Recommendation Letter for Dino Gisiano by Patrick Brust

I would like to take this opportunity to serve as a reference in support of John “Dino” Gisiano’s application for employment with Cambridge Assessment International Education. I have known Mr. Gisiano for over five years when he served as principal of Hopewell High School in Huntersville, North Carolina, where I currently work as a mathematics teacher and site coordinator for Hopewell’s Cambridge program.

Before Mr. Gisiano was named principal at Hopewell, I was unsure whether I wanted to remain at the school or if I should transfer to another school or even another district. The previous principal and school leadership had left the school in a bad place both with respect to academics and overall school climate. There was no consistency and no sense of direction.

Under his leadership, Dino made steady gains, not just in terms of academic opportunities and measure academic test scores, but also in terms of changing the school culture from one of apathy to one of high expectations and academic achievement.

Mr. Gisiano pushed for and is one of, if not the biggest reasons why we were able to bring the Cambridge Program to Hopewell and to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. He was an advocate of the program from the beginning and worked tirelessly with district leadership to push for its Implementation.

Last year we had our first group of students sit for exams in AS Mathematics, AS Art and Design, AS Psychology, AS English Language and AS Environmental Management. Due in part to his strategic leadership and placement of quality teachers, Hopewell saw passage rates on these exams that met or exceeded national averages, even though it was our first year giving Exams!

Hopewell’s Cambridge program continues to flourish and grow as we continue to add more students who are either diploma candidates or even those who just take a course or two. We added additional courses this year and will be adding more courses for the coming year. We will also be graduating our first cohort of diploma candidates, and Mr. Gisiano’s tireless efforts and advocacy for students is a big reason that this program has been so successful.

I believe Dino would be a great addition to your staff, both as someone who is knowledgeable with Cambridge already, but also because of his leadership and teaching experiences. If you have additional questions or you need additional information as a reference for Mr. Gisiano, please do not hesitate to call me. My mobile phone number is 1-304-210-6959.

Thank you for your time and consideration.