District 150 announced moments ago that Grenita Lathan is the preferred candidate for the position of Peoria Public Schools Superintendent. No official appointment will be made until all due diligence is completed. She will be coming to our community soon for an official introduction.
Dr. Lathan is currently the Interim Deputy Superintendent for the San Diego Unified School District.
As interim deputy superintendent she is responsible for planning, organizing, controlling and directing the divisions of School to Career Education; Instructional Support Services; Federal and Special Programs; Gifted and Talented Education; Office of Language Acquisition; Standards, Assessment and Accountability; Enrollment Options; Magnet School Program and Dropout Prevention.
She also serves as a member of the superintendent's cabinet.
Digtriad.com provided some background information about Lathan is a Sept. 10., 2007 article. At the time Lathan was princicpal of Washington Elementary School in Greensboro, NC.
The article said, low test scores, unhappy parents and a revolving door of administrators have been a recurring theme at Washington Elementary School.
"But this year is off to a much better start."
At the school more than 98 percent of students were on the free lunch program and many lived below the poverty level."Failing test scores prompted teachers to leave and parents to pull their kids out of the school," the article said.
But under Lathan's direction as new principal the dire situation began to turn around.
For the first time in five years, the school met both state and federal benchmarks.
"The community felt that this was a failing school; parents felt it was a failing school; staff members felt it was a failing school," said Lathan.
Lathan laid out for the article some are some of her strategies for success:
1) Comprehensive School Reform: "We evaluated every instructional program that was being utilized at the time in the school. We looked to see if it fit the needs of the students that we were serving. We saw that it did not fit the needs," said Lathan, who then overhauled the school's program.
2) School-Wide Discipline Plan: Lathan and her staff teach students to "Respect themselves, respect others, respect learning and do the right thing," she said.
3) Lathan implemented a school-wide reading program to help students improve comprehension.
4) Intervention Team members became a fixture at the school.
5) Community Involvement: Volunteers tutor students. Two days a week, 3rd through 5th graders spend two days a week in tutoring on the campus of N.C. A and T State University.
