Erica Okezie-Phillips, an education program officer at the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, is leaving the foundation at the end of May. Okezie-Phillips, who has been with the foundation for the past seven years, is heading off to Grenada “for a brief adventure before she decides on a new path in her professional career,” reports Sara Slaughter, director of the foundation’s education program.
Oak Park Elementary School District 97 has tapped Keshia Warner, currently the principal of Drake Elementary, to head up one of its elementary schools – which one has yet to be decided. (From Wednesday Journal via District 299.)
New principals: Ryan Belville, the assistant principal at McAuliffe, has been named the school’s principal. Augusta Smith, the assistant principal at Mireles, has been named principal at Barton.
Two Chicago Public School teachers have been named 2014 Golden Apple Award winners: Anand Sukumaran, a music teacher at Peterson Elementary, and Rozy Patel, a middle school teacher at Edgebrook. Sukumaran created a thriving music program, which includes a keyboard lab with a live video feed of the teacher’s keyboard, so students can visualize instructions. Patel used his four years in medical school to share and guide her students to probe deeply into their scientific inquiry, which promotes higher-order thinking.
Joseph Casanovas (8th grade Science/Math) from Peirce in Edgewater, and Luke Albrecht (Middle School Math) from Crown in North Lawndale, also received the award.
Ray Salazar, a Chicago Public School teacher who is the White Rhino blogger, has been nominated for a 2014 Bammy Award, which is presented by the Academy of Education Arts and Sciences to people working in education.