Dear Lansing School District Community,

I hope this newsletter finds you well. As always, it is a pleasure to be writing to you all. As I type this newsletter, 23 students are currently finishing a weekend-long intensive math program at Ebersole Environmental Education Center. These wonderful high school learners are part of a new pilot program to create fun, engaging, standards-aligned, project-based educational experiences that will lead toward class credit and knowledge attainment.

By providing these students with different types of learning opportunities, yet ones that are still rigorous and high-level, we are hoping to set a new course of success, not just for these young adults but for our district as a whole. Last week, I wrote that we have been underserving our students for a long time. But just acknowledging this poor performance is not nearly enough. If we continue to do the same work, with the same lessons and the same instruction, we will only continue to get the same results. We, as a district, need to change how we teach, what we teach, and even sometimes where we teach. It is up to us as pedagogues to think creatively to address the student's needs as much as it is up to the students to do the work.

When a student fails English two years in a row, we can blame the student for not doing what was asked. But that blaming is probably not going to get that student to pass on the third go-around. Rather than put the onus solely on the student, we as the educators need to think differently. If we truly want students to succeed, if we are really putting students first, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results seems patently mistaken. The Lansing School District has wonderful educators, teachers, principals, and paraprofessionals; people who care deeply about student learning and success, but if we continue to do what we have always done, we are not going to change our trajectory.

Though this first-weekend program is small, with only 23 students, it is our hope that it leads to a paradigm shift in learning. Let us be inventive together. Let us, as a community of learners think creatively around how to best serve our students. And as we continue to iterate around better ways to support our students, I hope I can count on all of you to take this path with us.

If anyone wants to volunteer for mentoring programs, tutoring programs, or even come to Ebersole to help with math instruction, please don't hesitate to contact me directly. The only way we are going to turn this ship around is with a deep dive into how we are educating our students, but also with extra community support and engagement.

Thank you so much for all of your incredible support of our district. Together, we will do great things for the children of Lansing.

Benjamin Shuldiner, Superintendent

Lansing School District

As teachers, we don't only appreciate, but need certain students who demonstrate good leadership by how they behave and participate in learning. At Dwight Rich School of the Arts, this week's featured student Fatema Alhussaini is one of these "anchor students." She helps to keep everyone anchored in what is important while at school - teaching and learning.

Fatema is an incredibly motivated student who wants to excel — even going so far as to ask how she can skip to the next grade! She is quadrilingual, speaking Farsi, Arabic, and French in addition to English — a testament to her enviable attention and hunger to learn. Her engagement in her education and her advocacy to learn is a model for her peers to follow. They are studying the Middle East in her 7th grade social studies class right now, and she will be able to help teach some finer details to her class as well as her teacher.

Fatema's siblings also attend Dwight Rich, and she can often be found taking care of them before and after school. Fatema has a bright personality with a creative heart and is kind to her friends, other students, and anyone else she meets.

Between her dedication to education and her warm demeanor, it should come as no surprise that Fatema is well-liked by her peers and Dwight Rich staff alike. She is a wonderful addition to both the classroom and the school.

Alexis Creekmur has been Kendon's Speech and Language Pathologist for the past four years. During that time, her positive and enthusiastic demeanor has made her an anchor in our school community.

Her interactive, innovative, and lively lessons inspire her students to work to achieve their speech and language goals. Alexis has helped to support the transition of numerous students from early childhood to kindergarten.

Her caring nature extends far beyond the students on her caseload. She is remarkable in the ways she finds to support our Kendon families. Alexis eagerly participates in school activities. A true team player, she is an invaluable member of our Kendon family.

Click here to see the full topic list and to register.

The full PCAC calendar can be found on our website at www.lansingschools.net/pcac

For the full board of education calendar, click here.