With Prendergast School’s gym filled with parents, students and teachers recently, Principal Larry DiPalma took off his shoes, and settled down on a blanket.
It was one of the school’s new family movie nights where students and parents come back to the Ansonia school during one evening each month to watch movies in their pajamas.
The movie nights have become a new regular event at the school — which has opened its doors to families and has given more power to teachers to act on ideas that might help students do better in school.
“We want to get this concept across that this school is a community,” DiPalma, 60, said Friday. “(The movie night) builds a rapport. Parents see me in a different light. I take my shoes off and sit on a blanket.”
The “shoes off” approach is one of the many reasons DiPalma was recently named the National Distinguished Principal for Connecticut — a national honor bestowed on one elementary school principal in each state.
The Award
Each year, the National Association of Elementary School Principals honors principals across the country for their “extraordinary leadership and an unrivaled commitment.”
The competitive process starts with nominations at the state level. In Connecticut the process is overseen by the Connecticut Association of Schools.
DiPalma was nominated for the award, and received letters of recommendation from Superintendent of Schools Carol Merlone and teachers. He was competing against about 10 other principals in the state.
From there, DiPalma had to submit a 200-page portfolio outlining his work at Prendergast. And representatives from CAS came to the school for a site visit and to interview parents, students and teachers about DiPalma.
“Woooooooo!”
DiPalma and the Ansonia school community found out about the honor Friday morning. The excitement rang through the school in the form of a loud “Wooooo!” from students as school staff made an announcement over the loudspeaker, according to math coach Jessica Koziel.
“Everyone is really proud of him, and proud to be part of this community,” Koziel said.
The accolades for DiPalma were far reaching, and came from students, teachers and city officials.
He’s fair, they said.
He tells good jokes.
He clearly cares about students.
He “walks the walk.”
“I’ve worked for many administrators,” said Steve McLaughlin, a reading intervention specialist at Prendergast, who also worked with DiPalma in Norwalk.
“The big difference I see that makes Larry stand out: Many administrators can tell you what to do, and can tell you how to do it. Larry can show you,” McLaughlin said. “Larry can walk the walk.”
Students came into DiPalma’s office throughout the day Friday, congratulating him on the award. Kindergarten students made cards. A banner from the second grade — created before a site visit during the award selection process — hangs on the wall, declaring DiPalma a “pretty awesome principal.”
The phone didn’t stop ringing in the main office. Even Mayor James Della Volpe and Police Chief Kevin Hale made a surprise visit to DiPalma to congratulate him.
“We’re very proud of his accomplishment,” Della Volpe said. “He’s done a tremendous job in turning around the progress in the school system.”
DiPalma will attend a national awards ceremony in Washington D.C. this fall.
‘Our School’
DiPalma said he’s pleased about the honor because it recognizes the work of all people in the school system — including the parents and students.
“It just showed that what we try to do here works,” DiPalma said. “I’m termed a distinguished principal. But let’s face it. You can only be a distinguished principal if you have a distinguished staff that’s willing to put children first… I never say this is my school. This is our school. We are a learning community.”
One of DiPalma’s goals upon starting at Prendergast in 2009 was to give parents and teachers more say in what happens at the school, he said.
To do that, Prendergast formed a “data team,” made up of various staff members and parents. The group meets every month to look at test scores and student progress. But the members also act as a council where fresh ideas are formed and funneled to fruition.
The movie nights developed out of the data team meetings, DiPalma said. The school decided to ask parents what they’d like to see. In surveys, parents said social nights would be a good idea.
“The data team took the suggestion, and the teachers ran with it,” DiPalma said.
Other ideas that have developed out of the data team meetings:
- Academic nights, where teachers and parents work with students on specific topics — such as reading, or math. On an upcoming night, fifth graders will come back to school with their parents and work on science projects. The academic nights help show parents how their children are being taught.
- A dad’s club, which launched this week to help get more dads volunteering at the school. Parent Saleh Hanaif started the club after bringing the idea forward at a data team meeting.
- Teachers can now pick which professional development activities they take part in. Before, they would be assigned to professional development programs. It’s the first time some of them have been asked what they want to learn, teachers said.
The Bottom Line
The changes all point back to the school’s effort to improve student performance — most notably tracked by standardized tests in the Connecticut Mastery Tests each year.
Ansonia schools were restructured in 2009 – 2010, after schools the district was found to be “in need of improvement” for more than three consecutive years under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
Thats when DiPalma took over as principal of Prendergast, after working as assistant principal at Mead School for four years.
DiPalma has worked in education for 38 years, the past 14 of those as an administrator.
As part of the restructuring of schools, Ansonia is trying to boost its test scores. At Prendergast, the problem areas are reading, DiPalma said.
The first batch of test results from 2009-10 show some improvement, especially among sixth and third graders, DiPalma said. This year’s tests will give more insight into whether the changes have had an impact.
DiPalma said one of his main accomplishments at Prendergast was shifting the way students think about the data. Now, all decisions are based on the data — a process that involved training almost half the staff.
“He made us set a higher standard for ourselves,” said second grade teacher Tina Vermiglio. “Now we’re really thinking about what we’re doing on a higher level.”
