Beth Lubeck-Ceffalia grew up in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, where she had “fabulous teachers” who inspired her to give back to the community through education.
Today, she is not far from her childhood home, serving as principal at P.S. 132, The Conselyea School, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Lubeck-Ceffalia was an assistant principal at the pre-K-through-5th-grade school before being named principal five years ago. Being able to stay at the same school was a nice continuity, she said, although her new post as principal brings “a very different perspective.”
Before Lubeck-Ceffalia arrived, many felt that P.S. 132 was lacking a sense of community and an efficient way to communicate with parents. The surrounding Williamsburg neighborhood had become more family-friendly, but that influx of children wasn’t felt at the school; many parents preferred to send their kids to schools in Manhattan.

The school was also “very traditional,” according to parent Kimberly Wright, and lacked parent involvement and diversity.
“Beth is very young, but she uses that as an asset,” Wright said. “She has an energy and a vibrancy and is extremely responsive to parents.”
In order to improve the school, Lubeck-Ceffalia said she took a “let’s try it” attitude toward parent suggestions. Soon, parents were coming in to help teachers in the classroom. The principal started a blog on the school’s website, and administrators launched a baby play group designed to reach families who weren’t yet school-age.
“We would brainstorm and sit together,” Lubeck-Ceffalia said, adding that the group discussed issues that were important to people as both neighbors and parents.
“Everyone knows about the school now,” she added. “Our school has changed the Williamsburg community.”
In October, the school held its fourth annual harvest festival, which it happily opened to the surrounding community. Families and neighbors picked pumpkins, played games and enjoyed home-cooked foods from different cultures, said Wright, one of the event’s organizers.
In the spring, P.S. 132 holds a kite festival. Students invite parents and relatives to create kites, then the families take their kites and fly them together at nearby McCarren Park.
In keeping with the community theme, P.S. puts a big emphasis on volunteering and student service. Recent projects have included beautification efforts at McCarren Park and the launch of a school recycling program. Individual classes at P.S. 132 currently hold 16 of the top 25 spots in a “Service Counts” ranking kept by The League, a non-profit that encourages school community service. P.S. 132 has raised a total of $27,000 with 5,400 hours of community service, and four students were recently honored by President Bush at the White House for having completed 400-plus hours of community service.
Lubeck-Ceffalia feels like she gets value back from the students, too. The children’s love for the school shows in the way they say “hello” in the morning, the principal said, and in their enthusiasm and energy.
“It’s a really dynamic place,” Lubeck-Ceffalia said. “It’s a great place to be a principal.”
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Principal Beth Lubeck-Ceffalia
P.S. 132, The Conselyea School
320 Manhattan Ave.
Brooklyn, N.Y.11211
718-599-7301, www.ps132andyou.net
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Harvey Katz, principal of P.S. 117 Keld/Briarwood School in Jamaica, Queens, says the key to success is cooperation.
“We are all working together,” he said of the staff and parents at his pre-K-through-6th-grade school. “The idea is communication.”
Katz encourages both students and parents to take an active part in the education process and wants them all to feel as though “they are stakeholders,” he explained.
“This is not a rich neighborhood,” said parent Lixu Chen. “Parents don’t have money for private tutors.”
But Katz makes the school like a second home for many children, she explained.

Principal Harvey Katz meets students and parents outside every day. Photo By: Andrew Schwartz

“He is very compassionate,” Chen said. “I wish every principal would work as hard as him.”
At P.S. 117, 77 percent of students qualified to receive free lunch during the 2006-2007 school year, and the school is eligible for Title 1 federal funding. But Katz insists that “poverty is not a basis for an excuse for not achieving”—and test scores have reflected that belief. Sixty-nine percent of students scored a 3 or a 4 on the 4th grade English Language Arts exam in 2006-2007, and 92 percent of students scored a 3 or a 4 on the 4th grade math exam that year.
Katz says he makes it a priority to help both children who are considered “struggling learners,” as well as those who show extraordinary promise.
“We need to look at children who are talented, and can go even further,” he said.
Katz has 37 years of experience in New York City schools, with a focus on elementary education. He came to P.S. 117 six years ago after serving as the principal of P.S. 174, the William Sidney Mount School in Rego Park, Queens.
“I enjoyed being with children and I wanted to help them grow and succeed,” he said.
Beyond textbook learning, the school has a vibrant arts program that includes major theater productions. Recent musicals have included The King and I, Guys and Dolls, High School Musical and The Wiz.
While P.S. 117 is only required to have a parent association, Katz has worked to build a parent-teacher association.
“Teachers are not included at many schools,” he said, but at P.S. 117, “the teachers have the right to speak and vote.”
Katz also works with parents and students across cultural lines, but he does not see those lines as boundaries.
“Our school reflects the great diversity of New York City,” he said.
The school serves families whose primary languages are Spanish, Russian, Bengali, Urdu and Tagalog.
“We get along very well and we celebrate all of these cultures,” he said.
Part of that is making everyone feel welcome, and Katz sets the tone by going to meet parents and children in front of the school every morning.
“I go out everyday and greet everybody,” he said. “It’s also a good way to talk to parents and share good things [as well as] things they’re concerned about.”
Katz also uses the opportunity to keep an eye on traffic in the neighborhood and other safety issues.
Not one to rest on his laurels, Katz and his colleagues are constantly thinking about how to continue making progress at the school.
“We’re not complacent,” he said. “We’re looking for new ways to build and improve upon our work here.”
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Principal, Harvey Katz
P.S. 117 Keld/Briarwood School
85-15 143rd St.
Queens, N.Y. 11435
718-526-4780
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Few elementary school students read books in both Spanish and English, rehearse with a young people’s chorus and take yoga classes during a school day. But at P.S. 75, all 800 students take advantage of those opportunities daily, thanks to the dedicated leadership of Principal Bob O’Brien.
“He is a great leader,” said Eleanor Krieger, mother of a 1st grader at P.S. 75. “He’s the kind of leader that brings out the best in the people around him. It’s a great community and he’s the person that’s steering the ship.”
For the past 12 years, O’Brien’s leadership has turned P.S. 75 into an unusual community of learners. Expanding the school’s dual language program from five classes to 12, O’Brien has ensured that students in the linguistic minority have the same opportunities as those in the majority.

“Spanish-dominant students who would ordinarily be served in a bilingual program that is just language-minority students are served in a context in which there are English-dominant students who want to learn Spanish,” O’Brien said.
All children leave the program bilingual and bi-literate.
“You can turn what might have been a challenge into a strength for the school and see everyone succeed,” O’Brien said.
To help special needs students, O’Brien has introduced collaborative team teaching into the school. Special needs students are integrated with general education students in 10 different classrooms, which are team-taught by a special education teacher and a general education teacher.
“The amazing thing about it is it’s often difficult for a visitor to pick out which are the students that have special needs, or to pick out which teacher is which,” O’Brien said. “We make sure that kids are reaching their fullest potential without segregating students in special needs classes or sending them to another school. They’re all our kids and they all stay in our school.”
O’Brien is as inclusive of the parents of P.S. 75 as he is of the students. He makes time to speak to parents on a daily basis and organizes informal principal-parent chats once each month.
“His dedication to parents and understanding the parents’ perspective is really unique,” said Jennifer Friedman, mother of a 2nd grader. “He doesn’t come to those meetings with an agenda; he comes and hears what the parents have to say. I’m an administrator of a preschool so I know different ways to respond to parents. He’s not a ‘yes’ man; he’ll explain why things are done the way they’re done. He’s very clear and honest, which gains him respect.”
Parents also respect O’Brien for his dedication to students after school hours; he expanded the after-school program to include music, pottery, theater and cooking classes, at a fraction of the cost of other neighborhood programs. His commitment to the arts ensures that every 5th grade student takes ballroom dance classes and invites students in grades 3, 4 and 5 to participate in a young people’s chorus that has performed at Carnegie Hall. Responding to a concern that students were not getting enough movement during the day, O’Brien moved computers into classrooms, turned the computer lab into a yoga room, and added yoga classes to the curriculum.
“There are lots of opportunities to experience learning outside of reading and math,” O’Brien said. “While those things are important, there are lots of other ways to know the world and experience learning. Those are the things that I am proudest of.”
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Bob O’Brien, Principal
P.S. 75, Emily Dickinson
735 West End Ave.
New York, N.Y. 10025
212-866-5400, www.ps75.org
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