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Meet the newest 'kid' on the block

Director Arnie Bieber comes to the International School of Prague after six years in Bucharest

November 5th, 2008 issue

By Chris McMorrow

FOR THE POST
VLADIMÍR WEISS/THE PRAGUE POST
Arnie Bieber is the new head of the International School of Prague. He moved here with his family from Bucharest's American International School.
VLADIMÍR WEISS/THE PRAGUE POST
The International School of Prague's new director, Arnie Bieber, hangs out with a bunch of students in the library.
Arnie Bieber



Hometown: Brooklyn, New York
Family: Wife, Marianne, and children, Joshua, 11, and Emma, 8
Education: Doctorate of education; master's degrees in teaching and education leadership and bachelor's degree in musical composition
Previous position: Director, American International School of Bucharest, for six years

Standing outside the International School of Prague (ISP) every morning, new director Arnie Bieber has something in common with the students he welcomes each day. A number of them share the experience of attending different schools all over the globe while pursuing their education. Bieber’s own journey through academia has been just as colorful.
Hailing from Brooklyn, New York, Bieber toiled as a taxi driver, chef, caterer and even a tugboat deckhand to support himself while making his way through university. Despite an initial bachelor’s degree in musical composition at the Manhattan School of Music, Bieber eventually turned to teaching. Now, three decades down the road, he shows no sign of slowing down.
Ellie Hobkirk, chair of ISP’s School Community Association, describes Bieber as “open, collaborative and everything you could hope for in a new director.” As a family man himself, “he appreciates what it’s like to have a child overseas, and all the challenges that come with it,” Hobkirk adds.
With a doctorate in education as well as two master’s degrees in education and educational leadership, Bieber secured a solid foundation for a career that brought him to teaching and administrative positions at international schools in Germany, Venezuela and Romania before landing in the Czech Republic.
Bieber replaces Robert Landau, who was the director of ISP for nine years before leaving for the Western Academy of Beijing.  
Joking easily with students in the library before sitting down recently with The Prague Post, it’s clear that Bieber’s heart has been in education for a long time.
The Prague Post: Why did you think you were tapped for this position?
Arnie Bieber: Well, I’ve been involved with international education for a long time, and my last position was as director of an international school in Romania, which is part of a region we call CEESA, and that stands for Central and Eastern European Schools Association. It’s a region of international schools. So I’ve actually been working in this region and had been to Prague and the school before on visits. A lot of the curriculum that we did in Bucharest mirrors what we do here, as well as the philosophy [and] the approach we use in teaching and learning. The building and the kind of community that we built up in Bucharest is very similar to the one we have here. For example, there were over 50 nationalities in Bucharest; at ISP we have over 60. A huge aspect of the job of international educators is the wonderful opportunities for not only kids but adults as well to learn about different cultures and learn about respect and tolerance.
TPP: Was the move to Prague a difficult choice to make?
AB: I was in Bucharest for six years, and we as a family decided it was time for us to move on. And, as anyone looking for a new job does, we looked around to see what was available, and we very much had our eyes set on this school when I heard there was a position opening. So I went through an interview process. I went through a good amount of time on the telephone, then in person with various constituents of the school, and we had a meeting of the minds. The school has a superb reputation internationally. It’s known to be a very welcoming, inclusive community. It’s known to have a rigorous curriculum, where the kids perform quite well academically. And it was the kind of environment that I wanted to be involved in. So it wasn’t difficult to make the decision to come here. And, obviously, living in this environment and in Prague was also very attractive to me and my family.
TPP: When and where did your international career begin?
AB: After teaching in New York, I moved to Germany in 1993 where I worked at the Bavarian International School. Again, my focus was on teaching music, but, at that point, I started getting into administration as well. I started their band program, and I was the fine arts department head, so performing and visual arts were under my purview. And a little bit later, I became the coordinator for the junior school, which was like being a principal. It was the last year in Munich that I met my wife-to-be. I met her in Italy on a school fieldtrip. She’s British, and I actually met her in Tuscany, where she had been living for four years. She worked for the organization that did the educational tours — museums, culture, Renaissance, regional history. We moved to Caracas in 1996, where I chaired the fine arts department and held a number of different administrative jobs including the middle school principal.
TPP: Are there any new programs you would like to put in place at ISP?
AB: I’m the new director. I’m the new kid on the block. I’m not showing up and saying we’re going to change this, we’re going to change that. Instead, what’s very important for me is to really fully understand this community. One thing we’re doing, which I did do in Bucharest, is we’re going through a mission review process at the school. And one of the ways we’re doing that is tapping every constituent of the school. That includes the teaching community, the parent community, the kids, and support staff. The idea is that we run a series of workshops and think about core values, beliefs and our guiding principles as a school. The other great thing about that process is that as the new director, it gives me the opportunity to connect with our community and learn about the issues.
TPP: Are there any specific challenges as director you knew you would be facing?
AB: Well, as far as enrollment goes, we are very full. We have waiting lists across the school. So one of the challenges is going to be to look at growth and enhancement. I knew coming in this would be an issue. There is a design plan in place, which we’re reviewing right now, and the expectation is that over the next few years the facility will be enhanced. We don’t want to grow too fast, because we want to maintain the kind of welcoming environment we have now and the environment of inclusiveness that we have now. It’s very family-oriented. People know each other’s names. There’s a lot of individual attention. These are very experienced people, very dedicated, very caring, and I just feel so lucky.
Chris McMorrow can be reached at specialsection@praguepost.com


Other articles in Schools & Education (5/11/2008):

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