The Barnard Early Childhood Center is now under the leadership of Interim Principal Shelli Owens and Assistant Principal Malikh Ifill. The newly minted Barnard administrators are looking forward to greeting students and getting to know the parents and families of the children who attend their school.
Owens has had a lifelong connection to New Rochelle through her grandparents, who lived here since she was born. She came to live with them for her senior year and graduated from New Rochelle High School. After graduating from Lincoln University, Owens returned to New Rochelle and has worked at Trinity, Jefferson, and Columbus Elementary Schools before being named Principal at Barnard.
She said Barnard offers opportunities to develop children at a younger age, and her vision is to envelop them in love and care and support and develop them into great people poised for success in their neighborhood schools. She is excited to work with the teachers at Barnard to help the children grow to be independent and have agency.
“The teachers are loving and caring and really care about the children,” she said. “There’s a level of support that the children get here that is ingrained in them. There’s a different flavor in the building that you don’t feel in a kindergarten-through-fifth-grade school. We are not a day care center, but we are the first people that parents give their children to, and we take that very seriously.”
Owens credited her experience in the school district with setting her up for success as Barnard Principal. Her fifth-graders from Columbus also sent her encouragement in the form of a “positivity jar” full of 60 positive messages – one for each month they spent with her as an Assistant Principal at Columbus. The jar is modeled after Columbus’ positivity wall, where children post words and images that make them feel good and are allowed to take other students’ posts that also make them feel positive.
Owens and Ifill are grateful for the support they have had since being appointed to their new positions and are eager to get to know the faculty and families at Barnard.
“Whatever we can do to support everyone is what we’re going to do. We are going to learn and grow together.”
They will begin by meeting with staff after spring recess, and getting to know parents, guardians, and students through the PTA, visits, and during student dropoff and pickup. They pledge to be visible, accessible partners in their students’ learning and development.