A feeling of community

New Monroe Elementary Principal Jayme Braida may have only been on the job for a couple of months but she started work long before getting to know the students, teachers and community at her new school. Braida was hired in March for the position and is more than ready for the new school year to start.

“I am super excited about seeing the kids on the first day. I just can’t wait,” Braida said.

In her 11th year in education, Braida started her career in Chariton teaching fourth and sixth grades. Six years ago she moved to Oskaloosa Elementary serving as a fifth grade teacher, and later an instructional literacy coach for grades K-2, all while earning her masters degree in education from Iowa State University.

“That was an awesome experience because prior to that I had been all intermediate and upper elementary and middle school, so had that perspective,” Braida said. “Then, I came down to the K-2 world, which is an entirely different world and really was able to build on my knowledge and experience with foundational literacy and early childhood education.”

At Monroe Elementary, the new principal has two goals for the next school year. The first is to build strong relationships with all students, staff, families and community members. By building partnerships between school and home, the school can foster the kind of growth educators strive for.

“Relationships are extremely important. Some of the things I have already been doing is coming to the PTA events, coming to a school board meeting, coming to district leadership meetings, just being present and asking a lot of questions and listening, even when I wasn’t on contract, just so I could start getting to know people and the district,” Braida said. “Just trying to meet people in the community so we can start to form those partnerships because I think that is extremely important.”

Second, Braida will work to assess the strengths of the school and identify opportunities for continued growth. As a new principal, she doesn’t feel the need to come in and put her mark on everything, especially right away. She said she wants to come in and really figure out what is already working and gauge what can be improved upon.

“One quote that I really like is ‘good is the enemy of great,’” Braida said. “I think although I am going to take it slow and do a lot of listening and learning, there are still things that need to be done and I’m going to really be looking at those things that we need to be improving upon because good is not good enough.”

Braida also has a bevy of experience with Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) having worked in them at her last school. With PCM implementing PLCs for the 2018-19 school year, Braida is excited to bring her experience to the communities.

“The district itself, when you are applying for a job you do a lot of calling around and get the scope of things. The neat thing about PCM is, where I came from we were in year eight of implementing PLCs,” Braida said. “To see the transformation from where we were at the beginning ... to seven, eight years later, especially as a coach, I was able to see extremely high functioning teams and most importantly student achievement go up each and every year.”

She said the work the teachers were doing when they worked collaborativel,y including the focus on learning, not only for students but the teachers themselves helped develop their skills and make for a stronger school.

“I am excited to bring my experience and also embark on this new adventure,” Braida said. “I think we are on the brink of new and exciting things here.”

With the first day of school less than two weeks away, Braida, along with her daughter who will start kindergarten in Monroe, are busy getting ready for their new beginnings.

“I think it was perfect, exactly what I am looking for,” Braida said.

Contact Jamee A. Pierson at 641-7923121 ext. 6534 or jpierson@newtondailynews.com