Kristi Thaemlitz
Assistant Principal
Northbrook High School, Spring Branch ISD

Kristi is currently an assistant principal at Northbrook High School in Spring Branch Independent School District. Her brother was her inspiration in selecting a career. As a child, her brother repeated kindergarten three times. A dedicated teacher came to their home to help him learn to read. Kristi remembers her mother placing word labels on everything in the house, and even going so far as to spray-paint the word cow on the side of a bovine to help her son learn the word. Kristi's brother was 12 before he learned to read. This same brother who struggled so in the beginning of his educational experience is now a medical school graduate.
By the time Kristi graduated from high school at the age of 16, her life at home had drastically changed. Her father had passed away and her mother was living in a nursing home after being incapacitated by a stroke. She had no guidance at the time she graduated from high school. In retrospect, she realizes how wrong things could have gone for her at that juncture. A band scholarship enabled her to attend college and major in English. Working 70 hours a week at Wal-Mart helped her make ends meet. She had always known she wanted to be a teacher and the college program she enrolled in was a good fit. During her freshman year, she participated in a pilot program that allowed her to work 10 hours a week in school settings. During this time, Kristi was drawn to the secondary grade levels. Her professors went “above and beyond” in their preparation to ensure their graduates were prepared to enter classrooms. She never forgot this support.
As a doctoral student in the EAHR Dept. at Texas A&M, she believes that teacher preparation programs need to have students prepared and fully cognizant of schools' expectations of teachers, especially in today's high stakes testing arena. Her philosophy is that teachers need to be highly organized, and detail oriented to correctly manage the myriad of expectations in the school setting. She strongly believes that teacher preparation programs should include: 1. training in understanding the culture and home life of students' and parents'; 2. include professional development in staff communication; 3. include conflict resolution training; 4. professional development in child psychology; and 3. additional training in school law. She recommends that college graduates entering the teaching profession need to be fully prepared for the challenges and stress that can be in a school environment. It is her belief that principals need to set realistic goals for their teachers and have a better understanding of what can truly be accomplished in a single workday.
Kristi indicated that she felt some of the largest problems in education today are in the areas of testing and dropout prevention. Testing has become such a political issue It has been effectively removed from the hands of professional educators.
Major barriers that Kristi sees her students face are financial and personal guidance. Students need to be guided in their expectations to enter college sooner; in fact many are never encouraged to consider college. Administrators have the responsibility to provide teachers with the tools to help students. Growth plans are not the answers for low test scores, but rather training and equipping teachers with strategies and interventions is the first way administrations should respond to lower test scores.
Kristi is an energetic dedicated school administrator that will make a difference in the education of our children. Stay tuned! It is our prediction that Mrs. Thaemlitz will some day lead an entire school district.