{"id":2350,"date":"2013-09-18T15:29:21","date_gmt":"2013-09-18T19:29:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chescotimes.com\/?p=2350"},"modified":"2013-09-19T16:48:18","modified_gmt":"2013-09-19T20:48:18","slug":"dr-diane-greco-joins-st-elizabeths-school-as-new-principal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/?p=2350","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Diane Greco joins St. Elizabeth’s School as new principal"},"content":{"rendered":"

New school leader brings experience, will emphasize ‘family atmosphere’ at Uwchlan school<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

By Kathleen Nair<\/strong>, Correspondent, The Times<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Dr. Diane Greco<\/p><\/div>\n

UWCHLAN \u2014 When the doors opened for the first day of school at St. Elizabeth Parish School this year, things seemed much the same as the previous year.\u00a0 The uniforms hadn\u2019t changed, energetic children were dropped off at the school by encouraging parents and friendly bus drivers, as before.\u00a0 Enthusiastic teachers were outside welcoming the eager students back for another exciting school year.<\/p>\n

However, there was one obvious new addition to the school community this year.\u00a0 Dr. Diane Greco had taken over the reins as the new principal of St. Elizabeth School, and she was eagerly awaiting the arrival of her 2013\/2014 students.\u00a0 She officially started her post as the school\u2019s new principal on July 1, but for many parents and students, the first day of school was their introduction to the school’s new leader.<\/p>\n

This lead-time gave her the opportunity to get a feel for the school and the staff prior to the start of this school year.<\/p>\n

It also gave her time to get to know her staff \u2014 a staff that has helped to make the transition smooth and easy, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m thrilled to have inherited such a wonderful staff,\u201d Greco stated.\u00a0 \u201cThe best teachers are able to see things from a child\u2019s perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said thinks of herself as an academic and she absolutely respects that, however, \u201cbeing approachable and remembering what it feels like to be a child,\u201d is most important to her.\u00a0 She said she is glad to see that the teachers at St. E\u2019s are of the same mind.\u00a0 She said that she will strive to further the excellent work and programs that were put into place prior to her arrival at the school, by former principal Bernadette Dougherty and the staff.<\/p>\n

That having been said, she said she will look to assess and modify them when necessary throughout the school year.\u00a0 She said she believes in supporting the arts in elementary school and will stay true to this tenant as well.\u00a0 Academically, she said she will look to stay aligned with where the Common Core Standards \u2014 formally adopted by the state Board of Education this week for public schools \u2014\u00a0 are moving and the Archdiocesan Guidelines as well.\u00a0 She said Middle States recommendations, as the school was recently Middle States Accredited, will also be a priority.<\/p>\n

Being an elementary principal can require something of a diverse skill set. Greco’s background and upbringing exposed her to a wide range of educational and community settings.<\/p>\n

Greco was born and raised in Rochester, NY, the home of Kodak and Xerox.\u00a0 The oldest of six children, she was raised in a family where education, family values, and faith were emphasized. Being raised in a big family gets one used to a certain amount of chaos \u2014 another good skill in an elementary school principal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess I grew up loving the commotion and life that children bring to a house,\u201d she said, noting that she\u2019s from a close-knit family where grandparents, aunts and uncles were always around.\u00a0 Her father, “an intelligent and sensitive man,” was a commercial artist and the self-proclaimed \u201cphilosopher\u201d of the family.<\/p>\n

Described as a father ahead of his time, \u201che was with us as children before it was popular for fathers to play an active role in raising children.\u201d\u00a0 It was his example that impressed her the most. Greco said she remembers him fondly and singles him out as the greatest influence in her life.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe always thought the best of people, was open to new ideas and he was very non judgmental,\u201d\u00a0 she said. \u201cYou knew the importance of his faith without him having to say it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Greco attended the University of Rochester, NY earning a degree in English with a minor in Secondary Education.\u00a0 She went on to get her masters degree in Elementary Education from Nazareth College, Rochester NY.\u00a0 She started her early career teaching English in a secondary school, but soon realized that she wanted to teach on the elementary school level.<\/p>\n

\u201cI enjoyed teaching on the secondary level, but I really liked the idea of having my own classroom in elementary education, because it was like having my own family,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Her first job was as a first grade teacher at St. John of Rochester, Fairport, NY.\u00a0 She and her husband moved to Virginia while her children were young, and she taught part time in some gifted programs while living there.\u00a0 After moving to Pennsylvania (Montgomery County) in 1988, she held teaching positions at St. Stanislaus, in Lansdale, and St. Agnes Sacred Heart in Sellersville, both elementary schools.<\/p>\n

After teaching in elementary schools for several years, Greco made the decision to enter the Principal Training Program available through the Archdiocesan Office of Catholic Education, after colleagues had suggested she would be a good fit.\u00a0 She completed the program and earned her doctorate degree in Educational Leadership from Immaculata University.<\/p>\n

She took her first job as a principal at Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary School in Jenkintown.\u00a0 She was principal there for 16 years, and went on to become principal of a new regional school, St. Joseph the Protector in Glenside, in 2012.\u00a0 But as Greco moved to Chester Springs in 2007, and when she heard that St. Elizabeth School was looking for a new principal in 2013, she couldn\u2019t resist the opportunity to be principal at her own parish school.<\/p>\n

Greco said she thinks of the school environment as a family atmosphere.\u00a0 She feels that it should be a safe place for the children to come and be themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cA place of peace and acceptance,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She strives for this atmosphere in her school and among her students and faculty, too, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOften times, parochial schools are perceived as places where discipline is top down with so many rules, but we\u2019re really not,\u201d she said. \u00a0Instead, she said that she feels that school should be a place where the children primarily learn self-discipline, and sometimes people forget that.<\/p>\n

St. Elizabeth Parish School is located at the corner of Rt. 100 (Pottstown Pike) and Fellowship Road.\u00a0 The school is celebrating its seventh year since its inception in September 2006.\u00a0 The school is home to about 420 students in the school as of the 2013\/2014 calendar year.\u00a0 As such, it is a smaller, very nurturing school environment in which the children can learn.<\/p>\n

Greco welcomes the public to attend their first open house of the year on Sunday, November 17, 2013 from 12:30-2:00 pm.\u00a0 You can also contact the school office to get more information or to schedule a visit at (610) 646-6540.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New school leader brings experience, will emphasize ‘family atmosphere’ at Uwchlan school By Kathleen Nair, Correspondent, The Times UWCHLAN \u2014 When the doors opened for the first day of school at St. Elizabeth Parish School this year, things seemed much the same as the previous year.\u00a0 The uniforms hadn\u2019t changed, energetic children were dropped off […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,12],"tags":[1788,1789,1787,1702],"class_list":["post-2350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","category-schools","tag-diane-greco","tag-prinicipal","tag-st-elizabeths-school","tag-uwchlan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2350\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}