{"id":12174,"date":"2024-05-23T20:58:40","date_gmt":"2024-05-23T20:58:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/?p=12174"},"modified":"2024-05-23T20:58:40","modified_gmt":"2024-05-23T20:58:40","slug":"kathy-gregory-retires-after-an-outstanding-career-as-a-tps-educator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/23\/kathy-gregory-retires-after-an-outstanding-career-as-a-tps-educator\/","title":{"rendered":"Kathy Gregory Retires After an Outstanding Career as a TPS Educator"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
TPS Superintendent Romules Durant, EdD, and Kathy Gregory<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Special to The Truth<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

On Thursday, May 16, 2024, an educational legend received a formal send-off
\nfor her role as the beloved principal of the Old West End Academy (OWEA), a
\nTPS magnet school that offers K-8 Spanish and has been a leader within the
\ndistrict for its high achievements on the Ohio state achievement tests for
\nmany years.<\/p>\n

On May 16, from 5 to 6:30 p.m., the OWEA family hosted a community open house for Kathy Gregory in its school cafeteria where well-wishers, such as former
\nadult graduates, retired and current administrators, educators and
\nemployees, as well as her friends and family came to celebrate and
\nsay goodbye to this proven leader of excellence.
\nGregory will be relocating out of Toledo once she formally retires in June.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s the best principal I\u2019ve ever worked under,\u201d said Donna Reamey, OWEA
\nSpanish teacher. \u201cI\u2019m truly going to miss her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Gregory with her former Cherry Elementary colleagues<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The principal of Glenwood Elementary, Michael Carr, EdD, wrote in a tribute
\nto Gregory, \u201cYour unwavering dedication to academic excellence, your
\ncalm and confident demeanor, and your impeccable sense of style have all
\nset you apart as a true role model for so many of us in the education
\nfield.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYour leadership has helped to shape the careers of countless educators who
\nnow follow in your footsteps, and your kind and supportive nature has made
\nyou a friend, confidant, and mentor to so many,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Kathy Gregory began her educational career nearly 44 years ago as a teacher
\nat Spencer Sharples School, where she taught various grade levels. Ten
\nyears later, she assumed the role of assistant principal at Glenwood
\nElementary School and remained in that position for a year and a half
\nbefore she was named the principal of Cherry Elementary School, which is
\ncurrently known as Rosa Parks Elementary.<\/p>\n

\u201cI enjoyed Cherry Elementary and planned to stay until my retirement,\u201d
\nGregory wrote in her autobiographical sketch. \u201cHowever, after 12 years
\nthere, I was asked to apply to Old West End Academy, a newly formed
\nelementary school.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWith mixed emotions, I accepted the challenge and with a team of teachers
\nand administrators, developed its policies and procedures,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Kathy Gregory, Donna Reamey, Hugh Smith, Elberta Smith<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During her time at Old West End Academy, Kathy Gregory received the
\n\u201cPrincipal of the Year Award from JP Associates for her leadership in
\nDirect Instruction. — Currently, OWEA is the only school within the Scott
\nHigh School feeder system that still uses Direct Instruction to teach all
\nstudents in grades K-5. Gregory credits OWEA\u2019s high OST scores to
\nusing this form of teaching reading to its students. \u00a0\u201cIt has made a
\nremarkable difference in teaching our babies to read,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Gregory also received a recognition certificate and plaque from the
\nPerry Burroughs Democratic Women\u2019s Club, as well as, a recognition award
\nand plaque from Jack and Jill, Incorporated, for her leadership and service
\nto children. Recently, she received a Legacy Award from TutorSmart, our
\nnewest tutoring program.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Kathy Gregory and family<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After four years at Old West End Academy, Gregory embarked upon another
\njourney in her quest to serve young people. \u00a0She took a position as an
\nInstructional Planning Consultant at the Board of Education for eight
\nyears. This position taught her a lot about the Effective School Movement
\nand the Ohio Improvement Process which is a process to improve school
\nperformance.<\/p>\n

Gregory retired her first time from TPS in 2011, but she returned to
\nTPS as an assistant principal at Harvard School for one year and a few long
\nterm subbing positions.<\/p>\n

\"\"In 2015, when she received a phone call from the Superintendent of TPS,
\nRomulus Durant, EdD, to return to OWEA, she said, \u201cit was truly a dream come
\ntrue.\u201d \u00a0Nine years later, Gregory is leaving her beloved school for
\nthe final time.<\/p>\n

Last year, under Gregory\u2019s leadership, OWEA received four stars for
\nits 23.79 percent growth in improvement on the Ohio State Tests, which was the highest in the district. For this growth, OWEA also received a \u201cMomentum
\nAward 2023\u201d from The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce for
\nachieving \u201csignificant improvement in growth and achievement on the Ohio
\nSchool Report Cards for the 2022-2023 school year,\u201d the award certificate
\nstates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Special to The Truth On Thursday, May 16, 2024, an educational legend received a formal send-off for her role as the beloved principal of the Old West End Academy (OWEA), a TPS magnet school that offers K-8 Spanish and has been a leader within the district for its high achievements on the Ohio state achievement […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,18,17],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[231],"class_list":["post-12174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","category-headline","category-local"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12174"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12174\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12180,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12174\/revisions\/12180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12174"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=12174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}