2023-24 SOT Parent Information & Application

Purpose of the School Organizational Team & Members

At Vassiliadis, the School Organizational Team (SOT) is designed to address core impact school wide issues by utilizing shared decision making.  The team is comprised of stakeholders within the Vassiliadis school community, who are fueled by making all decisions with a focus on what is best for students.  We believe in shared leadership and high levels of communication.  Therefore, our School Organizational Team is driven by consensus decision making, which is a creative and dynamic way of reaching agreement between all members of a group instead of simply voting.  The Vassiliadis Leadership Team (SOT) is committed to finding solutions that everyone actively supports, or at a minimum, can live with.  The SOT at Vassiliadis will have an extended team (in blue below) that will include a representative from each grade level, a specialist representative, a special education representative, learning strategists, the assistant principal, and the principal.  The extended team will include:

 

Melanie Danzeisen - Kindergarten representative (SOT teacher)

Chara Mariani - 1st grade representative

Jaclyn Gambino - 2nd grade representative

Laura Gallagher - 3rd grade representative

Rachel Levandusky - 4th grade representative

Tina Stevens - 5th grade representative (SOT teacher)

Sandy King - Special Education representative

Victoria Vesp - Specialist representative

Stephanie Ashe - Support Staff representative

 Tiffany Mehling - Parent representative (SOT Parent)

  Becky Desautels - Parent representative (SOT Parent)

Jamie Meyer - Parent representative (SOT Parent)

Paul Catania - Principal

Nestor Pineda - Assistant Principal

Aimee Levy - Assistant Principal

 

This team will represent the voices of the entire school, provide true shared leadership, and maximize communication within the school community.  The team will work together to come to a consensus on discussion items and provide a voice and high levels of communication to the entire school community.  In the unique case that the team is not able to reach consensus, the official SOT, which consists of the names in red (above) will be responsible for voting.  However, this has never been needed in all of my years as a principal of an empowerment school, which functioned with consensus decision making.

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What is the role of a School Organizational Team?

• ​To provide input on the school performance plan and budget

• ​To provide continued advice to the principal in carrying out the school plan

• ​Assist with the selection of the next principal when there is a vacancy

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What are the requirements of the School Organizational Team's members?

• ​​Serve on the team through September 30 unless your child no longer attends the school

• ​Attend meetings at least once per month outside of school hours

• ​Make decisions with the whole school population in mind

• ​Work collaboratively and attempt to reach consensus with the team

 

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