August 8, 2006 > Promotions and changes in New Haven Unified

by Rick La Plante

Glynn Thompson, formerly Director of Instruction for the Los Angeles Unified School District, has been hired as Director of Curriculum in the New Haven Unified School District, pending approval from the Board of Education.

Thompson, who has 25 years of experience as a teacher, principal and administrator, will oversee curriculum development and the selection and adoption of textbooks and other instructional material.

Also, as part of New Haven's focus on improving student achievement, former Alvarado Elementary assistant principal Cheri Benafield has been named Literacy Specialist for the district.

Thompson and Benafield will help the district's efforts to reach a goal that 85 percent of all students will be proficient on state assessments by 2010. The current achievement level is about 50 percent.

The district also announced the hiring of Matt Smith and John Arreguin as house principals at James Logan High School. Logan has six "houses," or "families," designed to provide smaller learning communities for the school's 4,000 students. Smith, whose expertise includes small learning communities, comes to Logan from Martinez; Arreguin was principal at Carpenteria High outside Santa Barbara.

The district also announced that Barnard-White Middle School teacher Marcus Lam will serve as half-time assistant principal during the 2006-07 school year. Tracie Noriega, formerly an assistant principal at Barnard-White, has taken over as principal at Cabello Elementary, replacing Holly Scroggins, who accepted an offer to become a principal in Dublin, nearer to her home.