Spring 2024

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The First Step: Newly-Formed ESUCC Early Childhood Cadre Aims to Connect the Dots for Schools, Communities by Tyler Dahlgren ............................................................................................ 4

Discovering the Heart of SEL in The Heartland: Our Day at Boys Town by Tyler Dahlgren ............................................................................................ 8

Talking A.I., Emergency Operations Plans, and Standard Response Protocols with State Safety and Security Director Jay Martin by Tyler Dahlgren ............................................................................................ 12

Nebraska Public School Advantage (NPSA) Rolls Out “To Tell You the Truth” Series, Showcasing Nebraska Educators by Tyler Dahlgren ............................................................................................ 15

Catching Up with the Commissioner by Tyler Dahlgren ............................................................................................ 17

Too many JUST ENOUGH Cooks in the Kitchen by Nate Seggerman ........................................................................................ 18

Just Breathe by Pam Lowndes ............................................................................................. 20

NCSA MISSION

The mission of the Nebraska Council of School Administrators (NCSA) is to be an effective leader for quality education and to enhance the professionalism of its members. NCSA Today is a benefit of membership in the Nebraska Council of School Administrators, 455 South 11th Street, Suite A, Lincoln, NE 68508. Telephone 402.476.8055 or 800.793.6272. Fax 402.476.7740.

Annual membership dues are $385 (active members), $125 (associate members), or $50 (student members). NCSA Today is published quarterly. Send address changes to NCSA, Membership, 455 South 11th Street, Suite A, Lincoln, NE 68508. Copyright ©2019 by NCSA. All rights reserved.

NCSA EXECUTIVE BOARD 2023-2024

Chair – Dr. Melissa Poloncic

Vice Chair – Josie Floyd

Immed. Past Chair – Kevin Wingard

NASA Representatives

President – Dr. Dan Schnoes

President Elect – Dr. Chris Prososki

Past President – Dr. Melissa Poloncic

NASBO Representatives

President – Marianne Carlson

President Elect – Dr. Chip Kay

Past President – Jeremy Knajdl

NAESP Representatives

President – Pam Lowndes

President Elect – Dr. Amber Johnson

Past President – Josie Floyd

NASES Representatives

President – Betsy Skelcher

President Elect – Amy Kroll

Past President – Misty Beair

NSASSP Representatives

President – Nate Seggerman

President Elect – Brian Fleischman

Past President – Kenny Loosvelt

NCSA STAFF

Dr. Michael S. Dulaney

Executive Director/Lobbyist

Amy Poggenklass

Finance and Membership Director

Megan Hillabrand

Professional Development Manager

Tyler Dahlgren

Communications Manager

Jen Sylvester

Executive Administrative Assistant

Brenda Petsch

Administrative Assistant

The opinions expressed in NCSA Today or by its authors do not necessarily reflect the positions of the Nebraska Council of School Administrators.

The First Step: Newly-Formed ESUCC Early Childhood Cadre Aims to Connect the Dots for Schools, Communities

By Tyler Dahlgren, NCSA Communications Manager

Nebraska’s ESUs have a reputation for connecting the dots. Their services are essential to school districts, they’re plugged into communities, and they’re passionate about serving as a bridge between the two. How it works is poetry in motion, really, one of the integral keys to the sustained excellence of Nebraska’s public schools.

In its second year of operation, ESUCC’s newly-formed Early Childhood Cadre is aiming to take it a step further, and they’re doing so at a statewide level by uniting the state’s early childhood professionals in advocacy.

“The goal of any ESU is to support our schools in the very best way possible,” said ESU 10 administrator Dr. Melissa Wheelock, who worked closely with preschools during her 27 years as an elementary principal and superintendent. “This cadre was formed for the collaboration, so we can make a statewide

impact and learn and grow from each other to provide the best possible services and support for our school districts and our communities and our early childhood providers across the state.”

For years, Nebraska’s seven Early Learning Connection (ELC) coordinators had discussed developing a cadre. Coincidentally, several Early Childhood Coordinators across the state were interested in doing the same. Together, they approached NDE Office of Early Childhood Education Staff administrator Melody Hobson, who quickly gave her blessing.

“We welcomed the idea,” said Hobson. “At the Office of Early Childhood Education, we believed that having a common place for ESU staff working in the early childhood space to meet and collaborate with us at the NDE would be wonderful. We have been aware of work done by other cadres and knew that this

In Gering, Early Childhood Education is an endeavor the district partners with the community to deliver. Students had a blast in the Summer Sun, Food and Fun Day Camp in June, which Gering teamed up with the Scottsbluff Family YMCA to offer.

could be highly productive.”

They then approached ESUCC, and their cadre came together.

“We spent last year developing and forming what this would look like because we really want to be calculated, and we really want to be successful,” said Cheryl Roche, Early Learning Connection Coordinator for the High Plains region, which covers ESU 15 and 16. “One of the frustrations that’s common for us in early childhood is that we often want to build the plane while we’re flying it. It was really important for the leadership team of this new cadre that we spent some very thoughtful time developing what the foundation of the cadre is all about.”

Inside the cadre, committees were formed. Sarah Roesler is the Early Childhood Coordinator at ESU 5 in Beatrice. She has 19 years in education, the last five in her current role, and also heads the cadre’s School-Community Partnership committee. One of her committee's first discussions was centered on identifying barriers that early childhood has to overcome.

“People aren’t necessarily always aware of the connection between early childhood and the transition from childcare centers into the schools and the partnership possibilities that exist there,” Roesler said. “That was one of our areas of focus early on, just getting that word out there. Those childcare centers do a lot of professional development and work hard to get their teachers and staff trained. One of our goals is to help make that transition more apparent and to look at how schools can partner with childcare centers.”

It all comes back to connecting the dots. Fortunately, that’s in their nature. It’s what they do.

“One of the benefits of service units is that we do have a connection into communities,” said Cara Small, ELC Coordinator for the southeast region of the state. “We often get called the ‘connect-the-dot’ person in our areas because we are linked to the school districts and we’re also working with those community childcare providers as well. We can be that neural person that can connect the dots to all those different agencies as they come together and partner in the world of early childhood.”

After a year of implementation, the cadre has spent this school year getting to work.

“We’ve been able to break into our working groups and have started digging into what’s important to us and what we can do to make the changes we’re hoping to make,” said April Carter, who is the Early Childhood Professional Development Assistant Coordinator at ESU 3 in La Vista. “We have our leadership team and we have people in charge of the work groups. Now, we’re just honing in on making a difference in our workforce development, in our school relationship development, and different things like that. It’s been a fun ride so far.”

Dr. Wheelock said it’s encouraging to see early childhood become a top priority of NDE’s.

“Because they’ve prioritized it, we’ve been able to work within our region and to have an impact within our region in the area of early childhood,” Dr. Wheelock said. “If it weren’t for that strong initiative coming out from NDE to allow us to serve in this capacity, we wouldn’t be making all of this impact.”

Communities across Nebraska have been receptive to the cadre’s message. Work being done by the Nebraska Children and Families Foundation, the Buffett Early Childhood Institute, and First Five Nebraska are placing Nebraska ahead of the

Continued on page 7...

Early Childhood programs are becoming increasingly prevalent across the state, and ESUCC’s new Early Childhood Cadre is banding leaders in early development together to enhance this crucial part of a child’s education. Here, Shickley’s daycare director, Sue Loseke, shares a laugh with her kids.

curve, said Small. And initiatives like Communities for Kids are bringing awareness to the inherent link between early childhood and economic development.

“People are realizing it’s an economic development issue as well,” said Small. “We always talk about unusual suspects in a community, those early childhood champions who are really paying attention and have really, really stepped up to promote quality early childhood in their communities.”

If a community, whether it’s in an urban area or a rural one, has housing and quality childcare, it’s more likely to thrive. It’s also more attractive to young families. Having strong early childhood education also pays dividends for districts, too.

“We hear administrators say, ‘If I can tell someone that I have quality childcare here in my community and that there’s housing, too, they’re much more likely to come and accept a position here,’” said Erica Fink, who serves as the ELC Coordinator for the northern region of the state.

Early childhood hasn’t ducked the nationwide teacher shortage, Fink continued. Promoting the profession is another goal for the cadre. There’s exciting work being done across the state to curate opportunities for prospective EC teachers, namely with the CDA pathways implemented by NDE, the Federal TEACH Grant Program, and the Step Up to Quality initiative, among others.

“One of the most beneficial results of the cadre is that we are uniting and bringing together so many groups of people to really move our field forward together.”

Cheryl Roche

“Expanding those opportunities where young people considering the profession can gain real-life experience and hear from people who are in the field will only help with attracting people to early childhood,” said Roesler, who is teaching an Introduction to Early Childhood Education course at Doane University this semester.

Since the ESUCC Early Childhood Cadre was formed, leaders in the field have felt the state shrink. Nearly every pocket and corner of the state was represented in the panel discussion with NCSA. A stronger network can make a stronger impact, said Roche.

“The passion of the people in this cadre for early childhood is outstanding and remarkable.”

Dr. Melissa Wheelock

“We’re much better together,” Roche continued. “One of the most beneficial results of the cadre is that we are uniting and bringing together so many groups of people to really move our field forward together.”

It’s an ultra-important plight. Scientific research says as much.

“Brain development is science,” said Fink. “We know what is happening in a child’s brain, and we know that those first few years are the most important. As a cadre, we just want to make sure that people are utilizing the information out there that’s based on science and research when making decisions about programs that are being implemented.”

Roche points out that early childhood is defined as birth to age eight and that the greatest amount of brain development and growth occurs during that time.

“It is so incredibly important that they are in settings and environments that support their natural growth, to be the best that they can be,” Roche said. “That’s why this is so pivotal. So much happens in those early years that lays the foundation for how successful they’re going to be as adults.”

From Dr. Wheelock’s vantage point, there isn’t a group of professionals better equipped to carry out the ESUCC Early Childhood Cadre’s vision.

“The passion of the people in this cadre for early childhood is outstanding and remarkable,” Dr. Wheelock said. “It’s been powerful to watch the dedication of the ladies in this group and the way all of these agencies have come together to do the right thing, and the right thing is supporting our students and our children in Nebraska. They’re our greatest asset.”

The cadre serves as a wonderful opportunity to collaborate, discuss research, share plans, and build systems of support for early childhood educators working with Nebraska’s “littlest ones,” said Hobson. It’s also a long time coming.

“For those of us in the field, we have been working toward this for a very long time,” Hobson said. “The cadre is an opportunity to capitalize on the growing understanding of the importance of the first years.” ■

Discovering the Heart of SEL in The Heartland: Our Day at Boys Town

By Tyler Dahlgren, NCSA Communications Manager

Social and emotional learning (SEL): What is it? And why, in 2024, are there so many different answers to a very singular question?

We know how easy it is to twist a word. But to construe something that is largely uncontroversial when stripped to its core into a hot topic? That’s another ballgame, and there are plenty of sides playing.

So what is SEL, and how does it help Nebraska’s students? We wanted to see for ourselves. We wanted to let the experts paint the picture, but where to start? As luck would have it, there’s a world-class institution less than an hour from the NCSA offices that’s been at the forefront of SEL for half a century.

We had questions. At Boys Town, they had the answers. Answers rooted in expertise and rich history, backed by half a century’s worth of empirical data. In a matter of hours, we discovered the heart of SEL in the middle of the American Heartland.

“For us, social emotional learning is simply giving young people the opportunity to gain the knowledge and skills that are going to help them academically and in life,” said Scott Hartman, Boys Town’s Senior Director of National Community Services. “These are simple things, like how to get their needs met appropriately, how to appropriately disagree, how to self-advocate, and how to follow instructions when you don’t want to but know you should. We’re teaching those skills in a safe environment where teachers are interested in the success of young people. It’s not about compliance; it’s about doing things because you want these young people to be successful.”

Hartman’s been at Boys Town since 1990. Before that, he was a classroom teacher in Indiana and a darn good one at that. After a few years in the classroom, he was hired by Boys Town to work in the group homes and to provide direct care to eight young people across the country with various needs. Early on, the experience was eye-opening.

NCSA Communications Manager Tyler Dahlgren (left) interviews Boys Town’s Senior Director of National Community Services, Scott Hartman, and Director of National Training, Susan Lamke, during a visit to their campus on February 21.

“I didn’t know what to do when faced with some of the behaviors I saw here at Boys Town,” Hartman explained. “I had no clue. I loved the kids. I wanted to do right by them, but I just didn’t know how.”

Fortunately, his new employer had already emerged as a leader in SEL. He was sitting on a gold mine of resources. Hartman implemented an SEL curriculum designed to equip those young people with problem-solving skills they’d need for the rest of their lives.

At Boys Town, they do so by accentuating the strengths of their students.

“We praise more than we correct, and we put a heavy emphasis on that,” he continued. “You have to catch kids doing things well and then build on their strengths. We have a strengthsbased model. It’s not about being punitive, although kids do earn consequences. The emphasis is on their strengths.”

Susan Lamke is the Director of National Training at Boys Town. Like Hartman, she started in direct care with youth on campus in 1990, and, like Hartman, she too taught in the classroom before “blending the best of both worlds” and taking Boys Town’s education model and training to teachers from coast to coast.

“The foundation of our model is social skills, social emotional learning, but we also provide specific interactions to communicate,” said Lamke. “We do a lot of prevention, proactive prompts, and planned teaching to actually teach the students the skills similar to how they’re taught in academics. We teach and let them practice. We give them reasons why. We’re not just telling them once and then slapping a poster on the wall. We’re going to teach. We’re going to practice and revisit this over and over.”

Teaching skills and building relationships. Hartman harkens back to one of Boys Town’s mantras often. For 34 years, it’s been his guiding light.

“Allowing kids to practice and fail in a safe environment is important,” Hartman said. “We do not assume that kids come to us with that knowledge, so we explicitly teach how to greet others, how to follow instructions, how to get the teacher’s attention appropriately, what to do when you’re really mad instead of fighting. We focus a ton on structured problemsolving methods as well.”

So it’s frustrating to sit where Lamke and Hartman have sat for so long and see something so obviously student-minded and success-centric twisted and turned into something that it’s not. SEL isn’t something that should ever be politicized, but it has, and Hartman sees the fault lying with the people who have

tried to wedge a political agenda underneath the SEL rubric and the people who don’t investigate what SEL should mean.

“We always say here at Boys Town, that no matter where you fall on the political spectrum and no matter your background beliefs, these are things that all of us can agree on,” he continued. “To live in a civil society, young people need to know how to have empathy, how to respect others, how to introduce themselves and greet others and resolve conflicts. We can all agree those things are important. It’s upsetting when SEL programs try shoving other things in there and call it SEL, and it’s upsetting when people assume that every SEL program has an agenda outside of giving kids the skills they need.”

One of the keys to doing so is developing a common language. At Boys Town, and in the training they provide to schools across the country (their program is used at 500 new schools each year), staff goes a step beyond just teaching skills. They model those skills for their students, and they do so intentionally.

“You don’t always use the skills the same way everywhere with everyone,” said Lamke. “Getting the teacher’s attention or an

Continued on page 11...

Reminders like this can be found throughout the brand-new Boys Town Education

The institution has been implementing social emotional learning techniques alongside its curriculum for nearly half a century and offers training across Nebraska and the country.

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adult’s attention looks different in math class than it does in PE or the lunch room. Really getting kids to adapt those skills to their environment, whether they’re at school or at home, is one of the goals.”

When the time comes to correct behavior, Lamke said Boys Town does so by teaching the replacement behavior. A lot of time is spent in retrospect. The foundation of their approach is thoughtfulness.

“Here’s how the situation played out, and here’s what should have happened, so let’s try it again,” Lamke said. “It’s offering kids a blueprint for what to do instead. That can take a while for some kids to grasp and it can come quicker to others. When kids do lose that emotional control, we want them to have that safe space, to respond calmly and to use some verbal tools to deescalate the situation before we process what occurred.”

There are reams of data to support the effectiveness of Boys Town’s SEL program and the correlation between it and academic success. Boys Town conducted a study in a large district in Houston and found that classroom teachers ended up gaining 10-percent more instructional time postimplementation. That’s 18 days of instructional time gained.

“The data also signals a decrease of absenteeism, truancy, and the number of office referrals that we’ve seen,” said Lamke. “Aggression incidents, expulsions, and time away from the learning environment all decrease dramatically. Ours is consistently around a 40-percent reduction in office referrals in the first semester of good implementation.”

Just as no two SEL programs are exactly the same, no two students are exactly the same. Certain gestures and responses can mean entirely different things to different cultures.

Hartman thinks back to a presentation he gave to 50 professionals in Bulgaria, most of whom shook their heads side-to-side off and on throughout. He thought he was stinking the place up. Little did he know that motion was a sign of agreement in Bulgaria.

“Kids coming into our public schools don’t always know what the rules are, what the expected behaviors are,” Hartman said. “So we don’t assume they do. If all you know are the rules of how to play Madden and the game is Zelda, you’re going to fail. If you come to Boys Town with a Phillips-head screwdriver, but every screw and problem you’re going to have requires a flat head, you’re going to fail. The social emotional learning in our curriculum is there to give them that extra tool without taking the ones that might help them be successful in others areas.”

Highly effective SEL programs, we discovered during our day at Boys Town, aren’t left-wing or right. They’re not designed to diminish parental responsibility but rather to strengthen parental engagement and involvement.

“Good SEL programs do not exclude parents,” said Hartman. “And they’re not a replacement for quality academic instruction.”

Partnering with school districts across Nebraska is important to Boys Town. The two stand on a sizable plot of common ground. They’re each invested in student success today and long after they’ve graduated and entered the real world.

“We signed up for it,” said Hartman. “That’s our obligation, and also our desire. It’s part of our mission. We love them. That’s the real answer.” ■

Talking A.I., Emergency Operations Plans, and Standard Response Protocols with State Safety and Security Director Jay Martin

By Tyler Dahlgren, NCSA Communications Manager

One of the first things Jay Martin did as Nebraska’s Safety and Security Director was to tweak the mission statement of NDE’s school safety team.

Out the window went any mention of providing "leadership" to Nebraska's schools as Martin's team pivoted the vision towards offering "guidance and support" in prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery efforts aimed at keeping educational communities safe and secure.

In Martin's mind, the new phrasing was a better fit.

“We are the ones just assisting and providing guidance and support,” said Martin. “The actual leaders are the people in all of our local school districts.”

Since assuming his current role, Martin has been busy acquainting himself with Nebraska’s schools. Recently, he’s been visiting school districts promoting his digital parent academies, already making stops at Kennesaw, Fairbury, Plattsmouth, and Palmyra at the time of our interview. Martin’s teaching the academy now, but eventually, the plan is for districts to be able to access and teach the academy internally.

“The Digital Parent Academy focuses on what platforms are being used for, how algorithms are used to manipulate our behaviors and moods and emotions, whether it’s kids or adults, and we get into synthetic media and the misinformation that is so prevalent,” he said, before connecting the conversation point to the quick emergence of Artificial Intelligence across social media and other landscapes. “We’re throwing kids into a digital pool, and there’s a lot of fun and great things in there, but there’s also some concerns that we need to be aware of. And one of those things right now is A.I., because it has that potential to go rogue or awry.”

The academies have been well-received, and the efforts he’s put into promotion have only helped. Martin’s boots-on-theground approach is the only one he knows. It’s also necessary to his team’s mission statement.

“We are a locally controlled state, and I believe it’s very important for me to be out there to see what’s happening locally in each one of those areas so that we’re able to address different things and then offer our guidance and support,” Martin said. “That’s very important to me, to be out there showing our schools what we’re about here at NDE and that we’re here to provide help in any way we can.”

Since 2018, NCSA and NDE have teamed with the Nebraska Public Policy Center and Boys Town to offer the Nebraska School Safety and Security Summit. The event in October focused on prevention and preparedness, two of the four pillars Martin often refers to. The seventh annual summit, scheduled for the fall of 2024, is already being planned and will be themed around response.

The organizations behind the Nebraska School Safety and Security Summit were all instrumental to the passing of LB 322 in 2021, which expanded the innovative Safe2HelpNE program statewide and made its services available to all Nebraska school districts at no cost. The program is permanently funded now, and Martin said districts continue to jump on board.

Nebraska’s State Safety and Security Director Jay Martin presents on Safe2Help and the department’s Digital Parent Academy during an ESU 9 Superintendent’s Meeting in November.

“We continue to try to bring that percentage of participation as close to one hundred percent as we can,” Martin said. “We’re at sixty-four percent currently, but that’s going to increase as we just had York and Scottsbluff join.”

Additionally, Martin has met with bigger districts like Grand Island and Kearney and feels good about the prospects of adding them, too.

“The goal, obviously, is to get as many of these folks on board as we can, and then in trying to help some of the smaller communities who are having difficulties in putting together threat assessment teams,” said Martin. “We’re trying to figure out what that looks like and different ways we can help them. But again, the goal is to try to get all of our Nebraska students covered under this free service that can divert the path of a potential incident.”

Martin said his department has recently contracted with Lincoln-based company Vivayic to build out a new learning management system for creating Emergency Operation Plans (EOPs), essentially splitting the two-day training Emergency Operations Plan & School Safety & Security Specialist Scott Stemper has been providing for three years into 12 modules that will be offered digitally.

“The point of that was, again, to meet the needs of our school districts, who don’t always have the time to take two entire days off,” Martin said. “This is going to give them the opportunity to work it at their own pace when they have time, and that was the purpose behind it.”

Martin hopes the program will be ready to be utilized by this summer. If things go smoothly and pan out well, his team might consider a similar shift with other programs.

Martin said the school safety team continues to work with schools on Standard Response Protocol (SRP) training, and in March, the team was in Hastings, Norfolk, and Valentine to provide Standard Reunification Method training, teaching schools how to reunify adults with their children after an evacuation or crisis.

The docket is full. Martin’s agenda is stacked. School safety is a quest that never rests, and there’s nothing more important.

Were all instrumental to the passing of LB 322 in 2021, which expanded the innovative Safe2HelpNE program statewide and made its services available to all Nebraska school districts at no cost. The program is permanently funded now, and Martin said districts continue to jump on board.

“We continue to try to bring that percentage of participation as close to one hundred percent as we can,” Martin said. “We’re at sixty-four percent currently, but that’s going to increase as

we just had York and Scottsbluff join.”

Additionally, Martin has met with bigger districts like Grand Island and Kearney and feels good about the prospects of adding them, too.

“The goal, obviously, is to get as many of these folks on board as we can, and then in trying to help some of the smaller communities who are having difficulties in putting together threat assessment teams,” said Martin. “We’re trying to figure out what that looks like and different ways we can help them. But again, the goal is to try to get all of our Nebraska students covered under this free service that can divert the path of a potential incident.”

“We are the ones just assisting and providing guidance and support, the actual leaders are the people in all of our local school districts.”

Jay Martin

Martin said his department has recently contracted with Lincoln-based company Vivayic to build out a new learning management system for creating Emergency Operation Plans (EOPs), essentially splitting the two-day training Emergency Operations Plan & School Safety & Security Specialist Scott Stemper has been providing for three years into 12 modules that will be offered digitally.

“The point of that was, again, to meet the needs of our school districts, who don’t always have the time to take two entire days off,” Martin said. “This is going to give them the opportunity to work it at their own pace when they have time, and that was the purpose behind it.”

Martin hopes the program will be ready to be utilized by this summer. If things go smoothly and pan out well, his team might consider a similar shift with other programs.

Martin said the school safety team continues to work with schools on Standard Response Protocol (SRP) training, and in March, the team was in Hastings, Norfolk, and Valentine to provide Standard Reunification Method training, teaching schools how to reunify adults with their children after an evacuation or crisis.

The docket is full. Martin’s agenda is stacked. School safety is a quest that never rests, and there’s nothing more important. ■

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Nebraska Public School Advantage (NPSA) Rolls Out “To Tell You the Truth” Series, Showcasing Nebraska Educators

By Tyler Dahlgren, NCSA Communications Manager

There are over 24,000 public school teachers in the state of Nebraska. They’re the gatekeepers. The curators of hopes and dreams. Together, they light the fire and keep it burning. And Judy Blume was right; their fingerprints never fade from the lives they touch.

They’re teachers, and they’re as critical to the future of this state as anybody. We’re in the business of telling stories. Stories that exemplify all the wonderful things that collectively make Nebraska’s public schools some of the very best in the nation. Remember when I referred to teachers as gatekeepers? Well, they’re not just gatekeepers for the future. They’re gatekeepers for the very stories we exist to tell.

One hundred percent of the time, they’re giddy to share these stories. They gush about their students and all of their successes. They rave about their schools and communities, but very rarely are they excited to talk about themselves.

That’s just the nature of a teacher. They don’t wake up every morning and do what they do to attain any fanfare or sneak into the spotlight. It’s an admirable trait, but for a guy who makes a living bragging about Nebraska's public schools, that humility can, at times, be an (honorable) hurdle to clear.

To get to the point, teachers are awesome. I suppose that’s a subjective statement, but I have seven years on the storytelling trail, and thousands of interviews logged to support it.

There are more than 24,000 of them, each with a story of their own.

In NPSA’s new “To Tell You the Truth” series, we’re shifting the spotlight onto Nebraska’s teachers, whether they like it or not. The first installment, featuring Auburn’s Jerica German and Pawnee City’s Hadley Sejkora and Aeden Gyhra, was published in mid-February.

To learn more, visit www.nebraska-advantage.org, and nominate a teacher within your district by reaching out to tyler@ncsa.org!

Game on. ■

The first installment of NPSA’s "To Tell You the Truth" with Nebraska Educators series was published in February and features, from left to right, firstyear teacher Jerica German (Auburn), second-year teacher Aeden Gyhra (Pawnee City), and eighth-year teacher Hadley Sejkora (Pawnee City).”

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Catching Up with the Commissioner

By Tyler Dahlgren, NCSA Communications Manager

As NDE settles into its new east Lincoln headquarters, Nebraska’s Commissioner of Education, Dr. Brian Maher, has fully acclimated to his new role.

Dr. Maher, who assumed the position on July 1, spoke last summer about the immediate items on his early agenda. At the top of that list was establishing routines and familiarizing himself with his staff. He’s done so successfully and has enjoyed the process.

“Getting to know the people I work with on a day-to-day or a regular basis has been both fun and beneficial,” Dr. Maher said. “The talent that we have here at the Department of Education is greater than I had anticipated, and maybe that’s an indictment on me, but it certainly should not be an indictment on the department itself. We have talented folks here that work on behalf of the schools and the students of Nebraska.”

Not only is he encouraged by the relationships he’s already been able to build within the department, he’s also enthusiastic about the connections that have been made with partners across the city of Lincoln and throughout the state.

We caught up with Dr. Maher late in the afternoon on a Wednesday in early February, and though it was nearing closing time, NDE’s new building was abuzz with hustle and bustle as employees continued to transition from remote to in-office work.

“Socialization, getting to see people, in my case for the first time in some instances, has been a good thing. We changed a lot of worlds when we went from the various working options that our staff had, whether it was working from the office, or in

a telework situation, or even a hybrid form, to now having the majority of our staff back at the office. It’s been very good, but certainly, there’s been an adjustment for the department and for the individuals that make up the department.”

“Getting to know the people I work with on a day-to-day or a regular basis has been both fun and beneficial.”

Dr. Brian Maher

The building itself has been a tremendous benefit. After three years of holding State Board meetings on the road in various locations, NDE is now able to comfortably host in-house. That’s taken away any logistical headaches there previously were, and the staff has enjoyed the convenience.

“The facility, just the brick and mortar itself, really is outstanding,” said Dr. Maher. “We’ve got two floors of office space that are fantastic. The parking is beyond adequate, both for our employees and the folks that come to visit us here. So we’re really pleased with the physical plant itself.”

This school year, the department embarked on what Dr. Maher called a “listening tour” to garner feedback from superintendents and district assessment coordinators on statewide assessment practices. The assessment process currently in place, which blends NSCAS with some of the most successful components of MAP Growth, will be utilized through the 2024/25 school year. The aim is to have a long-term plan in place moving forward after that.

“We’re trying to take the current strategic plan, blow the dust off of it, and breathe some life into it.”

Dr. Brian Maher

“What we do is rooted in what we have to do from a regulation standpoint, but also in what makes sense for our schools, so we’ve really tried to put together a process which allows us to address both of those issues. The ‘what’ we have to do, that’s the easy part. We know what the state statute says. We know what the federal guidelines tell us we have to do. Now we’re working with the schools to answer that question of ‘What should we do? How can we make this have meaning for schools?’”

Continued on page 19...

MAHER

Too many JUST ENOUGH Cooks in the Kitchen

By Nate Seggerman, NSASSP President

You’ve probably all heard the colloquial phrase of “too many cooks in the kitchen,” right? Growing up in a house with a small kitchen, this was a fairly regular phrase that we’ve all used over the years to simply mean there are too many people involved in making decisions. Certainly, the last few years in education have helped all of us realize and appreciate, or dread, how many decisions we have to make on a daily basis. Honestly, since the onset of COVID, I found myself slowly slumping into that downward spiral of burnout, and I knew something had to change.

Top Chef

Have you ever actually watched a professional kitchen with chefs? There are a lot of people there! In just a few minutes of reality cooking shows on Food Network, you’ll quickly pick up on the organized structure amid the chaos. Everyone has a role, responsibilities, and a place in the lineup. Executive chef, chef de cuisine, sous chef, chef de partie, commis chef, and all the way down the line to escuelerie (that’s French for dishwasher) - they all have a role and decisions to make. While they all may report to the executive chef for approval of their work, they’re each tasked with and trusted to carry out their role and make the appropriate decisions to do it to the best of their ability. The same is true for schools. But the question becomes, how many decisions are you allowing others to make, how many do you feel you need to own, and how many do you take on so that others don’t have to? Here is where the saying “too many cooks” begins to break down.

What’s on the Menu?

Of the many “dishes” that a school serves up, very few of them actually require the “head chef” to do all the work and make all the decisions. Take, for instance, a few of the recipes at my school. PBIS, MTSS, Attendance, Grading, and Professional Development. How many decisions do you think had to be made, and how much work has been done to have these systems run smoothly? More than what my administrative team and I could possibly accomplish on our own. Over the last few years, we recognized there is so much authority we can delegate to others, and, quite often, the product that we

get in return, with a bit of guidance and parameters, is better than what we could come up with on our own. Let’s look at a couple of examples.

Missed Reservations and Yelp Reviews

Attendance and grading are two massive challenges and complex systems for any school. Further, there are far-reaching implications of both for our staff. Years ago, we established committees to help set our vision and protocols for getting students to school and how to assess their learning once they were here. We set parameters, helped identify end goals, and then largely turned them loose to make decisions on how best to support our students. From identifying tardy expectations and interventions to what we grade, how we grade, and how we report it, we let our teachers make the decisions. That doesn’t mean we washed our hands and threw in the towel, but instead, we kept a watchful eye that things were trending in the right direction, gave feedback and asked questions to help our teachers make the processes better, and gave credit and commendations to the work they were helping us to complete.

Training Our Replacements and Rising Through the Ranks

While everyone starts at the bottom and works their way up in a kitchen, at a school, we all begin with different roles and gain experience along the way. When we shared decision-making authority with our staff, we were building capacity in those around us. At the same time, they helped us streamline our workload and focus our energies on solving other challenges. An executive chef can’t plan the menu if they're brewing the bisque. By the same token, a principal can’t focus on school improvement and strategic planning if they always have to stop and address minor tardiness issues. Furthermore, the investment in the processes we’ve built with the help of our staff is much more meaningful than if we issued orders from the office. Our staff have taken on new challenges, built their critical thinking and decision-making skills, and gained a broader appreciation for the roles, responsibilities, challenges, and opportunities of the school as an organization. We’ve been able to identify who our top leaders are, who we can turn to for sound advice, and who we can trust to take on a project that doesn’t require our constant attention.

Flops

As with any new recipe, whenever you make organizational changes, you should expect a few flops. But with every setback, there was a learning opportunity. Some of the most important

SEGGERMAN

things we learned were to set clear expectations and provide opportunities for feedback. Having the authority to make decisions can be daunting and downright anxiety-provoking if you don’t have some parameters and productivity targets. Help your building leaders find success by giving them freedom in incremental steps. Also, two-way feedback and opportunities for decision-makers to get the perspective of others are key to good leadership. Finally, being there to support and help with clean-up is essential to building capacity in others. We have had many bumps, setbacks, criticism, and outright failures over the years, but walking alongside our staff and taking the heat at the right time for them all help ensure long-term success and confidence.

Many Hands Make Light Work

While the cooks in the kitchen analogy is probably ready to spoil, the lessons we’ve learned are just beginning to simmer. If you’ve never read Liz Wiseman’s Multipliers, you need to add it to your list. You see, instead of taking the approach that, as the principal, we have so many decisions to make and are responsible for making all of them, we should be focusing on cultivating the leadership skills of our staff. Being a multiplier isn’t about how much you get done but about how much others can achieve because you give them the opportunity and skills to do so. So the next time you find yourself with too many cooks in the kitchen, try thinking of it as just enough and let them start making decisions! ■

Proudly Supporting Nebraska Schools and Their Students

Address teacher shortages

Offer summer school

Meet Personal Finance requirements

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Challenge high-achieving students

Expand curriculum in 8 subject areas

Catching Up with the Commissioner (Continued from page 17)

This is Dr. Maher’s first legislative session as Commissioner, and it’s been nothing short of eventful. He spent the Tuesday before his interview with NCSA at the Capitol, splitting time between the education and appropriation committee meetings. While at the Unicameral, he saw a handful of school administrators there to testify on various bills.

“There are a lot of people who are deeply invested in education. I think the message of the importance of education is being received well, at least by the members of the education committee and the appropriations committee that I’ve had the most contact with. It’s critical that those invested in education let their voices be heard. Beyond that, I believe those who need to receive that information are receiving it well.”

Currently, Dr. Maher is focused on the department’s strategic plan and ensuring that it helps guide them in moving education in Nebraska forward. The new plan will have a proactive tone rather than a reactionary one.

“We’re trying to take the current strategic plan, blow the dust off of it, and breathe some life into it,” Dr. Maher said. “We want to make sure we have a solid strategic compass for where we’re headed.”

SCAN

learn more

Just Breathe

By Pam Lowndes, NAESP President

I get it; it’s an overused catchphrase, “Just Breathe.” But honestly, it’s working for me. I’m not bragging when I say my student population is over 500. It can sometimes leave me breathless. The stresses of unfilled jobs, covering duties, falling behind on strategic planning – it’s a lot. I sat down recently, feeling a little defeated, and looked up at my office shelf to a gift one of my co-workers gave me with an inspirational quote. “There is a lot of wisdom held inside a SLOW DEEP BREATH.” I tried it. And it’s working for me.

Being Present and Intentional

Setting goals is great; starting the new year off with plans and purposes is a good thing. But if you set the bar too high, in my experience, there’s disappointment and guilt when I don’t reach the bar. Start small, control what you can, and be present in every moment. As principals, many people and situations are demanding our attention, and there’s a demand to multi-task or sink trying. But what I’ve learned about really allowing myself to “take a breath” and be present in the moment is, whether it’s a celebration or crisis, I feel stronger! By not worrying or being distracted by other things I think I should be doing and concentrating on what’s actually happening, I’m finding the joy in living my passion as an educator. Helping and guiding others to be the best they can be requires being present in every moment.

It's OK to Let Go and Accept Help

The trick to being truly present is allowing yourself to TRUST the people around you. You didn’t become a principal without taking risks and stepping outside your comfort zone. Along the way, you had mentors to turn to or call on to work out a problem or ask for help. When you surround yourself with

"Nobody ever won a prize for most things done in a day."

people you trust, it’s easier to let others handle some of the everyday burdens so you can be present where and when it truly matters. It’s OK to not be in charge of every situation. Smart people surround themselves with even smarter people. So when the rubber meets the road, you can be confident you’re covered. It’s also OK to say “No.” Nobody ever won a prize for most things done in a day. Well, maybe they did, but it feels better to have handled a few things really well than to have just gotten by trying to be in a million places at once, mentally or physically.

Change is OK

I shared at our December conference how uncomfortable I am with Artificial Intelligence and what it means for our learning community. Just like new curriculum, new testing standards, new phones, new security measures – I know it’s coming, but it makes me uncomfortable. That’s where surrounding yourself with smart people helps again! My Prairie Queen Family knows SO MUCH about new things and trends. So do my students. We work as a school team to handle the hard stuff. We all have strengths and weaknesses, and it’s crucial to tap into what everyone has to offer. I’ve stopped feeling inadequate about not being the smartest person in the room. Together, we make one BIG brain. And it’s true you’re never too old to stop learning. Change is inevitable, and it does no good to stress about it. “Just Breathe.”

Stay Involved

I’ve always been a social animal and a “doer.” But taking this leadership role with NAESP caused me to pause and take a breath. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed meeting and forming relationships with a wider group of principals and educators across the state. Collaborating with this group, on this level, has inspired me throughout the year in my own building and given me confidence in the future of education in the state of Nebraska. I hope you’ll encourage your principals in your districts to get involved at the regional level to experience the benefits of NAESP. Region II has been pivotal in my growth as a leader and person. I want to thank all of you for sharing your stories and ideas this past year. This NAESP journey has helped me take a step back on my own personal journey as a principal and take stock of what I’m doing right and where I need to grow. And remember, when the going gets tough, call an NAESP friend and “Just Breathe.” ■

LOWNDES

Pam Lowndes

Mar. 20-21

Apr. 11-12

Apr. 18-19

July 24-26

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Celebrating Women in Leadership – Holiday Inn – Kearney

NASBO State Convention – Embassy Suites – Lincoln

NASES Spring Conference – Weborg 21 Centre – Scottsbluff

Administrators’ Days – YCC North – Kearney

July 31 New Business Manager Workshop – Lincoln, NE or Virtual

Aug. 7

Sept. 18

Sept. 25-26

Oct. 2-3

Oct. 17

Oct. 30

Nov. 1

Nov. 20-22

Dec. 4-5

Dec. 11

Preparing for Student Legal Issues – Lincoln, NE or Virtual

School Law Update – NCSA Office or Virtual – Lincoln, NE

Educators Academy for Legislative Advocacy

Labor Relations – Embassy Suites – Lincoln, NE

Safety and Security Conference – YCC South – Kearney, NE

Emerging Superintendents Workshop – NCSA Office – Lincoln, NE

NE Fall Ed Tech Conference – YCC South – Kearney, NE

State Education Conference –CHI Center – Omaha, NE

State Principals Conference – Cornhusker Marriott – Lincoln, NE*

Legislative Preview – NCSA Office or Virtual – Lincoln, NE

*Region meeting dates can be found on the NCSA website.

NATIONAL CONVENTION DATES

NAESP & NASSP – July 15-17, 2024 – Nashville, TN

ASBO – September 18-21, 2024 – Nashville, TN

AASA – March 6-8, 2025 – New Orleans, LA

GOLD SPONSORSHIP

American Fidelity

Wayne Ryan

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BCDM Architects

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Boyd Jones Construction

George Schuler gschuler@boydjones.biz 950 So. 10th Street, Ste. 100 Omaha, NE 68108 402-553-1804 boydjones.biz

BVH Architecture

Cleveland Reeves creeves@bvh.com Lincoln/Omaha/Denver 402-475-4551 bvh.com

D.A. Davidson & Co.

Paul Grieger pgrieger@dadco.com 450 Regency Parkway, Ste. 400 Omaha, NE 68114 402-392-7986 dadavidson.com

Diode Technologies

Scott Pulverenti

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DLR Group

Vanessa Schutte vschutte@dlrgroup.com

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ESUCC

Kraig Lofquist klofquist@esucc.org 6949 So. 110th Street Omaha, NE 68128 402-597-4866 esucc.org

Facility Advocates

Dave Raymond draymond@facilityadvocates.com

3730 S. 149th Street, Suite 104 Omaha, NE 68144 402-206-8777 facilityadvocates.com

Horace Mann

Keith Jorgensen keith.jorgensen@horacemann.com 617 Stolley Park Road Grand Island, NE 68801 402-290-3116 horacemann.com

National Insurance Services

Megan Ware mware@nisbenefits.com 268 N 115th St, Suite 4 Omaha, NE 68154 402-506-2170 nisbenefits.com

Nebraska Liquid Asset Fund

Barry Ballou balloub@pfmam.com 455 So. 11th Street Lincoln, NE 68508 402-705-0350 nlafpool.org

Northland Securities, Inc.

Craig Jones craigjones@fnni.com 1620 Dodge Street, Ste. 1104 Omaha, NE 68197 402-598-1218 northlandsecurities.com

Omnify

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OnToCollege

John Baylor john@ontocollege.com P.O. Box 30792 Lincoln, NE 68503 402-475-7737 ontocollege.com

TeamMates Mentoring Program

DeMoine Adams dadams@teammates.org 11615 Centennial Rd. #200 La Vista, NE 68128 teammates.org

Trane

Jonathan Hoesch Jonathan.hoesch@trane.com 11937 Portal Road, Ste. 100 LaVista, NE 68128 402-499-8468 tranetechnologies.com

UNANIMOUS

Matt O'Gorman matt@beunanimous.com

8600 Executive Woods, Ste. 300 Lincoln, NE 68512 402-423-5447 beunanimous.com

SILVER SPONSORSHIP

BlazerWorks

Raul Giron

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Cheever Construction

Doug Klute

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Clark & Enersen

Steve Miller steve.miller@clarkenersen.com 1010 Lincoln Mall, Ste. #200 Lincoln, NE 68508 402-477-9291 clarkenersen.com

CMBA Architects

Troy Keilig

keilig.t@cmbaarchitects.com 208 N Pine St, Ste 301 Grand Island, NE 68801 308-384-4444 cmbaarchitects.com

Cognia

Shannon Vogler

shannon.vogler@cognia.org 9115 Westside Parkway Alpharetta, GA 30009 888-413-3669 Ext. 5801 cognia.org

Crouch Recreation, Inc.

Eric Crouch

nicole@crouchrec.com 1309 S 204th Street #330 Elkhorn, Ne 68022 402-496-2669 crouchrec.com

Cunningham Recreation / GameTime

Terri Strong terri@cunninghamrec.com P.O. Box 240981 Charlotte, North Carolina 28224 800-438-2780 cunninghamrec.com

Humanex Ventures

Brad Black info@humanexventures.com 2900 S 70th Street, Ste. 100 Lincoln, NE 68506 402-486-2158 humanexventures.com

Kordica Communications

Annette Eyman, APR Annette_Eyman@Kordica.com 222 S. 15th Street, Suite 221 N. Omaha, NE 68102 402-690-6992 kordica.com

Modern Images

Bradley Cooper brad@champshots.com 13436 So. 217th Street Gretna, NE 68028 402-991-7786 misportsphotography.com

Piper Sandler & Company

Jay Spearman

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Renaissance

Mark Kessler

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BRONZE SPONSORSHIP

Avel eCare

Sheila Freed

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Navitas, LLC

Shane Alexander

salexander@navitas.us.com 4816 S. 167th Street Omaha, NE 68135 402-360-3135 navitas.us.com

University of Nebraska High School

Shauna Benjamin-Brice highschool@nebraska.edu 206 South 13th Street, Ste. 800 P.O. Box 880226 Lincoln, NE 68588 402-472-1922 highschool.nebraska.edu

Software Unlimited, Inc.

Corey Atkinson caa@su-inc.com 5015 S. Broadband Lane Sioux Falls, SD 57108 605-361-2073 su.inc.com

455 S 11th Street, Suite A • Lincoln, NE 68508-2105 RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED