Greetings.
Earlier this week at the Lincoln Board of Education meeting, Lincoln Public Schools took a significant step forward on our way to creating the digital classroom. The approved purchase of the McGraw-Hill reading series ($3+ million for K-6) offers our teachers an opportunity to teach digitally to augment the printed text. While this adoption is not digital turn-key (complete digital from start to finish), we are taking small steps on our way to the transformation that appears inevitable.
I recently returned from a conference where educational technology was a major theme – and it is impressive to see what some school districts are doing around the country in large and small locations. Each story I heard had a similar theme: When a school district adopts digital materials they must have the appropriate staff development and plans for implementation – or else they are doomed to fail. We intend to ensure that we do both solid staff development and implementation planning.
This is the time of year when we begin the arduous task of replacing top talent – and you might have heard that Dr. Nancy Biggs, associate superintendent for Human Resources at LPS, has announced her retirement after 30 + years with LPS. Fortunately we typically have many quality applicants, and finding a replacement for Dr. Biggs is a top priority for me.
Meanwhile, I think we have finally figured out how to increase community engagement and truly establish two-way communication. We just need predictions of a major snowstorm coming our way, and we’ll receive plenty of community opinions and suggestions. I chuckled when our communications department reported that Tweets and Facebook hits multiplied many fold during the last prediction of a major snowstorm. In fact, I really enjoy reading the emails that come before a storm, asking that I call a snow day – and then after the storm, criticizing snow days because the storm did not meet or exceed expectations. I wonder how I would do as a weather forecaster or, better yet, how a weather person would do as a superintendent. We may find out someday.
LPS news continues to be quite positive in virtually all aspects. I love reading about all of our extra-curricular accomplishments in athletics and the fine arts. We truly have many opportunities for students to extend their learning in our school district – and great coaches and sponsors who help them realize their potential. I wish the best of luck to all of the LPS state competitors.
Steve
