Entering its fourth year of serving students, the Charter School
of Morgan Hill is undergoing a changing of the guard, as Principal
Sharon Sousa, with the school since the summer before it opened its
doors in 2001, is leaving, and former board member Paige Cisewski
will step into a newly-redefined principal role.
“This is part of an administrative restructuring,” Sousa said
Monday.
Entering its fourth year of serving students, the Charter School of Morgan Hill is undergoing a changing of the guard, as Principal Sharon Sousa, with the school since the summer before it opened its doors in 2001, is leaving, and former board member Paige Cisewski will step into a newly-redefined principal role.
“This is part of an administrative restructuring,” Sousa said Monday.
Sousa’s last day is Wednesday; Cisewski starts Thursday.
The school is located on the campus of the former Encinal Elementary School, 9530 Monterey Road in south San Jose.
CSMH officials said a leadership task force had spent the past year studying the leadership structure of the school and recommended to board members that a new leadership position be created, combining many duties of the principal and director positions.
The new role was created, according to the recommendation of the task force, “to maximize financial resources and to bring the greatest benefit to students, teachers and parents.”
Along with the new job description for CSMH principal came the recommendation for other administrative changes. A financial and business services manager will handle the finances and general operations of the school. In addition, the board also established a curriculum and instruction coordinator position to provide curriculum and instruction support for the school’s teaching staff.
CSMH Board President Linda Ullah said Monday that the Executive Director function, performed since the school’s beginning by Mary Smathers, will now be split between the principal position and the financial and business serves manager position.
“I am sure Mary will still be involved and active with the school in some capacity,” Ullah said.
Board Member Cinda Meister said the new leadership structure will serve the growing school.
“This certainly wasn’t a personnel issue,” she said. “The initial structure was the best structure for the beginning of the school; when it was just a ‘baby,’ it needed more support. Now going into it’s fourth year, the leadership needs are different. The task force studied the situation, looking at the whole structure of school, and this was what was determined to be best for the school at this point. We’re all excited about the future.”
Meister said both Sousa and Smathers were invited to apply.
Cisewski completed her bachelor of science degree in elementary education in 1988 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. During her undergraduate work, Cisewski was involved in a program that focused on multicultural education and meeting the needs of diverse student populations. In addition, she worked with Dr. Carl Grant, professor and author, helping to edit his book entitled “Bringing Teaching to Life.”
Before she became involved with CSMH, Cisewski spent more than 10 years in education. For five years, she taught a variety of grade levels at public elementary and middle schools in the Campbell Elementary School District. She also taught at a private K-8 school in San Jose.
Between her student teaching experiences and her professional teaching jobs, Cisewski has taught 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th grades. While working as a teacher in the Campbell district, Cisewski was the lead negotiator for the teacher’s union. She was an elementary principal in the Los Gatos Union School District.
A member of the Morgan Hill community with her husband, Paul, since 1990, she has three children – Trenton, Nolan and Brooke. She was involved with CSMH from the beginning, including the creation of the school’s mission statement and vision elements, and oversaw the pre-operations committee, which included instructional programs and staff recruitment and hiring. She was also the primary author of the school’s charter.
Sousa was hired by the CSMH board the summer prior to the school’s opening for the 2001-2002 school year. She worked with the staff before the school opened to build a sense of community for the fledgling school.
Standing out among her memories of her years with the charter school are two “bookends.”
“The first would certainly be the first six weeks spent in the park (Galvan Park),” she said. “It was a ‘boot camp’ of sorts, a real bonding experience for those of us who survived it.”
The school opened before renovations on its temporary home in the Morgan Hill Plaza were completed, so classes were held in three locations in the community, one of them Galvan Park.
“And the other bookend is seeing through to graduation that sixth grade class that began with us,” she added. “I take great pride in that accomplishment. I have felt invested in their education, felt pride as they succeeded. Due to circumstances, I had the opportunity to be involved in their instruction for extended periods of time, and I am pleased to have had that opportunity, and now the opportunity to see them move on as young adults to high school.”
CSMH ended the 2003-2004 school year with 330 students through eighth grade, and graduated its first class of eighth graders, said Sousa.
Marilyn Dubil covers education and law enforcement for The Times. She can be reached by e-mail at
md****@mo*************.com
or phoning (408) 779-4106 Ext. 202
