Lightning in a bottle

At the start of this school year, principal Dr. Ann Bonitatibus collected containers filled with slips of paper. Staff members wrote their beliefs and hopes relating to innovation at Jefferson. “Everybody [is] coming out of COVID with some energy again, and we want to start getting our neurons firing about what’s new, what’s exciting,” Dr. Bonitatibus said. “To me, innovation is next. Every week I’m planting seeds with their own ideas, not mine.”

Grace Sharma, Copy Editor
October 26, 2022

When principal Dr. Ann Bonitatibus first arrived at Jefferson, she realized how toxic the culture of mental health was with students. Disheartened, she spent her years working with students, staff, and Challenge Success. Now, Dr. Bonitatibus is shifting her focus to the innovation at Jefferson.

“What can TJ as a school do to innovate? How do you capture lightning in a bottle and be explosive about the next thing? How can we continue to lead our nation with [the] STEM instruction that we do?” Jefferson principal Dr. Ann Bonitatibus said. “[So] I did this activity at the beginning of the year with our entire staff.”

The activity, “Bottled Lightning,” was her attempt to redistribute the staff’s ideas relating to innovation. Every staff member received a plastic bottle with a slip of gold paper inside. There were three prompts they could fill in the blank to: “I can innovate by,” “My team can innovate by,” or “TJ can innovate by.”

“They have their idea in there and then every week, when [the administration team] meets, I give everyone a bottle,” Dr. Bonitatibus said. “They unscrew it and read what there is. Then in my weekly email to staff, I write to them, ‘Here’s your bottle lightning jars from our opening staff meeting.’

Some examples of what staff members wrote include “I define innovation as finding a solution to a previously unsolved problem,” “I can innovate by taking risks,” and “TJ can innovate by reimagining instruction and focusing on how each discipline is integrated and truly incorporated amongst the rest.” Dr. Bonitatibus sends ten of these out per week.

“I’m hoping that each week, teachers will be like, ‘Oh, this is cool,’” Dr. Bonitatibus said. “Every week, they’ll read something, and [it] might resonate with them because they find that one of their colleagues had the same idea they did. Or it might give them a new way of thinking or it might make them feel like they’re not alone.”

After organizing all the staff, Dr. Bonitatibus hopes to get students involved.

“I can do some student focus groups [and] invite a couple students to apply even beyond the team moving forward,” Dr. Bonitatibus said. “It’s going to enhance the lives of students. Everything starts with what’s in the best interest of students.”

Ultimately, Dr. Bonitatibus’s goal is to improve Jefferson’s community in the best way possible.

“I want your experience at TJ to be exceptional,” Dr. Bonitatibus said. “I want it to be different then anyplace else: exciting, innovative. Where you can feel proud of [our school] and feel that we’re doing great things.”