Letter From Principal
August 2011
As your new principal, I think it is very important for each of you to know a little bit about me, as we look ahead to beginning a new school year.
I have been working in the Hilton Central School District since August 1989. I have held many different positions there including Coordinator of Staff Development, Principal, and K‐12 Director of Staff Development, Technology and Continuing Education. For the last six years, I have been the Director of Elementary Education and Staff Development, overseeing the curriculum, instruction, assessment and staff development for all Pre‐K through grade 6 teachers and staff.
My teaching began in 1980 when I taught Grade 1‐5 Remedial Math, followed by grade 1 and grade 2, all in the Brockport Central School District. For my last three years there, I was a Teacher on Special Assignment working as a staff developer in the areas of literacy, instructional skills, and classroom management. I also worked with administrators on their supervision of teachers using a clinical supervision model.
Professionally, I have also been extremely active in educational organizations, having been an officer for the Genesee Valley Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, the president of the NYS Staff Development (now Learning Forward) Council and an elected Trustee of the National Staff Development (again, now Learning Forward) Council. Besides having taught at the elementary level, I also have been an adjunct lecturer for The State College at Brockport, teaching graduate level courses since the early 1990's. Primarily, I have taught Cooperative Learning, but also their curriculum and assessment courses, as well as the Educational Change and Leadership course. For several years, I also taught the Classroom Management course at Roberts Wesleyan College. Over the last five years, I have also been working with Monroe 2‐Orleans BOCES as part of their Emerging Administrators' Institute, working with first year administrators as they transition into new roles.
On a personal level, I was born and raised in Holley, New York and still live there with my wife of 32 years, Karen, an elementary school secretary, and grown daughters, Jenna, Lora, and Anna. Jenna is currently a wine distributor. Lora is an elementary teacher with certifications in Childhood and Special Education, 1‐6. Our youngest daughter, Anna, is soon‐to‐be a college sophomore with a major in Interdisciplinary Arts for Children with a music emphasis, now looking to become a school psychologist.
I want to personally thank Dr. Ragan for the support she has provided me since I first interviewed with M & T Bank and for how skillfully she has lead this school over these last 16 years. I also want to thank M& T Bank, particularly David Chamberlain, for their endorsement of me, and the parent group I met with who, in wanting the very best for their children and grandchildren, made me feel very welcome and hopeful about our being able to forge a positive and respectful relationship.
While I have met many parents and staff members so far, I look forward to meeting many more of you over the next couple of months. I just want to convey to each of you that I love children, am a strong advocate for parents, families, and teachers, and believe that the more we work together— administrators, teachers, school staff, students and parents—the better off we will all be as we look to continue Westminster's tradition as a very strong charter school and build on that excellence to make it an even better school in the future.
The 2011‐2012 school year is quickly approaching and I look forward to that opening day when every individual who has a role in the Westminster students' lives comes together to celebrate a "new year and a new beginning" for the school.
Sincerely,
Mark Bower
