School Connect | Love Our Schools

Join Love Fort Wayne CEO, Geoff King, as he interviews Franklin Kline, Carrie Kennedy, and Kelli Packnett, three amazing individuals who are dedicated to making our schools better. Franklin Kline is the Principal at Abbett Elementary, Carrie Kennedy is the Principal at Levan Scott Elementary, and Kelli Packnett is the Early Childhood Development Director at Bridge of Grace Compassionate Ministries Center. Together, they will share their experiences and ideas on how we can love our schools and create a better learning environment for our children. We all have a role to play in supporting our schools, and this conversation will provide valuable insights on how we can make a difference in our communities. So don't miss this opportunity to learn from these passionate educators and be part of the conversation on building better schools for our future generations.

Transcript

Geoff King: 0:02

We're excited to launch season three of the love Fort Wayne podcast. The love Fort Wayne podcast connects to stories of leadership happening in northeast Indiana to imagine inspire and ignite transformation in leaders 20 to 25 minutes at a time. I'm Jeff King, CEO and Executive Director of love for way. I love Fort Wayne, we know that the pillars of a flourishing community are at schools, its leaders, churches, and families. Join us as we learn from leaders across the region, on how to not just lead but love our city. Welcome, everybody, thank you for tuning in today for another episode of the love fortwayne. Podcast. I'm excited today because I have some new friends and I consider them friends and good friends, newer friend, but it's been a little bit now we're besties we're besties at this point, with me today, Kerry Kennedy, Frank Klein, Kelly, Pat neck, and I'm gonna let them share a little bit more about themselves as we get going. But I'm glad that you're tuned in today. Basically, you're tuned in for the first time, you're getting a hint of what we like to do on our podcast, which is hear different stories from various leaders in the places that they serve in the every day. And today, we get the opportunity to have some conversation around education and the importance of leadership within our schools, but also why it's important for us to recognize in our society that teachers, principals, administrators play a huge role in leadership development, not only in our community, but but all over the world. And so you're in for a treat as we as we look to become better leaders in whatever sector that we're in. And so let's get let's dive into it. Okay. Frank, tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you, sir? Yeah,

Franklin Kline: 2:00

okay. I am currently the very proud principal of Abbott Elementary School, and I've been there six years is my 30th year in 14 community schools. And AVID is a choice place for me right now. And I think it comes from where I started my educational endeavors. Actually, my first teaching job was at Wood use center. And so that's why I really had my eyes opened up to students, you know, children who actually knew a lot, but didn't have a lot to show like, like academic credits. And so I had the opportunity to work with the GED program I was there, we had good graduation rates. Again, it just opened my eyes up to kids are learning. They may not have paperwork to show it. But they do learn and they're catching on to things, even when they know they're getting into some trouble or missing some school. So just from there, and I had the opportunity teach middle school, which was fantastic. And I jumped into ministration. And a part I love about administration is it has a multiplier effect to it. So when I am able to help my teachers learn, then my teachers are helping 25 Other children learn. And so that's a part I've really enjoyed in the last 16 years being a school principal.

Geoff King: 3:07

Love that. Thank you for sharing. And we're gonna dive into that a little bit more about your story and where you're continuing to see things change in our community and your influence in your school. So I'm gonna pass it to you, Carrie. And tell us a little bit about yourself.

Carrie Kennedy: 3:21

All right, my name is Carrie Kennedy, and I'm the principal at Lavon. Scott Academy. I think this is my 29th year in education, I'm not really sure. But I think that's a good thing. Because that just shows that I love my job. I'm not trying to count how long I've been in it, or how long I have to be in it. I just am enjoying every day. And this is my third year, my third year at Lavon. Scott, I was at another school in Fort Wayne prior as a principal. So I think it's my 14th year as a principal. And I just always have had an interest even growing up in people that were different from me or, or came from a different background. I just wanted to learn so much about them. And I always thought I was intrigued by all the obstacles that some people overcome. Even now I look at some of our students and think, Wow, this is your everyday life. But look at you like you're thriving, you are doing more than I've ever done, I think in my whole life and you're, you know, you come to school ready to go. And I love seeing that. So I've just really enjoy this new position that I have at LeMans Scott and love seeing all the growth because it's a whole person growth, you know, the students that come and are just looking at you with I don't I don't know what I don't know what you want from me. I don't know what you're saying to me. And then to watch them grow and learn the language. And it's not all the it's not all students who have a language barrier, but they have some sort of barrier and so to see them come and I've seen just In the three years I've been there, students coming, they're happy, they're smiling, they want to be at school. And so that makes me really proud of of what's being built there.

Geoff King: 5:10

I love it. You guys both have great students and great faculty and team at your school. And I've had the privilege of being at both of your schools, and more recently, and in years past. So I'm grateful to have you today. Thanks for sharing a little bit more about yourself. I'm gonna turn to my friend Kelly packnet. Because you love schools, and you love kiddos, and you love education? And can you just share a little bit about yourself and what you're up to now and even some history as it pertains to education? Yeah, so

Kelli Packnett: 5:38

I was 15 years in the inner city, being a teacher, and did my career at Lavon. Scott, where Carrie works, and I was the I was third grade there and then moved into the instructional coach, and I kind of got to pull out and see that multiple multiplier effect a little bit where you see things in a different way, a bigger, a bigger viewpoint. And I think it made me really passionate about being able to step away from the school, but at the same time, maybe bring more people into the school. So I currently work at bridge of grace, which is across the street from Lavon Scott, so that ties just never gone anywhere. And less than a mile from Abbott Elementary, which is so excited to be in. And so when the opportunity came for love Fort Wayne to have love our schools and join with something called school Connect, which I'm sure we'll talk about later, I just kind of jumped in with both feet, and both hands and everything. And I have tried to connect everybody that I know to it, because I think the true statement of every school needs a village. It's really hard. Yeah, I left after 15 years in the inner city, completely drained. And I didn't know what I was going to do next and shocked I ever left. But God has something for everybody. And now I kind of get why I had to leave. But I don't want those teachers to feel that way. I want them to feel fulfilled. And like the barriers that they have to support their children to be academically sound, are out of the way so that they can do what they came to school to do every day. So I'm so excited that Frank and Carrie have jumped in as well. But both be I think. And yeah, just really excited with what the future is gonna hold for our teachers. Yeah. All right. Administrators are our children and our parents.

Geoff King: 7:34

Yeah, as a whole. I love that last part. It's, there's an excitement all around when it comes to thinking about what it would be like if our community which is so giving here in Fort Wayne, if you're listening and you're not here, it's so giving us a giving community, what it would look like if people were to link arms and say we do care about schools, the way that you care about this particular school. Let's get behind the principal, the staff, the team, they're based on what they see and what they need to really love this school together. So I do get excited about seeing the whole school flourish, when we can do that in our community. And so let's dive into it a little bit more as folks have heard your backgrounds and your histories. And I'm looking at you too, because you've both served decades within the schools. And I love that. And I've got some close friends that have been teachers that have transitioned from teaching, I have a friend that most recently moved from the classroom to the Administrative Office, which I love. I'm proud of him. And I look at you all in your steadfastness in it and say, why education, first of all, you know, 30 years ago, and now also what made you pursue being an administrator as a principal, you know, as a part of your journey.

Unknown: 8:52

Okay, I'll go well, I think education My mom was a teacher. And so I just, I've always enjoyed being around kids, I'm from a larger family. So, you know, taking care of the little kids was fun playing school with them grading my mom's papers, just being a part of that I just always enjoyed I love learning. So that always helps. Right? And I feel like also through my, you know, through growing up, my parents kind of always pushed us or, or, you know, empowered us to be leaders, you know, go be on this team be on this committee. Take part. Yeah, you want to try and be in charge of it, do it, try it. And I feel like that push helped me see, like, I can do what I want to do. And I want to give that same power to some of our kids because I can see it in them. They love being helpers. They want jobs in the school. Like if we had more hours, I'm sure I could find jobs for all these kids. And I you know, a lot of them I'll say like, you can't be the teacher today, but I want to hire you so that they know they have a future and they can be in charge and I don't think like, I mean, probably my family would say I'm a little bossy, but I don't look at it that way. I just like, you know, I like things to be consistent for people and an orderly and I feel like that students feed off that a lot. And I feel like that's kind of one of my strengths is making sure we keep things consistent. And in order. And, you know, I want citizens who follow rules and do the right thing and do things to make the world a better place. And so that's kind of just my overall, it's not all about just reading and writing, it's about the whole person and making sure we're raising good people.

Geoff King: 10:41

I love that I love that there's a purpose behind the the reason why you started to do what you've been doing, and why you continue to do it. I love that about you, Frank,

Unknown: 10:50

when I grew up, I want to be carry. Until then, I was at, I come from a family of five boys. And we're very diverse in where we went with our lives. And one of the things that, that I was always that kid that until I was about 15, or 16, and said on the report card is not reaching potential. And so my youngest brother is autistic. And so somewhere in my teenage years, fortunately for me, my mother got me involved in working with Special Olympics, a little bit of dunes, volunteering, and I just kind of got a bug and it's like, you know, what I like working with people and, and doing that. So, unfortunately, because I was the kid that had more potential didn't quite make a grade wise, I needed to take a vacation and join the army for a while and get some college money together. And that's where I did leadership side started to develop for me a little bit because, you know, as you do a job, and you're like, you know, I'm pretty smart guy, I think I could figure some of this out, I'd really like to do this job. And so working toward promotions, and, and I had the opportunity to go to some leadership, schools when I was in the military. So when I got out and went to college, I was able to put the two together. Because, you know, Army leadership is not that much different than educational leadership. It's not all about I say, and you do, it's really about how do you nuance your, the situation you're in? How do you get people to do things that they may not actually want to do, and then to get them to really want to do it naturally. And part of that is, you know, I feel no job is beneath me, you know, in my building, if I gotta grab a broom, sweep the floor, I sweep the floor. If I'm covering a class, I cover class, I watch lunch, I watch lunch, whatever it is, or if I go drive to my home, I drive them home. And I think through that, I think staff members see that. And I think they see that, you know, okay, Frank's willing to do that, I can step in do that, too. So that's part of how my leadership thought works. And the other pieces, I really like taking care of people and I'm really trying to shift myself right now from, you know, I still want to take care of students and I love what Carrie is talking about building children more than just reading and writing, you know, building the whole person. But again, I'm trying to transition that right now in the building my adults, because I have a lot of very young teachers in my building. We are, by the time October rolls around, we've had 11 Children added to the family of elementary Wow. And so a lot of teachers have I believe, but because of that, I feel it's my responsibility to help develop their leadership and to develop them and again, going back to that multiplayer piece. Someday, someone's gonna need to sit in my chair. I would love for it to be someone who has as much love for a school like Harry's, you'd like mine to sit in that chair and not just someone that's that's using my the principalship that I will leave vacant to get that next promotion somewhere else. You really have to be in love with the community Iran in order to village Cerdan schools like ours.

Geoff King: 13:58

Yeah, you know, what I love and I've picked up from both of your stories which are unique in their own is that you know people drive the purpose of what you are doing, why you've decided to do it and why you continue to do it and as a whole person and as developing in equipping emerging leaders and emerging teachers and are seeing the little people in my school building and saying yeah, if I had more jobs because of who you are and how much pride you take in it, I will give you more and encouraging them that they can be whatever they want to be and so the people have have driven your purpose and also caught like it was someone some person in your in your history that's a part of your life. It's a mother is your your brother that said This is driving me towards this passion where and I love that as a part of your story. And I think for for us a lot of us that haven't served in education, which is just me around. Here is I think I can be a Um, absent minded of how much people purpose draws an educator to do it, he or she does. And I think that's really good for all of our folks that are listening, you know, as a father of kids that are in school, and many of our listeners might be parents of kids, teenagers all the way down to little ones that are in school, just to remember that this is the heart of the majority of the men and women that are serving your students. And so to think twice, about how we engage with them, and with you all, when there's moments of indifference or lack of understanding, to say that these are people who the majority of them have a purpose, which are people, your little person, when they're when they're serving them. So thank you for sharing that portion. It kind of ties into I'm going to ask you this first, Kelly, because I believe you will have some insight into this. This is my perspective, you all it's about as we think about leadership and influential impacts in our communities. It's right, that a lot of the times we think of a C suite leader or a leader of a corporation or a nonprofit or speaker, someone in a pulpit a pastor like That's right. And I think that's right, we think of those folks, as leaders that are doing things at the C suite level or the ground levels. And we overlook the leadership that is happening in our schools. And it's an unfortunate thing. But what I was reflecting on, and I'll ask the question after this was, for me, some my first influential leader was a teacher. Like I can go back and think about Miss Salerno. I can think about Mrs. Katina, my fifth grade teacher, like I can think about Miss Thompson, my fourth grade that was in the money, third, fourth and fifth grade. I think about I think about them, they were they were just really good leaders, there are some high school men that were coaches and teachers that that led us well. Why do you think, perhaps society we look past educators, teachers, school administrators, as leaders, but also, how important is it to see those folks as leaders within our community? What do you think?

Unknown: 17:11

Yeah, that's a hard question to know. Why are why we don't see it. Because if we really have this conversation, right, if everybody listening sat down, and we asked them, Who was the first influential leader, you might have some parents, but I'd be interested to know how many of them was a was a teacher, especially if you did the top three. Right? Yeah. And for me, as well, right, I had fantastic teachers, that, that were really influential and saw something in my little introverted self that was a teacher. And that is why I started doing what I'm doing. Right. And so I think we, it's a shame that we don't see that. I think it's the same way in a lot of careers, anywhere that you're taking care of people, you know, they're we're not reimbursed the way that others are reimbursed often, and it's a hard job. So I would love our community to be seen as the type of community that truly loves our schools. I think when I heard that, that was one of the things I was like, Oh, yes, that's it. And we don't just love our own school, but we love all schools. So I think I just have such a challenge that I'm tired to carry animals like, it's, you know, my, my school, my kids, and I'm like, I don't really mind anywhere, this kind of mind, because I'm in this neighborhood, right? It's mine. I think that's what we want, no matter if you're at a complex school, like Abbott and Lavon. Scott, or if you are a, you know, an a different type of school, in a different kind of setting. We all want our community to see them as their kids. Yeah. Because I don't have children. Right. But it is important to me that we are raising citizens, like you said, we carry who are ready for that next generation. And so when we think about the teachers and the administrators and the schools, that even our students live on, Scott has a high schooler right now, who is like, we're tagging as the next thing, Mo, if you're listening, I'm shouting. But she is incredible. And she is really using her skills as translating and leadership skills right now. And it is so important that we tag them, but it takes leadership to do that. And so I think the more we have our leaders in our community shouting out at the rooftops that our schools are it Yeah, and it's not just our schools are great. It's our schools are great. And I'm invested with my time, which is the thing that I hear most from you guys. We want investment in our time, and our resources and our talents, but it's our time.

Geoff King: 19:39

Yeah, it's so good that I love that Kelly, and I'm excited to talk about that. A little bit more here in a second too. I want to I want to get you all take on that as again, like how influential is the leadership of, of an educator of those serving in our school systems? Is it is it important for you all to shed light on that or at least point to it

Unknown: 20:00

I I've been thinking about this as Kelly's answering in there to teachers by building I'm really thinking around right now and one. Yannick is Nina hope she gets a chance to hear this is second year teacher with me. And just absolutely fantastic, wonderful young lady who took on, because we had a vacuum into people who had organized our celebration Black History Month, going into this year, and she asked me if she could take this on. And it was a little later in January. And I'm like, Yeah, jurors, you know, and and I've learned a couple of things about leadership. One is pick the right people do job to just Galloway, they'll do the job. And so she did a fantastic job. And if you had a chance to go through my building, or you'd see the doors decorated, some we've done for years, as the door decoration, and each classroom gets to choose someone, but kind of can really help bring people into the building, who are influential. The showcase that our kids performed. The last day of February was absolutely fabulous. Anyone that came and watched it has done nothing to brag about it. And I've gotten lots of emails, and like Frankie has did a great job. Well, no, my kids did a great job. And my teacher did a great job of leaving us and the group that she was with the others, Karen Bramble, another fourth grade teacher who worked with me before. And I had the opportunity to bring her into Lincoln, or excuse me, from Lincoln to Abbott this year via a couple other stops. But what Karen has done is quietly if you know Karen, it's kind of an oxymoron there. But what she's done is within her room is build a community and she's one of these people that just kids aren't going to push her into doing what what they want her to do. And so she started out small, you know, having kids teach teaching them how to write kindness notes, it's amazing that we have children that sometimes I say, you know, how do you make this right with someone I don't know, you have to actually walk through how to do an apology, how. And so she started a small, you know, writing kindness notes, and then they were writing kindness, shout outs to each other. And now the whole classroom has kindness shirts, anytime we have an assembly, they wear their kindness shirt, as a little tribe, and they their kindness tribe shirts on. And so those are areas of leadership that that other teachers are looking at. And I don't have to say a whole lot about it. You know, sometimes I'll let other people's actions influence the actions of next person. And so you step back and probably the other the other group of ladies I'll talk about on this. Emily leave, who's one of my second grade teachers, Dr. McCord is our speech therapist and Haley shots, third grade teacher took over an organization called leaders to pack and it's a girls group that meets weekly, and they're project based and biggest project they work on is our Riley's fundraiser. And these three ladies took it over from Jamie Daniels, who had been leading it for years and some other teachers. So that part is exciting. Now I'm seeing that torch being passed. Yeah, to a younger group of teachers who are willing to pick that energy up, and, and continue to run with something that's been successful for children.

Geoff King: 23:05

Yeah, I love that. I mean, there's a couple of things that you hit, you have a young teacher who is leading, and bridging the gap in the community back into the school, but she's showing kids like this is how you lead an initiative in something that is that is important, you know, nationally into our school. And I love the principle of the influence that teaching fourth graders the importance of kindness, already. And again, we talked about influential leadership happening from educators within the schools. How many of our peers don't know kindness, or it's a hard thing for us in that kindness is a beautiful trait of humility that every leader should have. And it's hard because we're human, to be kind all the time, but to know that you there's fourth graders that are rockin kindness shirts, you know, that is she's teaching them she's leading him at that age and changing the trajectory of what they understand already. And I love that carry like, you have anything that had in regards to influential.

Unknown: 24:06

I, you know, I think about when you think going back to what you said, like a leader, I always think of like, who's in charge, who's the boss who's telling us what to do what not to do, but I don't, I think as a teacher, you know, you're just, you're doing all of that. And so going back to kind of what Kelly was alluding to, like, it's really hard to do all of that and keep yourself sane, right. So, so that's where the community is so needed, um, just because, you know, we all want the same thing. We all want these little leaders to grow up and be big leaders. But we can't give them all of that all the time by ourselves.

Geoff King: 24:44

That's right. That's right. That's right. I love that. And that's a perfect segue for us to talk a little bit about school Kinect and a little bit of time that we have left and so kill I'm gonna pass the mic to you to explain a little bit about what school Kinect is us three myself carry and Frank, we were able to go out to the school connect conference and you've been there before. And that's where I got to know them better. But can you talk about school connected? What it is the model and then some of our hopes, not with only these two schools, but perhaps more in the future?

Unknown: 25:17

Yeah. So school Connect is though, our vehicle that we're going to use through love Fort Wayne to really love I love our schools, right? It was started out in Arizona by Tracy Beale, who had a vision of how can we really create a village to support a child, we've all heard that it takes a village to raise a child. And when we think about our villages today, they're a lot smaller than they used to be. You know, we used to have grandma and grandpa and aunts and uncles and everybody around and, and even if we do have them around today, a lot of our grandmas and grandpas are working, right, they're not staying at home retiring early, and all those things. So our village just looks a lot different or PTAs, no matter what type of school you're at, looks different than it used to. And so schools need some support. And I think also we were talking about a second ago. You know, the way our community sees schools today is different than we've ever had before. And so we want to bring them in and show them that it is exactly what you use, you think of positively about a school, right? So school Connect is a set of good practices, which I love. It's not about best practice, because it can change at any time. But it's good practices of how to come around a school. So often, I didn't know this until sitting in front of Tracy, but I felt it and I just didn't have words for it. But so often well meaning people come to a school and they say I have this for you carry have this for you. Right. And that is great. But it's often not what we really need, right. So you might have a lot of notebooks or a lot of pins or a lot of something and then somebody else comes and wants to donate it. And that's wonderful. But we really needed socks and underwear or mentors or something. So what school Connect does is it creates that village through something called the cafe. And it's people who are investing in that school by saying, hey, I want to have a relationship, not just a partnership where I'm away, but we want to have a relationship. So we're going to commit to come to the table every month or every quarter. And we're going to hear from the school leadership. And they're going to tell us, these are the goals that we have for our school. And as a team, we say, Hey, this is an asset I have that I want to bring to the table to solve that problem with you. And then you come together and you make some plans, and you put some projects in place. And then you come back and you check on those measurable outcomes. Are we making gains? If not, let's change something. Let's add something. And so schools are doing things like parent engagement. How do we get parents in the school and feeling comfortable? teacher retention, this is a problem that we've never seen quite like we are today. How do we ensure teachers feel loved? To us school attendance is another one, right? So it's it's bigger problems. But we can solve by chipping away one little bit at a time.

Geoff King: 28:05

Yeah, and doing it collectively. So a huge portion of that in our community. I think we can attest to we do have organizations, people, specifically in our city in Fort Wayne churches that get connected to schools. And when we sit at that table together as a cafe as a village and go, we're not just going to give but we're going to all look at the needs assessment or the with the principal says that need is we're going to look at it together and say, You know what, I can do some of it because this is the reality. I could do some of it, but I can't do it all. And so I'm gonna have I'm going to be willing to let other people join me and I'm going to be willing to join them. Yeah.

Unknown: 28:47

It's really about linking and leveraging those resources that we have so that we're not creating silos where we're all together. We know what the arm is doing, what the leg is doing, and all the things right. Yep, that's right, that people like Carrie and Frank can impact their school in the best way that they can.

Geoff King: 29:02

Yeah, that's great. So we we were out in Phoenix back in January. And so that was nice. But we were there. And just a few things that you observed as we got an opportunity to fly in. There are other folks that flew in from different states, but we we flew in, and we saw what's happening in the Greater Phoenix Metroplex. And out in Arizona, where people in the community have said, Yeah, we love that school, but we're not going to do it on our own. We're gonna leverage ourselves our capital together. What are some things that stood out? What did you learn? What was your excitement level?

Unknown: 29:41

Um, I mean, it was just like such a high energy. I felt like we could not stop talking the whole way home. Like we might be a little pause but then we go back to it because I have this other idea. I have this other thought. Just and I think all of that came just from being around people and hearing. For me it was like I love my city. And so I want every part of my city to be what I love. I don't want it to be I love this section of the city or this. I want everybody to feel that way. And like, How can I go someplace if it's not being loved? And so I want the kids at our school to feel that same way. Like I love my neighborhood. I want to go out my neighborhood, I want to help make my neighborhoods so great that I can't wait to move back here. Yeah, yeah. And that's really, I mean, I felt like that's what you get if you create this place. That is brings you such wonderful memories. Of course, you want to come back and add to it? Yeah, that's good. So about that. Like, that's been one of my goals. Actually, some I've talked with families and kids about since I've been at Abbott is, is to go out and experience you know, and obviously, leverage your education to the point where you know, you're successful, and then bring that back to do six and bring that back to, to do a rebuild. And the other piece I what I learned from Phoenix's is how to, I think the cafe would help us avoid replication, and any of my friends who are listening to us, please be mindful, as I'm being mindful when I say, but I've got a couple 100 coats right now. Because I said yes to someone. My case manager said yes. To someone. My other case manager said yes to someone. We didn't even talk to each other. Yeah. So we only have a really a cafe in my building. And so before we know, we all said yes to coats, and then coats showed up, which is fantastic. And I love the donation, it goes but we over dinner, because people with a great heart saw neat. Yeah, all right. Yeah, I think what the cafe's gonna do is, okay, I see a need, and it's gonna allow us to redirect that need to what a real need is, you know, instead of, instead of making the assumption of what you need, let's have a conversation about what what, what is it we really can do, and how can we really impact and in the piece and carry hit on this is the relationship piece, you know, it's, I think my community, I want to transition us and it's been my goal, since I've entered a habit of not just being a receiver community of people's gifts and times, but to be a giver of gifts in times, yeah. And so to have that reciprocated back and forth. And I think as we get into love our schools, there'll be some opportunities, not just have someone come and clean up our building, have our community come in, and do work at our building. And so we can have that, as my neighbor used to say, that sweat equity involved in in the growth of the school, I think that's where that connection is going to take place for us. And that's what I'm excited about. Having school connect and using this model, to leverage everything that we have within our community.

Geoff King: 32:43

So good. gets me excited listening to you guys. So, you know, as we kind of wind down a little bit, I'm gonna give you you both have 3045 seconds, our prime you here just to and you've thought about this already, as part of this process? Like, what are some of the hopes for your schools, all your people, your faculty, your staff, your your your students, as we think about loving our schools with specifically the cafe's of school connect, and then Kelly, I want you to think about what folks that are tuning in should know about the school connect model. And so frank, I've been calling on you first, I'm gonna hear you, I'm gonna jump to you. Yes. What are some hopes for your school,

Unknown: 33:26

I mean, I just really want everyone that comes all the parents to feel comfortable, because I know whether it's your your cultural background, your socio economic background, your you know, your experiences with school or, or the neighborhood or whatever, I just want everyone to be feel comfortable, that they can share what their desires are for their child for their, for the school, and that we can work together on that. Because like I said before, I feel like sometimes we're working really hard at school. They're working really hard at home, but we're not working together. Yeah. And because we haven't met at that level. And so I just, if we can get people in. And I also want the community see how great our kids are. Yeah. Because I don't know that the media always helps us out. So I want to be our own media. You know, like, we have great kids. We have great people here and I want you to see what your future can be. So invest and have that great kids there. Yeah, yeah. And I visited Karis building some others before and I will say the same thing with my kids. My kids will, they will love you to death once and it doesn't take our children are really kind of what I would call relationship sponges. They are so much wanting that, that if you invest a little bit into it, they want to give you a lot more back. I promise you, you get more back and that's really what I want people to see too. But one of the goals I'm looking at there's kind of two I shouldn't say two types of kids but They don't want to go there just for the moment. There's, they're the students that grab your attention all the time, not in the way you always want them to, and you're trying to redirect them, and get them to use that leadership that's coming out in a positive manner. But then another set of students have really been focused on lately is what I would call invisible kids. And these are children. And we get to a comfort level with this, who, you know, they're doing average, maybe above average work, they're not really grabbing your attention behaviorally, but, but then because of that, we don't always give that opportunity to focus in on on them and really see them. And I don't want any child to ever come to my building, and not be seen. And so we're trying to do that within our school culture, you know, with with morning meetings, and, and circle time. But I do believe having community relationships is also going to be that extra step to make sure that no one goes through avid Elementary, not being seen not being heard not being recognized or not being loved.

Geoff King: 35:56

So good. So good. Kill, how can folks get connected with school connecting? What should they know?

Unknown: 36:03

I'm sure everybody listening right now is just ready to sign up. So you can definitely contact us through the website below for Wayne website, maybe my contact will be somewhere you can contact us. So if you're interested in supporting Abbott or LeMans got specifically, we have a place for you and the cafe to build relationships. I know both principals are really needing and wanting mentors. So 30 minutes of your time weekly, could be incredible. But I think the other people listening might be people who say, Hey, I have a relationship with a school here in Fort Wayne, I kind of have something going on. But me and it would be great if I had a village of support. So we're looking to grow this right. So these are these are our guinea pigs. We want to grow it we our dream is that every school in Fort Wayne has a village. And so if you're already connected, we want to help you grow that. So maybe next year that you're after, if you're willing to be a school champion, which is a little bit of volunteer time, we can help link and leverage resources for you as well. So reaching out whether you want to support these amazing schools or if you have a school that you're already connected to.

Geoff King: 37:13

Yeah, I love that. Thank you for the overview, everybody. Thanks for joining. today. It was great just to sit and talk and thank you for listening in for watching. Today we're excited about what's happening in our schools specifically starting with these two schools. And it means a lot to me and to us that you took 20 to 30 minutes of your time to hear the everyday leadership story of these wonderful leaders. I want to thank our friends at remedy live for their support and their sponsorship of us. I want to thank our friend Tom Shepard, for his support of love Fort Wayne. And as Kelly said, if you want to learn more about our mission to collaboratively with others, love our schools via the school connect model contact us at love fort Wade att.com and we will get you plugged in with the best way that you can do that. Thanks for tuning in. And we'll see you next time and then left Fort Wayne podcast.

Mitch Kruse: 38:11

Thank you so much for joining us this month we drop a new episode the first Monday of every month. Love Fort Wayne has some amazing episodes coming up. You don't want to miss a single one. So subscribe today wherever you are listening. If you enjoyed this episode, please like, share and leave a review we want to share your thoughts and comments with listeners on future episodes. Thanks again for joining us today. Join us next time as we hear from leaders that don't just lead but love our city.