Q&A: New Belle Air Principal Determined to Get School Out of Program Improvement

is one of three schools in the that has a new principal this year.

As the new leader for the school, Michael Rothhammer is taking over during a challenging year when to help the school get out of its fifth year of program improvement, a designation given to schools under the No Child Left Behind Act when they consequetively miss their federal goal for proficiency with statewide tests.

San Bruno Patch recently sat down with Rotthammer for a quick Q&A as the new school year gets underway.

San Bruno Patch: Let’s start off by briefly telling me about yourself.

Michael Rothhammer: I’ve been in education for many years. I started off, actually, in early childhood education. And what’s fortuitous is actually this school site, as a number of school sites have, has a pre-school program. I’ve been an elementary school teacher, I was a literacy coach for period of time, and I was an assistant principal and most recently a principal.

All my career in education has been in the East Bay. But, actually, I grew up here on the Peninsula. I was born in San Francisco. I went to school, for the most part, in Daly City and San Mateo, and went to Hillsdale High School. So it’s sort of like coming back for me, in a way.

Patch: What’s it been like coming to Belle Air so far?

Rothhammer: Well, Belle Air looks a lot like the schools that I either taught at, coached at or been an administrator at. Each school is unique so there are unique qualities to Belle Air and challenges at Belle Air that there may not be elsewhere. But, for the most part, this is a school that I’m familiar with.

So at Belle Air, more so but not exclusively more than at other schools in San Bruno Park School District, there are issues of language. So students if not master at least acquire the academic language in order to be successful, so there is a process of accelerating that with them and also tending to their language needs, both their oral language and their academic language.

It’s a great school. There are lots of systems in place here. When I interviewed, I did one-on-one’s with all the teachers, and every single teacher said that they loved the students, loved the community, families and that they’re really like a team here. It really struck me how passionate the teachers are here. I would say it’s pretty remarkable.

Patch: What are some of the things you’d like to see happen here this school year?

Rothhammer: My goal is to refine and deepen our practice to be even more effective in addressing the language needs of these students. Ultimately, our goal is that these students are eligible to go to college. We have them for this period of time, and they go on to middle school and high school. But it’s so critical what we do in terms of teaching them to be fluent and readers that understand what they’re reading. We have a little more to do than other schools with smaller English-learner populations. But I feel that if we refine and deepen our practice, then these students can be as successful as students anywhere else.

Really, our goal here is to have Belle Air exit from program improvement and have an API of 800. I think we’re closing in on that.

Patch: If I was a parent here at Belle Air, what could I expect to see this year?

Rothhammer: One thing we want you to see is, if you’re a parent here, we want you to feel welcome here and to know that this is your school. We are here to serve you.

So if you’re a parent at Belle Air, you can feel welcome to come at any time. As a parent, you would notice that we have opportunities for you to be engaged in the school, whether it’s in the classroom, whether it’s in some of the organizations such as PTA or school site council or ELAC, and also that you’d see that we have some classes to help you be more effective with your son or daughter at home so you know what goes on in the classroom.