'Marvelous Enthusiasm' From New Mark Twain Staff

Two new staff members for the 2011-2012 school year are already hard at work at their new jobs, despite it being the end of the school year.

Principal Karen Smith said that the new fifth-grade teacher Gail Hotze and school counselor Cheryl Miller have already shown a huge commitment to the school. 

"Both have spent a lot of time with us, even though they are still working at their current positions," Smith said. 

Hotze (pronounced hot-zee) comes from Imagine Academy, a charter school for Environmental Science and Math in St. Louis. She has five years of experience teaching fourth and fifth grade as a Title I teacher, also serving as Imagine Academy's reading specialist.

About Hotze, Smith said, "She has a lot of background working with diverse children, which is something we were looking for. She's a very eager learner and her enthusiasm is marvelous."

When looking to hire a new staff member, Smith said she looks for a strong knowledge base and number of years of education in a specific field--but it goes beyond that.

"We look at the character of the person, and how we feel that person would interact with the team," she said. "We want to see that the person is nurturing and caring and that shows in the interview." Smith said other important factors include strong people skills, as the school is very involved in the community.

"When you become a teacher or administrator in Brentwood you become a part of that community," she said. Part of that mentality is including other staff members and parents in the decision-making process for hiring, Smith said. 

Mark Twain has found a need in the past three years to hire additional staff due to an increase of between 28 and 33 new kindergarten students each year, she said. 

Smith hopes it will level off so she can maintain a small school with individual attention for each student. "The advantage of Brentwood maintaining these small schools is that it's manageable, and we know all the kids," Smith said. 

Cheryl Miller has 17 years of experience as a teacher and school counselor in the Wentzville school district, now leaving  in Lake Saint Louis with five years of school counseling experience to come to Mark Twain. She was a teacher for kindergarten, first grade and fourth grade before becoming a counselor, an important point to Smith when hiring her for the job.

"She's filling the shoes of someone who's been with us for 15 years, so we were looking for a veteran counselor with a lot of experience, not just as a counselor but in the classroom as well," Smith said.

With similar enthusiasm to Hotze, she said, "Cheryl has already gone class to class to meet all of the students."

Smith said what she looks forward to seeing most from Hotze and Miller is building relationships with the students, and, "...letting those kids be everything they can be. That's number one with them (Hotze and Miller) and No. 1 with me."

Both staff members will receive support through mentor and professional development workshops every month.

"We're very much a team and a family, so we just do what we need to do to help family members," Smith said.