Bonnie Durgin, Assistant Principal
I am overjoyed to be Assistant Principal for my 6th year here in the AmPark Family. One of the first things that I learned about AmPark is that it is a home away from home for staff, students, and families. I am grateful and humbled to be a part of such a warm and vibrant community.
I have thirteen years of experience as a teacher and school leader in both the Bronx and Brooklyn. In 2004, I began teaching in the south Bronx as a Teach for America Corps member. I fell in love with teaching and creating classroom communities that allowed students to feel seen and safe to take the social and academic risks from which they would grow and deeply engage in their own learning. As a classroom teacher in Kindergarten, 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, and a Pre-K through 6th Grade music cluster, I worked to keep the key elements of inquiry, dialogue, and getting hands dirty at the center of my teaching.
In 2010, I was given the opportunity to help build a new school, as a second year founding teacher for a city-wide gifted and talented school, The Brooklyn School of Inquiry. As a 1st and 2nd Grade teacher, I collaborated with brilliant teachers and administrators alongside a dedicated parent body to found a school based upon progressive principles and a whole-child approach to education.
This wonderful challenge inspired me to go to Bank Street College of Education to pursue school leadership. It was my internship work at Bank Street that would lead me to M.S. 88 in Brooklyn, where I have had the pleasure to serve as an Assistant Principal and conflict resolution specialist, leading a community of over 1,400 spirited middle schoolers. My work at M.S. 88 has centered around collaborating with staff on media literacy, technology and art integration, and social emotional learning initiatives.
Over the past few years, life has pulled my family closer to where I grew up in Danbury, CT. While I’m sad to say goodbye to my wonderful teachers, students and families in Brooklyn, I am delighted to return to the Bronx and, most amazingly, to have come to AmPark Neighborhood School.
I have thirteen years of experience as a teacher and school leader in both the Bronx and Brooklyn. In 2004, I began teaching in the south Bronx as a Teach for America Corps member. I fell in love with teaching and creating classroom communities that allowed students to feel seen and safe to take the social and academic risks from which they would grow and deeply engage in their own learning. As a classroom teacher in Kindergarten, 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, and a Pre-K through 6th Grade music cluster, I worked to keep the key elements of inquiry, dialogue, and getting hands dirty at the center of my teaching.
In 2010, I was given the opportunity to help build a new school, as a second year founding teacher for a city-wide gifted and talented school, The Brooklyn School of Inquiry. As a 1st and 2nd Grade teacher, I collaborated with brilliant teachers and administrators alongside a dedicated parent body to found a school based upon progressive principles and a whole-child approach to education.
This wonderful challenge inspired me to go to Bank Street College of Education to pursue school leadership. It was my internship work at Bank Street that would lead me to M.S. 88 in Brooklyn, where I have had the pleasure to serve as an Assistant Principal and conflict resolution specialist, leading a community of over 1,400 spirited middle schoolers. My work at M.S. 88 has centered around collaborating with staff on media literacy, technology and art integration, and social emotional learning initiatives.
Over the past few years, life has pulled my family closer to where I grew up in Danbury, CT. While I’m sad to say goodbye to my wonderful teachers, students and families in Brooklyn, I am delighted to return to the Bronx and, most amazingly, to have come to AmPark Neighborhood School.