Edmunds Middle School Principal Finalists Named

From the Burlington School District:

June 4, 2021

The Edmunds Middle School Principal Hiring Committee has announced three finalists for the EMS principalship. The candidates are Dr. Eduardo Sindaco, currently serving as a Wraparound Services Manager in Houston Independent School District; Sabrina Westdijk, currently the assistant principal at Edmunds Middle School; and Kerri A. Wyman, currently an assistant principal at Central Community Elementary School in Maine.

All candidates will participate in a virtual Community and Staff Forum on June 7, 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 Edmunds Middle School. The forum will be live via Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/92379511162 and will also be streamed to the District’s YouTube channel.

Meet the Candidates

Dr. Eduardo SindacoDr. Eduardo Sindaco is currently serving as a Wraparound Services Manager in Houston Independent School District and was a PK-12 Instructional Leadership Director with Oklahoma City Public Schools supervising various PK-12 schools. Additionally, Eduardo has also been a principal of a PK-8th grade campus and high school assistant principal, and elementary teacher.

Eduardo graduated from Washington University in Saint Louis attained his master’s degree in Education Leadership from Saint Thomas University (Houston) and Doctorate at the University of Texas, Austin. Prior to attending Washington University, Eduardo proudly served in the United States Marine Corps.

Sabrina WestdijkMy name is Sabrina Westdijk, and I am currently Assistant Principal at Edmunds Middle School. Prior to entering administration, I was a classroom teacher for fourteen years, first as an elementary art teacher, but mostly as a secondary English Language Arts teacher. A native Texan, I have spent parts of my life in just about every region of the country, and I taught in Arkansas and Oregon prior to relocating to Vermont in 2012. I am also a 2017 Rowland Fellow; my fellowship work centered on developing effective, student-centered disciplinary and interdisciplinary professional learning communities.

Throughout my career as an educator, mentor, and coach, I’ve sought to center equity, service, collaboration, and relationships. I believe that the fundamental purpose of educational leadership is to establish the conditions that allow all learners (both students and adults!) to thrive. As a systems thinker with a passion for facilitating organizational change and sustaining a culture of continuous growth, I feel honored to be part of the EMS community. I also feel incredibly fortunate to have been part of an administrative team committed to partnership and distributed leadership; because I’ve been entrusted as a steward of multiple initiatives, I am poised to provide the stability and continuity that EMS needs after so many transitions in recent years, while building on our successes to advance the school’s — and district’s — vision and values.

An incredible amount of work has already been done at EMS to advance equity, deeper learning and engagement. For instance, this year I’ve been involved in the formation of an aligned Humanities program and the re-envisioning of a Schoolwide Education Support Team. I have also facilitated the construction of a ‘21-’22 schedule that I feel will help us best meet the needs of all our learners through increased inclusion, choice & voice, more structured collaborative planning to advance curricular alignment and instructional best practices, and stronger coordination of student support services. But many next steps remain before us! I am excited by the district strategic planning that lay ahead, as well as its robust process for community involvement. I’m also eager to contribute to the implementation of BSD’s recovery plan, which will call upon us all to critically examine and refine our systems. I look forward to engaging in those conversations, and continuing to grow, with colleagues, students and community members.

This year has been both a challenging and rewarding one, beginning as a hybrid model, and then pivoting to more on-site learning for our students. Our students, staff and families have shown incredible resilience, creativity, and compassion, and it has been a fulfilling and humbling experience to build relationships with and work alongside the genuinely wonderful and talented people who fill EMS’s classrooms. I am deeply invested in serving this learning community, not only professionally but personally: Burlington is my home, my daughter and stepson attend school in BSD, and I look forward to being here for many years to come.

When I’m not in the office (or on a Google Meet!), I enjoy spending time with my family, reading and writing fiction, tending my ever-expanding vegetable and flower gardens, baking bread and pastries, and getting outside to walk my dog, run or paddleboard.

Kerri A. WymanKerri Ann Wyman grew up in Maine as part of a large Franco-American and Scottish family. Her school leadership work began in 2014, as a principal of two schools for students in grades three, four and five. Today she works as an assistant principal for a large consolidated pre-kindergarten to grade five school of 500 students. She approaches leadership through a lens of diversity, equity, and inclusion that was heavily influenced by her large extended family that values love and acceptance for all family members, hard work and continued education.

Ms. Wyman works diligently to engage all members of the school community to foster a culture of love, hardwork and kindness with the ultimate goal of creating schools where students are eager to learn and where staff want to work. She believes that creating these kinds of school environments is the birthplace of innovation by teachers and develops passionately creative students.

Her own teaching career began as a high school and then middle level science teacher where she created student learning opportunities that were built around student collaboration, critical thinking, and student self reflection. She found middle school to be her niche and where she spent the bulk of her teaching career. Everyday with middle schoolers is an adventure and she found great joy in sharing the teaching and learning journey with her students.

Finally, Ms. Wyman continues her own education today as she is pursuing a doctoral degree in Educational Leadership from the University of Maine. Her research interests include the development of career self efficacy for women in educational leadership.

Thank you to our Hiring Committee

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

Complete Zoom Info:

When: Jun 7, 2021 06:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)Topic: EMS Principal Search Community Forum

Please click the link below to join the webinar:https://zoom.us/j/92379511162Or One tap mobile :US: +16465588656,,92379511162# or +13017158592,,92379511162#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: 923 7951 1162International numbers available: https://zoom.us/u/aVLwNhDLD

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Filed Under: Updates and Reminders

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