Mrs. Rees The Professional
I have been very blessed to have had a long and rewarding career in Education. I started by teaching 7th and 8th Grade Special Education, all subjects for five years. I also served as the District Gifted Education Coordinator. I then was given the opportunity to be the District Special Education Coordinator and a later year was given the position of Special Projects Director. As the District Special Education I was incharge of all state and federal programs. Do to the fact that I was on many state commities for both Title I and Special Education I got to know the Principal at St. Helen Elementary who encouraged me to apply for her position when she left . I was Principal at St. Helen for 14 years.
When I first came to St. Helen the state assessment scores were very low and the school was identified as not making Adequate Yearly Progress. Unfortunately, due to low enrollment, our district chose to close St. Helen Elementary, effective June of 2010. When we closed St. Helen Elementary School the school was easily making Adequate Yearly Progress and had an "A" on our state report card. When the building closed, I was charged with the huge task of closing that building. I was responsible for packing up nearly 50 years of educational documents, supplies, instructional materials and furniture. I had to determine what legally must be kept and what we could legally discard. I had to redirect everything kept to new locations in the district. I was also responsible for the coordination of changing assignments of staff and supervising them through this difficult reassignment process to other buildings in the district.
While performing my role as Principal at St. Helen Elementary I was also half time District (Pre-12) Instructional Administrator in charge of Title I, Early Childhood, Section 504, Grievance Officer, Assessment, Homeless Liaison Officer, MEAP, Mi-Access and CIMS II Coordinator. After the closing of St. Helen Elementary, I became the full time Pre-12th Grade Instructional Administrator for Roscommon Area Public Schools and the following esponsibilities were also added: Special Education Director, NWEA Assessment Coordinator, Curriculum Director. I was asked to do this job for one year due to the fact that there was a lot that needed to be addressed to bring everything up to compliance in the area of Special Education which previously was addressed by each of the building Principals. Within that year, I had successfully brought all projects, under my supervision, into complete compliance with all state and federal requirements.
I was asked to come to Roscommon Middle School due to the fact the school had not made Adequate Yearly
Progress because their Special Education Students had not made progress. At the end of my year there, the Special Education Students were making progress again and thus Roscommon Middle School was once again making Adequate Yearly Progress. I was then asked to take over Roscommon Elementary School where they had been identified as a not making Adequate Yearly Progress either.
Roscommon Elementary School was identified as a Focus School due to lack of student growth prior to me being principal. I am very proud to say that after my first year as Principal, we raised five of the eight assessed areas to above both the state average and the average of the other five school districts in our Intermediate School District.
Roscommon Elementary had never had a Preschool Program in the building. I had to fulfill the extensive state licensing requirements, write the proposal, write the Health, Crisis Management and Staff Training plans, as well as write the lesson plans and develop the calendar for all the activities in those lesson plans for the entire school year.
Kathy The Person
My husband Rick and I have been married for 17 years. We raised a wondferful blended family of three children from our previous marriages but we did not have a child of our own. In 2007 we made the decision to adopt a child from China. After adopting our daughters from Qian Jiang and Baoding China, I am an International Adoption Ambassador for Holt International Adoption. As an Ambassador I have been a guest speaker for several national webinars and have done public presentations. I am available, free of charge, to offer assistance and support to parents adopting internationally in regards to the adoption process, understanding a Special Needs issue their child may have, and advising parents how to obtain Special Education services for their child if those services are needed.Our first adopted daughter Jazmyne is seven years old and our second adopted daughter Jiayi is 5 years old. When we adopted our Chinese daughters we not only fell in love with them but with China as well. Through our daughters our dream has become to be able to teach in China.
Additionally, I also enjoy cooking, reading, home remodeling projects and farming. My husband's family has a 7,000 bush blueberry farm and we have worked the farm every summer for the past 10 years. I enjoy driving the tractors to work the fields, waiting on customers in the weight shed and picking blueberries to fill customer orders.
What I love about being a farmer in the summer time is that it is a completely different type of work than I normally do. Farming is very physically demanding and yet rewarding at the same time. I like the fact that I can sit with fellow farmers and talk about our crops, the weather complications and the potential yield of our crops, just as easily as talking with my educational colleagues. I can just as easily sit down with my professional colleagues and talk about curriculum, instruction and the needs of our students. I find the that the two occupations really balance one another. They each in their own ways keep me well rounded in my over all work abilities, as well as how I relate to people of all walks of life.
I have been very blessed to have had a long and rewarding career in Education. I started by teaching 7th and 8th Grade Special Education, all subjects for five years. I also served as the District Gifted Education Coordinator. I then was given the opportunity to be the District Special Education Coordinator and a later year was given the position of Special Projects Director. As the District Special Education I was incharge of all state and federal programs. Do to the fact that I was on many state commities for both Title I and Special Education I got to know the Principal at St. Helen Elementary who encouraged me to apply for her position when she left . I was Principal at St. Helen for 14 years.
When I first came to St. Helen the state assessment scores were very low and the school was identified as not making Adequate Yearly Progress. Unfortunately, due to low enrollment, our district chose to close St. Helen Elementary, effective June of 2010. When we closed St. Helen Elementary School the school was easily making Adequate Yearly Progress and had an "A" on our state report card. When the building closed, I was charged with the huge task of closing that building. I was responsible for packing up nearly 50 years of educational documents, supplies, instructional materials and furniture. I had to determine what legally must be kept and what we could legally discard. I had to redirect everything kept to new locations in the district. I was also responsible for the coordination of changing assignments of staff and supervising them through this difficult reassignment process to other buildings in the district.
While performing my role as Principal at St. Helen Elementary I was also half time District (Pre-12) Instructional Administrator in charge of Title I, Early Childhood, Section 504, Grievance Officer, Assessment, Homeless Liaison Officer, MEAP, Mi-Access and CIMS II Coordinator. After the closing of St. Helen Elementary, I became the full time Pre-12th Grade Instructional Administrator for Roscommon Area Public Schools and the following esponsibilities were also added: Special Education Director, NWEA Assessment Coordinator, Curriculum Director. I was asked to do this job for one year due to the fact that there was a lot that needed to be addressed to bring everything up to compliance in the area of Special Education which previously was addressed by each of the building Principals. Within that year, I had successfully brought all projects, under my supervision, into complete compliance with all state and federal requirements.
I was asked to come to Roscommon Middle School due to the fact the school had not made Adequate Yearly
Progress because their Special Education Students had not made progress. At the end of my year there, the Special Education Students were making progress again and thus Roscommon Middle School was once again making Adequate Yearly Progress. I was then asked to take over Roscommon Elementary School where they had been identified as a not making Adequate Yearly Progress either.
Roscommon Elementary School was identified as a Focus School due to lack of student growth prior to me being principal. I am very proud to say that after my first year as Principal, we raised five of the eight assessed areas to above both the state average and the average of the other five school districts in our Intermediate School District.
Roscommon Elementary had never had a Preschool Program in the building. I had to fulfill the extensive state licensing requirements, write the proposal, write the Health, Crisis Management and Staff Training plans, as well as write the lesson plans and develop the calendar for all the activities in those lesson plans for the entire school year.
Kathy The Person
My husband Rick and I have been married for 17 years. We raised a wondferful blended family of three children from our previous marriages but we did not have a child of our own. In 2007 we made the decision to adopt a child from China. After adopting our daughters from Qian Jiang and Baoding China, I am an International Adoption Ambassador for Holt International Adoption. As an Ambassador I have been a guest speaker for several national webinars and have done public presentations. I am available, free of charge, to offer assistance and support to parents adopting internationally in regards to the adoption process, understanding a Special Needs issue their child may have, and advising parents how to obtain Special Education services for their child if those services are needed.Our first adopted daughter Jazmyne is seven years old and our second adopted daughter Jiayi is 5 years old. When we adopted our Chinese daughters we not only fell in love with them but with China as well. Through our daughters our dream has become to be able to teach in China.
Additionally, I also enjoy cooking, reading, home remodeling projects and farming. My husband's family has a 7,000 bush blueberry farm and we have worked the farm every summer for the past 10 years. I enjoy driving the tractors to work the fields, waiting on customers in the weight shed and picking blueberries to fill customer orders.
What I love about being a farmer in the summer time is that it is a completely different type of work than I normally do. Farming is very physically demanding and yet rewarding at the same time. I like the fact that I can sit with fellow farmers and talk about our crops, the weather complications and the potential yield of our crops, just as easily as talking with my educational colleagues. I can just as easily sit down with my professional colleagues and talk about curriculum, instruction and the needs of our students. I find the that the two occupations really balance one another. They each in their own ways keep me well rounded in my over all work abilities, as well as how I relate to people of all walks of life.