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WASC team commends Hopwood
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Posted on May 01 2002
Hopwood Jr. High School received commendations and positive reviews from the Western Association of School and Colleges committee last week.
The two-member WASC team consisted of a retired school principal from Guam, Patricia Bennet, and a current school principal out of California, Joseph Kolmel. They visited Hopwood to see if improvements have been made since their previous visit last year.
During a previous visit, many challenges and areas of improvement were cited, including the challenge to continue the involvement and collaboration of stakeholders, a better focus on learning processes, and more site-based decision-making.
Also reported last year was the strong parental involvement, the creation of programs for at-risk students, more student organizations, and a push for a more caring attitude among students.
This year, as a continuing observation from last year, commendations were made about the high student, teacher, parent, and staff morale.
Komel, a high school principal from California, said, “the high moral among staff and students is obvious.” This was received gladly, mainly because this was Komel’s first visit to Hopwood and Saipan.
The team highlighted the students of Hopwood as students who have “exhibited better self-discipline and expressed pride in the establishment of a more positive image for Hopwood Jr. High School as a safe/secure learning environment.”
Other commendations include increased efforts in several areas-mainly the teaching methodologies and strategies, the Special Education department, cooperative learning among the staff, better discipline procedures and an overall positive image. Also noted in their report was how the upgraded school infrastructure positively affected the school climate.
When asked to respond to the visiting WASC teams report, Hopwood Principal David Borja said, “I am proud of all the work effort made by the teachers, staff, our students, the parents, and the island community at large. The results of the visit culminated the metamorphosis of Hopwood into a community school filled with positive growth and activities”.
