Article written by Acknowledge Alliance Resilience Coach Jean Hamilton with contributions by SSD Communications Coordinator Alia Wilson.
Acknowledge Alliance recognized Columbia Middle School Principal Mary Beth Allmann, Assistant Principal Daniel Aguilar Poo, and Assistant Principal Esteban Ybarra with its Principal Leadership Award at its 12th annual Forget-me-Not awards dinner on May 9th.
As Acknowledge Alliance Resilience Coach Jean Hamilton said, each one of these three could be receiving this award. Together they are more than triple in excellence, they are an unbeatable team.
They are beloved by staff, district administrators, the students and families of the Columbia community, and by other schools in the district.
They embody all the positive qualities wanted and needed in leaders: they listen, they think big, they have high expectations, they cooperate, they like each other, the students and staff they lead, and the work that they do. They also have fun and bring joy to their work.
One year at Halloween, they dressed up as Rock, Paper, Scissors. I don’t know which one was which, but let’s look at it this way: Esteban as the scissors, cutting through to what’s most important, to reach the human in each situation. Daniel as the paper, the one who keeps the record, holds the history, expresses the values of the school. Mary Beth as the rock. Rock solid, rock star.
Every week when I’m at Columbia, I get to meet with Mary Beth. I can’t say enough good things about her and her leadership. She cares deeply about all the people who work at the school and all the students and their families who attend it. She is a resilience consultant or counselor at heart. She also knows how to have difficult conversations when necessary and she does this with respect and grace.
It’s very obvious why they are being acknowledged and honored.
Acknowledge Alliance serves K-12 schools in the San Francisco Bay Area, integrating resilience into all levels of learning by mentoring educators, counseling at-risk youth and teaching social-emotional learning lessons for the whole classroom. Acknowledge Alliance and SSD have been partners for seven years.
