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NEW YEAR, NEW PRINCIPAL: School welcomes new leader |
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Tuesday, 19 August 2008 |
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Baber takes over duties at Angie Grant Elementary  Laura Baber, new principal at Angie Grant Elementary School, checks the work of third-graders in Marilyn Gillespie’s class. Students, from left, are Josh Allbritton, Baley Freeman and Ethan Davis.
Laura Baber began her first official school day as principal on Monday when the 2008-09 school year started, and she said it was a smooth beginning.
“It was a really good first day,” Baber said today while visiting several classrooms.
She attributed the uneventful opening day to the school’s outstanding faculty. “Our teachers were prepared and it showed,” she said.
Baber comes to the Benton School District from the Malvern district, where she was assistant principal at Malvern Elementary, and before that was employed in the Hot Springs district for 16 years. She began her teaching career in 1987 at Glenwood Elementary School, holding a multi-grade combination of kindergarten and first grade.
“I’m very excited to be a part of the Benton School District,” Baker said.
“We have a lot of plans for this year,” Baber said. “We want to build on our successes and want all of our students to be successful.
“We will be working hard to make sure our children hit all their benchmarks set by the state,” she said. “Our teachers will be working really hard to help this happen.”
Angie Grant is one of four elementary schools in the Benton district. It has the highest number of English-as-a-second-language students of the four.
Baber already was residing in the Benton area before being hired as Angie Grant principal. Though the family resides in the Harmony Grove School District, her daughter has attended Benton schools under the School Choice Act for the past two school years.
She said her experiences with the Benton School district “have been positive.”
“I believe that the Benton School District is providing an excellent education for its students,” she said.
Baber earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Arkansas Tech University in May 1987 and received a Master of Science in Education degree from Henderson State University in 1990. She has done additional post-graduate study, receiving certifications in elementary principal K-9, curriculum specialist K-12, early childhood education P-4, middle school social studies 5-8, and English as a Second Language P-8 and ESL 7-12.
During the 2001-02 school year, when Baber was an employee of the Hot Springs district, Langston Magnet School wrote and received an Arkansas Reading Excellence Program grant, Baker noted.
She served on the grant writing committee and was responsible for the final grant application that required two positions — a literacy coach and a family literacy services coordinator. The family literacy services coordinator position was a part-time position and became part of her job responsibilities as the district’s Title I coordinator, Baber said.
“In this position, it became my job to fully implement a family literacy program and all four of its components into the schools. Those components were parenting, adult education, parent and child together time and child education.
“Implementation of the components required me to plan and conduct monthly grade-level parent meetings, parent training and workshops for parents in areas of need as identified on parental surveys,” she said.
She collaborated and partnered with National Park Community College in Hot Springs to provide adult English as a Second Language classes for parents with a teacher provided by the college.
“It was my goal to also provide GED classes for our parents,” she said. “The college did not have an instructor for this service, so it became my responsibility to provide GED classes for my parents, which I did for two years.”
She said she’s been “fortunate to participate in a wide variety of professional development “ during her educational career.
She said she has worked closely with the Arkansas Department of Education on various committees and projects.
Baber is a certified group fitness instructor and currently teaches group fitness classes at Pulse Premier Fitness in Bryant. In the past she has used this training with students during after-school programs and during clubs and activities program.
She applied for and received a Health Action Team grant during the 2001-02 school year, which focused on physical training for the students to enable them to become healthier individuals.
Baber describes herself as “a high-energy person” and will be incorporating that energetic spirit into her new role as Angie Grant Elementary principal.
She plans to give freely of her time and energy to ensure that students at Angie Grant “get the best education possible.”
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