Taught Math Last Three Years
The St Brigid Catholic Academy in Ridgewood will have a new principal this fall, an educator that grew up in the next borough over, and obtained her masters in the field at Queens College.
The incoming principal, Lisa Ross, was born and raised in Queens, mostly in Whitestone and Briarwood. She is entering her third year at the school, having previously taught math to grades five through eight, and has worked in the field since 2001.
Located on Grove Street in the Ridgewood section of Brooklyn, the school educates young people from pre-k to the eighth-grade, and is entering its 105th year of operation.
Ross told the Times Newsweekly on Tuesday she is excited to jump into her new position, and is looking forward to the school year starting Sept. 3.
One of her main goals is to increase enrollment, and bring in more young people from surrounding communities, she said.
“I want to make it a great school,” she said. “It’s already very good, but I want to make it great.”
Reportedly, current enrollment is around 241. The school is named for the patron saint of the arts, and tries to combine spiritual values with a broad curriculum to emphasize the importance of art as a way to encourage self-expression.
Ross believes her goal to increase enrollment could be furthered by “reaching out to the community to get more students from the area,” she said. To pursue this, she plans to make St. Brigid “a community-based school.”
“I’d like the school to really bring the academic level up and just be the best school around,” she said.
Community schools value ties between the school and other community resources. These types of schools integrate a focus on academics, with other curricula including health and social services, youth and community development and community engagement aimed at improved student achievement that can build stronger families and healthier neighborhoods for the long-run.
Community schools also aim to offer a personalized curriculum that places a premium on real-world learning and community problemsolving.
Her experience at St. Brigid has been very rewarding and positive thus far, and she is hoping to bring a lot of energy to the principals’ office, she said.
“I like it here, I love the kids,” Ross said. “We have great kids and the staff have been very supportive.”
For more information on St. Brigid, call the school at 1-718- 821-1477.
