FOCUSING ON THE STUDENTS: Annie Kosek, Littlebrook principal soon to be district assistant superintendent, looks forward to using her experience as teacher, supervisor and principal to help her “make decisions that strengthen teaching and learning in Princeton Public Schools.”

Annie Kosek is in transition mode, enjoying her last months as principal at Littlebrook Elementary School before moving into central administration this summer as Princeton Public Schools (PPS) assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction. 

With a focus on the social, emotional, and intellectual lives of her Littlebrook students over the past 14 years as principal, Ms. Kosek has established “a reputation for fairness, kindness, and the highest level of instructional leadership,” according to a recent announcement from the PPS.

Prior to coming to Princeton, Ms. Kosek worked in Hopewell Valley, first as an elementary school teacher, later as K-12 staff developer, and eventually as a K-8 supervisor of Language Arts.

Planning to draw on her experience as teacher, supervisor, and principal “to connect the pieces, collaborate, and most importantly, make decisions that strengthen teaching and learning in Princeton Public Schools,” Ms. Kosek described her commitment, as principal and in her new position, “to help people grow every day. I’m looking forward to supporting the work of our teachers and administrators (we’ve got some of the best and brightest) in this new capacity. Among other things, I see my work as supporting and helping to shape the vision for each department, determining funding possibilities, facilitating cross-disciplinary work for both teachers and students, supporting professional development, and helping with program evaluation.”

She added, “Having worked as a teacher, a supervisor, and a principal, I have intimate understandings of the challenges and joys that staff face at every level.”

Ms. Kosek emphasized her focus on students at Littlebrook and her determination to carry that priority with her as assistant superintendent. “Knowing every student’s name, face and achievement data has allowed me to make more personalized decisions and monitor the effectiveness of our programs and instructional strategies. Fourteen years of birthday lunches with the principal have allowed me to get to know every student personally. We tell jokes and riddles, have a birthday treat, and the students select a birthday book to add to their home library.”

Littlebrook was recently rated by niche.com as the number one elementary school in New Jersey and number three in the country for 2017. The school has received a state nomination for Blue Ribbon School status for this year, and is currently completing the requisite application.

But the most conspicuous signs of success have not necessarily been Ms. Kosek’s top priorities. “I know that beyond big newsworthy events and happenings at a school, it is the daily high-impact programs and approaches that make a school an exemplary one,” she said. “At Littlebrook, it is the steadfast work of happy and dedicated teachers and support staff that results in thriving kids who skip happily to school every day.”

Growing up near Buffalo, New York as the fifth of seven children, Ms. Kosek noted, “We understood from a very young age the power of education. All seven of us have post-graduate degrees and inherited our parents’ energy and work ethic. But what I most appreciate about my parents’ child-rearing is that they fully understood that play is a child’s work. I have wonderful memories of unstructured outdoor play — in the warm summer months and in multiple feet of Buffalo snow.”

Ms. Kosek, who has lived in Hopewell Township for the past 24 years, described raising her two children — her daughter now an attorney and her son a musician with a passion for sustainable farming — as her “personal study in the power of the multiple intelligences theory. I have first-hand experience of the talents and gifts a child brings to a family — and to a school.”