little girl in yellow shirt playing with lego robot

We are proud to share this invitee post by Christian G. Parra about her feel as Principal at Harmony School of Excellence, a Harmony Public Schools campus in San Antonio, Texas.

Where practice yous currently work equally a school leader, and what exercise you like about your schoolhouse?

I am currently the main at Harmony School of Excellence and I enjoy working at our school because nosotros let our core values to drive us each and every solar day. We have high expectations, dedicated staff that works together and nosotros take Stalk for all.

What is the mission and vision at Harmony School of Excellence?

Our mission is to prepare each and every pupil for college and career by providing a safe, caring and collaborative temper and a quality student-centered educational plan with a strong accent on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

Our vision is to lead our students from the classroom into the world as productive and responsible citizens.

What are you about proud of almost Harmony Schoolhouse of Excellence?

We are proud to have corking relationships with our Harmony families. Those relationships tend to develop when nosotros (staff and teachers) make our home visits and they keep to strengthen throughout the twelvemonth.

It's important for our teachers, and staff, and that includes me, to get to know who our parents are AND for our scholars to know that we have a good human relationship because we know that it takes all of us working together to ensure a great education through open communication and that begins with building a human relationship.

Another thing that makes Harmony School of Excellence unique is that we're leaders in STEM, and that means nosotros engage students in Stalk at an early age. Information technology'south part of our schoolhouse civilisation and it certainly helps build that foundation that prepares them for middle school.

We're excited because we will be opening our Makerspace on Oct 5th, which will provide a dedicated infinite for our scholars to create, build and imagine all things STEM

At Harmony, how do you support flexibility and innovation in teaching and leading?

Our school focuses on encouraging teachers to lead and stay informed through professional learning and professional learning communities.  PLCs allow for teachers to meet equally a team, take a deep dive into the state standards and hash out, share, and create Practice Nows, Get out Tickets, etc.  that they believe will elevate rigor and increase educatee accomplishment.  This allows for teacher autonomy and buying of their classrooms.

How does Harmony School of Excellence maintain a focus on high quality instruction and student accomplishment?

Our campus has an Instructional Leadership Squad which is a team of campus administrators and instructor leaders, led by the primary, who collaborate to focus on the improvement of pedagogy and learning.  This squad is engaged in Harmony Core4 which is lesson preparation, data driven instruction, ascertainment feedback, and practice based professional learning.

What are some school traditions and things that you all do for fun?

Our scholars would say they participate in clubs of different kinds, and yes that is fun, but we besides celebrate our scholars by providing them with festivals throughout the year. Nosotros accept our annual fall festival that is open to the community and nosotros take a spring festival that allows our scholars to play games, win prizes and have some carnival-type food, besides as spend time with their friends playing and enjoying themselves. The teachers and staff, along with our parents and PTO do a bully job making it a fun fourth dimension for all who attend.

Also, I heard nigh our Friday ATTEN-DANCE!

This is a way our elementary students are celebrated for not missing a day of school for that specific week. At the stop of the week, and at the end of the day, the scholars  are invited into the hall to trip the light fantastic toe during the ATTEN-DANCE end of week Fri Celebration! Those scholars who didn't miss a twenty-four hours of school are able to dance in the hallway for the duration of a song. The music is played over the intercom system and they all allow loose. Teachers and staff join in and it is obviously a lot of fun.  Nosotros're looking into starting that tradition again. I didn't know nearly it!

What practise you desire potential charter school teachers to know near Harmony Public Schools? What do potential students and families need to know?

The communication that I take is if they haven't heard nigh Harmony Public Schools or know who we are, I encourage them to visit our website and see what we are all about.

Excellence is the Harmony Public Schools standard and this is well demonstrated by Harmony students who are consistently exceeding state averages on Texas standardized tests.

In the 2022 School Year all Harmony campuses beyond Texas met or exceeded country standards on the annual State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) examination.

Harmony Public Schools has the proud tradition of competing and winning country, national, and international Stalk competitions, country and national academic commendations, and competitive internships at high-ranking universities.

What are the benefits of school choice for students, families, and educators?

Some of the benefits are that school pick provides parents an alternative to traditional public schools. A lease public school, such as Harmony, is independently operated and can design elements of its own educational program. This allows for the charter school to savour enhanced autonomy.

Christian K. Parra, Principal, Harmony School of Excellence

Christian K. Parra, Principal, Harmony School of Excellence, San Antonio

Charter Moms Chats

Lookout Christian K. Parra, Principal at Harmony Schoolhouse of Excellence, speak with Inga Cotton fiber on Charter Moms Chats on September 23, 2022 at 4:00 PM Central live on Facebook and YouTube.

Christian Thou. Parra joined Harmony Public Schoolhouse in 2014 and served in leadership roles as the Thou–five Math Commune Instructional Omnibus and as the District Federal Programs coordinator. She was later selected to serve as the Chief Resident for the Harmony Public School'due south S Texas District, and was shortly appointed to be the primary for Harmony School of Excellence in July 2021.

Ms. Parra earned a Master'due south in Education Assistants from Lamar University in Beaumont. Her goals for the HSE—SA campus include having a growth mindset and a positive outlook with a focus on following areas: emphasizing a caring and inclusive school surroundings; being child centered; equipping staff and kinesthesia to embrace their own leadership and development; and collaborating with the community.

As a new master for Harmony School of Excellence, Ms. Parra is looking frontwards to fostering relationships with her staff, scholars, their parents and the community.

Read More than About Harmony Public Schools

  • "Harmony Public Schools San Antonio Enrollment Guide for 2021–2022,"San Antonio Charter Moms, November 10, 2020
  • "Harmony Public Schools launches Esports program to proceed students engaged in extracurricular activities," Briana Edwards,Click2Houston, October 29, 2020
  • "The solutions a charter school found to foster relationships almost," Catenya McHenry,KXAN, October 12, 2020
  • "Harmony Public Schools awarded $27.eight one thousand thousand federal grant to develop principals," Andres Picon,San Antonio Express-News, October 2, 2020
  • "U.Southward. Section of Education Awards Harmony $27.8 Meg Grant," Harmony Public Schools, Oct i, 2020
  • "Harmony Public Schools using 3D printers to create face up shields,"ABC 13, April vii, 2020