DiBiase brings new era to Mt. Hope High School

New principal set to start in wake of Rebello retirement

By Patrick Luce
Posted 8/25/16

With a focus on innovation, collaboration and tech education, new Mt. Hope High School Principal Deborah DiBiase prepares to take the helm of a brand new leadership team at the high school.

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DiBiase brings new era to Mt. Hope High School

New principal set to start in wake of Rebello retirement

Posted

With a focus on innovation, collaboration and tech education, new Mt. Hope High School Principal Deborah DiBiase prepares to take the helm of a brand new leadership team at the high school.

“August 31 … we’re ready to go,” Ms. DiBiase said about the start of her first year leading the school. “The staff is a great group of people. We’ve got a great group of kids. We’re looking forward to a great year.”

Ms. DiBiase, who has served as assistant principal at the school for two years, takes over for Donald Rebello, who retired in June. She is the only member of the school leadership team returning, joined by new assistant principals Michelle King and Rosemary Burns, and new Dean of Students Vincent Turchetta. 

RELATED: School district cuts two buses from fleet

This is not her first time at the helm of a school. After teaching in the classroom for many years, she transitioned into an administrator role six years ago, serving as Director of Instruction at the Segway Institute for Learning in Central Falls, followed by two years as principal at Jamestown Middle School before coming to Mt. Hope in 2014.

The new leadership team, she said, is there not only to support the staff but also to work right alongside them.

“My leadership style is one of collaboration — roll your sleeves up and jump right in,” Ms. DiBiase said. “I’m not a top-down manager. We’re all part of a team. We all work together.”

And that goes for the students, too. Gone are the days of the traditional classroom, with a teacher standing in front of rows of desks talking at students. While there are sure to be some lectures, students need to take a more active role in their education, working with their teachers and each other, Ms. DiBiase said.

“We’re trying to establish a culture with the kids and the staff where it’s OK to try something new, explore innovate,” she said. “Students need to know how to communicate and collaborate. No matter what the subject is, I want to see those skills — kids collaborating and coming up with a solution.”

Students and teachers should feel free to try new approaches to learning and teaching, she said. Some of Ms. DiBiase’s leadership and educational philosophy comes from leadership expert and best-selling author John C. Maxwell, whose book, Failing Forward, teaches readers how to “make failure (their) friend” by embracing it and learning from it.

“The more we do, the more we fail,” Ms. DiBiase said. “It’s OK to fail. Failure is feedback. If you never fail, how can you succeed? Risk taking is just as important for kids as adults.”

The willingness to take risks and innovate in the classroom should translate into the rest of their lives when students are faced with the big unknown outside the cozy confines of Mt. Hope. In a technologically driven world, students need to know how to innovate and figure things out, and they need the tech skills necessary to compete with their peers. 

Tech education is a major focus for Ms. DiBiase, who is establishing a Digital Leadership Team among the staff at Mt. Hope. Three teachers will lead their colleagues in integrating more technology in the classroom. All teacher will be getting Chromebooks, with the goal of giving one to every student within the next couple years. The digital team will help teachers learn how they can use programs like Google Apps for Education and Google Classroom, which help teachers create classes, hand out assignments, provide feedback to students and get feedback from peers, all in one place. 

“When you think about how fast the world is changing, we’re trying to educate kids for jobs that don’t even exist yet,” Ms. DiBiase said. “I look at tech education not as something extra, but something that will enhance instruction. It allows students to innovate and practice the 21st century skills they’re going to need in the future.”

Real-world learning is also a big focus for Ms. DiBiase, as it has at Mt. Hope and throughout the Bristol Warren School District in recent years. The school district collaborated with the East Bay Chamber of Commerce and local business owners on an internship program last spring, in which Mt. Hope students spent school time working in one of several businesses around the town. Ms. DiBiase hopes to expand the program, involving more students in the effort to learn outside the classroom.

Incoming freshmen got a taste of the non-traditional classroom style during freshman orientation and cookout Wednesday. Instead of getting the traditional tour of the school and sitting in the auditorium while speakers drone on about the rules and what is expected of them, the students will actively integrate themselves into the school. Ms. DiBiase planned challenges and activities like a scavenger hunt, forcing them to wander the halls and find certain items. 

It’s all an effort to get students to take an active role in their own education.

“They’ve got to persevere, explore, figure it out,” Ms. DiBiase said. “Problem solving; critical thinking. It’s to promote independence and give students the skills they’re going to need to be successful.”

Teachers are scheduled to return to schools Monday, Aug. 29 for orientation and Aug. 30 for a professional development say before students return for classes Wednesday, Aug. 31.

Mt. Hope High School, Bristol Warren Regional School District, Mt. Hope principal

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