The goal of every educational leader is to ensure students have the opportunity to excel. The challenging part is turning that vision into reality.
One educator who has been successful in her quest to do just that is Jacqueline O’Sullivan, former principal of Birney Elementary School in Redondo Beach Unified School District. For her efforts, she has been named ACSA’s 2011 Elementary Principal of the Year.
Transforming school culture is the hallmark of O’Sullivan’s leadership style. Prior to her arrival at Birney in 2005, test scores were down and many parents opted to send their children to other schools in the district, even to private schools. Now Birney is known as a destination school.
Under O’Sullivan’s leadership, the school’s API increased 106 points, with a similar schools ranking hike from 4 to 8. In 2010, Birney was named a California Distinguished School. Most importantly, public perception of the school has changed, and enrollment has moved steadily upward.
But O’Sullivan said she didn’t make the improvements on her own. She said it took the efforts of the entire school community to turn the school around.
“I think one of the most important things to improving a school is to build relationships between staff, students and parents so that everyone is working together for the good of children,” she said.
O’Sullivan led the relationship-building efforts by forging partnerships with the community. For example, she partnered with the Beach Cities Health District to provide funding for school counseling and health programs to meet the diverse needs of students.
She also forged connections with families by maintaining an open-door policy that led to increased parental participation. She held monthly Principal’s Coffees, sent weekly emails and made home visits to read bedtime stories to students. She knew each student by name and promoted several charitable drives, collecting food, toys and gift cards for needy families.
O’Sullivan, who has since taken a position as principal of Washington Elementary, also led efforts to improve the school environment. She helped secure Measure C bond funds to build a new library and office building. She implemented character education and anti-bullying programs, to help students feel safe and improve the school culture.
“Under Jackie’s outstanding leadership, Birney has become an even greater place for students to learn and grow,” wrote Superintendent Steven Keller in a nomination letter. “And thanks to her tireless efforts, hundreds of students and families have forever been positively impacted by Jackie’s influence.”
Prior to Birney, O’Sullivan was assistant principal at Billy Mitchell Elementary in Lawndale from 2001-05, fourth and fifth grade teacher at Jane Addams Elementary in Lawndale from 1998-01, corporate teacher trainer/staff development specialist in South Korea from 1997-98 and senior staff developer at the California Elementary Education Association from 1992-95.
With a strong teaching background and experience in staff development, O’Sullivan made improvements among staff as well. She used Title 1 funds to bring in a professional coaching model to train teachers in meeting the needs of all students in reading and writing instruction. This was accomplished through grade-level planning sessions, demonstration lessons, co-teaching and one-on-one coaching.
Under this model, teachers also met monthly with coaches to focus on English learner instruction and differentiation for all students.
O’Sullivan said she always knew she would become an educator. As a child, she used to line up her dolls and teddy bears to teach them lessons. Although the demands in the classroom were overwhelming and she left the profession for a time, it was always where she felt most at home.
“I vividly remember all of my teachers from kindergarten through high school, and school has always been one of my favorite places to spend time, even now,” she said.
She credits a meeting with a school principal during a career day at a friend’s school as the turning point in her career.
“I met her principal, (ACSA member) Frank Noyes, and decided that maybe it was time to go back to teaching,” O’Sullivan said. “Frank is an inspirational leader and I think principals can make all the difference in a school to set the bar high and facilitate having a cohesive, professional environment.
“When I returned to teaching I knew I wanted to be a principal because I wanted to make a bigger impact on the community than I could in the classroom. I wanted to fix what I feel is broken.”
And, she said, ACSA was at her side the entire time. In fact, she said ACSA has been instrumental in her career for the networking opportunities it provides.
“When I needed teachers for the opening of school, I was able to make personal phone calls to principals I have met through ACSA to get references,” she said. “Many of the ideas I have implemented in schools, I have gotten from ACSA colleagues.”
O’Sullivan will be formally honored along with all of ACSA’s Administrators of the Year Nov. 4 beginning at 6:30 p.m.