Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
By employing a deliberate shift in approach, Lindsay Unified School District (LUSD) in California makes learning the center of activity. The kids are called learners (not students), and the adults are learning facilitators, or LFs, (not teachers) at this personalized learning site (nope, not school). Meeting students at their level is a moral imperative.
Superintendent Jill Louters, H.S. Principal Avolt Baumbach, Jamie Risovi and Kent Brown were among a group of educators who visited LUSD on Dec. 6-7. They were invited to attend with a group of KnowledgeWorks grantees in several districts from North Dakota and California. Staff met with LUSD’s Leadership Team first, then spent a full day in the elementary and high school buildings.
The district has been active with personalized learning since 2006. H.S. Principal Avolt Baumbach said he was impressed, seeing how personalized learning looks in a performance-based system that really works well. “This is what I want for our district,” Baumbach said.
Now in his 29th year teaching, Brown said his takeaway was seeing how they implemented it on a large scale, with thorough planning and continuous revisions. “I wasn’t surprised by what I saw,” he said. Rather, he was more interested in the two years of planning and development before implementation, and how the district continually engages in staff development to define best practices and envision the future. Lindsay Unified School District has about 4,100 students in a community of 12,000 people. Yes, they may be small for California, but certainly are not by North Dakota standards. This agricultural community is lined with fruit orchards.
Risovi commented, “I was really impressed with the atmosphere when we walked into the schools.” The elementary learners conducted the tour, and they clearly had been taught how to conduct themselves. He particularly noted how the learning facilitators focus on meeting the learners needs, not on being the keepers of information. He said that before LUSD started the new programming, their academic performance was quite poor. Valedictorians of their high school classes were taking remedial courses as freshmen in college. There were even some graduates who couldn’t read an article out of a newspaper when prompted.
Their approach to hiring staff is intentional. They have continuous awareness of who is in the candidate pool, and they also build staff from within. If learners obtain higher education, come back and work as LFs for three years, their college loans are forgiven.
The resources personalized learning takes is also a point of interest. LUSD has qualified for Bush Foundation grants in the millions over the years, which have helped make this educational shift possible. The Bush Foundation was established in 1953 by 3M executive Archibald Bush and his wife, Edyth.
One of the KnowledgeWorks facilitators was formerly a principal at LUSD, Louters reported, and he plans to visit NR-S again in the spring to observe and make suggestions for improvement on NR-S’s personalized learning model.
Elementary Principal Natalie Becker announced that the Pennies for Patients fund drive raised $441.60 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The top class was the first grade, which will get a root beer float party. Becker also said she received positive feedback about having a second performance of the elementary Christmas program in the afternoon.
Baumbach noted that enrollment for spring semester is underway, including the Personalized Learning Academy (PLA). He will be traveling to Pingree to look at smart labs set up by the N.D. Center for Distance Education. First semester finals are this week, Dec. 17 – 21, then the week will end with a Christmas celebration on Friday afternoon. Parents and students are invited to a PLA meeting on Dec. 19 at 3:30 p.m., where they will discuss enrollment for spring semester and the future of the program.
Louters continues to meet with the KnowledgeWorks teams set up here at NR-S, the District Design Team comprised of 21 staff and community members, and the Fellows, the internal staff implementation team. They are currently working on building the portrait of an NR-S graduate and illustrating what skills and behaviors and he or she should possess.
The board approved second readings for two required school district policies, FDB- Education of Homeless Students and FDH- Education of Foster Children, effectively implementing both.
Louters made recommendations to hire two open positions, the temporary elementary teacher for first grade and the office manager. Amanda (Indergaard) Koepplin was recommended for the elementary opening to serve the remainder of the 2018-19 school year and team-teach with Mrs. Tasha Skogen. Louters said that ideally Koepplin will start the this week so she can be oriented, then come back full-time in January. She has substitute taught at NR-S, so she does know many of the students. The board approved Koepplin’s hire.
The Office Manager position has been open twice in the past month, and eight individuals have applied. Louters explained the criteria that are critical for this position, including communication, collaboration, confidentiality and problem solving. This person is often known as “the face of the district,” Louters said, because of his or her placement in the front office and work with all students and staff. Melanie Thompson, the top applicant, has recently relocated to the community, and she comes with a background that includes marketing and accounting. The board approved an increase in the starting pay as per her request, so Thompson is expected to start Jan. 1.
The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, Jan. 14 at 6 p.m.
