Recognizing and Honoring Nilsa Gonzalez on Retiring from the School District of Philadelphia.

WHEREAS, Nilsa Judith Gonzalez was born in the City of Caguas, Puerto Rico on February 2, 1951 and shortly after her birth along with her family relocated to Philadelphia; and

WHEREAS, Nilsa attended Philadelphia public schools starting at Ludlow Elementary School and Penn Treaty Middle School and finally graduating from William Penn High School in 1968; and

WHEREAS, As part of a program to train bilingual teachers at Temple University Nilsa received a Bachelor’s Degree in 1973; and

WHEREAS, In 1987 Nilsa Gonzalez became the Principal of the William Dick School where she piloted a year round schooling program; and

WHEREAS, In 1996 Nilsa was given the task of developing the Kensington Cluster where she spearheaded many initiatives including the Kensington Cluster Resource Board and the first

decentralized Truancy Court site in the city, and helped with the cluster-wide development and implementation of CSP (Comprehensive School Process), which is a support system for students; and

WHEREAS, In the year 2000, she was named Associate Superintendent, Office of Leadership and Learning, and oversaw district professional developments and leadership and the Offices of Curriculum Support, Early Childhood, Literacy Development, the Teaching and Learning Network and the Urban Systemic program; and

WHEREAS, In 2001-2002, Nilsa returned to her North Philadelphia community as the Central East Area Academic Officer which made her responsible for directly managing 27 schools and continued to increase the instructional capacity and academic success of over 2,000 teachers and 21,000 students; and

WHEREAS, Nilsa’s last position with the School District of Philadelphia was School Management Officer under the new Chief Executive Officer and had direct oversight over 264 schools; and

WHEREAS, Her leadership and dedication beyond her efforts with the School District of Philadelphia has extended to her community including being a founding member of the Roberto Clemente Field Day, the Aces Borincanos and the Mujeres Latinas en Accion (Political Action Committee), Chair of the Delaware Valley Health Care (formerly known as Philadelphia Health Services), and helped bring the National Association of Bilingual Conference to Philadelphia; now therefore

RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That we hereby recognize and honor Nilsa Gonzalez for her years of tireless work and dedication that has helped guide and shape not only our children but our communities as well.

FURTHER RESOLVED, That an Engrossed copy of this resolution be presented to Nilsa Gonzalez as an expression of the sincere sentiments and admiration of this legislative body.

End