The Connecticut Association of Schools (CAS) is pleased to announce the selection of the 2019 Assistant Principals of the Year.
Congratulations to these outstanding administrators!
• Eric Conrad, Assistant Principal, Chapel Street School, Stratford 2019 Elementary School Assistant Principal of the Year
• Dina Marks, Assistant Principal, Shelton Intermediate School, 2019 Middle School Assistant Principal of the Year
• Dana Paredes, Assistant Principal, West Haven High School, 2019 High School Assistant Principal of the Year
Each year, applications are accepted for the Elementary, Middle, and High School Assistant Principal of the Year awards. The winners are chosen by the CAS Awards and Recognition Committee, a selection committee consisting of active and retired principals and assistant principals.
Dina Marks
Dina Marks, assistant principal of Shelton Intermediate School (SIS), has been named the 2019 CAS Middle School Assistant Principal of the Year.
She was nominated for the award by intermediate school principal Kenneth Saranich, who said Marks is energetically engaged in efforts to move the school forward.
“It is such a gift to have an assistant principal whom you can ask to perform any task, undertake any project or launch any initiative and you know it will be met with success. She keeps getting better and better; and the building gets better and better along with her,” Saranich said.
Shelton Schools Superintendent Christopher Clouet praised ability to “balance the complexities of the work of today’s assistant principal.”
Marks said in a prepared statement: “I am excited and honored to have been selected as the 2019 Middle School Assistant Principal of the Year. I am proud to represent Shelton Intermediate School and our educational community, and this award recognizes the dedication of all of our educators. It reflects the great work that happens every day in Shelton schools and in schools all over Connecticut.”
A lifelong Shelton resident, Marks is in her ninth year as assistant principal of SIS.
“SIS is my extended family, and I lead our school as I do my family, with compassion and caring,” she said.
One of Marks’ proudest accomplishments is the creation of the Shelton Innovation School (SIS2) which she, Saranich, and a team of teachers built from the ground up.
Now in its second year, SIS2 provides flexible scheduling, innovative instructional practices and personalized learning opportunities that address the diverse learning styles of students
in the digital age.
The “school within a school” places an emphasis on preparing students to be thinkers, communicators and collaborators and focuses not on what students know but on what they can do with the knowledge they have gained.
“There is no better face for the assistant principalship than Dina Marks. She is humble and she is authentic. It’s never about Dina. It’s about the work. It’s about the kids,” said Shelton High School Headmaster Beth Smith.
