Grateful to live in Lincoln

Tonight the Lincoln Board of Education will put the finishing touches on a strategic plan to guide our work next year and into the future. It is a testament to a caring community and committed staff that this document will reflect the work and input of more than 400 voices.

We go into the meeting with overarching purposes, and then the School Board will fine-tune the strategic goals to meet those purposes. Once those goals are defined, we will appoint strategic writing committees – made up of community members, LPS staff members and School Board members – to develop the action plans necessary to meet each of those strategic goals. I am hopeful of having the first draft of the strategic plan ready to be unveiled by early in September. The fire caused us to miss a few weeks in the original time line, but we’re back and going strong.

Last week, I had a great opportunity to attend a national conference in Atlanta, re-charge my batteries and learn some excellent lessons. The cheating crisis in Atlanta was unfolding as we were there, and many of us believe this will cause a re-thinking of the value of high-stakes testing. I heard many speakers talk about testing and whether it is effective in raising aggregate student achievement. The consensus was that it is not. I’ll speak to this more in the coming months. But I can tell you this: After participating in numerous conversations and presentations, I am certainly thankful to live and work in Lincoln.

Soon, the excitement of the first days of school will be upon us. With numerous upcoming opportunities to speak to staff and community, I want to continue sharing our main message: LPS is an outstanding school district. Yes, we have plenty of challenges, but they will be addressed by LPS employees who have children and students at the absolute center of their being.

Many of our displaced team members are now in our new offices at Celerion (which we are now calling LPS District Offices). For most, this is our fourth move in six weeks. Kudos to all who have made these transitions and done it without disruption to their work. Thank you.