Small Town News

Emershaw leads WUSD this school year

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Adele Emershaw has taken the role of leader for the Westwood Unified School District this year as superintendent and principal at both school sites.

It is a temporary one-year role. She is filling while Henry Bietz takes a leave of absence to help the district cut expenses and balance its budget. Although she worked with Bietz for several months to prepare, she said she is learning on the job.

"I thought I would work as a principal and then when Mr. Bietz retired I would apply for the job of superintendent. This is jumping in feet first," said Emershaw.

However her experience with the district, knowledge of the community and her support system is working in her favor. She said she has been with WUSD since the 1995-96 school year, except for a one-year leave of absence when she taught in the Visalia Unified School District due to a family emergency. Her work within West-wood School District has been as a teacher and administrator so she is able to view issues from both sides.

To learn more about the oversight of a school district she has been attending workshops that not only provide information but connections as well. She has met many people who have gone from being a principal to a superintendent principal. In addition she is getting advice and information from the Small School District's Association and Association of California School Administrators.

"Everyone has been really supportive. If I need anything I usually have an answer pretty quickly with a phone call or e-mail," said Emershaw.

Also helpful is having a fiscal advisor assigned by the Lassen County Office of Education to help with budget decisions, she said. Sheila Vickers, vice president of School Services of California, is the fiscal advisor for the West-wood School District. While the school board makes the decisions on how to run the district Vickers and Jud Jensen, as superintendent of Lassen County Schools, gives guidance when the decisions impact the budget.

Emershaw said it is possible to provide a quality education during financially tough times.

"We just have to be creative and think outside the box," she said.

Her goal is to help the culture at both schools and help the students have the best educational experience they can. She added that all the adults that come in contact with the children are mentors and this is not limited to the school system but includes the community.

Emershaw said she welcomes volunteers at the school from parents who want to assist in their child's classroom to adults to help monitor children during the Breakfast for Kids Program that is run each morning before school starts. She also wants to see lots of communication between parents and their children's teachers. A new program called Power

School will provide opportunities to link teachers and parents via e-mail.

It's important for the community to be informed on school matters and understand what is happening therefore the fact that more people are attending the school board meetings is beneficial, said Emershaw.

Teaching was not Emer-shaw's first career. She discovered that she had a natural talent for it after volunteering as a preschool aide in Needles, Calif. The experience prompted her to obtain a degree in early childhood education and with this credential she got a job as a preschool teacher for Head Start. The principal there encouraged her to get a teaching credential so she continued her education and took a job as a fifth-grade teacher at Vista Colorado Elementary School in Needles. She finished the courses to become credentialed at California State University, Chico when she and her family moved north.

Emershaw said her first career was 'mom' to her two children. She also worked in radio and television for 16-years in Southern California having majored in information and communication studies at Chico State after graduating from high school. She was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Living in the Lake Almanor area was a goal for her and her husband.

"My husband and I used to come to this area to fish, hike, backpack and camp when we were in college at Chico State, and we always thought it would be a great area to raise our children and live," said Emershaw.

This school year Emershaw said her greatest challenge will be time management as she juggles the work of three jobs.

"I want to be able to provide the services the students deserve and need and the only way to do that is to be on top of everything. That will be a challenge but I think it is doable," said Emershaw.

She added that administrators are only as good as the people working for them and the Westwood School District has quality teachers and employees from janitorial staff, to cafeteria staff and teaching aides.

Also she said she has a great cabinet with Phil Bryant and Jon Foy providing administrative assistance at the high school and Josie Gibbs at Fletcher Walker Elementary.

"I think we work really well as a team and I think in this time of fiscal crisis we will even get closer and be more unified," said Emershaw.



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© 2009 Westwood PinePress Westwood, California. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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