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 planning retreats and get ready to attend Administrator Days in Kearney.
Last summer was incredibly demanding as we dealt with all the challenges of fire recovery, while also preparing to start a new school year. This summer is just as busy because it involves the million necessary pieces of starting school, but also feels as if we are attempting to squeeze two summers into one. This year is also particularly fascinating as we envision an exciting future for our school district that includes the potential advent of several important initiatives – programs I believe will lead to greater success for both students and staff. In the coming months you will be reading more about these proposals, focusing on technology planning, career high schools, Community Learning Centers, stakeholder engagement and anticipating ways to handle student growth.
This work all takes enormous planning. I still get a kick out of people who ask me what LPS employees do in June, July and August – people who often mistakenly believe we probably close down over the summer.
I admit that some of our summer workdays are not as intense as during the school year, allowing critical time for planning, staff development and tackling new experiences. However, the truth is that the people who work for LPS District Offices – as well as principals and staff in all our schools – are as busy during the summer as we are when school is in session. This is valuable time when we take a quick breath to catch up from the previous year, then immediately turn around to undertake an incredible amount of annual preparation: Renovation and maintenance and cleaning our facilities, upgrading computer and software systems, implementing new systems, developing our annual budget, talking about strategic goals, hiring new staff, providing orientation for about 200 new teachers, training all our staff in new curriculum and instructional practices, this summer moving into the new Kloefkorn Elementary School – and, believe it or not, much much more.
The Lincoln Board of Education does not escape summer work. Kudos to the members of our School Board who recently dedicated four hours of their time to developing our major strategic priorities for 2012-13. As a goal oriented person, I love knowing that we have great purpose in our work and that we can measure our progress against benchmarks. The School Board has been diligent in making sure we connect our major priorities to the school district’s strategic plan, giving us steady and reliable consistency.
Please know that I truly appreciate your input and interest in our schools.
Steve
