Meadowbrook School’s incoming principal said she hopes that COVID-19 will be in the rearview mirror by the time she takes over the reins at the school this summer but she also said she expects to be dealing with continued fallout from the pandemic.
“COVID is difficult for everybody,” said Ericka Garza, who was selected as the new principal at Meadowbrook School, in the 1400 block of Maple Avenue in Northbrook, by the District 28 Board of Education’s on Feb. 22.
“There were a lot of challenges that parents had to get through,” Garza said. “That students had to get through. That teachers had to get through in ensuring students learning and providing space and time for work completion. I’m hoping we’re at the end of a lot of the challenging parts of COVID and the challenges of learning associated with it.”
There were 40 applications for the principal position and nine candidates interviewed in the first-round interviews by administrative team members, officials said. They said three finalists were interviewed by staff and parents and it was decided that Garza is the right person to serve as Meadowbrook’s next principal. She starts at the school on July 1.
Garza is currently principal of Mark Twain School in Kankakee District 202, completing her fifth year. Previous to that, she was the English Learner program coordinator at Marquette School of Excellence in Chicago. She began her career as an “L” Teacher for grades 4-8. She has a master’s degree in Educational Leadership from National Louis University and is working on her doctoral degree from the University of St. Francis, said school district 28 officials.
“Those who interviewed her indicated that she is sincere, knowledgeable and approachable,” the district said in a release. “They further view her as a relationship builder, an experienced leader, very child-centered and one who values connections.”
Garza said one of her immediate challenges will be to get to know “the culture” of the community, parents and the staff, while also learning current process systems, “the ins and outs of buildings, how things work.”
But she also said schools across the country are going to have to continue to deal with the educational and “social emotional” issues caused by COVID-19 following long stretches of at home learning.
“I imagine there’s still going to be some social emotional issues to address coming out of the pandemic and just being in terms of what we have gone through in that aspect of it,” she said.
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“I think the biggest thing is going to depend on who your students are and their personal resources that they’ve had throughout the pandemic,” she explained. “I’ve heard there’s already talk of changing ‘milestone expectations’ for children now because of what we’ve experienced. We’d have to take that into consideration as well. Just meeting students where they are and trying to bridge any additional skills that they may have missed in reading, arithmetic and writing and trying to keep growing as learners. I think that’s going to be the biggest focus.”
Brian L. Cox is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.