By NANCY HILER
³I¹ll be down by the buses with the teachers, ready to receive the students and ready to reassure parents that we¹ll be taking good care of their kids,² Dalton said.
She was approved as the school¹s chief administrator at the July 5 Board of Education meeting, effective Aug. 1. She was selected from a field of 28 candidates at the end of an intense search and interview process.
"We feel very fortunate you will be joining our administrative team,² Bellmore Superintendent of Schools Sheldon Dumain told Dalton at the meeting.
She replaces probationary Principal Steven Castor, who resigned to accept a position upstate.
³I¹m thankful for this great opportunity,² the former New York City educator and administrator said recently as she settled into her new office and became acquainted with her new surroundings.
Acknowledging that an elementary school district is unusual, Dalton said it was rare for an entire school to focus solely on the very early years of education. The Bellmore district consists of three schools grouped by grade level rather than by proximity to children's homes. The Reinhard school houses kindergarten through second grade, and is the district¹s largest school in terms of classes and enrollment, with 25 classes accommodating some 520 students, most of whom are eligible for bus transportation.
³To provide a great foundation is the focus, the priority in this school,² Dalton said, adding that this would be her focus as well: laying the groundwork for each child to reach his or her potential. She wants children to feel successful in their first learning experiences in a safe and comfortable environment, she explained. With that as their launching pad, she added, ³They are going to fly² as they move on to the upper grades.
Dalton has more than 20 years of experience in elementary education and administration, as well as an extensive academic background. Education is more than a career for her, she said: ³It's a passion.²
Her interest in helping and guiding young people developed early in her life. ³When I was a teenager, I coached basketball to fourth- and fifth-graders at my local church, and enjoyed working with young kids,² Dalton recalled. Also as a teenager, she volunteered to work with disabled students at a high school in Queens near where she grew up.
³I was just naturally drawn to teaching young children,² she said. ³To me, there¹s no better place to be than in a school. With kids, you always see a smile. And teachers do amazing things every day. They are here out of dedication, because they want to be here. It¹s a happy place to be.²
What always interested her, Dalton said, was the ³craft of teaching² -- getting the point across so students really could grasp a concept or develop a process. ³Children are sponges,² she said, open to absorbing everything. ³It always amazed me how much children are capable of doing.² The key, she believes, is to ³break it down into little pieces so they really understand it.²
Dalton spent nine years as a reading specialist at Public School 12 in Woodside in the 1990s. ³It¹s the little strides that matter,² she explained. As a reading teacher, she felt great satisfaction (and still does) when she sees a child read a sentence for the first time and experience that success, and then become eager to read more books, she said.
She served for six years as assistant principal of Public School 89, a 2,000-student elementary school in Elmhurst, Queens. When she started there in 1998, the school was at risk of being placed on the state¹s list of low-performing public schools, called the Schools Under Registration Review list. Taking corrective action, the school was divided into three academies. Dalton was assigned to the Britton Academy, the kindergarten-through-fifth-grade division. It had a student enrollment of 650, and close to 50 teachers and paraprofessionals.
She developed an after-school literacy program targeted at struggling readers and emphasizing early intervention. Reading scores rose 18 percent on standardized tests over two years. Dalton also developed the division¹s $12 million budget, ³incorporating everything from personnel and professional development to postage,² she says. And she planned and implemented several curriculum-based programs related to writing and reading achievement, as well as attendance improvement and peer tutoring initiatives for at-risk students. She was ³fortunate and gratified² to be part of the turnaround, she said.
In August 2004, when a principal ³resigned out of the blue² from a nearby pre-K-through-eighth-grade school, Public School/Intermediate School 87 in Middle Village, Dalton was asked to serve as its interim principal, she said. Although she knew the assignment would be temporary, she also believed that this next administrative step would be valuable. ³It was good experience,² she recalled. ³I learned how to open up a building at the start of the year, and to oversee school budget spending.² She acknowledged that the experience was something of a baptism by fire, since she stepped in on Aug. 30, barely a week before the first day of classes. It was also her first exposure to middle school, although her interest remained focused on the younger grades.
The following March, a permanent principal was assigned to the school, and Dalton was transferred to a middle school, I.S. 125 in Woodside, as assistant principal supervising its science and physical education. Midyear openings were limited. ³A better fit for me would have been an elementary school,² she explained, although she said she felt comfortable in the familiar roles of supervising teachers and managing standardized testing. At that point she decided to look outside the city.
A wife, mother of two and resident of Levittown, Dalton received her postgraduate certification as a school administrative supervisor from City College of New York in Manhattan. She has a master's degree in reading from St. John¹s University and did her undergraduate studies at Queens College. She has permanent New York State administration and teaching certification, and has been involved in ongoing professional development through the years, including guided reading and other courses at Columbia University Teacher¹s College.
³We certainly expect a great deal from our administrators,² Dumain said at the board meeting, adding that he was positive Dalton was up to the task. ³Our community will welcome you heartily.²
That welcome should begin on the first day of school, if Dalton¹s philosophy is any indication. ³Parents need to know that I believe in open communication,² she said. ³I want them to feel comfortable with me being in charge, since this is where their kids are all day.²
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