Believe! Our Welcome Back Kick-Off

Guest Blog Post By: Kim Reed, Coordinator of Curriculum, Data, and Assessment

Today marked my very first Welcome Back Breakfast in Lakeside Union School District. Superintendent Lorden, in his address to staff told a story based on his own life illustrating the importance of perception. He tenderly and with humor explained that it is not enough to believe that every student wants to and can learn. Dr. Lorden showed us that we must make sure that our students perceive that we believe in them. Perception, as it turns out, is everything to our students. Staff members received a “Believe” t-shirt to wear on Fridays to help remind LUSD students that the adults in LUSD believe in them. I think I’ll wear mine to remind me that LUSD believes in me and is counting on me to do this important work.

Keynote speaker Dr. Jeffrey Sprague, Director of the Institute on Violence and Destructive Behavior spoke on Positive Behavior Intervention and Support, describing research that supports the use of PBIS to not only increase academic achievement but to improve teacher health. He brought up terms that aren’t frequently used when thinking about student behavior, “forgiveness” and “restoration” and rarely used ones that you frequently hear, “consequences” and “punishment”. Dr. Sprague explained that he had already been working with leadership teams across the district and I was able to see some of this work in action when I visited sites with Dr. Johnsen in the afternoon. The teacher leadership around this work was remarkable.

I’ve only been in LUSD a few short weeks but it seems to me that the people in this district care deeply for one another and for the students and families they serve. Much of the time today was spent honoring employees and welcoming new ones, sharing hopes for this school year, taking selfies and ooing over baby pictures. And part of the day was spent laughing hilariously at each other. If what Dr. Lorden says is true, if perceptions are everything, then I think I’ll stick around for awhile.