By Murray Siegel
This is the second in a series of columns featuring the principals at Maricopa’s district and charter schools.
Loraine Conley, Ed.D., principal at Santa Cruz Elementary School in the Maricopa Unified School District, received her
undergraduate degree from Langston University (Oklahoma), has a master’s in educational administration from Iowa State university and her doctorate in education from ASU. In her 25 years in education, she has been an elementary teacher, a middle school language arts teacher and an assistant principal.
She is most proud of the numerous awards received by the school, its students and faculty. Dr. Conley looks forward to sustained improvement at Santa Cruz with the continuing support of the school community.
Maricopa’s principals come to us from all over the United States, and one principal started out overseas. Eva Safranek, principal at MUSD’s Santa Rosa ES, was born in the Czech Republic and arrived in Tucson at age 13. Her BA in elementary education was received at ASU, and she has two master’s degrees from University of Phoenix. During her 15 years as an educator, she has served in various teaching, coaching and coordinator positions before coming to Santa Rosa six years ago.
A major accomplishment at her school this year is the implementation of the new math curriculum, which is challenging and brings more rigor to the study of math. She is excited about the improvement expected from the Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS) program. Ms. Safranek’s credo as a principal is building relations with students and staff to allow all to be the best that they can be.
Felicia Williams is the principal at Saddleback ES at MUSD and grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio. She received her undergraduate degree from Ohio University.
She obtained masters degrees at University of Phoenix and NAU. Her 16 years of experience include teaching positions in a number of elementary grades, academic coach and principal. She has been at Saddleback for eight years.
When asked about this year’s primary accomplishment, she points to the enhanced use of technology by students which was led by Enna Post, a phenomenal technology teacher. Mrs. Williams looks forward to the total implementation of the PBIS program next year. Her guide as a principal is a statement by Harvey Firestone: “You get the best of others when you give the best of yourself.”
Murray Siegel has a PhD in MathEd and 42 years of teaching experience.
This column appears in the April issue of InMaricopa.
![An image of shredded paper. [Pixabay]](https://www.inmaricopa.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/shredded-paper-168650_1280-100x70.jpg "Shred-A-Thon to take place tomorrow")
