Getting back to the basics of reading, writing and hands-on math are some of what Zenovia Crier is planning as she prepares to start the year as principal of LBJ Elementary School.
Crier comes to Ector County ISD from Houston ISD where she served as dean of instruction/technologist for the past 10 years. In that role, she helped principals to educate and train staff on implementing academic standards.
Crier is also a professor at Concordia University where she works with teacher candidates.
She has worked as an elementary school teacher, reading tutor and as a volunteer teacher providing English as a Second Language to adult immigrants.
She earned a bachelor’s degree from Park University, a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from Central Michigan University and a certification in cross language acquisition development from National University. She holds a doctor of education (education administration) from Texas A&M Commerce.
A native of Amite City, La., Crier joined the Marine Corps when she was 17. She traveled to Japan, was stationed in LeJeune, Japan and Camp Pendleton in California.
She noted that the Marine Corps has been a “blessing to my life.” She was able to pay for her degrees, travel and make some amazing friends.
Crier ended up staying in California and started teaching for Val Verde Unified School District.
“It’s under the 90, 90, 90 model; 90% poverty; 90% students on free lunch, but 90% of the students are above grade level, so it’s a phenomenal school district. They are award winning, working with students in poverty. … I (learned) a lot of great strategies there. And then I was recruited to come to the Houston area to be an ESL teacher and started working with students from Japan, students from Vietnam, students from Iraq. It was an influx of migrants. … That was the most rewarding experience I’ve had just learning different cultures in that classroom,” Crier said.
She has been in education since 2005. Crier said she’s always looking to develop the whole child, not just academically but socially and emotionally.
As a side note, Crier said she is a huge fan of Rihanna and Princess Di.
Moving from California to Houston schools was rewarding because Crier knew every morning when she went to work she would be problem solving.
“The kids came from various backgrounds of poverty, trauma. They just wanted to be loved like any other child. And you have these kids, six foot five huge kids, but they’re just kids. When you get down to the bottom of it, they just want to be cared for and loved and know that someone wants to be there for them.”
“… That type of work is just rewarding for me that I can help other people, that I can show other people how to help those types of children. They deserve everything that we have and even more than that. I’m a firm believer in equity and everyone being able to fulfill their dreams in life regardless of where they come from,” she added.
Crier said her mother was an educator and her father really pushed the importance of education. She is one of five children.
He said it was the No. 1 way to achieve goals in America and it’s something no one can take away from you.
Crier said she’d been in talks with Executive Director of Leadership Corey Seymour, who is her mentor, before coming to ECISD.
Seymour told Crier she would enjoy ECISD because the people are very helpful and want to see you be successful.
“You’re not just thrown out there like a number. You are going to be treated with respect and dignity. And the superintendent was very encouraging when I talked to him and his goals were about equity,” she said.
That was what clinched it for her.
Her first goal for LBJ is to have every student reading on or above grade level.
“That’s going to take teachers, myself, my administrative team … working around the clock, trying to get kids reading in small group instruction and reading books that they want to read,” Crier said.
She added that they would like parents to get their children reading for 30 minutes a night.
“… The district was gracious enough to allow us to purchase a program called myON where they’ll read a book, they’ll answer questions on the book and then they’ll get points for it. We have a rewards program for that. We are also going to be doing small group instruction in mathematics as well where the students are going to be pulled to the table with the teacher and given that small, intimate instruction where they won’t feel embarrassed in case they don’t know something,” Crier said.
“They’ll be one-on-one or one to three with the teacher getting the support that they need,” she added.
The school also will be using manipulatives in math and science.
“We’re going to have labs where the students will actually interact with the environment around them. Of course we know the COVID situation, but we will have virtual labs as well. We have a fully stocked science lab now where they can come in at least once a week and just explore …,” Crier said.
She added that a lot of jobs related to math and science are being outsourced.
“If we work to build our kids up, we won’t have to outsource that work and in math and science. You can get a job paying over six figures starting out, so we want that for our kids. That’s why we’re providing them with those opportunities.”
Crier said she thinks the right teachers are in place at LBJ.
“They are really, really ecstatic about moving forward with our kids. They’re happy to be back in the building, number one, and they want that engagement with the children. … They (parents and teachers) have a good mutual trusting (relationship) with each other and I just think that we have the right team to get the job done here.”
Crier is hoping to have an enrollment of at least 740 students. As of Aug. 4, there were about 511. “We need as many kids registered as possible,” she added.
She said they have been communicating with parents through the Classroom Dojo program to let parents know about all the programs LBJ has to offer.
“We are beefing up our writing program. I think that’s important that every child is a fluent writer, so every two weeks we will have writing prompts on different topics where they’ll have to write about the topic and then present it to a committee. They’ll look at the writing and provide the child with feedback.”
Crier said they are also looking at a social studies curriculum to combat bullying and cover topics like how to be a good citizen and how to be a good friend.
“… We will have 20 minutes every morning of social-emotional learning. I think that is important, especially after the pandemic. We want children to understand that we were here for them. We want read alouds around social emotional learning; just different strategies, circles so that’ll kind of curtail some of the behaviors that start spiking up,” she said.
For his part, Seymour said Crier brings a wealth of instructional knowledge to ECISD.
“She has a great deal of experience with priority schools and a strong track record of success with literacy improvement,” Seymour said in an email.
“She has a unique combination of experiences that helped develop her style of leadership. She served our country as a Marine. She worked in California and Texas as an elementary teacher. She has almost a decade of elementary and secondary administrative experience. Most of all, she wanted to be part of the West Texas community,” he added.
