Broward County Public Schools named Principal Kim Flynn, Olsen Middle School and Assistant Principal Priscilla
Ribeiro, Cypress Bay High School, 2009 ACCLAIM Award winners at an event held this evening (Wednesday, May 13,
2009) at the Signature Grand in Davie.
The ACCLAIM Awards were created to honor an outstanding principal and assistant principal each year for their hard work and dedication. The awards seek to recognize school leaders who excel in the following areas: Achievement, Communication, Compassion, Leadership, Accountability, Innovation and Motivation.
In addition to other prizes, Flynn will participate in an exchange program. She will travel to Gold Coast City, Queensland, Australia this summer to shadow school administrators and observe teaching practices in areas of common interest including science, math, use of technology, marine science and environmental education. Her Australian counterpart will visit Broward County this fall.
PRINCIPAL FINALISTS
Kim Flynn, Principal
Olsen Middle School
At Olsen Middle, Kim Flynn works tirelessly to build strong relationships with her faculty and relates to students by providing them with an exciting and interesting environment for learning. She opens her doors to parents and invites them to participate in all school functions. Each of these elements is an excellent testimony to Flynn’s success. Her greatest strength is the ability to combine these disparate initiatives into a supporting structure than makes Olsen Middle superlative.
Flynn has the ability to see the big picture and identify areas where the needs of students can be better addressed. With input from her staff and parents, she envisions and implements strategies and programs to serve the needs of the students at Olsen Middle. In an effort to improve writing instruction across all grade levels, Flynn worked with the Language Arts Department and hired a writing consultant to work with all content area teachers. With a common writing vocabulary in place and a unified focus, Olsen’s writing scores improved dramatically.
Flynn understands the role a successful principal must take. She lives and breathes excitement and love for her chosen profession and is the ultimate example of what today’s society needs in a principal.
ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL FINALISTS
Priscilla Ribeiro, Assistant Principal
Cypress Bay High Priscilla Ribeiro is dedicated, charismatic, thoughtful and committed to the teachers and students at Cypress Bay High School. Her flexibility in working with students, parents, teachers and community partners has earned her an excellent reputation as one who truly cares about her work and people.
One of the most significant contributions Ribeiro has made at Cypress Bay High is increasing student achievement in reading. Over the past two years, she has implemented several programs that include parent/student bi-lingual workshops and after school and Saturday FCAT tutoring. In addition Ribeiro wrote a grant and developed a Summer academic camp, free after school SAT classes, on-site night school for credit recovery, professional development and an instructional publication aimed at increasing reading proficiency. Her efforts paid off and recent BAT scores indicate an increase of 5% overall.
Priscilla Ribeiro puts people first. Through her untiring efforts, students, parents and teachers have experienced the thrill of exhibiting academic prowess and contributing to community projects.
