Science Teacher and Grade 10 Dean Marisa Wilson has been awarded a sabbatical leave for the 2014-2015 school year, as announced in an all-school email from Head of School Coreen Hester on December 2.

Wilson hopes that during her sabbatical she will be able to look at issues that surround sustainability and food security. She will also be working to develop her skills as a dean on her sabbatical. Additionally, Wilson hopes to learn German during the year. Wilson will be keeping a blog so that others can keep up to date with her during her sabbatical.

Math Teacher Doug Poggioli was on the committee to help select the teachers that would be awarded next year’s sabbaticals.The committee consisted of divisional principals, including Hester and teachers who had been granted sabbatical leaves during the previous year. Each sabbatical applicant must present a detailed proposal to the committee laying out what they plan to do on their sabbatical.

Poggioli was on a sabbatical last year, and explained what many teachers do on their time off. “Some people are doing things related to getting a degree, some people are going the direction of personal enrichment, something that will emotionally help them grow,” he said.

Wilson believes that now is the perfect time for her to take a sabbatical. “I’ve been here for 12 years, and there are some things that I would like to do that I don’t feel like I have the time to do because I am so busy with school,” she said. “It’s been in the back of my mind for a while but I started really seriously thinking about it at the end of the summer, beginning of this school year.”

ASL only permits up to three teachers to be awarded a Sabbatical per year, Poggioli says that teachers who are given Sabbaticals have to include in their application how they have given back to the school. “They also have to put in how much they have contributed to the school, not just what they teach, but other things they may have done,” he said.

Wilson is very excited to go on her sabbatical and to explore the different components of her proposal. “A lot of the stuff that I’m doing that is about sustainability and food security is really interesting to me. I’ll be learning more about global food security which is a really important issue in the world,” she said.

Poggioli feels that the time he spent on his sabbatical was successful, especially since he learned what it was like to teach in other departments. “I took language courses and so I saw other teachers and how they teach and approach things. It wasn’t like I was taking a math course where I know exactly what I’m doing.”

Wilson is the only teacher in the high school to be given a sabbatical for the 2014-2015 school year. The other teachers who will be on sabbatical next year are Grade 3 Teacher Amy Walter and MS World Language and Culture Teacher Solange Kidd.

charlotte_young@asl.org