the sudden state-wide shut down in March 2020, to our school building being closed indefinitely due to PCB’s, to stepping into the role of Interim Principal, to designing and re-opening a new school in an abandoned Macy’s department store, I have been challenged to be flexible, to think strategically, to collaborate creatively with others and to maintain a positive, can do attitude. These past few months I’ve served as the Interim Principal of BHS have been some of the most joyful, challenging, and rewarding days I’ve had as an educator. I am grateful for the opportunity to steady the ship through the squalls of the past year and to work on rebuilding a bright and steady future for BHS – for its students, families and staff.

When I’m not at work, I savor my time with my partner, our two children and our dog Mason. I enjoy cooking and am always trying new recipes – luckily, my family is adventurous when it comes to experiencing new foods! I also enjoy playing sports and like to stay active – I grew up playing field hockey, lacrosse and ice hockey and still love to get out there when I can.

Answers to provided essay questions:

A.) Tell us about your unique background, characteristics, experiences, and talents and how they might support the District’s core value of diversity.

B.) Describe your greatest passions as an educator and how we would see them in the classroom.I am a proud member of the LGBTQ community. I believe that my experience as a queer person provides me with experience of what youths and families are exposed to not only internally but also from the community. Additionally, as a parent to two children growing up in a two mom household, I am constantly thinking about their experience and what other families may say about the makeup of our family. Additionally, I have taught in a number of diverse communities throughout the country, ranging from Central Falls, Rhode Island (my school was 90% FRL and 80% of students spoke a language other than English as a primary language), to Phoenix. I have spent all of my teaching career advocating for students whose experience greatly differs from the institution and foundation of education. I believe that these experiences provide me a unique experience of getting to know and understand my community and analyzing curriculum and school community through an equity lens (thinking about texts, diverse characters, content of math problems, etc.). I believe that my experience as an educator and as a member of the LGBTQ community provides me with a unique lens of how to think about the umbrella that encompasses equity. These experiences have influenced my leadership to think and engage in conversations that include race, culture,experience, sexuality, socio-economic status, ableism, etc. As a leader I have utilized my experience to broaden conversations about equity to be inclusive of many of these categories. As an educator, my greatest passions including the building of community through the creation of a vibrant classroom. I believe that educators are facilitators of knowledge and successful classrooms are filled with discourse, project based learning, choice and student voice. I love visiting classrooms where students are active members engaged in constructing their knowledge.

C)Identify a significant issue facing educators within the next few years. Describe the values, skills, knowledge thatyou bring to the role that would be advantageous to the successful management of this issue and demonstrates that you are ready for this role. Provide evidence that you have used these skills in working through a current/recent issue. Educators need to expand their knowledge of project based learning and being a facilitator of knowledge rather than expert of content. At the high school level educators are expert in their content, however they at times are not equipped with the pedagogy and instructional methods that allow them to break free of more of the stand and deliver model. High School educators need to explore instructional strategies and techniques that support them letting go of some of the control and transitions them towards providing students with more opportunities to engage indig into content collaboratively allowing them to construct knowledge. Additionally, educators at the high school level need support and training in cross curricular content (i.e., the science teacher needs support to expand on their ability to be an teacher of writing). We can no longer teach in silos, as it is not how the world operates. Instead we need to transition to break outside of our content to embrace and make connections which provides deeper learning and meaning for students.

Gregory B. Kirkland, Ed.D.

Gregory B. Kirkland, Ed.D., (Greg) is the son of a high school teacher and football coach. He grew up near Daytona Beach, FL, where he excelled in academics and sports. After graduating from high school, he earned his Bachelor of Science in Health and Physical Education from Valdosta State University in Valdosta, GA.

Greg taught Health and Physical Education and coached football, basketball, and baseball in Colorado, Florida, and North Carolina for nine years before relocating to Atlanta, GA. He immediately was employed by Clayton County Public Schools as a Special Education Department Chairperson. After 14 years in the classroom, Greg started his first year as an Administrator on the Central Office level as the Director of Health and Physical Education. While working in this position, Greg advocated for increased funding and curriculum changes for Health and Physical Education by participating in “Speak Out Day” where he lobbied lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Also, while in this position, he completed his Doctorate in Educational Administration at Valdosta State University.

After working in Central Office for almost four years, Greg realized that he missed the day-to-day interaction with his students, so he returned to the school as an Assistant Principal where he has worked on the High School level for the last five years. As an Assistant Principal, Greg was selected to be part of the Chinese Bridge Program through the College Board. He spent ten days in China, visiting Beijing, as well as Chengdu which is located in the Sichuan province. The purpose of this program is to bridge the gap between American and Chinese educators. Greg met with high-ranking Chinese Educational officials and conducted site-based visits at numerous Chinese schools.

Greg considers himself to be a “change agent” and is excited about the possibility of becoming the next Principal at Burlington High School. He has a unique ability to build healthy relationships with all stakeholders of the school and community. Greg believes in empowering teachers, supporting them, and treating them like the professionals that they are. Greg is a leader and ensures that he sets high expectations for his students and his staff. He enjoys attending all school-related events from athletic events to honors events, celebrations, and graduations.

Greg believes that if the community and school provides the love and guidance that our children need, there is nothing they can’t accomplish. He looks forward to meeting all stakeholders to create a partnership that will ensure all BHS students are College and Career ready and globally competitive.

Greg has four children Ashley, 24, Justice, 11, Levi, 7, and Eli, 4. He is an avid fan of both college football and all professional sports.

Answers to provided essay questions:

A.) Tell us about your unique background, characteristics, experiences, and talents and how they might supportthe District’s core value of diversity.

B.) Describe your greatest passions as an educator and how we would see them in the classroom. The majority of my career has been in Title I school districts with a large number of minority students. My current school district, Clayton County Public Schools in Jonesboro, Georgia, is about ninety-five percent minority. Therefore, I have a strong background in diverse school districts. Additionally, I served in the United States Air Force during the Gulf War. Being in the Air Force give me more of a unique background due to the places that I served, as well as serving beside people from many different countries. Back in 2017, I was fortunate enough to be selected to travel to China with College Board in the Chinese Bridge Program. This trip was an eye-opening experience for me. When I arrived in China, the reality of not being able to communicate inthe native language really hit me. I have never been in a situation like that and it was a scary and humbling experience for me. This experience gave me a unique perspective on our students in the English as a second language program and the barriers that they could have when trying to receive a quality education. All of my experiences, from College, travel, school-based experiences, unique life experiences, etcetera, have molded me to be the man and educator that I am today. I am a caring administrator who will do anything that it takes to help my students become successful. In order for our students to be successful, we must try to get rid of the barriers that keep them from becoming successful. This is call “equity”. We want to make sure that our students all have the same opportunity to be successful regardless of culture, economic standing, disabilities, or any barriers that handicaps our students. As I see it, removing barriers for students is a big part of our job in Education. I am an empathetic administrator, but I also have the ability to know if a studentis not being sincere when I’m dealing with her (him). My greatest passion as an educator is children. I know that sounds like a standard answer and an answer that I would think that you might want to hear. But I’m saying that my passion and love for children and young adults is the reason why I chose Education as my profession. My passion has been ignited even more since Ibecame an administrator. I have heard the stories from administrators about how bad our students’ home lives can be, but it’s not as impactful until you actually are witness to it. Since I’ve become an administrator I have seen the home lives of students that are so horrific I could not believe it. This gave me more of an empathetic heart regarding what our students are experiencing. When you are aware of what your students are going through, then you realize that when they don’t have a pencil or paper to write on, you are more understanding and will not get upset with the student. In some cases, I’m amazed that some students can go to school and function. The saying goes: “Students don’t care how much you know, they want to know how much you care”. No truer words have ever been spoken.

C)Identify a significant issue facing educators within the next few years. Describe the values, skills, knowledge that you bring to the role that would be advantageous to the successful management of this issue and demonstrates that you are ready for this role. Provide evidence that you have used these skills in working through current/recent issue. Many times, issues that educators face are different depending on where the teacher is located. Different countries have different issues, even teachers within the same school district could have different issues. I have seen that when I was working in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in Charlotte N.C. as well as FultonCounty Schools in Atlanta, GA. Therefore, depending on where you are, you could face different issues. In the past, it would be difficult to focus on one issue that teachers face; until now. Due to COVID-19, I think that the issue that almost all teachers face today is being able to teach in the virtual environment. My current school district, Clayton County Public Schools, has not had face-to-face instruction since March 13, 2020. When the majority of the country went to virtual instruction, the majority of teachers had a difficult time. Many of our more seasoned teachers are not technologically savvy. Virtual instruction created a deficit for many teachers because, in the past, they have been resistant to change. Because we were close to the end of the school year, we were able to get through the rest of the year, but it was difficult for many teachers. During the summer, we were able to have a rigorous Professional Development to help teachers become comfortable with online education and the virtual environment. In the past, many of our adult learners were resistant to change but when it was time for them to receive the professional development, they were ready to learn. During the summer professional development classes that our teachers took, I explained to my teachers the importance of being proficient in the virtual environment is extremely important. I took a team approach with my staff. I let them know that mistakes would be made, and that is okay, but we needed to learn from our mistakes and keep it moving. With the help of my teacher who is our technology contact for the school, wrote the professional development curriculum that would train our teachers. I met with my teachers throughout the summer of 2020 to deliver the professional development to them. We did encounter some growing pains, but we had rich discussions that brought up some barriers that our students had during the Spring Semester. We were also able to predict some other barriers that they may have in the fall. The professional development sessions went extremely well and when we started school this Fall; all of our teachers were ready. The evidence that this worked is that there have been far less complaints from parents and students, teachers have stated that this year is going so much better than last year, and our student participation rate has improved by 50%. I feel like everything that happens, happens for a reason. We will all be better educators because of COVID.

Please join us in thanking our Hiring Committee for their commitment to this important work!

Bonnie Johnson-Aten

Andrew Styles

Grace Brown

James Kiefer

Josh Edelbaum

Kerry Bechtloff

Lashawn Whitmore-Sells

Meg Hughart

Paul Besaw

Quaron Pinckney

Sara Crothers

Complete Zoom Info:

Topic: BHS Principal Search Staff and Community Forum

When: Apr 15, 2021 06:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Please click the link below to join the webinar:https://zoom.us/j/94271708131Or One tap mobile :US: +16465588656,,94271708131# or +13017158592,,94271708131#Or Telephone:Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location):US: +1 646 558 8656 or +1 301 715 8592 or +1 312 626 6799 or +1 669 900 9128 or +1 253 215 8782 or +1 346 248 7799Webinar ID: 942 7170 8131International numbers available: https://zoom.us/u/aGw6lUuu3

This press release was produced by the Burlington School District. The views expressed here are the author’s own.