Crossroads Names New Elementary School Director

After a long and careful national and international search, we are delighted to announce Debbie Wei as our new director of the Elementary School to take over after Joanie Martin retires from this position at the end of the 2015-16 school year. 

 

Deborah Wei has more than three decades of experience in education, with an impressive career that reflects her love of children and her deep commitment to social justice. In 2005, after a long career in teaching and as a curriculum specialist for the Philadelphia School District, Debbie became the founding principal and CEO of the Folk Arts-Cultural Treasures Charter School in Philadelphia, which aims, among other goals, to “provide students with an educational experience that inspires a vision of justice and fairness and the courage to pursue them.” Currently, Debbie is serving as the principal of the Elementary School for the American Embassy School in New Delhi, India. Her degrees include a bachelor’s in English from Oberlin College, a master’s in education from Temple University and a Pennsylvania Principal Certificate from Holy Family University.

 

Debbie’s warmth, ingenuity and passion for equity in education are a perfect fit for the Crossroads Elementary School. In her personal statement, Debbie shared what attracted her to the Crossroads learning environment: “There is an attention to a kind of learning that promotes ‘thinking in the gray.’ Seeking multiple perspectives, thinking with flexibility, promoting inquiry and critical thought and celebrating mistakes are the intellectual learning I am most interested in. As well, the commitment to social justice is something I don’t see in every school, something that is very important to me. It [is] thrilling indeed to find a school where these areas are part of the soil in which the work of education is grown.”

 

Everyone who met Debbie during her visit to Crossroads—students, teachers, staff members, parents and administrators—enthusiastically supported Debbie’s candidacy. While we had a strong pool of candidates, Debbie’s depth of experience, vitality, sense of humor and, above all, her strong and passionate commitment to children, stood out for all us, and I can’t think of a better successor to Joanie than Debbie Wei.

 

Debbie is hoping to visit campus in the spring, and if she does, there will be opportunities for the community to meet and welcome her to our School. We will let the community know when Debbie will be visiting campus and hope that you will take the opportunity to meet her. We anticipate that Debbie will begin serving as the new director of the Elementary School beginning in July 2016.

 

In the meantime, we are so fortunate to have Joanie at the helm for the next six months. We are all deeply indebted to her and all she has done to create such a vibrant, powerful and warm learning community for our students.