Happy to be part of the team

Being selected as the new assistant principal of Shaw Avenue School is a homecoming of sorts for Josh McPherson.

As a teenager, McPherson’s family moved to the southern end of District 30 and his parents still live in the Mill Brook neighborhood, just blocks away from the Forest Road School. Though McPherson attended prep school in New Hampshire, he did spend his summers in Valley Stream.

Now, after several years working in the New York City school system, McPherson is getting his first taste of education in the suburbs and is eager to learn. Already, he said he has noticed that there is a much closer connection between building and central administrators than there is in the city.

McPherson actually applied for the principal post, which went to Amy Pernick, who had been the assistant principal for the past five years and a teacher at Shaw for a dozen years before that. But when he was offered her old job instead, he didn’t hesitate to take it. “I got a very good impression from this district that the teachers, the administrators, the parents, they care a lot about the kids and there’s a lot of wonderful things happening here,” he said. “Working with Amy, it’s going to be a really positive experience.”

Education has been a calling for McPherson ever since he was in college at Dartmouth. While studying religion, he was also pursuing a minor in studio art, and he and classmates would visit local schools to lead arts and crafts projects.

His professional career began through a teaching fellowship in New York City. McPherson taught fifth grade for five years at P.S. 213 before becoming the school’s technology teacher. In that role, he taught every child in the school at least once a week, and worked with teachers to plan lessons that supported what they were doing in their classrooms.

With the desire to take on a school leadership role, he became an assistant principal at P.S. 214, which he held for the past two and a half years. Now, he brings his administrative skills to Shaw Avenue School. He will conduct classroom observations, work with teachers to meet the educational needs of students, handle discipline issues, develop schedules and meet with parents, among other responsibilities.

McPherson wants to make sure that students are being provided with the proper resources to help them meet the new Common Core Learning Standards. He said his background as a technology teacher will allow him to provide valuable insight in this area. “It’s essential for kids to have those 21st Century skills,” he said, “for them to be tech-savvy, for them to know how to navigate the Internet.”

Superintendent Dr. Nicholas Stirling said McPherson’s strong background in technology, data analysis and elementary education will be an asset to Valley Stream’s students and teachers. “He is an experienced elementary assistant principal who I think is going to be special to our district,” he said. “We saw his potential. He and Amy are the right team at this particular time to move Shaw Avenue forward.”

McPherson holds master’s degrees in education from Brooklyn College and Columbia University. Both of his parents were teachers, and his wife teaches in Rockaway Park. They have a 1½-year old son.

Outside of school, McPherson enjoys playing the guitar, soccer, snowboarding and photography. He also likes to read, often perusing articles about the latest trends in education. “The profession of an administrator keeps you pretty busy,” he said.

McPherson said he has a collaborative leadership style and believes that every child has the ability to learn. Although he aspires to be a principal in the future, he said he hopes to stay at Shaw Avenue for several years and looks forward to meeting students on the first day of school next week.

“I’m very excited to be here,” he said. “I believe that Shaw Avenue is a diamond. It’s really pleasure to be a part of a team. I want to learn. I want to contribute.”