Ashoka
Kyrene de los Cerritos Leadership Academy
Kyrene de los Cerritos Leadership Academy has a vision to prepare all students to meet educational and life challenges in order to make positive contributions to society. The school seeks to inspire and engage its diverse community of students, staff, families and citizens to ensure continuous academic achievement and personal growth for every student through its Leader In Me program, Cerritos strives to teach the whole child—socially, emotionally, academically, and ethically—and create a climate of principle-centered personal leadership. They embrace a culture of continuous performance excellence, real-world problem solving, innovative support, and acceptance of diversity. Parents and community members are active partners in fulfilling their mission and vision. The staff at Cerritos is dedicated to open communication and collaboration to meet the needs of every child. Kyrene de los Cerritos believes that one of the most important skills we can teach our students is empathy. If educators equip children to see and value what another person is feeling or experiencing, they will grow up in a world that embraces differences and encourages them to reach out to others. Kyrene de los Cerritos believes their role is to educate the “whole” child. All children are empathic by nature. They are affected by other people’s feelings and choose how they will respond. It is the educator’s job to support the development of those feelings in healthy directions. When Kyrene de los Cerritos teaches a child the importance of emotional intelligence along with academic intelligence, the educators are providing him/her with tools for the future no matter what that future may hold.
Darcy DiCosmo
Darcy’s career in education has led her through several experiences and opportunities over the course of more than 25 years. She spent 13 years as an elementary classroom teacher from kindergarten through fifth grade. Her other experiences also include assistant principal, Teacher Specialist for the district, new teacher mentor trainer and she has taught several professional development courses. She has experience as an instructor in the Northern Arizona University Master’s in Education program and facilitated several classes including: Marzano Teacher Evaluation, Fluency in Reading, Student Engagement Strategies, New Teacher Orientation, and Assessment Development.
Darcy is a life-long learner. She holds a Bachelor’s in Elementary Education from Arizona State University, a Master’s in Elementary Curriculum and Instruction from Northern Arizona University and a Master’s in Educational Leadership from Northern Arizona University. She continually seeks new learning opportunities. As principal of Cerritos, a Leadership Academy elementary school, she launched the first “Leader in Me” process for the Kyrene school district in 2009. Together they have created the Cerritos Leadership Academy standards which were based upon the 7 Habits of Happy Kids by Sean Covey and leadership for children. Her staff and students have learned the guiding principles of the Habits and are committed to embracing them as an entire community. Implementing 21st century leadership skills, discipline referrals have decreased, staff job satisfaction has significantly increased and student achievement is evident through the use of data passports and goal setting. Every student has a leadership role at Cerritos.