Evangelia Grivas
Dr. Beckley
Dr. Theresa Beckley is one of our assistant principals, as well as the IB coordinator here at Atherton.
Beckley was an undergraduate at Heidelberg College, and majored in middle childhood education and interaction specialist.
She joined the staff in 2018 after working at Highland as their instructional coach. She was previously a teacher there, and before joining Highland’s staff she taught English and Social Studies at Myers and Iroquois middle school.
One of her main responsibilities as an AP and IB coordinator is making sure the programs run smoothly.
“When I first started here, there wasn’t a calendar for who was doing what during the internal assessments,” said Beckley.
Her job keeps her very busy, concerning balancing her work and behavioral issues, it comes down to priority.
“I could be working on something and then something else happens. It’s literally just thinking through what is my current priority, and what can I put off till the next day,” Beckley said.
One thing that she does to help create a positive school culture is try to get out of her comfort zone. She wants students to see that she’s more than just someone that reprimands people, or that she’s a mean person. Beckley believes that as we get outside our comfort zones and show people who we are, it helps build our culture.
One of the most rewarding parts of her job is helping kids.
“In the past couple months, I’ve had graduates from not even this past year, but a couple months prior, reach out and tell me how they’re doing and invite me to their graduations,” Beckley explained.
“It makes you cheer up a little bit knowing that the behaviors they had, and what you helped them through, and then seeing them graduate, move on, get a career, and be successful.”
Outside of school, Dr. Beckley stays busy taking her sons to travel baseball and softball. But in her spare time, she loves to read.