Milestones Photo provided by Jonathan Brusco
Library Director Contributes Chapter to Book Susan Smith, Harker’s library director, has contributed a chapter to a new book being published in the spring. The book, called “Growing Schools – Librarians as Professional Developers,” presents examples of school librarians leading professional learning in numerous contexts and for diverse learning goals with remarkable success. “This is the story of Harker’s information literacy program which originated under [former library director] Enid Davis in 2006,” says Smith. “The chapter is a chronicle of how we built administrative and faculty support for “Harker’s K-12 teaching a scope and approach is sequence of skills essential exceptional for 21st-century learning.” and our success Originally a single team of teachers, librarians and remarkable.” administrators, the Information –Susan Smith Literacy Committee has since grown to three campusbased committees, and the program has been integrated into upper school departmental initiatives. The program allows Harker’s library director and site-based librarians to gain administrative support as they create a whole-school initiative that positions information literacy as essential learning for students of all ages. A faculty team then designs and implements a process to incorporate these information literacy skills into disciplinary content classroom by classroom. “The librarians’ understanding of curricula, instructional design expertise and information systems knowledge uniquely positions them as faculty professional developers,” says Smith. “Harker’s K-12 approach is exceptional and our success remarkable.” -Igor Hiller
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Harker Teacher Appointed to Gavilan College Board of Trustees The Gavilan College School Board has appointed Harker teacher Jonathan Brusco to its board of trustees. After the tragic death of one of its members left an open seat, the board solicited applications from the community. When Brusco heard of the opening, he realized his areas of expertise were perfectly suited for the position. Brusco, who teaches grade 7 social studies, is credentialed to teach both elementary and high school students. Before Harker, Brusco taught in the philosophy department at San Jose State University. “I have an understanding of what students are capable of at a younger age and also a general idea of how prepared students are when they start at a four-year university,” said Brusco. “I think my educational background really played a part in the board selecting me, but I think they also appreciate the fact that I came from Harker.” Brusco believes bringing the perspective of a private educational institution,
unencumbered by the same regulations, laws and budgets of the state, may have been attractive to the board. “In addition, Harker is a multicampus school, as is Gavilan College, and both schools are expanding to new campuses in the future,” says Brusco. Teaching at both San Jose State and Harker showed Brusco the acute disparity in college preparedness among students. “Working at Harker has really opened my eyes to the true potential of younger students,” said Brusco. “I know that all our students enter four-year universities well-prepared for what lies ahead, but having taught at San Jose State, I can’t say that this is the case for every new college student.” As a board member, Brusco says he wants to focus on making sure community college students have access to coursework that will best prepare and equip them for moving on to a four-year university. Brusco’s term lasts until November of this year, whereupon he will run for reelection. -Igor Hiller