Jill Mensing Kelly ‘98 new assistant principal

10/05/2009

There are a lot of new faces at Cedar Creek Community School (CCCS) this year.  One of them is Jill Kelly.  Kelly is the school's new assistant principal.

New Cedar Creek Community School Principal Jill Kelly is enjoying getting to know her new students and staff members.  I’m looking forward to working in this district and its challenges, she said. One of Kelly's challenges will be to show all the students at CCCS the support with which her classroom students in Shakopee School District were familiar. One of her goals is to be very visible to the kids, Kelly said.  I’m ... with the kids when they are coming into and leaving the school and when they are at lunch, she said.  For her it’s about giving the kids personal attention, Kelly said.  Kelly is also in the classrooms.

Since the beginning of school, Kelly has been touring the classrooms and introducing herself to the students. This allows me to check in with the students and do classroom walkthroughs, she said.  As the instruction coordinator for the last two years in the Shakopee School District, Kelly split her time between two buildings.  It will be nice to be in one building and spend her time getting to know her students and staff, Kelly said.  Kelly has also been a first-and fourth-grade teacher.

The teachers Kelly had as a child had a huge impact on her career. I had wonderful experience as a kid growing up in Shakopee, she said. Her teachers changed her life in number of ways, Kelly said. During an assignment on states, her fourth-grade teacher, Mrs. Bastian, taught Kelly there was more to the assignment. When Bastian asked questions, it was to get the students to think harder and deeper and to reflect more on the answers, Kelly said. Bastian really cared about her students as people as well as encouraged them to look into the small details, she said.  Kelly said she always tried to bring those teaching aspects into her own classroom.

She wanted her students to know that she cared about them as well as their education, Kelly said.

Kelly received her Bachelor of Arts degree from College of St. Benedict and a master's degree and her administrator's license from College of St. Mary's.

She is now an adjunct professor at the College of St. Mary s in its master's program for teachers.

Moving to the St. Francis School District is a new challenge for her, Kelly said.

I m excited to work as a full-time administrator and I m looking forward to bringing my strengths and love of working with data to the district, she said. Currently Kelly is commuting from Lakeville where she lives with her husband and two daughters, ages four and two. They are looking forward to moving into the area, which will be closer to her husband’s job in St. Paul and her in-laws in Maplewood, Kelly said.

by Tammy Sakry
Staff Writer - ABC Newspapers.com

Institutional Advancement
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