The six-inch snow surprise last week probably altered my reputation as an anti-snow-day caller. With the snow coming late into the evening and early morning hours, there was little time for the city to get any of the side streets cleared. While I am sure our students appreciate the days …
It is hard to believe that another year is in the books – but looking back I believe 2012 was another very good year for Lincoln Public Schools in virtually all areas. Our academic achievement was up as was the graduation rate. We finished most of the ten-year facility projects …
Happy holidays – wishing everyone a great new year. I wrote the following article as a guest editorial that ran in the Lincoln Journal Star on Sunday, Dec. 23 – and I thought others might enjoy reading it. Steve Elementary age children from one of our schools in Lincoln sent …
This is my favorite time of year and I want to wish each of you a happy and joyous holiday with family and friends. Each year at this time I look forward to a little slower pace and time with family (we are expecting our first grandson any day now) …
The recent release of the student enrollment numbers at Lincoln Public Schools is a great sign of a vibrant and progressive community. While our increase was less than last year, it was greater than we projected. The change in kindergarten eligibility – from children born before Oct. 15 to those …
Hard to believe it is already September – whatever happened to June, July and August? In the old days those were the top three mythical reasons that some folks went into education, but today educators work straight through the summer months. And right now we’re already almost four weeks into …
For me, today is the best day of the school year. This morning I was able to visit four schools (Adams, Hill, Zeman and Humann elementary schools) and capture the excitement of kids and teachers as they greeted each other. The moments were precious, whether it was watching kindergarten dad consoling …
Despite the heat of mid-July in Nebraska, educators can already sense that the opening of the 2012-13 school year is getting closer with everyone at Lincoln Public Schools preparing to start once again. As superintendent, I know that the end of summer has arrived each year when we hold our …
I have always been goal oriented. I learned as a youth that without goals you never know where you are going. Stephen Covey encourages people to establish goals in all the critical areas of life such as family, relationships and work. I can’t say that I still adhere to once-a-week …
Lincoln Public Schools Superintendent Steve Joel is on a two-week trip to China, sponsored by the Confucius Institute at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The experience is an educational and cultural exchange between the Confucius Institute and Xi’an Jiaotong University, sister university of UNL. The traveling group includes representatives from Lincoln …
