Dear Ombudsman Northwest Families,
My Name is Dr. Theresa Baker and as the principal of the Ombudsman Chicago Northwest Campus, I want to welcome our students and their families for the 2023-24 school year. I am looking forward to the 2023-2024 school year with great
excitement During my initial months at Ombudsman Northwest, I will focus on learning more about the program as well as ensuring we are living the mission to provide personalized, evidence-based educational services for nontraditional learners in collaboration with families and school districts. To ensure all students are successful in our school, we will work to ensure that we live by CPS’s core values. Additional information can be found at: www.cps.edu/about/vision. I will also begin to develop personal and professional relationships with staff, students, parents and community members. My ultimate goal is to begin to foster a trusting and collaborative relationship with all.
Ombudsman Northwest campus opened in August of 2013. Ombudsman is designed to provide an Alternative Leaming Option to the traditional school environment Before becoming the principal of Ombudsman Chicago Northwest, I served as Program Director for Bridges Academy, an Ombudsman Plus Program as well as Director at Ombudsman Schaumburg.
We have numerous supports and staff equipped with knowledge, skills, and resources to help our students be successful both in and outside of school. Upon entering our school, students not only communicate with their advisory teachers, champions, and content teachers, but also have daily access to our Social Worker, their assigned Post-secondary Counselor, Instructional Aides, Dean, Retention Specialist. Principal, and so on. We believe that having a strong and well-rounded school team will help us provide the supports our students and families need after the trying times that we have all seen. Each staff member at our school serves on teams such as our Continuous Improvement Work Plan Team, Behavioral Health Team, Climate Team. Testing Committee, Unity Team, and Data Team. These teams exist for staff to bring their expertise in different aspects of school success to ensure success throughout every aspect of the school day.
A little background about me, I have been in education since 1995 when I began my career as a special education teacher. As a special education teacher, I had the opportunity to work both in public schools as well as at private therapeutic schools. In 2003 I began my career as an instructional leader. For the first ten years I was an Assistant Director of Student Services in a public school and the following years as a Director of Special Education for private therapeutic day schools.
I received my undergraduate degree in special education from Northeastern University in 1995 and graduate degree in 1 998. In 2010 I began working on my doctoral degree in educational leadership at Jones International University where I graduated in May of 2013 with my Doctoral in Educational Leadership.
I believe my educational experiences have given me the opportunity to collaborate with a diverse group of people to meet the common goal of increasing student achievement and well-being. I truly believe that all students can learn, given a positive learning environment, a committed and focused educational team, and a supportive family.
I look forward to working with you as a team to help each student at Ombudsman Northwest meet their goals and have a successful school year!
Best regards,
Dr. Theresa Baker