This letter provides a strong recommendation for Kathleen O'Donoghue for the position of Assistant Principal at Shawsheen Valley Technical High School. The letter details Kathleen's 7 years of experience as a dedicated and skilled teacher, and her leadership among her peers as a teacher representative and member of the union negotiations team. The letter also highlights Kathleen's excellent communication and interpersonal skills in her role as an MTA building representative, where she has successfully addressed staff concerns and issues. Overall, the letter portrays Kathleen as a mature, sensitive leader who is highly qualified for the Assistant Principal position.

1. Medford Teachers Association
3000 Mystic Valley Pkwy
Medford, MA 02155
781-393-2228
October 3, 2015
Dear, Dr. Robert Kanellas:
It is with great pleasure that I write this letter of recommendation for, Kathleen
O’Donoghue, for the position of Assistant Principal at Shawsheen Valley Technical High
School. I have had the pleasure to know and work with Kathleen for the past seven
years. As a colleague of Kathleen’s, I have seen many examples of her talents as a teacher in the
classroom and have long been impressed by her diligence and work ethic. She has distinguished
herself as a highly motivated, thorough, and intelligent teacher and leader among her peers.
Kathleen O’Donoghue, is a skillful, conscientious, dedicated teacher who
thoroughly understands how children learn. She is an expert at the use of different multi-
sensory, differentiated structured programs to teach social studies. In her classroom she
brings her experience and excellent intuition about children together by focusing on each
child. In a very natural and caring fashion she sets about finding the natural balance of
reassurance and challenges each of their needs ………. and they respond.
Besides her ability to supply high quality meaningful instruction to students,
Kathleen is seen as a leader among her peers. Her ability to communicate and use her
outstanding interpersonal skills have been clearly demonstrated when she served as a
teacher representative on the Medford Teachers Executive board. During her tenure on
the board she worked tirelessly to insure that teacher’s concerns and voices were heard in
a collaborative and positive way to achieve a successful union between her peers and the
school administration. She also served on the negotiations team where she was a strong
voice in the successful implementation of the contract between the school administration
and the union. Kathleen, continues to exhibit her excellent communication and
interpersonal skills acting as an MTA building representative for the past twelve years
(eighth at the high school level and six at the middle school level). In this position she
has acted as an advocate and liaison for staff and administration. As a building
representative she has the ability to provide a staff of 50 teachers’ clear, concise answers
to their concerns, questions, and/or grievances they may have with teacher contract
issues. She has been very successful in seeking resolution to these issues with the
administration in a non-combative way with quick resolution to the issues on hand.
Kathleen has taken an active role in the helping new and veteran teachers with
the many new initiatives that have been mandated by the DESE. An example of her
commitment to understanding and implementing these many new initiatives was when
she was recruited by the Union president to work on the Teacher Evaluation Committee
on adapting the New Teacher Evaluation System and aligning it with the Teachers’
Contract.
Another example of Kathleen’s ability to work collaboratively with her peers
while skillfully motivating new teachers to be successful is in the role of Lead Mentor

2. Coordinator for the school district. In the past two years of overseeing this program of
approximately 70 new hires per year she has revised the Mentoring Orientation Process
She has successfully implemented changes in the training orientation process and
overseen that the regulations and new guidelines related to the program have been
implemented.
Regardless of what is asked of her Kathleen has always been gracious in offering
her support and expertise and in that regard her efforts have made her an integral part of
the Medford Public School System.
To conclude, I would like to restate my strong recommendation for Kathleen
O’Donoghue. She is a mature, sensitive, and self-directed individual, and it is a
professional and personal pleasure to recommend her for any position for which she
might be considered.
Sincerely,
Charlene Douglas M.S.Ed.
President
Medford Teachers Association
Language Arts Teacher/ Adjunct Professor
Andrews Middle School/Lesley University
Medford MA/ Cambridge MA