Today we’d like to introduce you to Heather Hartzell.
Hi Heather, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
My love for teaching and the educational system began when I was a kindergartener at Woodland Park Elementary School in San Marcos. At that time, the school served kindergarten through fifth grade. I had the opportunity to be a student in the most amazing kindergarten teacher’s class. Her name was Julie Chapman! Her kindness and ability to make connections with her students made a powerful impact on the trajectory of my life. She instilled a love for learning and a desire to become an educator when I grew up. I am one of those lucky people that was fortunate early on to have this impactful person in my life. Mrs. Chapman was just one of those amazing educators I was afforded the luxury to meet during my time as a student. I realized very early on that I wanted to make this impact on the lives of my students.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I have been afforded many wonderful years as a teacher and administrator in the San Marcos School District. I was fortunate early on in my career to be surrounded by amazing mentors that helped guide me as an educator. One of these mentors I followed throughout my educational career, working for them at two different sites. This mentor and friend, Carrie Geldard, I followed to my current site of Discovery Elementary. Carrie provided me with the opportunity to build from the ground up a successful intervention program. This program began our first year at Discovery during the 2014 – 2015 school year. Together with the then Assistant Principal, Daphne Eby, we worked to create a system that provides students with quality Tier 1 instruction aligned with systematic Tier 2 and Tier 3 interventions. However, tragedy struck our wonderful school in September of 2019 when the then-principal and my dear friend passed away unexpectedly. As a site, we were left reeling from the loss but also having to pull ourselves together to start the school year. This was the most difficult event in my life as an educator. Our staff was broken but needed to remain strong for our students and maintain the work we had set out to do back when Carrie arrived at Discovery. With the loss of our principal, we were lucky to have our Assistant Principal Daphne Eby, step into the role of Principal. Fast forward to March of 2020: the education system has to shift to deal with the pandemic. Public school students across California pivoted from learning in the traditional brick-and-mortar setting to school models ranging from a full school closure, distance learning, remote learning, hybrid instruction, and year-long remote instruction. At the site level during the 2020 – 2021 school year, students in grades kindergarten through first grade learned in a hybrid learning model, switching between remote learning instruction and half-day instruction on campus. After these two difficult events was when I transitioned into the role of Assistant Principal to help our staff and students continue to heal from the loss of a friend and leader and continue to move forward with our vision for students learning amid the trying times of the pandemic. These two events, within a span of one year, created some of the most trying times for me as an educator and leader. However, through this trying time, our school became even stronger, and our teachers became even more effective at meeting the needs of all our students’ thanks to the amazing amount of work they put into growing as professionals over this period of time.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I have served the district of San Marcos for the past 20 years. I have dedicated my life to the improvement of the educational system. I have always believed it is my responsibility to help all students succeed in school. I have had the privilege of working in a wide variety of schools and grade levels which has provided me with the experience needed to help enact change at the classroom and site level. I have been afforded many leadership opportunities providing me with the ability to support students and teachers in the San Marcos Unified School District. I have served on grade, site, and district-level leadership committees. These multiple opportunities have allowed me to work on developing district assessments, work on adoption committees, and provide professional development in the areas of literacy, writing, and classroom management. Additionally, I was chosen to be a teacher leader for the Essential Elements of Instruction and worked with administration to train and model these elements at the site and district level. These elements are used for all teacher evaluations in our district and are a foundation of our instructional practices. At this time, I was honored as the District Teacher of the Year for San Marcos School District and a nominee for County teacher of the year.
I worked for six years as a Teacher on Special Assignment. In this position, I moved to a new site and worked with administration as the Intervention Specialist to develop a systematic data-driven response to intervention. We now have all three Tiers of support and provide interventions for reading and math. I have trained my team of instructional aides to work alongside the teachers in assessing and instructing students at their correct level. This position evolved to the role of Literacy Coach. I have been trained by the San Diego County Office of Education as an Instructional Coach and have worked to improve Tier 1 Instruction at the site and district level with a focus on English Language Learners and our special education students. This allowed me to work with all grade-level teams weekly in planning and implementing new instructional strategies. All these opportunities have afforded me a strong background in instruction and leadership.
Currently, I serve as the Assistant Principal of Discovery Elementary. At this school, I have the opportunity to work with an amazing principal, community of educators, and supportive families. As an educator, I have had the opportunity to be led by visionary leaders and observe the impact of their leadership. As a leader, I value looking to the future and having strategic and innovative goals aligned to a shared vision and mission of the school and district. In addition to strategic and innovative goals, I believe change cannot occur without a team. I believe, as a leader, in the empowerment of teachers and other stakeholders in being moral leaders. I believe in teams working toward a shared vision and mission with aligned goals and supporting my teams through guidance and collaboration. Together I believe in providing a setting where everyone works to ensure that ALL students are afforded the opportunity to learn in an inclusive environment.
One amazing accomplishment is the success of our students. As a former Reading Intervention Specialist and Literacy coach I strongly believe in the power of reading in determining the future success of our students. Research suggests that “Students who still struggle to read by the end of third grade face significant, long-term challenges. Third grade marks the shift from learning to reading to reading to learning, which means poor readers are at greater risk for falling behind in all other subjects and are less likely to attend college and secure a living-wage job” (Narrowing the Third-Grade Reading Gap Research Brief, 2021). During the 2022 – 2023 school year 96% of our students, including those with identified learning disabilities met our district benchmark for reading proficiency. This is absolutely amazing and should be celebrated!!! This will impact the lives of our students for the rest of their lives. This makes all the hard work worthwhile and brings me the greatest amount of joy as a leader and educator.
Are there any books, apps, podcasts, or blogs that help you do your best?
I strongly believe in continuing to grow as a leader and educator. My passion is in the area of reading, and when I have any free time, I like to learn more about best practices in the area of literacy. One of my favorite associations is the International Literacy Association (ILA). As a member, I participate in as many training sessions and read as many articles as I can! Another resource as a leader is the National Center on Education and the Economy (NCEE). Through the San Marcos School District, all leaders are provided the opportunity to participate in two years of learning through the National Institute of School Leadership (NISL), and this now serves as a resource for my continued learning as a school leader on how to continue to improve our performance as an educational system.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://discoveryelementary.smusd.org/
- Instagram: @Discovery_SMUSD
- Facebook: DSCElementarySchool
- Twitter: Discovery_SMUSD
