Today, we’ll listen to the latest episode of Superintendent Spotlight, our biweekly online interview show with Superintendent Steve Joel. He talks about the power of public education as we celebrated I Love Public Schools Day this week, and he answers a series of questions from students.

• LPS, LES partnership powers valuable physics lesson
• Three world language teachers named best in the state

Coming Up This Week

• Saturday  2/1
  • 5PM: Reception for FiberFest Exhibition by Arts and Humanities at Lux Center for the Arts
    • Show runs through February
  • Spartan Spectacular Show Choir Event at East
  • Speech contest at LNE
  • Debate at LHS
• Tuesday 2/4
  • 5pm: Wrestling: EHS and LSW at LNS
  • 5:30pm: Swimming/Diving: LHS at LNS
  • 5:30pm: Swimming/Diving: LNE at EHS
• Wednesday 2/5
  • 12-1pm: African-American Read-in at LPS District Office
• Thursday 2/6
  • 5:30pm: Swimming/Diving: LSW at LSE
• Friday 2/7
  • 5:45pm: Girls Basketball: LNE at LNS
  • 7:30pm: Boys Basketball: LNE at LNS

Transcript

Brian Fitzgerald
This is stories from Lincoln Public Schools Episode 52 for the week of February 3 2020.

Hello from Lincoln Public Schools. I’m Brian Fitzgerald.

Jason Keese
And I’m Jason Keese. Welcome to stories from Lincoln Public Schools. Our podcast that gives you an inside look at the people, activities and programs that make LPS the amazing place that it is. Today, we’ll listen to the latest episode of Superintendent spotlight. Our biweekly online interview show with Superintendent Steve Joel. He talks about the power of public education as we celebrated I Love Public Schools day this week and he answers a series of questions from students. But first, let’s see what’s been making news on LPS.org.

Something we just posted yesterday. There are nearly 900 wind turbines operating in Nebraska providing more than 14% of the state’s energy. Now thanks to a partnership with Lincoln Electric System, a group of physics students at North Star High School recently learned firsthand what it takes for a turbine to produce all of that energy. LES provided physics teacher Karen Koval and her students all of the supplies necessary to construct and test energy produced by miniature turbines. Students use supplies such as paper plates, compact discs, construction paper and masking tape to create blades they attach to a turbine roughly 12 inches tall. It’s one example of the many partnerships LPS has with businesses and community organizations.

Three LPS world language teachers were honored as the best in the state. The Nebraska international languages Association honored Jamie Holbein Swanson from northstars, the 2019 Spanish teacher of the year. Sasha Van Zandt from Southwest High School was named the 2019 French teacher of the year, and Kelleen Browning, a German teacher at Southeast High School won the 2019 New Language Teacher of the Year award which recognizes someone who shows great promise during their first five years of teaching.

Remember, you can find all this and much more on any one of our social media platforms. Our colleague, BriAna Campbell does a great job and she’s constantly adding new content to our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.

Brian Fitzgerald
A lot of things going on the calendar this week.

Starting Saturday, February 1… Can you believe we’re in February already? 5pm there is a reception at the Lux Center for the Arts. And there is a show being done by arts and humanities called FiberFest. It’s an exhibition there. That’s going to be running the entire month of February. So if you can’t be there Saturday, don’t worry. You can catch it all through the month. But there’s a reception there – 5pm Saturday afternoon. There is a show choir event called the Spartan Spectacular going on at East. There is a speech contest at Northeast and debate at Lincoln High School. That is all going on Saturday the first. Then we’re going to jump to Tuesday, the fourth — we have wrestling — East High and Southwest at North Star — so a three school wrestling meet there — 5pm on Tuesday. Then two swimming and diving meets at 5:30pm. We have Lincoln High at North Star and Northeast at East High. Wednesday, the fifth right here at the LPS District Office on O Street. At noon, we have the African-American read-in and it’s a great event that happens every black history month every February, where we have folks from all around the community come in and share some of their great some other favorite African-American pieces of literature. So please come and join us for that. Thursday, the sixth 5:30 in the afternoon swimming and diving that’s Southwest at Southeast. Then at the end of the week, Friday, February 7, we have a pair of basketball games. Both are Northeast at North Star. The girls are playing at 5:45 and the boys are playing at 7:30. So that’s some of what’s going on next week at Lincoln Public Schools, you can view more of our academic, athletic and activity calendars at lps.org/podcast.

Jason Keese
Now it’s time for the latest episode of Superintendent spotlight, which includes Steve Joel answering a series of student questions. Let’s take a listen.

Mindy Burbach
Good morning. Welcome to Superintendent spotlight. I’m Mindy Burbach, communications director, and this is an opportunity every two weeks where we get to sit down with Dr. Joel to talk about hot topics around the district. Welcome. Dr. Joel.

Dr. Steve Joel
Thanks Mindy! Great to be here.

Mindy Burbach
Thank you. So today we have a special show. We’re going to do mostly student questions. But first, I have to ask you, you’re wearing a Lincoln High shirt and we’re celebrating I Love Public Schools Day. Tell us about the shirt. How did you get it?

Dr. Steve Joel
Well it worked out very, very well. I visited Lincoln High today. I met with faculty at 7:15 till about eight. And then they presented me with the shirt, which I appreciate principal Larson doing that and it fits very well. I do have a lapel – I Love Public Schools. I was wearing that on my coat. And then I had an opportunity to meet with about seven or eight of the students that wanted to talk to the superintendent, which I always do when I visit secondary schools including middle. We just had this great conversation about education and what LPS meant and what Lincoln High meant, and it never fails to motivate me even more to the best job I can, when I want to have a chance to interact with young people that are consuming what it is that we offer. They have had success. They love their teachers, you know, Lincoln High is a special place because of the, you know, the cultural openness that they have and the diversity that is represented by the student body. And I asked them questions like, how did you make the decision to come to Lincoln High? I mean, it was just Dr. Bob Rauner was with me, and we were both just mesmerized with how intelligent these young people are and really how important LPS has been to them and how complimentary they are to our schools.

Mindy Burbach
I love going out and especially when you I’ve been with you when you’ve talked to students and listening to those tough questions that they have for you as well. It’s not just the questions you have for them, but they ask you some tough questions as well.

Dr. Steve Joel
They really do and we got a couple today. I mean, you know, it’s honestly about recruiting diversity in our adult ranks that came up and I shared with them, you know what our efforts are. That’s part of our strategic plan and, you know, the challenges that come with that. And then I said to every one of them in the room that you all need to be teachers. I mean, this will help us a lot in our diversity numbers. But a couple said, “Well, I’m thinking about it.” So I, you know, these are just great interactions. And you know, I know that most people really believe public education is excellent in Lincoln, and you know, but I, but I can tell you this, that gets reinforced many, many times when you start talking to the students that are going to be graduating, and each one of these kids are going to go off and do some incredible things.

Mindy Burbach
And why is I mean, you mentioned public education. Why is public education so important to not only our community, but our state and our country?

Dr. Steve Joel
Well, you know, as we say, many, many times here all means all. So every young person that makes it their way in our schools, they get the very, very best of what we have. And when a student has a high school diploma, particularly from Lincoln Public Schools, it carries a lot of weight, and it opens up a lot of doors, you know, and it used to be that you didn’t need a high school education in order to get an entry level position someplace. But that’s not the case anymore because of how society has evolved. So even more importantly, students have to, I mean, they just don’t have much chance of being successful without it. And, you know, it’s a community responsibility. I mean, you know, it goes back to Thomas Jefferson days when he said, education is the backbone of American democracy. Right? So you know, we still are and and so every community and every state has as a primary responsibility of making sure that education is well funded, and that the doors are open for every single student. And it’s changed so much over the years, right. I mean, we can look at specialized departments, we can look at, you know, new accountabilities and requirements. And, you know, at the end of the day, it’s about each student being successful.

Mindy Burbach
That’s great. And now, as promised, it’s our favorite part of the show where we have student questions. We have five student questions for you today. Some of them might be a little tough. All right. The first one is from Emerson fourth grade student from Arnold Elementary.

Emerson from Arnold
Hi, I’m Emerson. I’m in fourth grade and I go to Arnold Elementary School and I wanted to know if you’ve ever gone ice skating before.

Dr. Steve Joel
Oh, great question Emerson. So I grew up in New York where, where my dad was this big New York Ranger fan. And, you know, every winter when the ice was thick enough, we found a pond and we went out and played and I thought I was pretty good hockey player actually, was going to try for the high school hockey team decided not to. And then I tried and I when I left, graduated high school, never never ice skated again. And then about three, four years ago, I put skates on with my granddaughter’s down in the Haymarket, and I couldn’t walk for about a week. So you know, my ice skating career is over. I love ice skating, being outdoors. Lot of fun, thanks for the question.

Mindy Burbach
A lot of great things to do even in the wintertime in Nebraska. Thank you, Emerson. All right. Our next question is from Reise. He’s a fifth grade student student at Belmont.

Reise from Belmont
My name is Reise and I’m a fifth grade scholar at Belmont. My question is what challenges did you face growing up?

Dr. Steve Joel
So challenges that I faced growing up were, I was a pretty shy kid. Primarily because my, my dad had such a dominant personality. And as I look back, and and so trying to come out of that shell was probably the most difficult thing for me. Fortunately, sports was kind of my gateway. And, you know, and that opened up a lot of doors. other challenges where, you know, I recognize pretty quickly, I was really good in certain subjects, and I wasn’t so good and other subjects. And so I had to figure out how to become better in subjects that I wasn’t very good in, because I wanted to be the very first child in my extended family, not just my immediate family to go to college. And so, academics was a little bit tough for me, particularly math and science. But I excelled in language arts and history, and I became a history teacher.

Mindy Burbach
So you found a way to overcome those overcome those challenges.

Dr. Steve Joel
I found a way to covercome them.

Mindy Burbach
Thanks, Reise. Alright, our next one is from Carlos, an eighth grader at Park Middle School.

Carlos from Park
Hi, my name is Carlos. I’m in eighth grade and I go to Park Middle School and what I want to ask you is How did football help out your career in the future?

Dr. Steve Joel
So that’s a great question. Thank you. I don’t get asked that very much. I discovered football in midget leagues back in New York. I mean, that was the one thing my father let me participate in. And I absolutely love the sport, not only from the standpoint of you can go out there and, and tackle people, but from the standpoint of what a team sport, when you think about 11 people that either have to move the ball forward or move the ball or stop the ball from moving forward. It created this synergy that I couldn’t replace anywhere in my life. So, you know, I decided early on I think I was a better baseball player in high school and it was a football player. And I had more scholarship offers in baseball, but I thought when the football opportunity came, I wanted to continue with that sport, and so my best friends today are my high school football mates and my college football mates. And while we’re a whole bunch older now and of course the stories are more vivid. The end of the day is the experience of what we had working together as a team to solve issues and solve problems is something that I’ve been able to take with me throughout every step of my career.

Mindy Burbach
And football is the reason why we have you here in Nebraska now.

Dr. Steve Joel
Yep, yep. Football scholarship. Doane College, 1972 from New York, radical move. That’s a whole other interview someday but best thing that ever happened to me.

Mindy Burbach
Great. Thank you, Carlos. Alright, our next question is from Taniiya, a Belmont fifth grade student.

Taniiya from Belmont
Hi. My name is Taniiya and I’m a fifth grader and I’m from Belmont Elementary School. My question is to you since your job is so time consuming, when do you get free time and what do you do with it?

Dr. Steve Joel
I love that question. Thank you. You’re Right. This time of year, there’s not a lot of free time we’re actively engaged in, in messaging a school bond issue. But what I like to do in free time, I’ll just give you my Saturday, Saturday mornings on my best day. I wake up typically early. I read the paper, I’m not rushed to get to work or a couple of cups of coffee, I go to the gym for about an hour and a half. Come back, you know, my wife and I always create this little list of things we want to accomplish on weekends, try to get through those as quickly as possible. I like to watch sports on TV. I’ve got about three books that I’m halfway through that one of these days I’m going to finish. So I spent a lot of time my grandkids when I can, in fact, this weekend, you know, I’m going to get some grandkid time. So I am able to say that while it’s not entirely balanced, I do make sure that I step away from the job enough that I enjoy what my family life offers, but also the things that I like to do personally

Mindy Burbach
Important to find that balance. Thanks Taniiya. All right, our last question is Omar, a fifth grade scholar from Belmont Elementary?

Omar from Belmont
Hi. My name is Omar and I’m a fifth grade scholar at Belmont. My question is, what’s the hardest part of your job and why?

Dr. Steve Joel
Omar, that is a really, really good question. You know, I love the work that I do. So I would say that on any given day, there’s one or two challenges that I have to try to meet and overcome, that. I might have said, boy, I really wasn’t ready for that one today. You know, it could be could be the calling of a snow day it could be, you know, could be an angry patron. That’s, that’s having a bad experience with Lincoln public schools. Those are hard. But I am so fortunate with what I’m doing. But I can honestly say this, I have never gotten up in the morning not wanting to come to work. In fact, sometimes over long weekends, you’re not going to want to hear this as a student. I really wish we had school because I get a little bit bored at home. So I love the work that I do. But the tough things that I have to do is when I have to say No to people, or I can’t give somebody you know the solution or the answer that they’re hoping for and you know, that happens pretty frequently.

Mindy Burbach
Well, thank you for your time today and answering these student questions. We appreciate it. And thank you for joining us. We’ll see you again in a couple of weeks.

Jason Keese
Be sure to check out the next episode of Superintendent Spotlight on Wednesday, February 12.

Brian Fitzgerald
And if you’re following us on Facebook, that might pop right up on your phone saying hey, we’re live so stop whatever you’re doing, tell your boss you’re busy and catch Superintendent Live. If there’s anything you’ve heard today, you’d like to learn more about, there’s links to everything along with links to our full calendars on our podcast page at lps.org/podcast, of course, a lot of those stories that Jason talked about earlier right up at LPS.org. If you want to subscribe and get notified each week when we put up a new episode, you can find us on whatever your favorite podcast service is. If we’re missing, let us know and we’ll get it up there too. Otherwise, you can find links to that lps.org/podcast. That’s all the time we have for today.

Thank you for joining us right here at stories from Lincoln Public Schools.