Melissa Barrow last week was assembling a video to send out to parents announcing the Early Learning Center’s new music teacher.
As the first-year assistant principal at the school, posting video is outside of her normal day-to-day job duties. So, why was she compiling clips of happy students learning music?
“Because there are happy kids here,” she said with a laugh. “If you don’t give people a glimpse into what is happening in the schools and how the day is structured and what they do at recess, all of those pieces, they start to come up with their own idea of what it is, or what it should look like.”
Communication and lifting the veil on the experience at the Early Learning Center, through photos and video of daily happenings at the school and various family focused events planned, is a priority for the longtime administrator to put parents at ease and encourage their involvement.
“That’s so great for parents of early learners,” Barrow said. “Sometimes this is their first child coming to school, they’re a little nervous. Just giving them a glimpse into the school helps them understand more.”
Barrow comes to the Poughkeepsie City School District after spending a decade of her roughly 20-year career in education with the East Ramapo Central School District. There, she rose to the position of assistant superintendent of student programs, assessment and evaluation.
She took on her new role seeking a new experience.
“I’ve never been a leader of a school. I’ve been supervising all different types of programs and principals, doing principal evaluations having not been a principal before,” she said, noting conversations with principals sparked an interest to become one herself. “This will help me see more about what is happening in the schools.”
Specifically at the Early Learning Center, which has pre-K and kindergarten classes, Barrow said the staff can “make a big imprint on who they’re going to become and their love of learning.”
The age is also where educators have the ability “to set a trajectory,” she said. “You’re preparing kids for the algebra Regents now, when you’re talking to them about patterns and things like that.”
Assistant Superintendent for Elementary Education Gregory Mott praised the experience Barrow brings to the Early Learning Center, noting while at East Ramapo “she created and assisted with implementing a robust English Language-Learner program.” He said she would be a resource as the Early Learning Center’s dual language program continues to grow.
She opted to pursue a career in education over becoming a lawyer or politics, after she worked in an after-school program in the city and saw she had a knack for it. In addition to working in bilingual classes early in her career, she taught migrant students and young adults on black dirt farms in Orange County.
With her mother’s family coming from Puerto Rico, Barrow grew up speaking Spanish. With a father from Texas, she’s a Dallas Cowboys fan, and enjoys most contact sports. Her daughter is into track and field, and she’s enjoyed hanging out with the other “track moms.”
Barrow’s own origins as an educator date back to childhood. She called herself “that bossy child.”
On the playgrounds growing up in New York City, she would help other kids tie their shoes – “my mom made sure I knew how to tie my shoes before I went to school – and correct students’ pronunciations – “I’m like, ‘That’s not how you say that word. It’s ‘spuh-get-tee.’”
As for the Early Learning Center families, she said, “I’d like the community to know that I’m here for the students. It’s my job to work with the parents and work with students to help them become better students and better members of society.”
