Three award-winning secondary school principals from Brazil and the director of a national organization of top Brazilian state educators will spend five days in northeast Georgia...
Three award-winning secondary school principals from Brazil and the director of a national organization of top Brazilian state educators will spend five days in northeast Georgia through Thursday, Dec. 13, learning about local culture and observing operations of public and private schools in a program hosted jointly by Brenau University and Gainesville State College.
The Brazilian visitors are part of a group of 24 educators from various Brazilian states meeting with U.S. educators to share best practices in school leadership and administration, teacher development, and community involvement. The entire group spent Dec. 1-7 in Washington for a week-long orientation before breaking into smaller groups to visit different locales in the country. The U.S. Department of State Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program is the sponsor for the Brazilians’ visit.
While in Northeast Georgia, the Brazilians will meet with educators from Gainesville State and Brenau, Gainesville City Schools, , schools in White and Habersham Counties as well as Brenau Academy, Lakeview Academy and Riverside Military Academy. In Cleveland, they will also attend the board of controllers meeting for the Pioneer Regional Education Services Agency, which provides services to 13 school systems in 12 northeast Georgia counties.
Coordinator for the program is Heloísa Luck, who currently is education consultant and general program coordinator for Brazil’s National Council of State Secretaries of Education. She will be in Georgia with three principals: Wânia Aparecida de Oliveira Camacho, a primary education specialist, and two secondary and adult education specialists, Maria Sônia Costa Barreto and Tarcízio Pires Soares. The group also will be accompanied by Luiz Carvahlho, a State Department interpretor.
According to Luck, who was educated in part at the University of Oregon and Columbia University, the Brazilian delegation is interested in interacting with school staff and students, learning about teaching and administration in U.S. schools, and studying processes in U.S. schools that help students, teachers and administrators achieve their goals. “It is a wonderful opportunity as educators to meet people from other countries,” she said. The visitors also will meet in social settings with Brazilians who are studying in the area and American educators and others who have spent time in Brazil.
In addition to the Gainesville area, other locales hosting Brazilian teams this year are Platteville, Wisc., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Bellingham, Wash., Olympia, Wash., Hamilton, Ohio, Ft. Wright, Ky., and Cleveland Heights, Ohio.
Partially modeled after the U.S. "Principal of the Year" program, Brazil’s “National Award for Excellence in School Management and Leadership" was created in 1998 to highlight accomplishments by top schools in each of Brazil’s states. In addition to the U.S. travel by principals of the award-winning schools, the highlights schools also receive a cash award, educational materials and a certificate of excellence in "School Management and Leadership". Starting in 2004, delegations of U.S. educators began annual Brazil visits as part of the exchange component of the program.
Local coordinators for the program are Dr. Ken Frank, professor of conflict resolution and legal studies at Brenau University and Dr. Maryellen Cosgrove, Division of Health Education and Wellness Chair at Gainesville State College.