Westlawn ES Teachers Salute Principal Virtually During Principal Appreciation Week

Teachers at Westlawn Elementary coordinated to salute principal Christoph Hill and assistant principal Stephanie Carpenter at the start of Virginia’s Principal Appreciation Week, January 24-30. Westlawn teacher Gretchen Maxwell saw a news story about a college professor whose students decided to keep their cameras off at the start of class, only to turn them all on at the same time to display messages of gratitude for their professor. The professor, of course, was overjoyed by the gesture and it went viral. The teacher suggested to team leaders that the staff do the same thing to honor Westlawn’s administrators who have been working tirelessly for the community all year. The teachers used Google Meet—a new platform for many of them—so they could see each other during the reveal. School-based technology specialist Alanna Dushok said, “I am proud of the way that my colleagues have really embraced being risk-takers by trying a new platform, and their spirit of adventure and willingness allowed us to optimize Google Meet’s expanded grid view feature to bring joy to our administrators.” Contact Dushok at [email protected].