Creating a Culture of Learning with New School Leaders

Posted On Wednesday July 10, 2024

Story provided by John Wiedrick, Associate Superintendent of Human Resources

As outlined in the 2022-2027 District Strategic Plan, the Kamloops-Thompson School District is committed to supporting and mentoring school leaders. District leadership has supported this commitment by offering a Professional Learning Series for all school leaders in the first two years of their assignment.

This year’s inspiring group of new school leaders includes Hayley Hurren (Vice Principal, Lloyd George Elementary), Amanda Nixon (Vice Principal, Dallas Elementary), I-Wen Bluhm (Vice Principal, Pacific Way Elementary), Sonja Corea (Vice Principal, South Sa-Hali Elementary), Grady Sjokvist (Vice Principal, Brocklehurst Secondary School), Curtis Wiebe (Vice Principal, Bert Edwards Science & Technology School), Jeanine Traudt (Vice Principal, Kamloops School of the Arts), Laurel Seafoot (Vice Principal, @KOOL School), Melanie Gregg (Vice Principal, Valleyview Secondary), Kristy Dolha (Vice Principal, Sa-Hali Secondary), Alyssan Gauthier (Vice Principal, Raft River, Blue River, and Vavenby Elementary), Cammy Plummer (Vice Principal, A.E. Perry Elementary), Andres Ruberg (Teacher, McGowan Park Elementary and Barriere Secondary), and Jen Bubela (Vice Principal, Westsyde Secondary).

As part of the “Creating a Culture of Learning” series, this group of motivated school leaders attended three in-person, all-day learning sessions in February, April, and July 2024 at the Henry Grube Education Centre. The series topics were centered around feedback received from an all school leaders survey in 2023, with sessions focused more on ways to create and support learning environments where Indigenous and non-Indigenous, diverse and non-diverse learners can engage at equitable levels in all classrooms across the District.  

The focus of each session was to grow the participants skills and abilities in having conversations with colleagues that create positive change at their worksite. To centre this work, the group studied the books "School Culture Rewired" by Todd Whitaker and Steve Gruenert, "Instructional Coaching" by Jim Knight, "Fierce Conversations'' by Susan Scott, and "Street Data" by Shane Safir. Throughout the process, participants developed skills in addressing both conduct and competence issues with their staff in respectful and growth oriented ways.

“This experience has given me essential tools to navigate different aspects of leadership with support from fellow school leaders,” shared Pacific Way Vice Principal I-Wen Bluhm. “For me, the HR aspect of school leadership is a new and uncomfortable area… coaching has provided invaluable perspective and direction.”

Between each in-person session, participants were invited to multiple individual one-on-one coaching sessions. These virtual sessions were designed to respond to the individual learning needs of each participant based on their particular leadership context. These conversations and coaching sessions addressed topics from how to improve our Health and Safety reporting to how to effectively address employee attendance concerns and everything in between.

Valleyview Secondary Vice Principal Melanie Gregg shared, “This professional learning series for school leaders is the best professional development opportunity I have participated in as an administrator or a teacher. The learning is grounded in high-quality research, provides practical best practices that I can utilize immediately, and allows for meaningful reflection on my personal practice as well as the state of learning in my building. An invaluable use of my time!”

A.E. Perry Elementary Vice Principal Cammy Plummer shared, “It has been an invaluable learning experience and I am very grateful for the time and opportunity. It has allowed me to connect with fellow leaders and share my journey as a beginning vice principal. This series has highlighted the importance of creating a culture of learning within our schools and the profession. The exchange of ideas and strategies has been enriching, providing new perspectives on leadership. It has reinforced the need for collaboration and support among school leaders. Overall, this series has significantly contributed to my professional growth and I look forward to year two.”

As this school leaders cohort moves into the 2024-2025 school year they will continue to build their skills on how to have difficult conversations with staff, improve the quality of teaching in both big ways and small ways, and learn more about leadership and change management. The District is also excited to support the continuation of this work with a new group of school leaders during the 2024-2025 school year.

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