March 26, 2019

Steven A. Rufe
713 Warren Street
Willow Grove, PA 19090

Phone: 610-761-3699

To Whom It May Concern,

The purpose of this letter is to support the prospective employment of Ms. Daima Mbele. In my
role as a Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS) Coach with the School District of
Philadelphia, I have had the pleasure of working with Ms. Mbele for the last several months.
Over the course of our time working together, I have found Ms. Mbele to be eager to learn, a
systems-oriented thinker, and an organized and thorough individual.

Ms. Mbele joined the staff of William D. Kelley Elementary School as School Counselor after
the previous School Counselor left mid-year. Upon her arrival, Ms. Mbele and I immediately
began developing an important professional rapport to support the students of William D. Kelley.
For some context, William D. Kelley is located on the northern edge of the Brewerytown
neighborhood of Philadelphia and serves nearly 400 students, of which over 90% are African
American. Of the nearly 400 students, 100% of the student population are eligible for a
free/reduced lunch.

In my role as a PBIS Coach, I support a Tier I Program at Kelley as well as a Tier II targeted
intervention called Check-In, Check-Out. As the School Counselor, Ms. Mbele assumed the role
of Intervention Coordinator for the program, even though she had not implemented it before.
Since the program was new to Ms. Mbele, we met and talked about how to lift it. As her Coach,
I suggested she attend a district-wide training in January along with her Assistant Principal so
she could understand the context of the program. Ms. Mbele happily attended the training and
quickly applied what she learned to support the students of William D. Kelley. In the time that I
have worked with her, I have come to see that her drive, dedication, and passion for learning new
information and supports will take her far.

Aside from Check-In, Check-Out Ms. Mbele took the leave on several other school-wide
initiatives, which as you can imagine is very difficult to do coming in mid-year. She took the
lead on the school-wide attendance/truancy programming, including hosting regular meetings,
trainings, and other pertinent protocols (including parent communication through letters and
teacher communication through meetings and other professional communication). Ms. Mbele’s
organization and systems implementation surrounding attendance allowed for the
implementation of a thoughtful system for responding to student absence and truancy concerns.
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As a School Counselor, I have faith that Ms. Mbele will fulfill the duties assigned to her with the
utmost professionalism and with a system-oriented mindset. I would recommend that you
consider her employement. Should you want to speak with me further about her possible
employement, feel free to reach out to me via phone at 610-761-3699 or e-mail at
stevenrufe@gmail.com.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Mr. Steven A. Rufe

Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS) Coach
The School District of Philadelphia