Closing Comments
MK: We’re done. How do you feel? 
- As a military family, it sounds very disjointed to me. Coming into a community and having so many different options is attractive and unique but it sounds difficult for me to choose this system if I have to transfer to another school.
- I was just bragging the district up to do this to bring so many people in who are willing to take two days off of work to talk about ‘what if’ and discuss how we can make this system better. I’m energized and excited to have my kids educated in this district.
- I’m wondering what is going to happen next, with a timeline and accountability.
- As an outsider I’ve watched this process from where we started to where we are now, and I think if you really implement these things, you’ll be the envy of the rest of the state. This is bold and it’s about time someone does it and I’m very excited for you.
- One of the challenges we’ve seen up here is the change. Some of us will be dragged kicking and screaming into this vision. You need to deal with that factor; you’re going to have to help educate all the stakeholders so it can be readily accepted so you don’t have endless barriers thrown up.
- The ideas we’ve came up with can get accomplished. We can’t walk away from here and push this all under the couch. We need to do this for our children’s future; for my future. These past two days have affirmed that it does take a community to raise a child.
- I don’t think we were bold enough. These things are the same things we talked about 30 years ago. We talk about it as new and that scares me. These things have been around for 30 or 40 years. Trying to get buy-in for quality instruction is wrong. We need to be managing those people out of the system.
- Everyone has their own idea of what “this” is. I’m not sure if we really agree about “it”.
MK: That was the list we had this morning were the “it” that I heard.
- I want to take exception with the comment before last. I think this has been a wonderful experience. It shows that people really care about our education and our kids. Maybe some of these things have been around in the educational community but they haven’t been in the community at large. This session continues the process that has started and brings it further. We haven’t reinvented public education in America in these two days, but we have taken this community further by getting the buy-in from those who haven’t been aware of it.
MK: From a consulting point of view, you can do everything you’ve outlined that you want to do. You will have to create a buffer to protect the buds that are growing here until they have roots of their own.
- When we started this process with the idea of a graduate in 2020, that child is today 8 years old. If we start with that grade then we will have an evolution. If we try to implement all we’ve said today, we will have a revolution. But I think we can do this as an evolutionary process.
- When I think back to two years ago, when the District started the Long Range Facility Planning process, the administration was somewhat afraid of what the community was doing around them. They would get proposals for new developments, and be would be left to deal with the influx of new kids, without any input. Now, after studying the trends, and opening those lines of communication with the Cities, the County, and other local officials, the District is more confident that they can have a say in the process, and are taking charge in charting their own future; in the placement of new schools, in the formation of community alliances, in talking to businesses, and landowners. This process is very similar. Yesterday, the District didn’t know what the community around them wanted; today, they do. These past two days are going to give the District, the administration, the Board, and the teachers/staff, more voice in what we, a collective community, want to do with our education system. They now have additional information, and can move forward. And we, the participants of this process can be their advocates, and a buffer to those who may not yet understand what we want to implement.
- Thank you for the experience. I’m grateful to be a part of this and be around all the intelligence in this room. I wanted to point out that the district has embarked on a journey. We’re not at all in trouble. This school district measures very high in all measurements from the state and the fact that we’re not satisfied with that speaks volumes. There are a lot of shakers and movers in the room today and this will change how they do business.
- Thanks for this. I get to see with new eyes. Having this knowledge we all need to be advocates and share this knowledge. I have graduated from Papillion-La Vista 13 years ago and I can see how we’ve changed by leaps and bounds from where it was then. I also have an 8 year old so the 2020 graduate is in our midst.
- Thank you for being intentional about early childhood. That is essential in the foundation of this whole process.
From an external perspective, it has been a joy to be with you. We do hold Papillion-La Vista in high regard. Thanks for the work on the NE Career Readiness Standards. I’m going to take what you’ve done here to improve it. You have a lot to be proud of and we appreciate a district who always looks for the continuous improvement. - I’m from industry and two months ago I sent out an email to teachers all over Omaha getting feedback for student who they might choose for a scholarship opportunity and the only ones who wrote back to me was from Papillion-La Vista. Thanks for that.
- We’re edging dangerously close to a group hug here. Things are great and this process has been great. I want to make sure we don’t lose the momentum. What is going to happen to the comments on the improvements and overhauls?
MK: They are typed up and included in the documentation. The admin group will check them against the rest of the work that has been done and take them into consideration.
Dr. Rick Black
First and foremost, I want to thank you and your staff for the great work here today. Over the last 8 years, through the school improvement process, we went from good to pretty good to darn good always in pursuit of greatness and perfection. We may not get to perfection but I can assure you, we will always work in that direction. Larry Lezotte said, “If we aren’t changing, you are either going to get better or worse.”
Our community, our staff and our Board of Education won’t stand by and not change. We are committed to getting better. Our personal commitment by being a part of the educational process is to be here for our students. Our challenge is to have them ready to go.
Look around the room and you’ll see commitment and passion. We didn’t have bashful people. We don’t have people of the same mindset. We need to hear about things that we’re not doing very well and how we need to get better.
You heard about our academies and we got a lot of nice strokes and praise. This is one area where we have changed and will continue to change to meet the needs of all students. Prior to this past year, we had 16 students in the academy at the hospital and 12 at the zoo. These students were primarily our high flyers. We wanted the academy experience to be appropriate for all students. Today, with our full day program we have 75 students at the hospital and 55 at the zoo. We have future Doctors or veterinarian but we also have future photographers, graphic artists and more. These programs are designed for all students.
We need your ideas. We sense that support. I made about 20 presentations in this last year about the facility study. In my slide show the first 18 were about our demographics. The next one said we know we’re growing and the big question is but when. You said so what? What’s going to happen with the programs to be sure we are meeting the educational needs of all of our students?
As a district we can’t throw the switch on in 2020. We have to start now. As we leave here today, there are some things already implemented but there are a lot of things that we have to look at as we move forward. There are some new things that have come over the last two days that will guide our further work.
We have earned your trust with your kids and we know that we have 95 people who gave up their lives for these two days to help us. If you walk out of here and nothing gets done after this, I know where that trust is going to go. Our challenge is to show you that this session is not just a lot of words and empty actions. This is going to shape what happens over the next ten years. We’re going to sit down and digest this, see what we’re doing and what we’re going to do next.
I can’t thank all of you enough. On behalf of the Board of Education, we are going to take care of all your input. We are and want to be a global community. Just saying that is not good enough.
Dr. Ron Hanson
I
f someone were to ask us 18 months ago that we would have had two full day academy programs, I would have said that was a wild idea and left it at that. Now it’s happened and that’s innovative! That’s the spirit of which we’re going to take this work forward.
We started with 4 primary questions:
- Why do we need to improve the model of education for the 21st century?
- What are 21st century skills?
- What should a 21st century education look like?
- How will we know if students are ready for the transition: pre-k-12, to college, career and/or community life after 13 years education in PLV?
You have helped answer and develop the answers to these questions further. You have added a lot of perspective to these. There are things we can do immediately and there are things that will take some planning.
Last night, as I was running, I was processing some of the information I had heard during the day, I thought to myself, kids have become so sophisticated about technology why not use them as teachers. Why not have our students go out to the senior centers and help them learn Skype, Facebook, email, Photo Share so the folks there can keep in touch with their family and friends. Think of all of the 21st century skills this type of a project could help teach our students. This is one very small example of the type of ideas that you have developed over the past two days.
I want to sincerely thank you for your time and ideas. I got a lot out of listening to your comments and conversations. Before you leave, I have one more request: We’re going to hand you a note card and I want you to think for at least 60 seconds before you write anything down. Do not put your name on it. Write on your card one innovative idea, concept, program, or process that will help us reach our goal of creating 21st century learning environments.
Again, thank you for your time, your passion and your commitment to the future education in the Papillion-La Vista School District.
MK: As you finish up your cards, I want to add a couple of words. It is truly an honor to be invited to participate and facilitate this process. I appreciate the work that you’ve done here. Our children are the most important things and anything we can do to help them is important.
Have a good and safe evening.