The Wildcat Community is pleased to welcome Lorena Garcia as our new Assistant Principal. Ms. Garcia, who has 18 years of experience as a dual language/ESL elementary and bilingual middle school classroom teacher, uses her experiences gained in the classroom and through teacher collaboration to create positive relationships among students, colleagues and parents. She brings strong experiences of collaborative work through professional learning communities engaging in meaningful instructional grade level planning and promoting a data-driven environment that supports student achievement.
Ms. Garcia comes to School District U-46 from Elmhurst Community Unit School District 205 where she has served as a dual language teacher since 2020. Her prior teaching experiences include Community Consolidated School District 59 from 2015 - 2020 and Berkeley School District 87 where she started her career as an ESL Resource teacher in 2006. In 2011, Ms. Garcia served as elementary & middle school interim assistant principal. Her experiences have included the implementation of the Workshop Model during ELA incorporating ELL instruction strategies to address students at different language acquisition trajectory levels. Ms. Garcia used instructional practices that have included assessment, research, and addressing students’ learning abilities to individualize students’ learning gaps and formulate a skill plan for small group instruction. She engaged in reviewing data in grade level PLC’s, collaboratively design and plan for implementation of dual unit program curriculum aligned with stated standards.
Ms Garcia, has a Master of Education from DePaul University, a Masters in Education Leadership from Concordia University and holds a bilingual endorsement.