By Lindsay Mosberg
At the end of the last school year (2020-2021), the district announced the appointment of a new IHS assistant principal, Michelleann DeFilippis.
Although new to the position of Assistant Principal (AP), Ms. DeFilippis has a lot of experience working with children. Previously she worked at Ossining High School as a special education teacher, curriculum leader, and social studies teacher, and also worked in a BOCES program.
Ms. DeFilippis had not always planned on going into the field of education. After working in various jobs such as Outreach at Yonkers, with the Children’s Village doing HIV testing, and at the Sanctuary in White Plains (a shelter for runaway kids), she was told by one of the girls in the shelter “you would make a really awesome teacher.” She never forgot what that child said to her. This led Ms. DeFilippis to discover her passion for teaching.
Eventually, she quit her job and enrolled at Manhattanville College to pursue a graduate degree in social studies and special education.
After transitioning from a high school teacher to AP, she said that a hard part was not always being in the classroom teaching students.
“Education is so different. As an educator you are able to interact with kids and watch them grow.”
She explained how educators watch students walk through the doors, not totally comfortable and confident with their surroundings, and end the year with a whole new level of confidence to the point where they are pushing themselves to try more.
In her role as AP, Ms. DeFilippis has many responsibilities including observing classes, overseeing 504 meetings, organizing the PSAT with the guidance department, and building relationships with students.
She believes that an important focus of the year is crafting and establishing relationships, and to create a space where students feel valued and heard.
Her goal is to make sure everyone walks away feeling safe and valued.
“I see you. I value you, and think that you are an important part of this community,” she said.
She wants to have an open door where students come to her for reasons other than a disciplinary issue.
“Let’s have a conversation. Let’s talk this through before it becomes an issue,” she said.
She thinks it is important to be proactive instead of reactive, and to see where students are currently and how she can support them so that reactive situation are limited.
Outside of school Ms. DeFilippis coaches her middle school daughter’s soccer team. She also enjoys reading books by her favorite author, James Baldwin. Baldwin would be the “one person dead or alive” that she would want to meet.”
She loves his writing for multiple reasons, particularly how he looks at the world – his perspective on things and how we can see the best of who we are even when we cannot see each other.
She also likes the optimism in his writing as well and how it displays how one experience can shape you. Ms. DeFilippis wants students to know that she is funny and uses humor in everything she does.
“I just want to have fun. Sometimes you just have to laugh. What will be, will be,” she said. “We will figure it out together. Tomorrow is another day, and there is always another day to make amends for what happened.”
