She knows how to remain fresh in her work while forestalling staleness. Her professional edge is sharp enough to cut whiskers from a 3-feet distance by participating in the schools community, not imperially presiding over it. She embodies the reverential, traditional concept of living her professional life as a committed, deeply involved educator. She clearly knows the Culver City schools, the parents, the personnel and the students from both sides of the desk. She knows them as a voice of authority and as a player, as a participant.
Assuming Command with Clarity
Her communication skills are at their professional peak. She knows how to verbalize what she wants and what she means, to lay people and to other professional educators.
As of this morning, she had two well-worn, well-maintained volumes, both 90 years old, of the once-popular Bobbsey Twins series parked on the south side of her desk.
Riding a Roller-Coaster
Ms. Fiello will make her first appearance as Interim Superintendent at Tuesday nights opening School Board meeting of the new term. School Board meetings have been compared to bizarre roller-coaster rides when the earth beneath the contraption suddenly is removed. Grounded and mature, Ms. Fiello is not a kid who is steeling herself for a pressurized evening, although she will be closely watched since this is Opening Night.
Postscript
In making a value judgment about the ballyhooed state index scores for Culver City schools, Ms. Fiello said there is a separate category of indexing that she regards as far more telling.
[Next: How to read the school scores.]