Area principals named Golden Apple finalists
Three Southland educators among nine nominees for statewide award for excellence in leadership
Three Southland principals are among nine finalists for the Award of Excellence in Leadership from Golden Apple, a statewide education nonprofit.
Melissa Onesto from William J. Butler Elementary in Lockport, Don Holmes from Thornwood High School in South Holland and Brian Horn from Century Junior High School in Orland Park are among the nominees.
The winner will be announced in April and receive $10,000, with $5,000 of it going to the school. Anyone can nominate a principal — a parent, a teacher, a student or someone in the community — and this year’s nine finalists were whittled down from 121 entries from across the state.
Onesto said it’s a humbling experience to be among the finalists but she said her success is due to her staff.
“I know I have a lot of people around me that are part of what goes on at my school,” Onesto said. “It takes a village and I would be excited if I got the title, but I would end up sharing it freely with my staff because they have so much to do with what I do.”
She’s been principal at Butler Elementary for six years and she said she believes her support of teachers and of students is part of her success as a leader.
“I’m always in classrooms checking on people, my door is open or I’m out in the building,” she said.
This last year, with COVID-19, was different, of course. Her school is still a hybrid school, meaning not all students are in class every day. Students come on certain days to allow for distancing while others learn from home. Still, Onesto said she’s tried to support her staff and students.
“For students who had more struggles with learning at home, we brought them back sooner and had conversations with the parents,” she said. “We’re having open communication with the families. The staff is always here for each other; that’s just part of the culture, so when students come into the building, they feel emotionally safe.”
Alan Mather, the president of the Golden Apple and the first winner as principal, said this sort of community/school collaboration is what the organization looks for in a good principal. He said he wants principals who focus on students’ social and emotional learning in addition to the tested curriculum. This is done by allowing teachers to share their lived experiences.
“It’s mirrors and windows,” Mather said. “It’s the mirror where students see their lived experiences reflected back at them and its windows where students can see lived experience of others who are not like them.
“We want to make sure there’s
not a deficit mindset going on. In other words, we need to provide students this experience because they’re not going to get it elsewhere.”
Not too many principals or teachers have had the lived experience of Holmes. He is a Thornwood graduate who did so well as a football star he got a scholarship to play for Northwestern and went on to play in the Rose Bowl. His wife also graduated from the school, as did his son and brother. his daughter attends there now.
He loves the place. “Thornwood really put some wind beneath my wings, let me tell you that,” he said. “That’s the reason I came back, I wanted to make sure that students have access to the same and more opportunities than I had.”
His school is still entirely remote, meaning students learn at home. This is a challenge in a community where not everyone has access to the internet or a laptop, but Holmes said the district has handed out Wi-Fi hot spots and Chromebooks and the community has five breakfast and lunch centers to hand out meals to students.
In theory every student has access to a virtual classroom. Still, Holmes said, not every student shows up. Some students have jobs so they skip classes to go work and others have personal issues including depression. A year in lockdown without in-person learning has been hard on some students, he said.
“I’ve been visiting homes,” he said.
Sometimes he’ll even have a meal with a family to see how he can encourage students to attend school and do their work.
“Right now, we’ve got some students who are flourishing in this environment and you have others who aren’t the best selfdirected learners so sometimes you got to get out to the parents’ homes so you can bridge that gap of learning.”
He said he likes to drop off Thunderbird (the school mascot) masks to keep up school spirit, anything to keep the students engaged.
“I just try to be as flexible as possible to meet our students where they’re at so they can earn their credits so they can stay on track to graduate,” he said.
Horn faces similar challenges at Century Junior High. He has been there a decade and over the years he said he’s worked hard to develop deep relationships to his staff, the students and the community. These bonds have served the school well during the pandemic.
“I always say relationships are the foundations of everything,” he said. “Every successful classroom and every successful building is the result of relationships.”
His school is also a hybrid model, though he expects to go back to full, in-person education after spring break. Horn said the pandemic has been tough on students and getting back to some sense of normalcy will also be tough.
“Going back to the relationships and the social and emotional needs of kids are all really critical right now and it’s our responsibility as educators to be innovative and creative in thinking how we can best support students,” Horn said.
He praised his teachers for rising to the challenge.
“I’ve never been prouder of the teachers for the hard work that they’ve done,” he said. “They’ve exceeded every expectation that I and the community have had of them.
“We had challenges that a year ago, none of us could have imagined. We continue to face challenges, but we do that through teamwork and collaboration. It’s an honor to be recognized and it’s a testament to the really strong community we have at Century. It’s a recognition of Century and the team we have at Century.”
The other finalists are Flor Carter from Alternative/Optional Education Center in Waukegan, Martin Da Costa from Winston Campus Junior High in Palatine, Jacqueline Menoni from Jose de Diego Community Academy in Chicago, Michael Odiotti from Cristo Rey St. Martin College Preparatory in Waukegan, Serena Peterson-Klosa from Christian Ebinger Elementary in Chicago and Rodolfo Rojas from Everett STEM Academy in Chicago.