- Hey everybody, I'm Connor.
That's Doug. And this is the Bethel
School District Presents podcast.
And boy, howdy. Do we have a great show for you?
This week Doug headed over to Evergreen Elementary
for a conversation with principal extraordinaire
Lisa Whitmeyer.
They sat down and talked about renovating schools,
how Evergreen was denied the chance to repeat
as a blue ribbon school,
even though their academics continue to be off the charts.
But before we get to that, Doug,
I've got an incredibly important question for you.
- From your tone, I can sense it's importance, Connor,
and my response, my answer will be snarky
and half thought out. Perfect.
- Wouldn't expect anything else from you, Doug.
Question is, in some wild alternate universe,
you are granted your very own late night talk show.
Who do you invite as your first guest and why?
- , first off, I love hearing the silent H's in just
about every word you said.
Who and why and Whitmeyer. .
It's really a delight working with you today.
I don't know what an espresso pod you picked this morning,
but use that one more frequently.
It's fantastic. Back to the topic at hand.
I have a late night talk show.
Who do I have a lot
of thoughts going through my head right now?
One, the first guest has to be a good one, right?
Because I'm gonna need to get audience up so I can,
they can get excited and I can keep my show going.
Do I need to take that into account? No.
- . - Okay. That takes a lot of pressure off them.
. So who is, the question is basically,
who's a famous person I'd like to talk to?
Yes. That narrows it down, doesn't it?
So I have just done a Google search for famous people
and just to give our audience some ideas
before I get there, Barack Obama, Taylor Swift, Beyonce,
Leonardo DiCaprio, Johnny Depp, Kim Kardashian, will Smith,
Jim Carrey, and Miley Cyrus are the top nine.
Uh, the top 10 makes it Michelle Obama.
So two Obama's, I'm gonna pick none of them.
In fact, my pick is gonna be none other than the great Chris
Pratt and I want him to show up in character
as Andy from Parks and Rec.
He would be a blast to talk to. I would love watching him.
He's always very funny and I think
it'd be a great conversation.
- Not bad. I would watch that.
- Well, I appreciate your viewership
and hopefully sponsorship of my late night talk show.
Connor, how about you? You're given the gift of Gab on TV
around the 1130 hour.
Who are you drinking coffee with on a
late night talk show set? Hmm?
- Which celebrity do I choose? Do I go with Rock?
The Dwayne Johnson? Do I go with Ryan,
the Baby Goose Gosling?
No, I'm gonna go with a lower rung celebrity
who I think would've great stories.
Great Rock on tour one. Mr.
Jason Schwartzman, drummer for the two thousands Rock Group.
Phantom Planet nephew of one, Mr.
Nicholas Cage, grandson of Francis Ford Coppola
and one Max Fisher from the 1998 Sleeper Hit
- Rushmore.
First of all, for our listeners, Connor just pulled all
that information right out of his head.
He apparently has an ancestry.com set
up for the Schwartzman's. I have
- To admit, I am a Schwartz
- Maniac and also his better role rather than Rushmore is
the Darjeeling Limited where he plays Jack.
I also loved him in Moonrise Kingdom
and really, he is a fantastic actor,
but he can be on your show.
I'm gonna stick with whoever
that guy was that I picked. ,
- You've already forgot, haven't
- You?
I have, and it doesn't matter anyway,
because speaking of interviews, today, I'm talking
with someone I've interviewed a number
of times over the past 10 years.
Lisa Whitmeyer is principal at Evergreen Elementary School.
Lisa, you've been in Beth Wet least as long as I have.
I'm not sure. Possibly even longer.
When I first met you, you were a
teacher on special assignment.
Now your principal at Evergreen.
To get us started, talk about what inspired you
to become a teacher in the first place. Well,
- You are correct, Doug.
I have been in Bethel a long time.
In fact, I've been in Bethel for 24 years.
And honestly I wasn't sure I wanted to become a teacher
after my university theory classes.
But after just one spring practicum at Graham
Elementary, I was hooked.
I was able to teach students
and see them get excited about learning.
I was lucky enough to work on a team that worked as APLC
before that was even a thing.
We used student data and planned all our lessons together
to help reach every student.
To top it off, I got invited
to their fifth grade outdoor education
that year at Camp SBUs and I got to connect with families
and really have that community feeling of
how it takes everyone to make a great school program.
And that kind of cinch the deal
and I've been in Bethel ever since.
- That's fantastic. So how long were you teaching
before you became a tosa?
- Gosh, I did my practicum back in 1997.
I started teaching in 1998.
I was in the classroom for 17 years.
Then I was a tosa, an AA and AP and now principal.
- Oh my gosh, that's amazing.
When I first met you
and we did a video about toss,
which are teachers on special assignment,
it was eight years ago, I I looked at it just today we focus
on how ts help young teachers become seasoned educators.
I'm sure that's definitely part
of your job now as principal.
And I really wanna dig in to that
and everything that goes into the role of being a principal.
Principals aren't the villains in
John Hughes movies anymore.
And not only focused on your teachers
and staff, you're working with
students, you're working with parents.
I imagine you're the go-to person when something
goes wrong in the building.
So tell me about your job as principal.
Is it as challenging and rewarding
as I'm painting a picture of right now?
- Yes. Being a principal is actually immensely rewarding
and challenging more so than I had ever imagined.
Of course, there's those tricky situations
with students and adults.
Um, but I always try and approach them with an air
of gratitude as it's an honor for me to be in a position
to help find a positive solution to those situations.
My first step is just to make a connection
with the individual and try
and see things from their perspective
so we can find common ground and,
and work through to find a solution together.
I do have to wear many hats on a daily basis.
I create and maintain systems
and schedules of operation for safety and effectiveness.
I spend time with students, I support staff,
engage in family communications and connections
and work through budgeting.
I work with committees, create professional development,
fulfilled district responsibilities,
but now I also get to work on the modernization
of our school and this new construction project,
which is super exciting.
I will say the best part of my job though, is working
with students and teachers on classroom practice.
I love being an instructional leader.
That was part of my job as a tossa.
Um, and empowering students in the classroom is really
where my passion lies.
I don't think you can ever really take the teacher out of me
when teachers are willing to seek new learning
and receive feedback for the sake of student engagement
and growth and achievement.
It's, it's just an incredible thing to witness.
So I feel like as a principal,
like my student body has grown to now adults and students,
and this is what education is all about.
Like we talk about we want our students
to be lifelong learners
and as a teacher, as a principal,
you are definitely a lifelong learner.
It's kind of what it's all about.
And what makes Evergreen such a great place?
- Well, evergreen Elementary is a great place,
a very special school for our district in 2018.
In fact, evergreen was named a National Blue Ribbon School.
I have it on good authority that you all aren't resting on
your laurels here and you haven't let the academic slide,
in fact, word round the water cooler is you would've gotten
the award again this year if there wasn't a rule in place
for stopping schools from winning it
year after year after year.
So tell us about
how Evergreen is still excelling academically.
- Yeah, this is a huge honor
and Evergreen did earn, uh,
the National Blue Ribbon School in 2018.
We were contacted again
by the nominating committee last year
and asked to be a part of that campaign.
However, the requirement for time lapse between
when you're awarded and can be awarded a second or third
or fourth time had not yet passed.
So then we were deemed ineligible. We are excelling.
And I think that that is due in part to the teachers
and families that are dedicated to our students.
Like we're a real community here.
We're the center of the neighborhood, the hub, so to speak.
Our student achievement so far is looking really great this
year and looking at our fall benchmark data,
our grade levels, all grade levels are making between 61
and 88% accelerated growth in reading.
And between 69
and 84% accelerated growth in math,
which is, it's phenomenal.
Our teams are working really, really hard to make sure
that students are, each student is successful
and they're really making sure that
we drill down to the individual.
- Absolutely. And we both know
that if kids aren't in school, they can't learn.
And that's one thing that you all touted on a recent
visit from OSPI.
We'll actually talk about that in just a few minutes.
But one of the things that you brought up during
that was your attendance record here at Evergreen.
Something special's going on here. Yeah.
- When we first came back from c,
our attendance was very poor.
Part of it was due to the mandated qua, you know,
isolations due to exposure.
However, attendance was regularly around 70%
and our goal is 90% or better.
So we, um, started some attendance campaigns.
We have class and grade level competitions.
We have attendance achievement bracelets, announcements
with facts about attendance so we can educate our families
and students and postcards that go home
to individual students to let them know where they are in,
uh, relationship to the attendance goal.
As a result for the 20 22 20 23 school year,
we had 354 out of 550 students,
or 65% at over 90% attendance.
We had 27% between 80 and 90% attendance,
and only 8% was below 80%.
And we also have some check-in checkout programs
with our social worker, Chelsea Rambo, for those students
that are still struggling with attendance.
And we had really good success last year where eight
of our students went from below 80%
to achieving the school goal just
from that individual attention.
- That's fantastic. We both know there are many reasons kids
could be missing school, some of them family related,
but even just missing two days
of school a month is a big deal.
- Missing two days a month is a big deal.
Again, our goal is 90% attendance,
which would be missing less than two school days a month.
Research shows that students that have 90% attendance have a
higher graduation rate than even those
that meet standard on the SBA in eighth grade.
So just being here, making those social connections
and being present for the learning has an enormous impact.
- Wow. Yeah, that's, that's a great statistic.
And if you miss two days a month for the whole school year,
you missed 10% of the school year.
It's, it's a shocking number.
And because two days a month doesn't seem like that much,
but it really does add up.
Your school recently hosted a very large group of visitors.
I was part of it, including the Washington Association
of Maintenance and Operation Administrators, the Office
of Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Association
for Learning Environments, the American Institute
of Architects, as well as district and other school staff.
They toured the new Natches Trail Elementary
before coming over here to Evergreen here at Evergreen,
you received $12 million in state funding assistance
for the upcoming expansion project
that you referenced earlier.
And before we go find farther, we need
to send a big thank you to our voters for approving
and funding this project as part
of the 2019 School Construction Bond.
This is a really exciting time for your staff and students.
And students actually got
to speak up about the upcoming expansion to that group.
They did it via video in your words,
so they don't miss any time in class.
Going back to that being in class is so important piece.
I love that. What are some of the things
that kids brought up and what are you
and your staff most looking
forward to with the new building?
- Oh my gosh. This is indeed an exciting opportunity
and we are incredibly grateful for the funding
behind this project, both from our local
voters and from the state.
Our students did an excellent job of articulating concerns
that they generated all on their own
and that also echoed the same concerns of the staff.
Some of the things they brought up were the fact
that our current health room is very small
and only capable of hosting one student at a time.
Our kitchen serves more than 400 breakfasts
and 550 lunches every day.
And it's about the size of my modest kitchen in my own home.
Oh, no. Uh, we do not have a cafeteria.
So to allow our students to eat breakfast
and those in the portable classrooms
to eat lunches without carrying them back
and forth in the weather, uh, we split the gym in half,
which means we only have half a gym for the entire day.
Additionally, our 1970s bathrooms can really use an update,
as I'm sure you can imagine.
And our library is open concept, which looks cool,
but with it being in the center of the school,
it's not really a relaxing, quiet place
for reading and study.
And so all of those things are real issues.
Uh, we also have right at school, before and
after school childcare, several
after school clubs, family engagement nights, girl Scouts,
Bethel Rec sports, and our super PTA has lots of events,
but all of these, um, organizations compete
for time and space.
So thankfully all these issues will be addressed
and remedied in the new construction project.
Classrooms and facilities will be modernized.
We'll have a new wing of classrooms to replace portables.
Our kitchen will be expanded
and we'll have a brand new commons to serve as a cafeteria,
uh, meeting space and another community meeting area.
- It is gonna be a fantastic upgrade.
I'm glad you brought up the community spaces.
We're a school first, but you said earlier this is the
hub of the community.
I know during the presentation you mentioned there's yoga
classes that meet here.
How important is evergreen after hours to the community? You
- Know, we are at the center of our neighborhood
and we do really important work here before
and after school.
So we are really looking forward to a building
that looks important
and is worthy of hosting all of these amazing students,
families, and programs
because we really do want to, uh, foster positive growth
and development all day long for as long as we possibly can.
- I really love that. I love your passion for your students
and for the community here.
I love that it's a community hub.
At the beginning of the show, Connor
and I talked about having our own late night talk shows
and who we would invite as our first guest.
So who would you invite if you had a talk show
that you would wanna sit down and chat with?
- Interestingly enough, I would not invite a pop
culture celebrity.
The first person that comes to mind is
actually Ernest Shackleton.
I read a nonfiction, uh, novel
with my first sixth grade class about his epic journey
called the Shipwreck at the bottom of the world.
For those of you that don't know, Shackleton was an Irish
explorer who led a crew in a race to be the first team
to sail to and traverse the Antarctic continent.
Has ship the endurance, departed from London in 1914
and didn't return until August of 1916.
They actually lost contact
with the world a few months after departing.
Their ship was crushed by ice.
Their crew managed to escape
and live on the ice for 18 months,
take a lifeboat across the cold.
Antarctic waters land on a whaling island,
but they landed on the wrong side.
So then they had to climb a mountain range to get
to the whaling station.
And through Shackleton's leadership and optimism
and courage, his entire crew of 28 stayed together.
They stayed optimistic
and every person survived this horrific journey
of two years.
And so I would interview him
to find out about his leadership.
I know his family motto from reading the book was
by endurance we conquer.
And you know, he says things like difficulties are just
things to overcome after all.
And the world is a huge place.
How will you know where you fit
unless you explore beyond your comfort zone?
And I think those are all things that
as a leader in education, I need to keep in mind
and keep at the center of everything I do.
So I would be a little bit of a nerd
and I would interview a historical figure.
- I absolutely love that answer.
And no one, it sounds like deserves a hot cup
of coffee on a late night set.
more than Ernest Shackleton. Very good answer.
Lisa Whitmeyer, thank you so much for joining us today.
- Thanks for having me, Doug. I really appreciate it.
This has been fun.
- Wow. Ernest Shackleton, that's a great pick
and a historical figure.
You know, Doug, no issue do next week.
Let's talk about which historical figure we would have
dinner with if we could.
- Connor Weed did that, like in episode 52
- We did.
Are we running out of ideas?
- We've been running out of ideas since episode one.
- Okay. Well tune in next week. We'll wing it, I guess.