Roxhill Elementary School Prinicpal Carmela Dellino has been named Executive Director of Schools for the West Seattle Region for Seattle Public Schools by new Superintendent Jose Banda. In a letter, promoting both Dellino and Kim Whitworth of Eckstein Middle School, Banda said of Dellino, "Under her leadership at Roxhill Elementary, the school moved from a Level 1 – the lowest performing – to a Level 3 out of 5 performance levels. She is proud of her staff, who are committed to excellence for all students and collaboratively have instituted reform measures that aim to bridge the achievement gap and foster a love of learning."

Dellino who has been principal at the school since 2008 succeeds the departing Aurora Lora.

Here's the letter in its entirety:

Dear Seattle Public Schools community,

Our mission is to ensure all students at Seattle Public Schools receive a quality education and are prepared for college, career and life. In order to create academic success, it is imperative for us to provide high-quality instructional leadership.

Today I am pleased to appoint two new Executive Directors of Schools. Kim Whitworth, principal at Eckstein Middle School, will be Executive Director of Schools for the Northeast region. Carmela Dellino, principal at Roxhill Elementary, will serve as Executive Director of Schools for the West Seattle region. The new positions will start in mid-August.

They join four other Executive Directors of Schools, who support principals’ instructional leadership in order to increase student achievement and close opportunity gaps. This includes using data to monitor school progress, coordinating professional development, one-on-one coaching and principal evaluations, and conducting frequent learning walks through school buildings to ensure quality instruction. Together, they supervise and support more than 100 principals.

Ms. Whitworth is replacing Phil Brockman, who has been appointed to a new grant-funded Executive Director of School Operations position. Ms. Dellino replaces Aurora Lora, who left her position this month to be the Assistant Superintendent for the Dallas Independent School District.
Both internal and external candidates were reviewed by interview teams that included Executive Directors of Schools, principals and Assistant Superintendents. There were three rounds of interviews in total, and the committee recommended finalists for interviews with me and members of my Cabinet.

These appointments leave vacancies at two schools. We will work with both the Eckstein and Roxhill communities to develop a hiring plan that will include family and staff input. We will be in touch soon with each school community to ensure we have a highly qualified principal in place for the start of the 2012-13 school year.

Kim Whitworth

Ms. Whitworth has been the principal at Eckstein Middle School since 2007. She has been in education since 1994, when she taught math and debate at Inglewood Junior High in the Lake Washington School District. In 2002, she moved back to Seattle and taught math at Ballard High School, eventually pursuing her administration certification at Seattle Pacific University. She was the Assistant Principal at Ballard High School for three years before taking over at Eckstein.

At Eckstein, Ms. Whitworth has created a school that offers students and staff a place to continue a lifetime of learning. She worked with students, families and staff to develop a mission and five-year vision plan, and has built strong professional learning communities. The school’s state scores are consistently above state and district averages.

She received her Bachelor of Science in Economics at the University of Oregon.

Ms. Whitworth is looking forward to not only continuing to work with the Eckstein community, but with all students, family and staff in the Northeast Region. She said she sees this as an opportunity to carry on the great work begun by Mr. Brockman and a great group of principal leaders.

Carmela Dellino

Ms. Dellino has served as principal at Roxhill since 2008. She started her career in education in 1980, teaching seventh and eighth grades at St. Luke’s School in Shoreline. She taught English for four years at Blanchet High School and then shifted her focus to serving students and families as a school counselor. In this role, she worked for four years at Nelson Middle School and for 12 years at Shorewood High School. She became the assistant principal at Shorewood High School in Shoreline for three years before coming to Seattle.

Under her leadership at Roxhill Elementary, the school moved from a Level 1 – the lowest performing – to a Level 3 out of 5 performance levels. She is proud of her staff, who are committed to excellence for all students and collaboratively have instituted reform measures that aim to bridge the achievement gap and foster a love of learning. She also developed extended learning programs, which helped increase test scores and improved attendance, including the creation of the Roxhill Saturday Academy and other math and reading intervention programs. She has been honored to serve the students, staff and families of Roxhill, a community she truly loves and admires.

Ms. Dellino received her Bachelor of Arts in English and Italian Language and Literature and also a Masters in Education at the University of Washington.

As the West Seattle Executive Director, Ms. Dellino said she is pleased that she will continue to support not only the Roxhill community, but the entire region. She is humbled and honored to work with an excellent group of school leaders who are dedicated to the success of every student and is looking forward to furthering the work being done.

Please join me in congratulating Kim and Carmela!

Sincerely,

José Banda
Superintendent
Seattle Public Schools