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Final Reflections – DR Service Trip 2022

“I cannot do all the good that the world needs. But the world needs all the good that I can do.”– Jana Stanfield

August 10, 2022

Justin and I finished our amazing adventures and life-changing trip with so many peak moments on Saturday, August 6. We left Constanza around 6am and headed down the mountain for under 4 hours. We spent some time in Santo Domingo, the capital city of the Dominican Republic. We toured the old city, flew to Miami, then to Chicago, and arrived home around 1:30am. We were energized (though sleepy).

Before we headed to the airport, we visited the old colonial city, the oldest fort in the Americas. We saw a raucous public demonstration regarding immigration policies headed for Independence square, where we had just visited.

To spend this time with my son was incredible and fun and a huge proud, peak moment for me. As Justin enters his Freshman year of high school and I as I start what is very likely my 4th to last year as a full-time public educator, we both got to laugh, enjoy each other’s company, serve together, work together, experience life together, and so much more!

Ideally, he and I will have more opportunities like this! Ideally, he has the confidence to travel and serve as he goes from young adulthood to adulthood. He is an incredible young man, and I am proud to be his dad.

As a life-long educator, I see firsthand how education with emotion and education with hands-on experiential opportunities becomes lifelong learning. Thanks a ton for following our adventures! Thanks a ton for letting me brag about my son 🙂

Finishing up an amazing week with Justin! In Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic- First Nation Columbus came to the Americas. Culture and history end our adventures here! 

Sharing some images. The first cathedral, live protest March heading to Independence Square, 16th Century city walls.

Oldest fort in the Americas! Wow! So much history… need to come back!! 16th Century-20th Century. In use for various purposes. So many socio-political implications here!!

Thanks to World Servants, LifeTouch, the AASA, Cecaini Foundation, and so many others who, together in service for humanity and in furtherance of the dreams and visions of Pastors Angel and Jacqueline Moreta, have built schools and changed lives — forever!! Including those of my son and me.

Gun Turret in the oldest fort in the Americas, La Forteleza Ozama

Beautiful view on the way to the airport in Santo Domingo

One of the cannons – one is Spanish, and another is English – so much history!

5th Reflection – Dominican Republic Service Trip – Reflections

In this post, I am sharing more reflections, thoughts, and images from a LifeTouch Memory Mission reunion trip to the Dominican Republic, Constanza, La Vega, and Cecaini School in Rio Grande. In these several blog posts, I’m sharing my reflections. One major personal “peak moment” for me on this current trip is that my son came with me! With words and images, I am trying to do my best at telling our story — of our life-changing, humbling, impactful, and seriously amazing set of experiences! Thanks for reading 🙂

Back in 2016, I was lucky enough to be a part of the LifeTouch Memory Mission trip to the Dominican Republic and I was a representative of AASA, The Superintendent’s Association. I wrote about that set of life-changing experiences on my blog — BLOG POSTS ABOUT TRIP IN 2016

Sharing short posts from August  3, 4, and 5 with images

August 3, 2022

Today’s post will have a collection of images that really help tell the story and illustrate the incredible impact, humble service, powerful relationship building, and overall cultural experiences we are privileged to be engaged with.

Today our Dominican hosts and teachers encourage us to slow down and enjoy every moment. The figurative saying that one rock creates a ripple, or one journey of 1000 miles begins with one step, or to lower a rock pile one must do it one rock at a time, became a reality.

We literally reduced a large rock pile one rock at a time. We slowed down to enjoy each moment we were immersed in this incredible location. We savor every minute with the children we have the honor and privilege of playing with daily. And we savor each moment we spent getting to know our Dominican hosts as people, as friends, and his fellow world citizens.

Thank you for sticking around and following Justin and my adventures in life.

August 4, 2022

Today Was another incredible day here in the Dominican republic. Justin and I continue to do really good hard work and enjoy playing with the children and engaging with members of the community. 

Yesterday Justin had his home visit today I had my own visit and it’s really awesome to step inside someone’s home sit down, have a cuppa coffee, learn about their family, and share about yours. We build community, relationships, and friendships and help improve the schools that have become community centers that have impacted and changed the community for the better. 

Tonight‘s post is going to have a lot of photos. I’m going to switch (from posting on Facebook) to my blog to put in longer reflections which I probably will post over the weekend if not sooner.

Thank you for experiencing our journeys together through our words and photos.

August 5, 2022

Deeper reflections will be posted on my blog in the next few days.

Bittersweet end of work today!  Jobs well done. Friendships created!

Life-changing adventures!

Sharing some more images from our mission, culture, service, and “life” trip to the Dominican Republic 🇩🇴- sorry if there are some repeats.

Justin and I are preparing for our final day in Cecaini Constanza Constanza today!

Part of the overall beautification project in the back – many separate projects went one here. The tires will become planters!

Tim Gibson – an amazing leader! Wise, kind, deliberate, intentional, experienced – just amazing! And me and Nick – our worldwide adventures and friendship take us to life-changing places!

Justin made many new friends on this trip, little and big!

We did enjoy some “grilled” ice cream!

Our incredible crew – wonderful people who we are proud to call friends!

Proud to highlight contributions from AASA and members over the years!

More Reflections – Dominican Republic Service & Culture Trip 2022 – 2

This summer, July 30-August 6, I went on a reunion trip to the Dominican Republic, to Constanza, La Vega, to the Cecaini School in Rio Grande. On the next few posts, I’m sharing my reflections.

Once major personal “peak moment” for me on this current trip is that my son came with me! With words and images, I am trying to do my best at telling our story — of our life-changing, humbling, impactful, and seriously amazing set of experiences! Thanks for reading 🙂

July 31, 2022

What a full and fulfilling day and night here in Constanza, Dominican Republic. Justin and I started the day with a fantastic breakfast. New tastes and foods along with some familiar ones. After a great breakfast with the group, we headed into a study room for more cultural orientation activities. We participated in a “scrap book” activity. One that my good friend Nick Polyak and I have adapted and adopted in adult professional development & training for many years (we first did this activity 6 and a half years ago on our first mission and service/culture trip here in Constanza with LifeTouch and the American Association of School Administrators, the AASA, The School Superintendents Organization).

So in this scrapbook activity you have a poster board, glue sticks, scissors, and magazines on multiple topics (everyone was asked to bring 3-5 magazines to cut up). With images, “share your story” — who are you? What is/has been your leadership journey? Whether you’re 14 or 54 or 60 or 35, what’s your journey in life so far and what is a graphical representation of this story? In 15 minutes – NOT a long period of time, we made some pretty cool posters. Then we mixed up into triads, triads with people we just met on this trip. We each had 3 minutes to share our journey/story. Our new friends and partners had two minutes to reflect/ask questions and we repeated the process for each member of the triad. In just over 30 minutes we three learned A TON about each other, what and who we value, what our journey is/has been, etc. Like an image you see, you make a “judgement” or “assumption” but until you listen, look, ask questions, engage, you really do not know what the “perspective” you have is. In fact, our perspectives change – and they should change and be pliable (think “growth mindset” for example).

The exercise serves multiple purposes, it allows us to become friends and fellow travelers, explorers, servants, leaders. It also allows us to be fully present in what we are doing here – each experience, each set of moments and peak moments. It allows us to experience an illustration of the power of open mindedness to change (one of the Big 5 Personality Theories of human being) as we embark on community building and service along side our Dominican hosts and friends.

We were invited to Pastor Angel’s church, the message was of hope and faith, universal principals good for us all to hear and internalize. In addition, today is Father’s Day in the Dominican Republic and we were honored with some cool cultural experiences! We then walked about a half mile through town for our lunch at a local restaurant. We had some time dodging motorbikes on the street while enjoying the act of being present in a new town, in a new space, with new learning and living.

Each night after dinner we reflect upon our learnings and experiences, What, Now What, So What, and Applying our learning is the focus. Tomorrow we engage in some more education, “activating schema” and opening our hearts and minds to full presence of being while here (and in life in general).

Tomorrow we also head to the school site for some manual labor at the invitation of our hosts and community. See some images today from our adventures in the city, our time at Pastor Angel’s church, some recreation and fellowship with our fellow travelers and more.

Thanks for following our adventures.

 

The orientation activities were designed to help us enter into a new culture. Helped us to enter into new environments with openness, empathy, understanding, intelligence, and joy.

Our first night I celebrated my birthday! On the second day we were invited into Pastor Angel’s church service. After the service, we were happy to learn that it was Father’s Day in the Dominican Republic so we enjoyed some local treats including a photo booth.

The hotel we stayed at was incredibly beautiful and the meals were excellent and the grounds were great. Here Justin and I were zip lining on the grounds with some early recreation time.

The views into the city, on the grounds of the hotel, in the community where the school is at — all were incredible and impressive views. This is a beautiful part of the world and I captured as best I could.

Part of our service, learning, culture, growing, included visiting Constanza, the city in the area. Rio Grande is just up the mountain on the outskirts or “heights’ of the city. We were able to walk the city streets, get some ice cream, we also had a great lunch.

Menu at the local restaurant. The food we ate was incredible and we needed the fuel for the hard labor in which we were engaged during our time at Rio Grande Cecaini School.

Pastor Angel’s church service. Welcoming and engaging.

 

Mission, Culture & Service Trip to Dominican Republic – 2022

Back in 2016, I was lucky enough to be a part of the LifeTouch Memory Mission trip to the Dominican Republic and I was a representative of AASA, The Superintendent’s Association. I wrote about that set of life-changing experiences on my blog — BLOG POSTS ABOUT TRIP IN 2016 and

Post 2 of 2 – Global Service – Dominican Republic- IASA 2021

And I also wrote about that trip three years later, Link to Anniversary Post

This summer, July 30-August 6, I went on a reunion trip to the Dominican Republic, to Constanza, La Vega, to the Cecaini School in Rio Grande. Through the next few blog  posts, I’m sharing my reflections.

Once major personal “peak moment” for me on this current trip is that my son came with me! With words and images, I am trying to do my best at telling our story — of our life-changing, humbling, impactful, and seriously amazing set of experiences! Thanks for reading 🙂

July 30, 2022

Mike and Justin leave the USA and head to the Dominican Republic. Beyond the 4:30am wake up and the 8pm arrival at the hotel at our destination, the “dash” or the “in between” is what really matters. We woke up, we were mentally prepared for the journey — eager with excitement, anxious with anticipation, and uncertain of all the details working out (plane from ORD to MIA from MIA to SDQ, meeting with the group, getting on the bus, making it to the middle of the Dominican Republic, meeting new friends, getting ready to immerse in another culture in a new land, etc.).

The journey, the adventure, the learning, the service, the reflection, the “what now” is what’s really cool about all of this! Justin and I are two of four people from Illinois. There are others from Minnesota, Arkansas, Washington, New Hampshire, Oregon, and of course, our hosts from the Dominican Republic.

After we arrived at our hotel, our home base in Constanta, DR for the week, we ate dinner. Food is a huge part of culture, dining together is a nice, subtle way to embrace and immerse in the new and different. Following dinner we engaged in some cool orientation and get to know you activities, we thought, we spoke, we shared, we even jumped around and danced a bit, all in the spirit of living and serving in the present.

Pastor Angel, our host and the local visionary leader who is responsible for so much good in the communities he serves and represents welcomed us. He shared the history of the past decade of work in the communities (school building, community center, government acknowledgement and support, and more). He thanked us for being part of the mission, vision, values, and goals of so many, and the impact and legacy of the service. We’re invited friends and partners. We serve and learn along side our Dominican hosts.

We are here in the service of humanity and the bond of love and service. As an educator and as a father, it’s great to see my two worlds integrate and unite.

Over the past decade, and due to Angel’s hard work, leadership, and vision, he acknowledged the “harvest” of good from all of this fellowship. This is his community; we are invited members, servant leaders from so many groups (including World Servants, the group we’re with on this trip) and we are now part of the DNA of Constanta and the La Vega/Rio Grande region.

Some images of our 4 hour bus ride up from sea level in Santo Domingo to about 4000 feet altitude. More to come this week! Thanks for checking our this set of peak moments for me and Justin.

 

Me and Justin on the airplane at O’Hare in Chicago getting ready for a trip of a lifetime!

On the mission trip, we brought donations of school supplies, painting supplies and tools and first aid kit materials.

We landed in Santo Domingo on the South Coast (Caribbean) and we drove for about 4 hours up the mountains into the center of the beautiful country. I share views and vistas in each of the posts.

We arrived on my birthday and the team surprised me with a cake, a candle, a song and this was just the start of many celebrations and peak moments.

The Dominican Republic is an island nation, it shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti. We arrived in Santo Domingo, traveled north and stayed in La Vega, Constanza, at the Hotel Altocerro.

The red “pin” depicts our location with respect to Santo Domingo.

This is the shirt I received in 2016 on the Life Touch Memory Mission I participated in. This trip was a reunion trip of sorts, several of us were alumni of previous trips. One of the families on the trip attended service trips multiple times. They were inspired by an alumna from a prior trip!

Audio Update on Safety & Security July 22 2022 #112Leads

Sharing an audio update to the community on safety and security.

This update on safety and security is shared with thought, emotion, care, and concern. We have a board meeting coming up on July 26, 2022, at 7:00pm, we’ll meet live and broadcast that meeting live as well. This informational update is intended to preview and highlight the upcoming Board discussion and presentation on safety and security and to follow up from the July 14 communication I shared. I’m sharing this update as your superintendent and as a father of two teenagers, a husband to a wonderful wife, a community member, and a human being. 

I know that people are in different emotional spaces right now. Some can fully embrace safety and security messages and information. Others are not yet ready to fully process this information. Some focus on specific ideas, and others are somewhere between. The main takeaways are that with school opening soon. As you likely know, District 112 is fully committed to safety and security issues. Before the July 4 incident and other national incidents, District 112 had been heavily involved in its schools’ physical, mental, and emotional safety for its students, staff, and the community. In a video message, and an audio podcast, I am highlighting the focus points in place, under review and consideration, and specific actions we take regarding safety and security. Later today, I’ll post an audio transcript in English and Spanish on my blog. Thank you for your support of our schools, your interest in our programming, your outreach, and your trust in the fact that we follow and implement best practices in all domains of our work. 

Finally, please know that our efforts are done with love, care, compassion, expert advice, and excellence.

Note in Spanish

Esta actualización sobre seguridad y protección se comparte con pensamiento, emoción, cuidado y preocupación. Tenemos una reunión de la junta el 26 de julio de 2022, a las 7:00 p.m., nos reuniremos en vivo y transmitiremos esa reunión también. Esta actualización informativa tiene la intención de previsualizar y resaltar la próxima discusión y presentación de la Junta sobre seguridad y protección, y para dar seguimiento a la comunicación del 14 de julio que compartí. Estoy compartiendo esta actualización no solo como su superintendente, sino también como padre de dos adolescentes, esposo de una esposa maravillosa, miembro de la comunidad y como ser humano.

Sé que las personas están en diferentes espacios emocionales en este momento. Algunos pueden aceptar plenamente los mensajes y la información de seguridad y protección. Otros aún no están listos para procesar completamente esta información. Algunos se centran en ideas muy específicas, y otros están en algún punto intermedio. Las principales conclusiones son que con la apertura de la escuela pronto. Como probablemente sepa, el Distrito 112 está totalmente comprometido con los problemas de seguridad y protección. Antes del incidente del 4 de julio y otros incidentes nacionales, el Distrito 112 había estado muy involucrado en la seguridad física, mental y emocional de sus escuelas para sus estudiantes, personal y la comunidad. En un mensaje de video, un podcast de audio, estoy destacando los puntos de enfoque en su lugar, bajo revisión y consideración, y las acciones específicas que estamos tomando con respecto a la seguridad y la protección. Más tarde hoy publicaré una transcripción de audio en inglés y español en mi blog. Gracias por su apoyo a nuestras escuelas, por su interés en nuestra programación, por su alcance y por su confianza en el hecho de que seguimos e implementamos las mejores prácticas en todos los dominios de nuestro trabajo.

Finalmente, por favor sepa que nuestros esfuerzos se realizan con amor, cuidado, compasión, asesoramiento experto y excelencia.

Link to VIDEO messageVIDEO message

Espanol/ Spanish Transcript (English transcript follows)

– Hola, soy Mike Lubelfeld, superintendente de escuelas. Y vengo a ti hoy con una actualización sobre seguridad y protección. Y antes de pasar a los detalles, y antes de entrar en las tuercas y tornillos, quiero que sepas que tenemos una reunión de la junta el martes 26 de julio. Nuestras reuniones de la junta están aquí, en vivo personalmente, en las oficinas administrativas. También estaremos haciendo una transmisión en vivo, para que la gente pueda ver en vivo o después del hecho. Y simplemente quiero decir, al principio, que vengo a ti, no solo como tu superintendente de escuelas y como líder educativo, pero también como ser humano y como padre de dos hijos adolescentes, y marido de mi mujer, y como alguien que siente junto a todos y cada uno de ustedes, con lo que hemos estado pasando como resultado directo de los trágicos acontecimientos del 4 de julio, aquí en Highland Park y también de hechos anteriores a eso, desde una perspectiva de seguridad y protección. Me importa, siento, empatizo. También estoy aquí para hacer mi trabajo y compartirlo contigo. Pero solo quiero señalar eso, que algunos de ustedes están muy listos para escuchar los mensajes que tengo y algunos de ustedes están muy interesados y actualizados. Otros de ustedes, en este momento, realmente no pueden escuchar esto, y lo respeto, lo entiendo. Otros de ustedes están enfocados en ciertas cosas o no están enfocados. Y estés donde estés, está bien. Simplemente quiero afirmar, afirmar, validar que hay muchos sentimientos y muchas emociones. Aquí en el distrito escolar, quiero compartir con ustedes lo que está pasando. Y sé que hay mucha información que he compartido por correo electrónico y otras áreas. Así que hoy en esta actualización de video, es un adelanto de lo que vamos a hablar el martes. Digo esto con un corazón abierto y una mente abierta, y más allá de ser el superintendente, que tiene un trabajo que hacer, pero como un chico que se siente junto a ti, como padre y como ser humano. Probablemente sepas esto, pero de nuevo, a veces vale la pena repetir, la seguridad ha sido un compromiso continuo en el Distrito Escolar 112. No sólo en reacción a los acontecimientos, y ciertamente no solo en reacción a lo que acabamos de experimentar como comunidad. Pero durante muchos años. En 2014, tuvimos una auditoría. 2018, se implementaron vestíbulos de seguridad en los planteles. Y a medida que avanzamos, hacemos mejoras. En 2018, iniciamos la asociación de capacitación ALICE, de lo que hablaré un poco más. También tuvimos otra auditoría en 2018, y hemos implementado esas recomendaciones desde entonces. En junio, le pedí a la Junta de Educación para aprobar otra auditoría de seguridad. Es parte de un compromiso continuo. Preguntamos a los expertos en la materia, que saben de esto, qué es lo correcto que las escuelas, como la nuestra, ¿se supone que deben hacer para asegurarse de que estamos seguros por dentro y por fuera? De nuevo, el 14 de junio, nuestra junta aprobó un contrato con un señor llamado Paul Timm, que dirige una empresa FEA. En 2022, este verano, hemos estado haciendo otras inversiones, que resaltaré en este breve mensaje de video, y algunas mejoras a nuestra seguridad en nuestras instalaciones. Pero también quiero hablar contigo sobre una investigación, de la que soy parte de nuestro equipo, que vamos a abordar con respecto a varias soluciones. No sé si vamos a implementar estas o si las vamos a implementar tarde o temprano, simplemente quiero que sepas que estamos escuchando y estamos investigando guardias, dispositivos de detección y otras cosas. Pero realmente quiero compartir con ustedes aquí, que el trabajo que estamos haciendo no está en el vacío. Y siempre buscamos a los expertos en el campo. En este caso, en 2019, 2020, la Fuerza de Tarea contra el Terrorismo de Illinois. Y odio incluso decir esas palabras en un mensaje a nuestra comunidad, pero la Fuerza de Tarea contra el Terrorismo de Illinois tenía un grupo de trabajo de seguridad escolar. Hicieron recomendaciones a personas como nosotros, que trabajan en las escuelas públicas aquí en Illinois. Y quiero que sepas, y repasaremos esto con mayor detalle el martes por la noche, pero quería tomar el punto ahora mismo para compartir con ustedes. Y no sé si vas a obtener esto en video, en audio o forma escrita, estamos tratando de obtener la mayor cantidad formas de comunicación que podamos. Pero los expertos en seguridad escolar hablan de tres maneras de ver esto, evaluación del comportamiento, y eso va con las auditorías que hicimos en 2014, 2018 y la auditoría que estamos comenzando inmediatamente ahora mismo en 2022, el concepto de endurecimiento de las instalaciones, la seguridad física de la que les hablaré, y luego algo que no sé que he hablado contigo bastante, y ese es el protocolo de respuesta. Así que en el mensaje de video de hoy quiero compartir contigo recomendaciones de expertos. ¿Cómo lo maneja el distrito 112 ahora? y ¿qué podemos hacer en el futuro? Es posible que sepas que contamos con equipos de evaluación del comportamiento. Dra. Holly Colin, nuestra asistente del superintendente, en el extranjero y lo dirige. Puede que no sepas que tenemos cerca de 30 miembros del personal de salud mental, trabajadores sociales, psicólogos directamente dedicados a brindar apoyo socioemocional en el distrito escolar. Este año, estamos aumentando la equivalencia de tiempo completo para los trabajadores sociales en todo el distrito. Y estamos agregando un medio tiempo, en todo el distrito, persona en todas las escuelas. Esto es nuevo. Tendremos al menos un trabajador social a tiempo completo y no necesariamente alguien compartido entre campus. Además, tenemos en los libros, acuerdos intergubernamentales, IGA, con la Policía de Highland Park, la Policía de Highwood. También trabajamos con el Sheriff del Condado de Lake y la Dirección Regional de Educación. Puede que sepa que tenemos un oficial de policía de Highland Park, un oficial de recursos escolares, asignado al Distrito 112. Algunas cosas que no sé que compartimos lo suficiente contigo, y quería aprovechar el tiempo aquí para compartir con ustedes, también tenemos estrategias para toda la escuela, prácticas restaurativas, desescalada, también la construcción de relaciones. Usamos cosas como Second Step, Calm Classrooms, Sembrados para Crecer, capacitación CPI o prevención de crisis. También tenemos PBIS, intervenciones y apoyos conductuales positivos. Tenemos Líder en Mí. Tenemos Tiger Stripes, Panda STARS, Champs y otros programas diseñados para ayudar la relación socioemocional con los estudiantes, para que se sientan seguros y cómodos compartiendo con nosotros cómo responder. También tenemos Text a Tip y Safe2Help Illinois. Estas son herramientas de reporte, confidenciales 24/7. En este momento, en tiempo real, estamos investigando STOPit. Tendremos más información para ti en las próximas semanas. Y el Distrito 112 tiene una línea de información. Y cuando obtenga un enlace a estas diapositivas, puedes tener un enlace a estos recursos y te alentamos a que lo compartas con tus hijos. En cuanto al endurecimiento de las instalaciones, a la Fuerza de Tarea contra el Terrorismo de Illinois se le ocurrieron varias capas, cinco capas. Hay diferencias para los primeros años de primaria, hay diferencias para primaria, secundaria, secundaria, universidades, etc., etc. Pero quiero compartir contigo, la capa uno que habla de agregar videovigilancia, señalización para mensajería y comunicación, estamos mejorando nuestro trabajo en ese sentido este verano, a través de las escuelas. Segunda capa, cerraduras dobles de puertas exteriores. Así que tanto las puertas exteriores como las interiores requerirán un zumbido, eso está de vuelta en todos los campus. También vamos a trabajar con nuestro personal de primera línea para asegurarnos de que hagamos una pausa y nos detenemos para asegurarnos de saber quién viene y entendemos cuál es tu negocio, cuando entras en la escuela. Nos disculpamos de antemano por las molestias, pero sabemos que nos vas a apoyar. También disponemos de un sistema de gestión de visitantes donde comprobamos DNI o nombre y fecha de nacimiento. Esto es parte de la seguridad para los niños y nuestro personal. Tenemos vestíbulos de entrada segura, es la capa tres. La capa cuatro tiene múltiples componentes. Tenemos cámaras de vigilancia dentro y fuera, en todos los campus, con acceso remoto a la nube. Estamos haciendo actualizaciones en este momento. Tenemos un oficial de recursos escolares dedicado, un oficial de policía de Highland Park, especialmente entrenado, dedicado al Distrito Escolar 112. En áreas selectas, por obvias razones de seguridad, no te diré donde pero en áreas selectas tenemos materiales a prueba de balas y resistentes a las balas. Es simplemente un hecho de la vida. Nivel cinco, tenemos BluePoint Security. Entonces, al igual que tirarás de una estación si hay un incendio, aquí puedes sacar una estación si hay necesidad de la policía. También hemos mejorado completamente la seguridad en Northwood y Edgewood, como parte de la fase uno de nuestros planes de seguridad a largo plazo. ¿Qué otra cosa? Durante el año pasado y este verano, hemos invertido cerca de 2 millones de dólares para actualizaciones, para estandarización. También estamos considerando actualizar nuestra actualización de megafonía de intercomunicación. También estamos buscando expandir nuestro sistema de acceso a las puertas. Gente que estamos investigando, en este momento, Soluciones de Detección de Armas, seguridad armada, seguridad desarmada, vallado, cabinas telefónicas exteriores, cerraduras electrónicas de puertas. Con la planificación de la fase dos, del plan a largo plazo y el posible referéndum, contamos con planeamiento arquitectónico para seguridad y protección. Escribimos sobre esto en el Highlander de junio y julio que va para todos los residentes de Highland Park. Y también tenemos un compromiso continuo para asegurarnos de que estamos haciendo esto en nuestra planificación en este momento. Nos reunimos regularmente con los representantes policiales de Highland Park, Highwood, Deerfield, Riverwoods, Bannockbum. Todos los departamentos de bomberos, también, que alimentan al Distrito 113. Incluye personal del distrito escolar. Nos vemos en persona, nos vemos por zoom. Revisamos nuestros procedimientos de seguridad y nuestros planes de acción de emergencia. Algunos públicos, otros no. Hablamos de simulacros y protocolos. Recientemente, el 28 de junio, hubo una interdisciplinariedad regional reunión de seguridad del edificio. Y la última semana de julio, me reuní con nuestro consultor de seguridad de seguridad escolar, subjefe de policía en un área vecina y algunas otras personas. Estamos viendo un programa global de respuesta a la violencia. Estamos viendo el programa ALICE, alertar, bloquear, informar, contrarrestar y evacuar. El programa que tenemos corre, escóndete, lucha. También estamos buscando capacitación en trauma. EStás consciente, a través de las comunicaciones, he dicho que acabamos de recibir un entrenamiento reciente. Lo que puede o no saber es, hemos planeado el entrenamiento Stop the Bleed para nuestro personal este verano. Realizamos RCP, reanimación cardiopulmonar y DEA, formación en desfibrilador externo automático, está en curso. Acabamos de programar la capacitación del personal informado sobre trauma este verano, antes de que comience la escuela. Te envié una nota completa en julio y lo entiendo de nuevo, algunas personas pueden leerlo y entenderlo. Algunas personas no están listas para leerlo. Algunas personas quieren ciertas cosas. Sé que estamos en diferentes etapas y me importa. A todos nos importa. Por favor, comprende las escuelas estarán abiertas pronto. Tenemos nueva orientación para el personal, 15 de agosto. Tenemos otra reunión ordinaria de la junta escolar el 16 de agosto. Tenemos a todo el personal regresando con un día de instituto del psicólogo escolar, Dr. Doug Bolton el 22 de agosto. Tenemos a nuestros estudiantes regresando el 24 de agosto. Amigos, antes de cerrar, quiero recordarles, el martes 26 de julio, este próximo martes, tenemos una reunión de la junta escolar. Realizamos nuestras reuniones en vivo en persona, aquí en el Centro de Administración de Green Bay. Puedes verlo en vivo. Quiero aprovechar el momento, en tantas formas de comunicación como puedo decir, somos conscientes, escuchamos, nos importa. Tenemos un corazón, somos parte de nuestra comunidad. Estamos orgullosos de ser parte de nuestra comunidad. Estamos orgullosos de dar la bienvenida a casi 4.000 estudiantes en menos de un mes. Tenemos mucho tiempo, energía e inversiones y recursos financieros en seguridad y protección. Estamos escuchando sugerencias, miedos e inquietudes. Estamos investigando. Tendremos una actualización y una discusión el martes por la noche. Esto está en curso. Te agradezco tu apoyo del Distrito Escolar 112 de North Shore. Y gracias por contactarme a mí y a la Junta de Educación. Nuestro lema es inspirar, innovar y comprometer y continuaremos haciéndolo con amor, cuidado, compasión. También seguiremos recibiendo asesoramiento de expertos y hacer todo lo que podamos en este día y época para asegurarnos de que estamos dirigiendo las escuelas en un entorno seguro y ordenado. Muchas gracias. Mantente en contacto.

English Transcript

– Hi, this is Mike Lubelfeld, superintendent of schools. And I’m coming to you today with an update on safety and security. And before I go over the details, and before I get into the nuts and bolts, I want to let you know that we have a board meeting on Tuesday, July 26th. Our board meetings are here, live in person, at the administrative offices. We’ll also be doing a live broadcast, so people can watch live or after the fact. And I simply want to state, at the beginning, that I come to you, not only as your superintendent of schools and as an educational leader, but also as a human being and as a father of two teenage children, and a husband of my wife, and as someone who is feeling alongside of each and every one of you, with what we’ve been going through as a direct result of the tragic events of July 4th, here in Highland Park and also of events prior to that, from a safety and security perspective. I care, I feel, I empathize. I’m also here to do my job and share that with you. But I just want to point that out, that some of you are very ready to hear the messages that I have and some of you are very interested and up to date. Others of you, right now, you really can’t listen to this, and I respect that, I understand that. Others of you are focused on certain things or uni-focused. And wherever you are, that’s okay. I simply want to state, affirm, validate that there’s a lot of feelings and a lot of emotions. Here in the school district, I want to share with you what’s going on. And I know there’s a lot of information that I’ve shared via email and other areas. So today in this video update, it’s a preview of what we’re going to talk about on Tuesday. I say this with an open heart and an open mind, and beyond just being the superintendent, who’s got a job to do, but as a guy who’s feeling alongside with you, as a father and as a human being. You probably know this, but again, sometimes it bears repeating, security and safety has been an ongoing commitment in School District 112. Not just in reaction to events, and certainly not just in reaction to what we’ve just experienced as a community. But for many years. In 2014, we had an audit. 2018, there were safety vestibules implemented at campuses. And as we go on, we make improvements. In 2018, we started the ALICE training partnership, that I’ll talk a little bit more about. We also had another audit in 2018, and we’ve implemented those recommendations since then. In June, I asked the Board of Education to approve another security audit. It’s part of an ongoing commitment. We ask experts in the field, who know about this, what’s the right thing that schools, like ours, are supposed to do to make sure that we’re safe inside and outside? So again, June 14th, our board approved a contract with a gentleman named Paul Timm, who runs a company FEA. In 2022, this summer, we’ve been making other investments, that I’ll highlight in this brief video message, and some upgrades to our security in our facilities. But I also want to talk with you about some research, that I’m part of with our team, that we’re going into regarding various solutions. I don’t know if we’re going to implement these or if we’re going to implement them sooner or later, I simply want you to know we are listening and we are investigating guards, detection devices and other things. But I really want to share with you here, that the work we’re doing is not out in a vacuum. And we always look to the experts in the field. In this case, back in 2019, 2020, the Illinois Terrorism Task Force. And I hate to even say those words in a message to our community, but the Illinois Terrorism Task Force had a school safety working group. They made recommendations to people like us, who work in public schools here in Illinois. And I want you to know, and we’ll go over this in greater detail Tuesday night, but I wanted to take the point right now to share with you. And I don’t know if you’re going to get this in video, in audio or written form, we’re trying to get as many forms of communication as we can. But the experts in school safety talk about three ways to look at this, behavioral assessment, and that goes with the audits we did in 2014, 2018 and the audit we’re actually starting immediately right now in 2022, the concept of hardening of facilities, the physical security that I’ll talk with you about, and then something that I don’t know that I’ve talked with you about enough, and that’s the response protocol. So in today’s video message I want to share with you recommendations from experts. How does district 112 handle it now and what might we do in the future? You may know that we have behavioral assessment teams. Dr. Holly Colin, our assistant superintendent, overseas and runs it. You may not know that we have nearly 30 mental health personnel, social workers, psychologists directly devoted to providing social-emotional support in the school district. This year, we’re increasing the full-time equivalency for social workers across the district. And we’re adding a halftime, district wide, person in all schools. This is new. We’ll have at least one full-time social worker and not necessarily someone shared between campuses. In addition, we have on the books, inter governmental agreements, IGAs, with the Highland Park Police, the Highwood Police. We also work with the Lake County Sheriff and the Regional Office of Education. You may know we have a Highland Park police officer, a school resource officer, assigned to District 112. Some stuff I don’t know that we share enough with you, and I wanted to take the time here to share with you, we also have school wide strategies, restorative practices, deescalation, also relationship building. We use things like, Second Step, Calm Classrooms, Sown to Grow, CPI training or crisis prevention. We also have PBIS, positive behavioral intervention and supports. We have Leader in Me. We have Tiger Stripes, Panda STARS, Champs and other programs designed to help the social-emotional relationship with students, so they feel safe and comfortable sharing with us how to respond. We also have Text a Tip and Safe2Help Illinois. These are reporting tools, confidential 24/7. Right now, in real time, we’re researching STOPit. We’ll have more information for you in the next few weeks. And District 112 has a tip line. And when you get a link to these slides, you can have a link to these resources and we encourage you to share that with your children. In terms of hardening the facilities, the Illinois Terrorism Task Force came up with various layers, five layers. There’s differences for early elementary, there’s differences for elementary, middle, high school, universities, so on and so forth. But I want to share with you, layer one that talks about adding video surveillance, signage for messaging and communication, we’re upping our work in that regard this summer, across the schools. Layer two, exterior door double locks. So both the exterior and interior doors will require a buzz in, that is back in place at all campuses. We also are going to work with our frontline staff to make sure that we pause and we stop to make sure we know who’s coming in and we understand what your business is, when you come into the school. We apologize in advance for the inconvenience, but we know you’re going to support us. We also have a visitor management system where we check ID or name and birth date. This is part of safety for the children and our staff. We have secure entry vestibules, it’s layer three. Layer four has multiple components. We have surveillance cameras inside and outside, all across the campuses, with remote cloud access. We’re making upgrades right now. We have a dedicated school resource officer, a Highland Park police officer, specially trained, dedicated to School District 112. In select areas, for obvious security reasons, I won’t tell you where, but in select areas we have bullet proof and bullet resistant materials. It’s simply a fact of life. Level five, we have BluePoint Security. So just like you’ll pull a station if there’s a fire, here you can pull a station if there’s a need for the police. We’ve also completely upgraded security at Northwood and Edgewood, as part of phase one of our long range security plans. What else? Over the past year and this summer, we’ve invested nearly 2 million dollars for upgrades, for standardization. We’re also looking at upgrading our Intercom Public Address Upgrade. We’re also looking at expanding our door access system. Folks we’re researching, right now, Weapons Detection Solutions, armed security, unarmed security, fencing, exterior call boxes, electronic door locks. With phase two planning, of the long range plan and the potential referendum, we have architectural planning for safety and security. We wrote about this in the June, July Highlander that goes to every resident of Highland Park. And we’re also have an ongoing commitment to making sure we’re doing this in our planning right now. We meet on a regular basis with the police representatives of Highland Park, Highwood, Deerfield, Riverwoods, Bannockbum. All the fire departments, too, that feed to District 113. It includes school district personnel. We meet in person, we meet on zoom. We review our safety procedures and our emergency action plans. Some public, some not. We talk about drills and protocols. Recently, on June 28th, there was a regional interdisciplinary building safety meeting. And last week in July, I met with our school safety security consultant, deputy chief of police in a neighboring area and some other folks. We’re looking at an overarching violence response program. We’re looking at the ALICE program, alert, lockdown, inform, counter, and evacuate. Run, hide, fight program that we have. We’re also looking at trauma training. You’re aware, through the communications, I’ve said, we’ve just had recent training. What you may or may not know is, we have planned Stop the Bleed Training for our staff this summer. We do CPR, cardiopulmonary resuscitation and AED, automated external defibrillator training, it’s ongoing. We have just scheduled trauma informed staff training this summer, before school starts. I sent you a comprehensive note in July and I understand again, some folks can read it and understand it. Some folks are not ready to read it. Some folks want certain things. I know we’re at different stages and I care. We all care. Please understand, schools are going to be open soon. We have new staff orientation, August 15th. We have another regular school board meeting August 16th. We have all staff coming back with an institute day from school psychologist, Dr. Doug Bolton on August 22nd. We have our students returning August 24th. Friends, before I close, I want to remind you, on Tuesday, July 26th, this coming Tuesday, we have a school board meeting. We hold our meetings live in person, here at the Green Bay Administration Center. You can watch it live. I want to take the moment, in as many forms of communication as I can to say, we’re aware, we’re listening, we care. We have a heart, we’re part of our community. We’re proud to be part of our community. We’re proud to welcome our nearly 4,000 students back in less than a month. We have significant time, energy and financial investments and resources in safety and security. We’re listening to suggestions and fears and concerns. We’re doing research. We’ll have an update and a discussion Tuesday night. This is ongoing. I thank you for your support of North Shore School District 112. And thank you, reaching out to me and to the Board of Education. Our motto is inspire, innovate, and engage and we’ll continue to do so with love, care, compassion. We’ll also continue to get expert advice and do everything we can in this day and age to make sure we’re running schools in a safe, orderly environment. Thank you so much. Stay in touch.

Message from the Superintendent – A Check In July 10 2022 #112Leads #HPStrong

“Storms make trees take deeper roots.” Dolly Parton

On July 4, 2022, innocence was ripped out of the hearts of Highland Park and Highwood Illinois due to a tragedy of unspeakable description. Another mass murder in America – on the 4th of July – was unspeakable. As a result, all community partners, including our local elementary and high school district, have jumped to action and heeded the call to support our first responders, the city, the community, victims, a host of social service agencies, and more.

Instinctively so many joined together to provide instant community counseling efforts on Tuesday, July 5, and those continued in multiple formats throughout the week and they will continue at the Family Assistance Center (FAC) this week.

In this update, I share updates, insights, plans, and reactions to how the community is uniting in counseling, prayer, and planning. The schools will open on August 24, with this 11-minute audio update, I acknowledged the outpouring of community support immediately after the 4th, I explain the focus on reopening the schools after the summer break, and the information helps us focus attention on “right now” that people are at various stages in the healing process, what is I am doing about school safety and security, optional school “play dates” and next steps. For information visit https://cityhpil.com/resident/highland_park_strong.php

 

 

Spanish Translation/Transcript

– [Dr. Michael Lubelfeld] Esto es “Lighthouse 112”, el podcast del superintendente de escuelas en el Distrito Escolar 112 de North Shore. Somos un distrito escolar público de preescolar a octavo grado en el noreste de Illinois. Este podcast es una fuente de información sobre el distrito escolar, su liderazgo, sus maestros, sus estudiantes y su comunidad. Es otra fuente de actualizaciones y una fuente adicional de noticias sobre la narrativa cambiante de la educación pública. Inspirar, innovar, participar. Gracias por escuchar “Lighthouse 112”, el podcast del superintendente de escuelas en Highland Park y Highwood, Illinois. Hola, este es un mensaje de audio de Mike Lubelfeld, superintendente de escuelas del Distrito Escolar 112 de North Shore. El 4 de julio de 2022, la inocencia fue arrancada de los corazones de Highland Park y Highwood, Illinois debido a una tragedia de descripción indescriptible. Como resultado, todos los socios de la comunidad, incluyendo nuestra primaria local y los distritos de escuelas secundarias, han saltado a la acción y atendido la llamada para apoyar a nuestros socorristas, la ciudad, la comunidad, las víctimas, una gran cantidad de agencias de servicios sociales, y más. Instintivamente, muchos se unieron para proporcionar esfuerzos de consejería comunitaria instantánea el martes 5 de julio, y esos esfuerzos continuaron en múltiples formatos durante toda la semana y seguirán en el Centro de Asistencia Familiar esta semana. Los Centros de Asistencia Familiar están diseñados para proporcionar servicios e información a los miembros de la familia de los fallecidos y heridos, así como a aquellas personas afectadas por el incidente. Se supervisa el Centro de Asistencia Familiar por la Cruz Roja Americana, así como múltiples agencias, incluidos los equipos de asistencia a las víctimas del FBI, que prestan ayuda y apoyo a las víctimas, testigos, y cualquier persona en la comunidad que se vio afectada por este evento. Está ubicado en la Preparatoria Highland Park, 433 Vid en Highland Park. La FAC y los servicios de asesoramiento dirigidos por la comunidad estarán disponible a partir del lunes 11 de julio hasta el viernes 15 de julio de 11:00 a 19:00 horas. Todas las personas y familias afectadas deben sentirse seguras accediendo a los servicios de apoyo en la Preparatoria Highland Park, independientemente del estatus migratorio. Se puede encontrar más información y el anuncio de la ciudad en el sitio web de la ciudad de Highland Park, HPStrong.info. Desde terapeutas hasta perros de terapia, donaciones de alimentos, agua, peluches suaves, juguetes anti-ansiedad, suministros de arte y mucho más. Todos hemos sido abrumados y afirmados por la efusión de amor, atención, preocupación y apoyo para los miembros de la comunidad de Highland Park y Highwood impactado por el desfile del 4 de julio. Empresas y organismos gubernamentales como el nuestro están brindando consejería y espacios terapéuticos para nuestros empleados, pues ellos también fueron directamente e indirectamente impactados, y ellos también se ven afectados por el trauma que rodea todo esto. El clero y los grupos locales han organizado vigilias, mítines, reuniones y más continuarán a medida que cada individuo trata de luchar con las emociones involucradas en este acontecimiento comunitario y tragedia comunitaria. Abriremos nuestras escuelas a nuestros estudiantes y personal, y familias el 24 de agosto de 2022. Independiente de la tragedia del 4 de julio, e independiente de eventos nacionales, en el Distrito 112 hemos estado trabajando en actualizaciones relacionadas con la seguridad escolar, seguridad, etcétera. Sepan que antes del 4 de julio estábamos mejorando las puertas, cámaras, señalización, puntos de acceso, capacitación, divulgación y más. Estamos comprometidos con ambientes seguros, protegidos limpios y acogedores para todos y cada uno de ustedes, y todos y cada uno de los alumnos. Sepan que tendremos más actualizaciones para nuestra comunidad y familias antes del comienzo de la escuela. Sé que esto fue, es y seguirá siendo un esfuerzo prioritario en el Distrito 112. Sepa que independientemente de todo esto, nos hemos centrado profundamente en las mejoras de las instalaciones, incluyendo mejoras de seguridad y protección. Compartiré más información este verano según corresponda. En este momento, en colaboración con la ciudad y muchas, muchas agencias, vamos a apoyar a la comunidad en su sanación a corto, mediano y largo plazo, y respuestas post-incidente. El Distrito 112 se está preparando para abrir las escuelas en agosto. La ciudad y muchas agencias están preparando cómo avanzar y coordinar los servicios comunitarios. Necesitamos respirar y necesitamos crear espacios seguros para los demás, ya que la tragedia aún está fresca en nuestras mentes y nuestros corazones. Si se sienten con ganas, asistan a las vigilias, acérquense a su clero, acérquense unos a otros, busquen asesoramiento. A medida que se sientan con ganas, asistan a lo que tenga sentido para ustedes. Tal vez algún día tomaremos un descanso en la acción, por así decirlo, pero hoy, ciertamente, no es ese día. Tenga en cuenta que nuestras escuelas se enorgullecen de ser socios de la comunidad en nuestra fuerte, amable, compasiva, inteligente, generosa y decidida comunidad. Entonces, ¿qué estoy haciendo ahora con respecto a la seguridad y protección de la escuela? Bueno, con respecto a la seguridad escolar y protección esta próxima semana, ya tengo en mi calendario alcance a los actuales y posibles proveedores comerciales en el área de seguridad escolar. Tengo reuniones con superintendentes de área, miembros de personal de área y consultor de seguridad la junta contratada en junio, independiente del incidente del 4 de julio, para revisar la seguridad y protección del distrito. Me reuniré con nuestro asesor de seguridad, acelerando nuestros esfuerzos juntos. Tendremos una reunión especial de la Junta de Educación, a partir de las 5:00 p.m. del miércoles, para discutir la seguridad y la protección en una sesión cerrada. Estamos haciendo mucho. Queremos saber qué estamos haciendo bien, queremos saber lo que estamos haciendo que hay corregirse. Y queremos ver qué, si es que hay algo, se necesita hacer en reacción a este horrible evento comunitario. Continuaremos manteniendo nuestra comunidad actualizada. Simplemente quiero que sepan lo que creo que ya saben, nos estamos centrando en esto en los más altos niveles de prioridad. Reuniones opcionales en la escuela. La próxima semana, algunas de las escuelas primarias están organizando citas para jugar con el PTO y el liderazgo principal. No esperamos que todos asistan o se sientan cómodos asistiendo en este momento. Sabemos que este es un largo proceso de curación. Sin embargo, simplemente queremos enfatizar que independientemente de lo ocurrido el 4 de julio y en nuestra comunidad, las escuelas siguen siendo lugares seguros y acogedores. Y reabriremos el próximo mes con el corazón y la mente abiertos. Debemos continuar a pesar de esta tragedia comunitaria indescriptible. Debemos apoyarnos unos en otros para tener fuerza, pues somos capaces de hacerlo. Sabemos que la gente aún no está lista para reunirse, y estoy enfatizando que está bien no asistir, está bien no estar listo. Seguimos centrados en el asesoramiento, la curación y abrir nuestras escuelas en menos de 40 días. Por favor comprendan que la seguridad de nuestras escuelas y el nivel de amenaza, por así decirlo, no es diferente hoy de lo que ha sido. Y entiendo que esto es más que difícil. Ni siquiera tengo las palabras para ello en mi corazón y mente, y oraciones y pensamientos para todos los involucrados. Por favor, comprendan que todos estamos tomando esto juntos un paso a la vez. Y todos estamos trabajando a través del libro de juego de cómo dirigir nuestras escuelas, nuestra comunidad, nuestras familias. Y sepan que el sistema escolar está aquí para ustedes, y vamos a prepararnos para todos. Y si quieren asistir esta semana, háganlo. Si no quieren, por favor no lo hagan. Está bien. Próximos pasos. Continuaremos compartiendo comunicaciones actualizadas en nombre de la ciudad y las muchas agencias gubernamentales involucradas. Y seguiremos haciendo fuertes a Highland Park y Highwood mientras vivimos juntos como comunidad y como un pueblo que no permitirá que el terror los apague. Con aprecio y optimismo, seremos la luz que ahuyente el odio. Para terminar, seguimos enfocados en apoyar a las víctimas, los afligidos, los heridos, y los muchos que están sintiendo una montaña rusa de emociones. Gracias por escuchar “Lighthouse 112”. Continuaremos compartiendo actualizaciones de la comunidad durante todo el verano. Gracias por escuchar “Lighthouse 112”, un podcast del superintendente de escuelas en el Distrito Escolar 112 de North Shore. Somos un distrito escolar público de preescolar a octavo grado en el noreste de Illinois. Este podcast es una fuente de información sobre el distrito escolar, su liderazgo, sus profesores y alumnos, y su comunidad. Es otra fuente de actualizaciones, y una fuente adicional de noticias sobre la narrativa cambiante de la educación pública. Inspirar, innovar, participar. Este podcast se puede escuchar y oír en Anchor, Podcasts de Apple, Podcasts de Google, Spotify, Breaker, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Stitcher, y otras fuentes que se agregan todo el tiempo. Vuelvan a consultar y suscríbanse a nosotros para mantenerse al día con lo que está pasando en el Distrito Escolar 112 de North Shore. Visiten también nuestro sitio web en www.nssd112.org. Muchas gracias por escuchar y por su interés.

Inspired by Leadership Conference – Honoring President’s Day #112Leads #Suptchat

“I am seeking, I am striving, I am in it with all my heart.”
– Vincent Van Gogh

On Monday, February 21, 2022, we celebrate President’s Day in the United States. It’s a day to honor those who have been elected by the “people” or some version of the “people” as that has evolved over time, to lead the “free world” as we say. These leaders have experienced trials, tribulations, scandals, triumphs, and much, much more over our nation’s many years in the global sphere. Leadership is what makes the difference as all leaders have ups, downs, and in between.

Our nation’s schools, a foundation and cornerstone of freedom, democracy, and “The American Way”, have come under a spotlight, scrutiny, hate, and love during the nearly two years of the experimental leadership driven by COVID-19 and divergent leadership around the nation. Follow the scientists – OK but they disagree. Follow the public health experts – OK but they disagree. Follow the politicians? – Uh – no thank you (LOL)! – But even they disagree. So … what is a leader left to do?

Publicly elected school board members (unpaid volunteers in Illinois and in many states around the nation) became (and are) at the front lines of democracy. Elected Officials who shop at the same grocery store as their neighbors who voted them in office. They who attend the same churches and faith-based organizations as their neighbors, and those, who until recently, held boring meetings. You know things may be out of control when Saturday Night Live parodies school board meetings and every superintendent is “like” – “yep, they got it right”!

So how do we evolve and grow, progress, and lead for our nation’s children and educators? When outside “experts” either abdicated leadership, waffle at the leadership, paralyze themselves with fear of failure, other, or “all of the above”, the leader (eg – the superintendent of schools in partnership with his/her school board and team) must LEAD.

I’ve been in public schools for nearly 30 years, I was a middle teacher (social studies, US history, civics, reading, Spanish, English, 6th grade, and 8th grade), a middle school associate principal (grades 4-8 and 5-8), a middle school principal (grades 6-8), a PK-8 Assistant Superintendent, and for the past 12 years, I have been a PK-8 public school superintendent. I learn from other leaders, and I lead others. I have four degrees from college universities (Bachelors, Masters, Specialist, and Doctorate). I’m a member of the AASA Leadership Network and the IASA Leadership Team, I’m a published author and a leadership coach. Blessed with opportunity, coaches, guides, friends, colleagues, and inspired by students, families, teachers, and experts, I am a lead learner proud of opportunity and highly cognizant of responsibility.

I take nothing lightly (for better or for worse). Thankfully the school board for whom I am employed, dedicated, and proudly serve is composed of seven amazing people who understand governance, leadership, and future-focused planning. With them we have and we continue to navigate the uncertain waters of the pandemic. We are now at a “crossroad” where the politics have gone haywire, the scientists and public health experts have gone haywire, and the need for leadership outpaces the speed at which outside experts have offered guidance. This coming week, the week where we honor President’s Day, our Board, locally, will be demonstrating on-the-ground leadership at a very important time. I’m honored and proud to lead in #112Leads.

My experiences from last week have reignited my passion to write … this is my first blog post in months … thank you AASA!

Leadership is a Team Sport

Recently I had the good fortune of attending the National Conference on Education, NCE, from the American Association of School Administrators (AASA). The School Superintendent’s Association, the AASA, has been in operation for more than a century. Supporting professional development, growth, and innovation for our nation’s top educational leaders has been and remains their mission of service. In the twelve years, I have served as a public school superintendent, I have attended the NCE. The conference was in person this year, the first time since February 2020 — and even though it’s only been a few years — it has seemed like an eternity since we have been able to learn together, lead together, and network together as colleagues and friends from all over the USA.

Education, public education, some would argue is the glue that binds us as a society. Some would argue it’s the most “American” of institutions. It’s where our youth spend more time than anywhere else from age 5 to 17 (or age 3-22 in many cases, as well). It’s the place where cultural values and norms are taught, reinforced, challenged, and promulgated. It’s where the very roots of the foundation of our democracy are first taking hold. And since March 2020, the foundation has been shaken, inequities have been exposed, innovations have been tested, divisive politics have divided and leadership both absent and present has guided us — or misguided us — on many fronts.

The #NCE2022, with great keynote speakers, honored partners, and heroic superintendents recognized for leadership and accomplishment helped restore my faith and confidence and my re-energization with respect to my role as a suburban Chicago, Illinois public school superintendent. The title of this post is “Leadership is a Team Sport” and that is exactly what #NCE2022 reminded me and my colleagues at each interaction. Whether it was awarding the national Superintendent of the Year or focusing on a keynote speaker from government, higher education, k-12 education or global leadership, or whether it was in the form of the hundreds of break out sessions, roundtable discussions, or special events, one huge theme came forward – we’re in this together. Whatever “this” was, is, and will be, we’re in it together.

I have the good fortune of leading with many exceptional people in North Shore School District 112 in Highland Park, IL, in Lake County, Illinois, in Illinois in general, and around the nation. At the #NCE2022, I was able to bring closure to a year-long leadership academy called the AASA National Aspiring Superintendent Academy, Blended Learning Model. Together with my good friend and leadership partner, Nick Polyak (Superintendent in Leyden High School District 212) we had the chance to meet in person most of our students with whom we have been leading on the journey towards the superintendent of schools position. Of our 29 students/participants representing 17 US states, 19 were able to make it in person, 14 US states were represented. Ideas and perspective sharing from Alabama, Texas, New Mexico, Illinois, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Maine, Massachusets, Arkansas, Maryland, Tennessee, Arizona, South Carolina, and Ohio were prominent in the team building and capstone project presentations.

Each of the participant’s capstone projects, presented in the IGNITE style (20 slides with imagery advancing every 15 seconds for a concise 5-minute presentation) were moving, thoughtful, highly prepared and planned, innovative, inspiring, and reflective of the excellence that each of the aspiring superintendents brings to the table in their home, work, and beyond interactions. They were individuals who became a team as a result of our time together. After all that we have been through and all we endure during the pandemic, it was powerful to gather, learn, and lead in person. Their graduation ceremony was fun, dignified, and well deserved.

In addition to teaching at the conference, Nick, PJ Caposey (Superintendent in Stillman, Valley, IL, Meridian CUSD 233) and I had the opportunity to make a presentation as a breakout session to more than 100 attendees at the conference. Our session on Student Voice: From Invisible to Invaluable was based on our 2018 Rowman & Littlefield book of the same title. Our team approach to research, writing, and presenting was energizing and affirming too. The AASA Conference staff wrote about our session and made a short video interview of my thoughts on Student Voice, which was also the theme of the conference. 

As I return to my home and next week back to my home district, I have recalibrated my “why” and thanks to my multiple teams of colleagues, friends, mentors, coaches, and fellow superintendents, I have the strength to lead with purpose no matter what challenges emerge. I have the strength and courage to lead for the students I serve, the employees I lead and manage, the Board to whom I report, and the community.

Leadership is a team sport and the strength, inspiration, grounding, and clarity a team provides can only help us each and all do better for those we have the privilege to serve.

Post 2 of 2 – Global Service – Dominican Republic- IASA 2021

Post 2 -IASA Global Service Trip – Dominican Republic October 2021

This is the second post describing and documenting a global service trip I had the opportunity to attend in the Dominican Republic with 30 colleagues. Each member of this international travel experience was a school superintendent, school or district level administrator or elected member of a Board of Education. Under the exceptional guidance and care of our team from Education First and the Dominican people, we led, learned, served, grew, opened our minds and hearts and set the foundation for student learning and teacher learning opportunities at home.

In this blog post, I will share the rest of the story that was started in the first blog post about this incredible set of adventures and experiences. As I left off in post #1,  this post will highlight our visit to Santiago (the 2nd largest city) visiting the historical district and learning about street art history and culture. I’ll describe the visit to the artisan area in Moca where we learned how to use pottery and bricks for stoves that help reduce the use of wood and lumber by 70% in the mountain areas, our adventures on the north coast of Cabarete, the Dream School and Inspire DR.

Thank you for reading the posts about of our journey in the Dominican Republic! Below I’m showing some photos from the Environmental institute I wrote about in the first post.

Trail “oasis” “after” completion

Tree Nursery

Hands on service!

Trail “oasis” “before” work

Trail Restoration Project

Creative reuse of plastic bottles to insulate wall of outdoor greenhouse

Discussing environmental possibilities

The journey from Jarabacoa towards Santiago afforded us the chance to visit with a local artisan and engage in several workshops and hands on learning experiences at a pottery shop. The artisan was located in Moca, Dominican Republic, and at our briefing we learned cultural and historically significant information as well as sustainability and direct impact on rural Dominican homes as well as the greater environment, health, and wellness.

Briefing at artisan site

The cultural lessons centered around a faceless doll. This was a special art project that originated in 1977. Essentially, in a nod to the complex and mixed ethnic and cultural and racial ancestry of the Dominican people, with 2% Taino (native peoples), 23% Spanish, and 75% African heritage and DNA in its citizens, the artisans wanted to make a statement about the pride and complexities of the mix. Therefore, the idea of the Faceless Doll of a Dominican women was born. A proud, interesting, and creative example of telling a highly complicated and high level concept (ancestry, heritage, etc.) in a clay doll. Beyond our new learning and appreciation for the progression of “who am I” and “who are we”, we actually had the chance to make a doll (though it’s really not easy! And the art teacher was as patient as anyone could be with our amateur creations).

Attempt at making faceless dolls

Artisan pottery – chimney brick project

Brick stove with chimney – transformation

In addition to the Faceless Woman project, we also received a briefing on the stoves in the homes of folks living in the rural, mountain areas and the toll on health, especially for women and children that their old, traditional stoves were taking. For example, cooking indoors with wood, fire, and no chimney or ventilation system led to severe impact on trees (wood for cooking), severe impact on lung/respiratory health of women and children (traditionally in the home while the men go in the fields and work) and skin issues due to the smoke and its carcinogenic properties. So at this pottery artisan production center we visited in Moca, they also make bricks for new rural stoves that use bricks and chimney design to ventilate the toxic smoke, and it has benefits on health, the forest, and lungs! These brick ovens reduce the wood usage by 70% — this is already having a positive impact on the island.

Proud to learn and serve making bricks for brick stove

 

 

Our work in brick makingThis focus on sustainability is also impacting the Haitian side of the island. Together in partnership we all benefit. We on this trip are planting seeds of international cooperation and respect that we will ideally recreate so that students in our schools can learn, do, experience, and we can all pay this forward. The artisan shop is also an example of supporting the local economy as there are locally produced handcrafts for purchase.

 

 

After we visited Moca’s rich artisanal history, and experienced projects of value and of meaning for us and for future student groups, we headed to the nation’s second largest city Santiago. In Santiago, there is a recently restored historic neighborhood with incredible street artwork. I’m sharing a bunch of photos from this visit – I feel that the imagery is far more powerful and descriptive than my words can be.

This visit to Santiago shared for us urban redevelopment in the historic district as well as a visual representation of culture, history and the society over time. The streets on which were were walking are centuries old and have stories of their own.

From Santiago we headed into Puerto Plata on the north coast of the island nation. Our destination was Cabarete. Cabarete is a culturally significant city with a cosmopolitan and international flair. Cabarete and the Puerto Plata coastal area was the original spot for Dominican tourism prior to Punta Cana’s creation on the southeast side of the island. Cabarete is known for international visitors and “expats” as well as kite surfing and surfing on the Atlantic Ocean.

In Cabarete we visited and served at a community center/Montessori-inspired school called the Dream Center School, and we also visited Inspire, an after school and year round STEAM/Shop/Culture/Values program for boys 18-25 years old. Here are some photos of Dream Center and our on site, hands-on beautification service projects. 

 

Fixing up the recycling and trash receptacle after relocating

Our take aways, amens, and epiphanies are many and varied. With the school sites, the after school social organizations, the community library, and their integration and interdependence to supplement and in some cases supplant the overall social-educational systems in place, we saw firsthand how EF works with value and mission driven local organizations and groups so our students can be part of something much larger than their typical education/school experiences. We adults were highly moved and  affected by our service, the informational briefings, and the reflections We got to experience what our students will go through. The Dream School Center allowed us to see how a private school interacts with the public school system.

Finished project!

We saw how early childhood education up through grammar school is organized in very similar fashions to our US educational system. Montessori philosophy is popular in many settings around the world. The Dream Center shares a STEAM classroom with the local public school.

The Dream library is a community library, they have a “book mobile” as well and their outreach is community-wide, not just for the students in the school or special programs. Their Bachata sister academy for older youth (High school ages) demonstrated some Bachata music in an impressive display of musical talent!  As the photos show, we helped them with requested beautification projects and functional projects designating space for motorcycle parking, movement of a recycling and trash receptacle to the back of the grounds, as well as touch up painting throughout the classrooms.

Finished project!

The service elements, similar to what our students will experience, showed us that a group of people may start as strangers, yet they emerge as friends in part due to the opportunities that forge authentic bonds. The problem solving, skills development, team work and overall satisfaction with jobs well done meant a lot to each and every one of us every day on this fantastic set of adventures.

We left the Dream Center feeling a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction and reward. We finished up our exploration and inquiry at an after school program for boys (though they are also adding girls programming) InspireDR – Free After-School Programs in Cabarete, Dominican Republic This private foundation “NGO” community based center offers swimming instruction, computer literacy, health education, wood shop, economics, a dojo for marshal arts, and more. We were truly inspired by the emphasis on technical life skills, problem solving, positive, moral, ethical, community focused learning and living. These boys and young men were learning English, swimming safety, and we were able to engage and interact with them on site. In addition, they teach public speaking and communications. This free (privately funded) community center has a waiting list of 90 students and they are serving as many as they can free of charge. This and so many of our new discoveries would each and all make great fund-raising, sponsorship, visit/exchange, education, and of course service projects for our own youth, Rotary and other civic organizations and other foundations.

We also ate lunch at Water to Wine, a water purification team — the opportunities to serve and make our world a better place seemed to be never-ending.

As I close the photo journal and documentary accounts of our incredible 2021 IASA Global Service Project, and as I again thank Dr. Polyak and our business partners, I’ll share some final thoughts, reflections and comments. In North Shore School District 112, we are going to explore the possibilities we can create with our own local partners for a student trip and relationship moving forward. Inspire…Innovate…Engage – our aspirational motto — in action!

Captivating natural beauty

We had so many “to do” or “do now” opportunities. We had so much history and culture learning and education experiences. We were not blind to the irony of our service during the Indigenous People/Columbus Day observances (at home and in the DR). It was not lost on us that we were meeting in Columbus Park for our Santiago art/history walking tour.

We learned and lived and engaged and built lasting relationships in a relatively short period of time.

Our world is complex. Our work is complex. Our past is complex.

In order that we support and facilitate the support for teachers and students to create conditions for a sustainable and globally connected world, we must get out of our safe and small circle of our worlds at home and jump out of comfort zones and live, learn, do, think, be open minded to change, and to lead.

With experiences in the educational, social, cultural, artistic, political, geographic, environmental, and service genres (and more), I simply say Thank YOU to all who put in so much effort to create the spaces where we and I could enhance ourselves and our worlds.

Here’s to the next time … truly we are all unfinished! Opportunities like this help us frame our paths to become the next versions of ourselves.

For nearly 30 years I have been serving public education and schooling in suburban Chicago, Illinois, USA. I’ve been a public school superintendent for 12 years (so far). Each year, each job/role, each child for whom I lead, each adult with whom I lead, each family I serve, each community I serve — each one enhances my sense of self and my body of work. My answer to the call of duty in an ongoing and unfinished, never ending cycle of service is to serve, to lead, to push myself and to make my wife, my children, and my community proud and respectful.

Proud and grateful to sponsor partners

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reflections from Dominican Republic – IASA Global Service Trip

IASA Global Service Trip 2021-Blog Post 1

Cabarete, Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic

Cabarete, Dominican Republic 1,851 miles from Highland Park, Illinois

October 2021

As our world heads out of the restrictive nature of the recent years, and as our school district re-energizes and re-commits to student educational access and excellence in education for each child, every day, I’m beyond grateful that I have had the opportunity to join a recent trip to another country to learn the culture, history, sociology, teamwork, global interconnection, education (of course) and much, much more. Together with a member of my school district’s Board of education, and with leaders from all across the state of Illinois (Cairo, IL to Zion, IL and all parts in between), our lives were forever changed and opportunities for students across Illinois and throughout the Dominican Republic will be impacted for years to come.

In 2018 thirty strangers agreed to participate in international service, culture, and leadership trip called the Illinois Association of School Administrators (IASA) Global Service Trip. The trip was delayed twice due to the impact of the global pandemic. Thanks to incredibly generous and supportive business partners, the cost per person was minimal, and thanks to an international educational tour company, the world-class tour, trip, adventures, experiences, reflections, expertise, travel, fellowship, new friendships, shared love for our calling to serve and to educate, and the overall service-learning was among the best I have experienced.

Understanding I will likely leave out details, miss a detail or two or three, to the degree possible, I’m making an effort to share in this blog a documentary accounting and “editorial” in this blog post and some follow-up posts as well.

To start, we all met together at a dinner at a restaurant outside of Chicago, IL. As a reminder, we are each superintendents, board of education members, school administrators, and we represent all areas of the great and diverse state of Illinois. We had no idea the depth of communal care, comfort, support, experience, joy, reflection, and leadership upon which we were each embarking.  We each had our own motivation for applying to join this trip. Our partners at the Law Offices of Hodges, Loizzi, Eisenhamner, Rodick, & Kohn (HLERK), International Contractors Incorporated (ICI), DLA Architects, AXA, and SPM Architects all took a significant leap of faith believing in the powerful vision of my good friend and the Leyden High School Superintendent Nick Polyak and his vision for impacting the world, education in Illinois, superintendent-board relations, and so much more — words cannot thank the business partners for their support and investment — and genuine on the ground experiential learning and partnership. Life-long friendships were made on this trip across the Dominican Republic!

Service-learning changes lives forever, after having the incredible opportunity to have served on several trips over the past few years, I know firsthand how powerful the hands-on learning and engagement of people make a lasting impact and serves to support a legacy of global connectedness and growth opportunities. Hat tip to the AASA for allowing me to join in on the LifeTouch Memory Mission in 2016 to the Rio Grande/Constanza, Dominican Republic area with World Servants, and hat tip to my friend and fellow Illinois Superintendent Jim McKay for two trips to San Juan, Puerto Rico (so far) for service learning, educational partnership, teacher exchange, training, technology,  hands-on construction and more! On one of these adventures, I had the opportunity to bring my son with me; blending work and home, blending professional and personal, wow – seriously impactful. My son and I will clearly enjoy many more memories and experiences in the future.

Back to this 2021 trip, …Me and my Board member (or my Board member and I) learned together, experienced together, built together, laughed together, and most importantly, we planned together visions for students in our school district to experience life-changing service like we did. I’ve reached out to the district and school administrators back home (while in the DR) to start the thinking process for a legitimate investment in our students in partnership and travel as an adjunct part of the curriculum. Our motto in North Shore School District 112, https://www.nssd112.org/ is Inspire…Innovate…Engage. This trip to the beautiful island nation of the Dominican Republic was highly inspiring, we are beyond motivated to bring these learning opportunities to our students, and we were engaged from the dinner meeting the night prior to our departure.

A few years ago I posted a reflection post about a series of reflections (I see writing as an intimate and public way to express myself, communicate my thinking, and share professional experiences). See link: Reflecting on Global Service – 3 Year Anniversary of Dominican Republic Memory Mission Trip – This is the blog from Public School Superintendent & Author Dr. Michael Lubelfeld

The incredible company Education First,  EF Education First – Global SIte (English), sent us their “A-Team” of leaders and they truly have outdone themselves in terms of an authentic set of learning, leadership, service, opportunity, and true business/education vision and planning opportunities for children. Thank you, Brian, Alex, Claire, Gabriel, Hector, and everyone in the Dominican Republic on the ground for their amazing leadership, expertise, camaraderie, fellowship, friendship, vision, and overall and genuine professionalism. This was a fantastic experience all around. Thank you also to Angel for day and night support!!

We literally visited and traveled through the entire length of the country traveling from the south to the north. We visited urban, rural, and coastal communities. We saw both the Caribbean and Atlantic coats. We visited cultural and historic sites, geographic sites, the two largest cities, public school sites, private school sites, after school clubs, “NGO” not for profit areas committed to environmental sustainability, social justice, education, future-focused support and so many opportunities for post-trip partnership and service and support. I will be sharing the information and “leads” with my local Rotary Club, Leadership Team, Board of Education, and community leaders.

After we arrived in Santo Domingo, the capital city, we visited a Coral Reef and Mangrove reforestation NGO on the Caribbean Sea prior to our long drive north, through the center of the island towards Jarabacoa. We were immediately taken in by the

Captivating natural beauty

immense natural beauty of this island nation. We were also starting our journey and adventure into the Dominican Republic’s commitment to environment study, preservation, sustainability, and education. The sense of community was powerful and we were just getting started.

The overall journey from Santo Domingo to Jarabacoa is 90 miles/144 kilometers, and by motorcoach with a quick visit to the Coral Reef/Mangrove restoration center (and the Caribbean beachfront), it’s a trip of around 3-4 hours (with a stop on the way for a rest and some coffee). We were at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago at 3:00am for a 5:00am flight to Miami, Florida, then after a short layover we headed to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (journey of 1,936 miles/3,116 kilometers), we arrived in Santo Domingo at 12:40pm local time (O’Hare is CST and Santo Domingo is EST). The journey was long, our anticipation was high, our anxiety was being eased by actually being on the ground and for having enjoyed dinner the night before as well as a long travel journey. But the learning was just getting started.

On our next visit, we went to the Environmental Institute, formally called Instituto Técnico de Estudios Superiores en Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales in Recinto, Jimenoa. At this impressive, Ministry of Education funded school, founded in 1968 and refurbished within the past few years, we learned a ton about reforestation efforts, trail building and preservation, the

Trail “oasis” “before” work

connection of the Dominican Republic and Haiti, and the overall impact on the preservation of nature’s greatness. At the institute, students are 18-25 years old, the integration of genders was recently added and the federal government funds and runs this impressive, two-campus higher education institute. Topics we addressed at the briefing included conservation, tree nursery, forestry, agriculture, trail building, learning, service, and education. The impact of climate change is real and the need for a larger-scale focus on sustainability is everyone’s responsibility. Here in the Dominican Republic, there are scholarships for students from Haiti in an effort to positively impact the entire island of Hispaniola which both countries share. One of the service projects, hands-on learning for our leadership team, was in the tree nursery and the other was in the nature trail. This institute plants more than 750,000 (seven-hundred fifty-thousand) saplings across the island each year! The impact is beyond huge and lasting.

I was part of the trail restoration project. With sweat equity and really intense physical labor, our team cleared out tree stumps, restored a number of benches and a table (in a clearing on a nature trail at the Institute) our team was really proud of the physical labor and task completion. With natural leadership and skills emerging from team members, and under the

Trail “oasis” “after” completion

supervision and leadership of our Dominican hosts, together we created a nice and comfortable oasis in the trail for a meeting space, thinking, reflection, and ambiance of the beautiful and serene nature trail on one of the campuses.

The tree nursery group learned how to take “baby” trees and plant, clean, separate soil/plants, and recreate the initial steps in the tree nursery growing and sustaining process. Education First (EF) formed relationships with institutions that thrive on their own, but who also benefit from volunteer service and support from student groups, educator groups, and others, to complete their mission-driven work.

It’s really hot in the Dominican Republic— even in October — it’s 90 degrees, powerful sun, intense heat, and we’re not all physical/manual laborers by day. So, the work was really intense and we had sweat on top of sweat and we drank more water than we normally drink! It was also highly rewarding to impact this institution in such a positive way. The service-learning projects are high-intensity and powerfully related to what our students will do as well. In addition, the concepts of inter-dependence are built upon each other at each step.

Following this intense and novel manual labor, our hosts from EF allowed us to experience a geographically beautiful and one of the highest waterfalls in the Dominican Republic. We visited Salto Jimenoa Waterfall,  in Jarabacoa. This was about 35 meters, or 115 feet, tall. The walk to the “watering hole” at the foot of the waterfall was far easier on the way to the falls vs the way back (climbing back up was tough). We were so hot, really stretching muscles we don’t normally use, an intense pride in task completion due to the adrenaline and pride in service we were walking around with since we boarded the plane in Chicago. The visit to this waterfall, impressive on its own — tall, loud crashing water, awe-inspiring geography, and much welcomed “cold water”. Once we entered the watering hole we felt the wind — forceful and inspirational wind — we then headed towards the actual waterfall itself. The massive, natural force driving this water from the mountains — this waterfall invited us in — we each felt a sense of invigorating relief at the entrance with the cold water, the cold almost mystical wind; but words cannot describe the feeling of inspiration upon entering the area against the rock behind the crashing cascade of water! The force reflected our powerful desires and force to serve, learn, and accomplish all we can for each child, every day. We were in paradise — a unique and foreign world compared to our middle-American realities.

Words I wrote in my journal were: “work hard, serve, learn from collaboration, sweat equity, the satisfaction of contributing part to whole, symbolic of the overall trip, aim each of us as global citizens are parts contributing to the whole – cultural, local”.

Each meal was authentically Dominican. We ate rice, beans, chicken, beef, plantains, yucca, fruit juices, fruit, banana, truly outstanding and truly local cuisine.

Each cultural experience was a tribute to our Dominican hosts, the beauty and richness of the people, and representative of the value of travel, touring, meeting other people, gaining experiences through other people’s lenses, learning and respecting the locale. We were not there on any mission to “help” or to “save” — we were present in respect and mutual admiration to learn, lead and serve shoulder to shoulder. We were not there to show who we are and what we do — by embracing our hosts and by opening our minds and hearts, we showed who we were and who we are. On our journey we learned about Bachata, Merengue, Salsa, yes, we superintendents danced (or tried to dance) with the Latin rhythm and beats in our hearts and our souls. Our dance teacher was really patient.

My next post will highlight our visit to Santiago (the 2nd largest city) visiting the historical district and learning about street art history and culture. I’ll describe the visit to the artisan area in Moca where we learned how to use pottery and bricks for stoves that help reduce the use of wood and lumber by 70% in the mountain areas, our adventures on the north coast of Cabarete, the Dream School and Inspire DR.

Thank you for reading the first post about half of our journey in the Dominican Republic!

Stay tuned for the rest of the story.

Twitter Chat Archive on Mental Health & Wellness #suptchat

In October 2014, Nick Polyak and I started #suptchat, the international chat on Twitter for superintendents and school leaders. The responses and support have been affirming and impressive! We’re sharing this information in the event some folks have not yet had the chance to participate in one of the chats. A Twitter chat is an opportunity and an invitation to spend an hour with other thought leaders and colleagues – in this case on the first Wednesday of every month 7:00 pm Central (5 pm Pacific, 8 pm Eastern).

The topics we have addressed are varied and reflect the multitude of complex challenges we face in leadership every day. By month, here are the past topics we have discussed. For a collection of chat topics and archives from the past few years, please visit https://bit.ly/suptchatstory 

For a look at tonight’s (Oct. 6, 2021) chat archive, see below:

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