After an international recruitment effort we are pleased to re-introduce Arlene Galve Salgado to our school community. Arlene began the school year as Assistant Head of School and served as the Interim Head of School during our search period. Although Arlene has been invaluable in her role as Assistant and Interim Head of School, she impressed the search committee with her practical, honest approach to school leadership and team building, her energy and enthusiasm for our mission and her ability to connect with our diverse student and family population. We will begin the search for the Assistant Head of The Spanish School this week. Thank you to all of the families and staff who supported us during our search for Head of School for The Spanish School.
Think you know Arlene? Below is her introduction in her own words. Join us for a Meet and Greet Coffee with the Head of School this Thursday, February 11th from 8am-9am.
Dear Spanish School SLLIS families,
It is a pleasure and honor to become the Head of School at St. Louis Language Immersion School (SLLIS), The Spanish School. As a leader of this school I am highly committed to the student’s learning, innovation and collaboration. I would like to share some information about my educational background, professional experience, and family life.
I am a native Spanish speaker from Mexico. My educational experience spans more than eighteen years in a variety of educational settings such as teaching, curriculum design and administration. As an administrator, I was a principal at a few schools, and administrative vice-president in a hospital. In those settings, I had the opportunity to work with all age and groups of students. I am a very responsible and dynamic person, highly motivated, who can handle multiple tasks at the same time. I strongly believe that all children have the right to an education and that all of them are capable of learning. I have had leadership roles in my professional career and I have built connections with all stakeholders. I have also worked with a diverse population and I respect and embrace cultural differences. I have been fortunate to be immersed in the American and Hispanic cultures.
I earned a Masters of Arts in Teaching from Columbia College in Columbia Missouri; I attained a Bachelor in Science with a major in Psychology from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). From there, I earned a Special Degree Certification in Family Counseling, from the University of Pedregal. One year later, I received a Special Degree in Health Care Administration, from UNAM, and a Special Degree in Public Administration, from UNAM as well.
For the past eight months, I have served as Assistant Head of School, The Spanish School, and for the last five months I have served as Interim Head as well. I have already been part of the team, and I have the opportunity to witness the birth of our Spanish School and its growth. I have built a warm and respectful relationship with students, staff, parents and the administration team. I have had the opportunity to learn, understand and practice the SLLIS philosophy and reach to attain the goals.
The transition as Head of School will be smooth for you as parent/caregiver, for our students, and for the Spanish staff, since I already know the curriculum, the expectations, the mission and vision, and the strengths and weaknesses of our program. My commitment to you and the students is to embrace the challenges in a professional manner, in a positive mode and look for solutions. My greatest initiative is to provide the leadership that will facilitate a school environment to provide differentiated instruction to meet the needs of each student to the best of our ability. The educational program must be academically challenging, engage each student by linking the curriculum to previous knowledge and experience, and also be exciting to promote further exploration of new ideas. Parents, teachers, support staff, and administration all have an important role to encourage our children to become active learners. It is my sincere desire to provide opportunities for our students to acquire the skills to become productive citizens in a vastly changing society. Through a close and collegial partnership with all of you, we can make our school an even a better place for our students to learn and grow.
On a personal note, I have been married (for 20 years) to a Computer Engineer who has always supported my professional development. I have two wonderful sons, my oldest son is in college as a pre-medicine student, and my youngest son is in 8th grade. Both of them have been volunteers in the after school program and in several SLLIS’s events.
Please feel free to contact me or stop by for a visit.
Respectfully,
Arlene Galve Salgado
Head of School, The Spanish School
Phone 314-533-0597 (direct number)
arlene@sllis.org
