After approximately two years of increased activism and efforts by parents and community members, the Berlin Community School is entering the upcoming school year with a new administration team.
At meetings earlier this year, the Berlin Borough Board of Education passed resolutions reorganizing administrative positions, including the abolishment of the school principal position, as the school moved toward a two-principal system.
Now, as the school year nears, the two tasked with helping students and families start the new school year are eager to use there skills to continue students learn in a fun and safe environment, with Phil Silva as the incoming elementary principal and Kellilyn Mawson as the incoming middle school principal.
Silva most recently comes from the Runnemede School District, where he served as vice principal for Runnemede Public Schools. Prior to that, he was a math teacher for Vineland Public Schools for eight years.
Silva says he looked forward to coming to Berlin Community School for a variety of reasons, with a big emphasis being on the community feel of the area.
“I feel like the small-town aspect and closeness of it really being like a true-community school really appealed to me,” said Silva. “I come from a big town, and when you’re so used to something, you want something different, and this is what I like.”
Previous past experiences for Silva while at other school districts included being anti-bullying specialist, implementing the schools student code of conduct and following a multi-tier character education program, all things he hopes to be to continue to follow on the elementary school side of the building.
Meanwhile, Mawson, who brings 11 years of public school experience with her to Berlin Community School, will be in charge of similar procedures for the middle school.
Despite having two principals under the one roof, Mawson says she and Silva have already been and will continue to be in constant communication throughout the school year, regarding student code of conduct and various other school topics.
“We communicate a lot as far as trying to make sure that those codes of conduct align as closely as possible to ensure consistency across the board,” said Mawson.
Entering the new school year, Silva said he most specifically is looking forward to building relationships, whether it be with teachers, administration, students or those in the community, to create an effective working environment where potential problems can be addressed and solved effectively.
“The number one goal before anything else, from curriculum, test or data results or anything else, is building good relationships,” said Silva.
Mawson comes from the Black Horse Pike Regional School District, having past experience in conducting supervision of special education teachers as well as serving as a member on a Special Education Parent Advisory Group. Additionally, she also has past experience in curriculum writing across multiple subjects.
She says she was also looking forward to a smaller school with a more community feel, similar to Silva.
“I came from this big district … and in my last year [at the BHPRSD], I worked as a special education instruction coach where I was in three buildings with 3,500 kids and the special education program alone had 70 teachers, with additional aides,” said Mawson. “I was fluctuating between roles, so I was filling a lot of shoes and wearing a lot of hats. I wanted to move smaller, because at times I felt that the jumping around hindered my effectiveness and ability to really make meaningful change for kids, so I wanted to make a move.”
Having worked with high school students for the past 11 years, Mawson is hopeful to reach kids at a more impressionable age where positive changes in education, curriculum and character programs can be more effective.
Additionally, Mawson says she looks forward to creating a safe and fun environment for students to feel free to grow and learn in a supported community.
“One of the things that I was really happy about in coming here to BCS is the use of restorative practices, which is already being done here,” said Mawson. “That’s very near and dear to my hear.”
Silva says he similarly looks forward to working with such programs at Berlin Community School. He had brought up the potential of implementing such a program in some fashion at his last school district, utilizing its practices as a disciplinarian himself, although it was not utilized school wide at his previous school.
Mawson and Silva both say they look forward to being able to complement each other in terms of their backgrounds in the education field, being able to combine to create a principal team that has expert experience in all curriculum subjects, as well as discipline, special education systems and more.
Incoming Superintendent of Schools Joseph Campisi says he is looking forward to the administration team assembled for the incoming school year.
“I am very excited about the team we’ve put together,” said Campisi. “I think the adage of the right people at the right places applies here, and I believe that Kellilyn [Mawson] and Phil [Silva] are the perfect people for these positions.”
