12 minute read
Landenberg Life Q & A Lorenzo DeAngelis, Principal, Kennett High School
|Landenberg Life| |Landenberg Q&A|
Lorenzo DeAngelis, Lorenzo DeAngelis, Kennett High School Kennett High School
After serving as the head principal of Kennett Middle School for the past seven years, Lorenzo DeAngelis was recently named the new principal of Kennett High School. Just prior to the start of the 2022-23 academic year, Landenberg Life recently spoke to the long-time educator about educating through COVID-19, school safety, navigating through the pressures of student life to achieve happiness -- and the photograph of his father serving a meatball to his oldest child.
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Principal, Principal,
Photos by Richard L. Gaw
Following the 2020-21 academic year, DeAngelis, front row, joyously celebrated with the teachers and administration of Kennett Middle School for the school’s outstanding work during COVID-19.
Landenberg Life: You served as principal of Kennett Middle School during a time that tested the patience and fortitude of the school’s teachers, its administration and the entire school community. Take the readers of Landenberg Life back to 2020 and 2021, when COVID-19 forced the school to invent a new way of teaching and learning – and how you succeeded.
Lorenzo DeAngelis: We relied on the foundation of who we were already, and with that, I knew that we could get through anything. I’m not saying that navigating our way through that time was easy; it was a struggle and we needed to make sure that we were able to do everything possible for our kids and meet them where they were. We also needed to make sure that we were all okay as a staff. The pandemic changed our culture and in particular, we saw that student behaviors were a lot different than we had ever seen before.
How so?
We saw our students struggling with proper communication with their fellow students and adults. When you are virtually learning in your room and have no contact with other people for a while, that has an affect on you. In November of 2021, we met as a faculty and I stood in front of them and said, “I hear you. We’re trying to figure out their new behaviors, too. Our culture has changed and we have to do something about it.”
We agreed as a staff that we were going to tighten the reigns, to make sure that we were going to have clear conversations about our expectations and, when needed, provide support. We quickly began to see upticks in more positive behaviors.
By the time February of 2022 came around, we began to take the temperature of the school again. I asked the staff, “So, where are we?” The staff gave a giant thumbs-up. We were not at 100 percent, but we were moving in the right direction. We relied on our team, our foundation and our family. I’m grateful that I had a great team to keep me in check, as well.
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If there was one silver lining that emerged from the dark cloud of COVID-19, it was that remote learning provides an effective alternative to the in-person classroom experience. How do you see virtual learning becoming a permanent component of primary education?
Nothing will ever replace a teacher in front of a child in a live classroom. The experience that children get when they have an outstanding individual leading them in a classroom is irreplaceable. With regard to virtual learning, we all got a crash course on technology and were able to design lessons in ways we never did before. There is still technology we use in live classrooms that we adapted from our experience in virtual learning, but what really has turned the tide was our ability to differentiate learning.
We have different kinds of learners in our classrooms, and sometimes technology needs to be used for learners and sometimes it doesn’t. For instance, one group responds better to technology and other groups may just need a teacher say it to them. When you differentiate your instruction, you are able to reach more learners in their best learning style. It has helped give our students choices.
There is likely not an educator alive who has not been influenced to pursue a career in education by a former teacher, coach or mentor. Was there that person or persons in your life, and if so, how did they inspire you?
I did not really have any role models in my educational career from Grade 1 through Grade 12 who served as a light bulb for me. Throughout my experiences in education, I have become so in tune with
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being that person. I want to be the person who is the role model. I want to make sure that each student has a role model. I want to make sure all staff can serve to inspire them. My hope is that these kids know that someone is here for them, and that our teachers know that they are role models.
You began your educational career at Kennett High School as a teacher in 2001.
Interestingly enough, the way I got to Kennett was through our rival, Unionville High School. After I graduated from West Chester University, I student-taught at Unionville and then served as a substitute teacher there. One day I was sitting in the PE office preparing my application packets for other schools and the athletic director Dennis White was on the phone, I heard him say into the phone, “Do you have any PE openings?” He then told me, “Lorenzo. Drive down the street and drop off your application at Kennett High School.” Little did I know that he was talking to Jeff Thomas, the former athletic director and now the assistant principal for Kennett High School. I dropped off my application at the district office, and on the July 4th weekend, the human resources director told me, “You’re in.”
High school students have always faced pressures of various kinds: peer, academic and social lead the list, but today’s teenager faces another kind: school safety. As you step into your new role at Kennett High School, how is the school and the district addressing this growing concern expressed by the entire school community? With due respect to the confidentiality of the specifics, what safety measures are in place?
Safety is our primary concern. Students aren’t going to learn anything if it isn’t safe. Staff aren’t going to be at maximum productivity if they don’t feel safe in this building. We have a strong district emergency response team, and we have a great partnership with the Kennett Borough Police, the Kennett Township Police, the Southern Chester County Regional Police, our local fire departments and Chester County Safe Schools.
We have had training sessions that have allowed us to think more broadly about safety in our schools and be as well prepared as possible.
Every month, our Director of Facilities George Wolhafe and our Director of Technology Dan Maguire are working hard to prepare our staff with safety training and exercises. Every month, they walk all of us through our safety
preparedness plans. Safety procedures are about musclememory. It’s about reacting quickly according to what we have been taught. It’s about going directly to our protocol.
Let’s talk about another kind of pressure. Today’s students live in a global society, and they are competing for those same openings at the best colleges with students from around the world. What advice do you have for those underclassmen who already feel overburdened by this pressure, this “need to succeed,” imposed or self-imposed?
Continued on Page 36 After seven years as the Principal of Kennett Middle School, Lorenzo DeAngelis was named as the new Principal of Kennett High School.
The first thing I want to say to our students and their parents is, “Relax. Take a breath.” I understand that there is pressure to do well, but we’re also talking about kids who are between 14 and 18 years of age. Students need to know that they have support systems, and that they will be supported by their parents and the school community. The important thing for students to know is they don’t want to miss their entire high school experience. We want them to enjoy it. My motto is Work Hard and Be Kind. When you do those two things, everything else will be taken care of.
Let’s switch our attention to a huge intangible of high school, and allow me to pull it from our nation’s most important document: the pursuit of happiness. With the mounting pressures that every high school student faces, how does the high school and the school district help create an environment of compassion, understanding and mutual respect?
Happiness comes from the power of relationships. If these students know that they are cared for and have relationships with each other and the adults in the building, their tide rises. The only way any organization becomes successful is by having a great culture and climate. When you see an entity operate at a high level, you begin to see that pursuit of happiness, and you see people working for each other for the betterment of that organization. When you have a school climate that is operating at that high level – from students to teachers to administration – how would you not want to be a part of that?
I want to continue that feeling here that when our school community walks into our building, they are proud that they represent our school. When visitors walk into our building, I want them to feel that same strong culture and climate.
Many of the middle school’s eighth grade class of 2022 are following you up the road to the high school, but you’re saying “Goodbye” to hundreds – even thousands – of students and parents you’ve gotten to know over the years at Kennett Middle School. What do you wish to say to that community?
Simply said, it’s not “Goodbye.” It’s “I’ll see you soon.”
As you make the transition from the middle school to the high school, what are some of your personal goals for the 2022-23 academic year?
First and foremost, I want to make sure that the culture and climate remains something for all of us to be proud of.
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I want to lift that culture and climate and morale to make sure that we continue to operate on all cylinders. I want us to continue to be the best school in the land. The ultimate goal here is to help these kids become good citizens. It’s their intrinsic motivation that will get them to fully to where they want to be in life – going to college, getting a job or joining the armed forces – but we are there to prepare them for that. Our role is to ask them, “What kind of person do you want to be? Let us help you.”
What is your favorite spot in Landenberg?
That one is easy. Kennett Middle School. I still spend time there watching my boys practice football for the KennettUnionville Titans. Being able to drive into that parking lot every day for 12 years and see that clock tower and that beautiful building…How can Kennett Middle School not be everyone’s favorite place in Landenberg?
Lorenzo DeAngelis hosts a dinner party, and can invite anyone – living or not, famous or not. Who would we see around that table?
My children didn’t get to know my father. My oldest was three years old when he passed away, my second son was a baby and my daughter never met him. I would like to have him at the dinner table. My mother has a framed photograph of my son Luca sitting in his high chair and being fed a large meatball on a fork from my father, and Luca’s mouth is wide open. That remains about the only reminder of their grandfather, and my children deserve more.
What food or item can always be found in the DeAngelis refrigerator?
Pasta.
~ Richard L. Gaw
