Melanie Paliotti

National University
CPSEL 1: Vision

Since beginning the National University coursework to participate in the Clear

Administrative Services Credential Program, I have had the tremendous opportunity and
privilege to serve two of our Vista Unified School District school communities. Last
year, I served as the assistant principal at Vista Academy of Visual and Performing Arts
with responsibilities including coordination of the International Baccalaureate Primary
Years Programme (IBPYP) and the arts integration magnet program. In this role I
actively contributed to curriculum development and articulation; facilitated staff
professional development and PLCs; revised the Comprehensive School Safety Plan;
and supported the academic, social, and emotional interventions for students including
restorative practices, discipline, and IEPs/SSTs/504s. Additionally, I worked extensively
with a high population of students with special educational needs, effectively utilizing my
CPI training and understanding of the IEP process and protocols. Another important role
I had was the evaluation of certificated and classified staff including formal and informal
observations and feedback. I also facilitated the preparation for IBPYP site
authorization and co-wrote grants and applications leading to the award of California
Gold Ribbon School, Title One Academic Achievement and Excellence in Arts Award.
In the 2018-2019 school year, I have had a new opportunity to grow, learn and
serve as the assistant principal of Empresa Elementary School. Empresa is very
different than Vista Academy with 855 students T-Kindergarten through fifth grade.
Empresa is a high performing school with very involved parents. The demographics are
very different (ELL population, numbers of students with special educational needs,
number of students who qualify for free and reduced lunch/low SES) and the special
populations are represented in lower percentages of the total school community.
Empresa is more diverse, however, with a significant number of students who are
Newcomers and who speak a variety of languages such as Chaldean, French,
Vietnamese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Arabic, etc. Empresa has very active
parent groups - PTA and EPAF (Empresa Performing Arts Foundation) who support the
school financially as the school does not qualify for Title 1 or additional district funding
(such as magnet funds.) The visual and performing arts are thriving largely due to the
support of the parents and community as they are not funded by the district. I have the
opportunity to serve in many of the same capacities as I did at Vista Academy but I also
now lead our ELD programs, 504s, Watch DOGS and Bookworms (parent volunteers)
and our Kindness Ambassadors and 4th Grade Buddies. I have been very fortunate to
be part of both of these dynamic schools and I am learning so much!
 My goals and my philosophies as an educational leader are to promote academic
achievement in a safe, student-centered learning environment; to encourage critical
thinking and problem solving; to foster intellectual and social-emotional development; to
facilitate open communication and collaboration with all stakeholders; and to provide
effective planning and instruction which prepares students with skills needed in the 21​st
century. My past experiences and current assignment enable me to use effective
communication; collect and analyze data, demonstrate interpersonal, organizational,
and leadership skills; and successfully support the needs of all learners. I am confident
that as a servant leader I will contribute positively to the dynamic programs at Empresa
Elementary or any other school I have the privilege to be part of.
I endeavor to be a transformational leader. James McGregor Burns defined it as
a process where “leaders and their followers raise one another to higher levels of
morality and motivation. It is also defined by Wikipedia as “a theory of leadership where
a leader works with teams to identify needed changed, creating a vision to guide the
change through inspiration, and executing the change in tandem with committed
members of a group.” I believe in servant leadership and transformational leadership. I
love to serve the school community and to take care of things behind the scenes so that
teachers can make their magic happen with the students in their care. It is important to
have the right people on the bus and then move the bus in a common direction. I know
the teachers at Empresa care and they are working hard to do their very best for
students every single day. Empresa has achieved great things already and the school
community is made up of incredible teachers, enthusiastic students, and involved
parents - imagine what might be possible! The sky’s the limit!
Empresa began the year with two leadership groups. The Personalized Learning
Team and Grade Level Leaders. The principal and I thought it would be best to merge
the two into one group of leaders as we began the difficult task of reflection. We
needed to take a pulse of where we are and where we would like to head. The district
has embraced the idea of each school “branding themselves” and promoting their
program with a tagline, motto, revised mission, vision and values, aligning the program
with a research-based engine, and personalizing learning for the students in the school
community. Empresa is a school with strong academic reputation and a reputation for
outstanding music. The group, the “Lighthouse Team,” was gathered to light the way.
Who are we? Where are we headed? These were difficult discussions as all of the
members of the team are passionate and truly care about the school and the direction
we are heading and want the absolute best for students. We have had several
meetings to take a look at the current vision, mission and values. We have researched,
discussed, reworked, revised, and rewrote them - and the team is still not satisfied. The
goal is to develop a working copy to bring to the entire classified and certificated team
as well as the parents and students for input. It does take “blood, sweat and tears” to
really deeply understand and value each word in the vision statement as meaningful
and just right. I have included a document that outlines our meetings and discussions
along the way and this journey is not over yet.
The vision needs to be a living document that all stakeholders own and identify
with. Our Current Vision Statement is “Our vision at Empresa Elementary is to develop
active and creative minds within a caring and innovative environment.” The Lighthouse
team’s current working draft is “Our vision at Empresa Elementary is to provide a caring
and creative environment fostering a deeper love of learning in a diverse ever-changing
world.” The working draft of the mission statement is: “Empresa ‘s mission is to inspire
lifelong learning for every student with an emphasis on the arts” and our current tagline
is “Where Students Perform.” These drafts will be shared with our other stakeholder
groups as we work to refine them into our new vision, mission and values. We will
share with the entire staff and we have planned activities for teachers to gain
understanding about “Deeper Learning” as our engine. We will also work to further
develop our focus on personalized learning for each student through this lens.
CPSEL Standard 1’s overarching goal is “Facilitating the development,
articulating, implementation, and stewardship of a vision of learning that is shared and
supported by the school community.” Our efforts to reimagine what Empresa is and
where we are headed is aligned with this standard.
The DOPs - Descriptions of Practice include:
1.1 - Develop a shared vision
1.2 - Plan and implement activities around the vision
1.3 - Allocate resource to support the vision
Once our vision, mission, and values are agreed upon by the stakeholders, we
will need to further align our programs to meet this vision. We will need to align our
Single Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA) and our allocation of resources will also
need to support this vision.