Superintendent Newsletter

Dear Lansing School District Community,

As always, it is a pleasure to write to you all. I hope that you look forward to these Monday morning newsletters as much as I do. I love reading about the great work of our district and the specific wonderful work of the individuals that we highlight. Recognition of the amazing work we are all doing is paramount to continuing with our effort to make this a better school district for everyone.

Education can be a lonely profession. When you are a teacher, you shut your door and spend almost all of your day alone with students, not having much time to interact with your peers. When you are a principal, you spend virtually all your day with the folks that you supervise, rarely having time to talk to other school leaders. And well, when you are the superintendent, sometimes you are alone in your office at 8:30 pm on a Tuesday, with the sun having set hours earlier, the custodian already out of the building, and the only sound you hear is the faint hum of a 100-year-old former elementary school singing itself to sleep.

Everyone in the education community, teachers and aides, paras and principals, are here to help children. We also have to recognize that each employee is a person, in need of support, grace, love, and kindness. And that is why highlighting people each week is so important. But so is just saying thank you to folks, supporting our educators, and acknowledging our community every week.

But, we always need to focus on why we are in the jobs we are in. We all need to be held accountable for the outcomes and not just the inputs. Often, we talk about the efforts of people. That is incredibly important. Hard work, determination, and spending time with our students and staff are critical to moving a district forward. However, if all we do is "work hard" but not move the needle of student learning, what is the point? If we are up until all hours of the night, but our math scores regress, what is the point? If we are still teaching Chapter 1 in the middle of October, no matter how well we are teaching Chapter 1, what is the point? We are not moving the needle.

Thus, we need to celebrate our outcomes. We need to focus on specific gains. So, I ask the entire community, let's shift our focus from the inputs and more toward the outputs. If you see a teacher, thank them for moving your child's reading levels. If you see a principal, thank them for increasing the attendance rate or graduation rate. If you see a custodian, thank them for cleaning the floor (that is a specific, direct outcome). Rather than focus on how hard they mopped or how long they swept, let's talk about the outcome of a shiny floor or a clean bathroom. The more we as an entire Lansing School District community think about outcomes, the more we will focus on what we need to do to move our district forward.

And as a parent, please feel free to ask about our outcomes. Sometimes the reason why we praise the effort is that we don't know the outcomes. We don't know that your student has raised their math comprehension or that the school's attendance is over 90% for the first time, or that the school's graduation rate is higher than it has been in decades. The more we all know about the great outcomes, the more we can praise the work. And this goes for the work of students as well. Ask your children how they are doing, what they are learning, and what grades and test scores they are receiving.

Let us all focus on the outputs. For it is the outputs that show real understanding.

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

On October 3, 2023, Lansing School District Adult Education students visited Alro Steel on Willow Street in Lansing. Students enjoyed engaging with Alro employees from the Sales and CAD Corporate offices. They also got to join local employees on a tour of the steel-cutting floor, where they witnessed laser cutting and learned about various manufacturing processes.

This visit occurred as part of the annual Capital Area Manufacturing Council Manufacturing Week which enables students from the mid-Michigan area to visit manufacturing businesses to better understand the processes and opportunities available in the manufacturing community.

"Mr. Reed is always very helpful with my children and I know that I can trust and count on him if I ever needed help with anything. It’s a comforting feeling to have someone who is dedicated to their school and the people in it like he is and if you were to ask the kids who their favorite teacher is it would probably be Mr. Reed.”

Joshua Reed has worked for Post Oak Academy for the last six years, but has over 20 years of experience with the Lansing School District as a student, parent, volunteer, lunch aide, and paraprofessional! A day at the school with Mr. Reed involves countless conversations with kids, helping with school work, playing and interacting with kids on the playground, helping staff, and making sure that whatever the community needs gets done. He runs the Safety Patrol Program at Post Oak and takes the 7th and 8th graders to Joe’s Kids Football game at MSU every year.

Mr. Reed has three daughters; Addison who is currently in 5th grade at Post Oak Academy, Avery also attended Post Oak and now attends Eastern High School, and his oldest daughter Alora went to both Post Oak and Eastern and is now a Junior at MSU. Mr. Reed and his wife Karie chose the Lansing school district for its diversity, educational opportunities, and strong sense of community. All of their children are or have been a part of the International Baccalaureate and Chinese Immersion program which provides its students with excellent opportunities.

Outside of school, you can find Mr. Reed spending time with his lovely family and his trusty dog Dusty. They enjoy spending time with friends, going up north, traveling, playing games, watching movies, and being in nature. Every year he volunteers for the Lansing Parks and Rec as a coach for both soccer seasons. Mr. Reed is a Detroit sports fanatic and has been a proud Spartan all of his life. He has a passion for music, sports, good conversation, and helping others. You will often hear him telling the students how glad is he that they are at school, to follow “The Golden Rule” and to make sure they have “a passion, a purpose, and a plan."

The Willow@Riddle staff appreciates you Mr. Farr!

This summer was a time of transition for the learning communities at Riddle and Willow. In preparation for the demolition and rebuild of Willow, staff and students were relocated to Riddle for the 2023-24 school year. Mr. Jake Michael Farr went above and beyond helping staff prepare the building for students to arrive and begin the new year in a new school as we brought two learning communities together.

Mr. Farr gave up his weekends and spent well over eight hours on many of those days making Willow@Riddle a welcoming learning environment for our students but his dedication to students didn't end once the transition was complete. Once school began, he returned to assist Kindergarten and first-grade classes as they embarked on the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) journey for the very first time.

We look forward to watching him as he continues to foster relationships with students through his work with the Midwest Initiative focusing on healthy eating habits and choices! Thanks for all you do for Willow - and Riddle - Mr. Farr — we appreciate you!

The Student Development program is hitting the road from October 11 - 27 while the Don Johnson Fieldhouse receives anticipated renovations. Locations are as follows:

Basketball | Pattengill | M-Th | 3-6 p.m.

Conditioning Games | Pattengill | M-Th | 3-6 p.m.

Speed and Movement | Pattengill | M & Th | 3-6 p.m.

Stretching/Recovery/Yoga | Pattengill | Th | 3-6 p.m.

Soccer | Gardner | M-Th | 2:30-4:30 p.m.

As always, students participating in these FREE programs will receive dinner and a snack!

Please continue to sign up for your sessions using Appointy.