Parkwood Team

September 30, 2016

Dear Chris Spross, Patrice Peacock, Mackenzie Rosenfelt, Chelsea Hellinger, Anastasia Rameriz, Emily McHale, Adria Godfrey, Pat Bittner, Mercedes Clayton, Shannon Meehan and Candice Pirolli (aka the fabulous Parkwood team):

Perseverance, resilience, and optimism are three qualities we all need to accomplish our life’s goals, respond to challenges and live a long and happy life.  This being the case, the Parkwood team is destined to be one of the most accomplished teams ever and you should all live happy, long lives! Why do I say this? Let’s rewind to about 15 months ago…

When each member of this team bid on or applied for a position at SPIN’s planned Parkwood PreK School, they believed, as we did, they would begin their work at Parkwood in September 2015. This little 6 classroom schoolhouse was on schedule with construction and supplies and everyone was getting excited about new opportunities when we all first heard the dreaded words, “state budget impasse.” Little did we realize at the time that impasse would mean children would not receive the preschool program they needed and the Parkwood team would need to be dispersed to positions throughout SPIN for months on end.

Each of you showed your resilience as you stayed positive, connected and did a great job during that period of reassignment. Finally in February the funding was secured, the contracts were signed, licensing was scheduled and we knew we would be able to open four classrooms in our little Parkwood School. As your nominators, Karen, Maryellen and Melissa wrote in your nomination letter, “Team Parkwood overcame many obstacles to be able to open the program on March 14th and despite this, we had a very inspiring year!”

Everything was a flurry of excitement for the March opening as you worked together to make the program a success. You then had only 75 days to work with the little ones before the 2015-16 school year closed, and as testament to this team; you made the most of them.

You demonstrated true People First as you interacted with new families and children, and welcomed those transferring from Drummond to their new classroom. Your leaders described you as optimistic and having an energetic, positive attitude through all that you did. According to your leaders, “Opening a preschool program in March was no easy task and the team members always put the families and children first.”  You caringly supported families with paperwork, answered countless questions, prepared communications, reassured the little ones and handled the intricacies and landmines of drop off and pick up in the shared parking lot with St. Anselm’s School.

You helped the children grow and learn so much in such a short time.  When I spent some time with you last June, you told me so many stories of the changes and growth in the children. Even more profound, every parent rated Parkwood a “5” in the survey sent out by the School District of Philadelphia; the highest possible score.  In their surveys, parents wrote, “The staff is the best-we couldn’t ask for a better program”, “Teachers are fantastic!” and when asked what we could do to improve our PreK: “Nothing, you’re doing a great job!”

I was so proud of all of you at the Open House Ceremony with so many distinguished guests from the community and media present. As they walked through the program and watched all of you working with the children, we heard nothing but admiration and praise for a job well done from all of our guests.

You have really come together and formed a bond in a short amount of time.  You support each other to make this a high quality PreK program where children thrive and families feel confident their children are receiving the best care and education.  You plan activities for families to be our partners in helping their children become life-long learners. You brainstorm ideas and talk to your managers about areas for further improvement. You are creative in your use of supplies and even find ways to use dollar store items to expand on the curriculum.  You were also full participants in the planning and implementation of the new curriculum for this school year.

With a shortened school year last year, you found a way to accelerate the program and get everything from school district paperwork to children’s assessments and data collection done in an expedited timeline. You all have so much to be proud of and in thinking about each of you and this team; I was reminded of a favorite quote from the renowned children’s book author, A.A. Milne,

Promise me you’ll always remember, you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, smarter than you think.

So for outstanding perseverance, resilience, optimism and teamwork, your leaders nominated the Parkwood team of Chris, Patrice, Mackenzie, Chelsea, Anastasia, Emily, Adria, Pat, Mercedes, Shannon and Candice and the rest of SPIN voted you in as the team of the spring 2016 quarter. On behalf of your leaders, the entire SPIN management team, the SPIN Corporate Board and the children and families you so wonderfully support, it is my honor to congratulate you for receiving the esteemed SPIN Team of the Quarter Award.

We admire and deeply appreciate each of you and all that you do!

Warmest Regards,

Kathleen Brown McHale
President & CEO