Charter School of Morgan Hill

Introducing Paige Cisewski
CSMH principal since 2004
e-mail: principal@csmh.org

Many elements of Mrs. Cisewski’s background and experience make her an exceptional fit for the position of principal at the Charter School of Morgan Hill. She completed her Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education in 1988 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. During her undergraduate work, Mrs. Cisewski was involved in a program that focused on multicultural education and meeting the needs of diverse student populations. In addition, she worked with Dr. Carl Grant, professor and author, helping to edit his book entitled "Bringing Teaching to Life."

In 1993 she earned a Masters degree in Administration and Policy Analysis from Stanford University. This prospective principal's program, to which only six students were admitted each year, specialized in problem based learning. The second tier for her clear administrative credential was completed at San Jose State in 1999 where many of the classes focused on serving at-risk students and resiliency. The peer coaching component of this program allowed her the opportunity to observe and interact with many principals, teachers and schools throughout the county.

Prior to her involvement in CSMH, Mrs. Cisewski worked in education for over 10 years. Five years were spent teaching a variety of grade levels at public elementary and middle schools in the Campbell Elementary School District. She also taught at a private K-8 school in San Jose. Between her student teaching experiences and her professional teaching jobs, Mrs. Cisewski has taught 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th grades. While working as a teacher in the Campbell district, Mrs. Cisewski was the lead negotiator for the teacher’s union. Her administrative experience came from being an elementary principal in the Los Gatos Union School District.

As an elementary school principal, her responsibilities included serving on the School Site Council, facility improvements, working with the Home and School Club, overseeing the school budget, writing and implementing the technology plan, networking the school, writing grants, teacher hiring and evaluation. In both districts, she served on a variety of committees at the district level – curriculum committees for History/Social Science, Language Arts, and Math, two bond committees, a parcel tax committee, and the district facilities committee. These various experiences provided her with many opportunities to work collaboratively with staff, parents, students and community.

Mrs. Cisewski played a key role in the charter school’s development phase and launch team. She was involved in the creation of the school’s mission statement and vision elements and oversaw the pre-operations committee, which included instructional programs and staff recruitment and hiring. She was also the primary author of the school’s charter and worked with both the county and district offices prior to the school’s opening. She served as a Board member during the first two years of the school’s operation, and is currently the school’s Teacher Support Consultant, working both with individual teachers and the staff as a whole.

Mrs. Cisewki has been a member of the Morgan Hill community since 1990. She has been married to her husband, Paul, for 18 years and they have three children - Trenton, Nolan and Brooke.