Cool Coffee w/ Kansas Principals

Cool Coffee 10 - Dr. Jenny Woolever - Frontier Trail Middle School

In this episode, Dr. Jenny Woolever of Frontier Trail Middle School shares about the efforts she makes in keeping building morale high, especially during the grind of the school year. Building upon her "Principal Perspective" from the October 28, 2024 episode, Jenny shares more thoughts and ideas to help any building at any time. 
Quote from the show...
Gratitude:
“You cannot do a kindness too soon because you never know how soon it will be too late.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
 
Email: Dr. Jenny Woolever
On X: https://x.com/WooleverJenny
Chapters (time stamps do not account for the Cool Coffee intro--full transcript of the show below)
00:00 Introduction and Thanksgiving Excitement02:00 Building Morale Through the Holidays04:58 Traditions and Community Involvement10:14 Budget-Friendly Staff Appreciation Ideas12:04 Recognizing Staff Needs and Support16:00 Self-Care for Educators During the Holidays18:50 Community Outreach and Empathy in Education24:04 Data-Driven Decisions and People-Centric Approaches
 
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TRANSCRIPT (AI produced)
Rick Sola (00:01.302)Hello and welcome to another edition of Cool Coffee with Kansas principals. Today I am with Dr. Jenny Woolever of Frontier Trail Middle School and USD 233, home of the Jaguars. Hello, Jenny.
Jenny Woolever (00:13.994)Hi, good morning. I'm good, you know excited. We're counting down. We're about four days out for Thanksgiving break, so we have a lot of excitement here with the staff and students.
Rick Sola (00:15.564)How are you this morning?
Rick Sola (00:25.112)It's perfect and that's a lot of the reason why I wanted to bring you on. before that, right before we went live here, I guess we're not live recording, talking about where I was just a couple minutes late getting on and we were talking about why that is and how I don't know that we were late as often as we were until we had kids. So getting that.
Jenny Woolever (00:34.264)You
Jenny Woolever (00:46.286)Yeah, that's so true. I have a middle schooler and an elementary, so it's like two different schedules and one's getting involved in the events. so balancing that in your, you know, your profession, it's a lot sometimes. So you appreciate that and I think you have a better understanding when staff go through the similar situations that you are as a parent.
Rick Sola (01:08.086)Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, getting the kids to and from and we're at three different levels this year for the next couple of years. So there's three bell schedules to maneuver, but it's all good for another show. I wanted to kind of follow up. A few weeks ago, you submitted a principal perspective called building morale through the holidays. And first of all, really enjoyed it.
Jenny Woolever (01:13.921)wow.
Yep.
Rick Sola (01:33.15)And I know others that we both know but had listened to it and just thought it was really great. And I thought that would be a really good topic. And especially for this right now, this episode will come out on the 21st right before the Thanksgiving break, but then the three weeks or so before the holidays. And so I'd love to talk to you a little bit more about your philosophy with that. And if you haven't heard the principal perspective on that that Jenny did.
It's about a five minute deal and there's a lot of quick sound bites, but I wanted to get a little deeper into it. But you spoke about your intentionality with this time of year because one, there's a lot of energy that can be tapped into, but two, when you go from like October to Thanksgiving, that's kind of a typical lull and it could be a grind. Staff need to pick me up. So let's start with
Jenny Woolever (02:11.672)Mm-hmm.
Jenny Woolever (02:24.056)Mm-hmm.
Rick Sola (02:29.868)what's going on right now at your building or coming up because you know where we're at as far as the calendar goes.
Jenny Woolever (02:35.808)Yeah. Well, I was going to say we're excited. Wednesday is our faculty feast. And so what that means is that as the building, we kind of purchase the turkey and I believe ham. so staff bring in different kind of sides. And so we kind of invade the culinary space, which they know. And so they go to an alternate location. But it's really nice. And so we have kind of a long table we spread out. And it's just a staff.
It's a warm meal during that day and so staff have their regular lunch ships but it's really nice because we keep it warm in the ovens and I couldn't do without my office staff. I would say my office staff does a really good job of creating the sign up genius and kind of incorporating that and a tradition that when I started with Frontier Trail they also have what they call a pie day which is really cool too as well. Parents donate pies and so right before on Friday staff select their pies and they get to take one home to share with their family which I think is a pretty neat tradition.
We have an assortment all laid out, but our families are really supportive and sometimes they just want to know how to help. And so that was been one that's been kind of long standing and staff really enjoy it every year too. So I would say is those are two events this week that kind of get us through to the week. It's something that staff kind of look forward to.
Rick Sola (03:51.82)That's awesome. A Pi Day. What a great, great idea. So is that more of your parent directed? Or is it kind of initiated from you and then parents take over? Or is it such a long-standing tradition now it runs itself?
Jenny Woolever (04:01.186)Yeah.
Yes, you're exactly right. I would say anytime I kind of begin with a building, one of the questions I usually give surveys out to staff, I find I like the survey a little bit better than the face-to-face because it allows them to kind of reflect on questions and it allows me to get to know the building prior to kind of becoming that lead administrator. And so one of the questions, which is probably my favorite, is what's your favorite traditions at your school? And sometimes I'm shocked they don't list any traditions, which gives us kind of an open canvas and some of them are really
passionate about whether it's we like to pick what snowed it what will be the first snow day or had a raffle or you never know what's more meaningful to the staff and so I really try to keep those going or add to that and so you'll be surprised just having a little social committee many times it's a few of my ladies in the office as well as a couple of teachers that that's what they love to do too and so it kind of carries itself.
Sometimes I just share my experiences from other schools about when we, here's something we could do, but it's neat because with Pinterest and Instagram and all the things, I usually have some other stuff that have great ideas too. So we try to keep traditions, but we also try to build our own and to kind of as they go through. I would say Halloween was one not really tapped much here at Frontier Trail. So when I came, we
began Red Ribbon Week. And so that's when we tied in kind of the costumes and then we did the food contest in the lounge that is kind of spooky treats and that has graduated over the last three years. So it's neat to see how big it's gotten now. So some of those do become traditions and sometimes it's just a one-off but it's nice because staff look forward to it.
Rick Sola (05:42.744)I love that question you ask him, what's your favorite traditions? I've been in this building this my fifth year and I feel like that's a question I would like to ask even though I've been here. What's your favorite traditions? What is it we're doing that or our parents are doing or whatever that's really resonating. But then also like what's a new tradition that maybe you saw in a previous building? Yeah, just to add some fun. You know, so much of it too is.
Jenny Woolever (05:55.384)Mm-hmm.
Rick Sola (06:09.302)what resonates with an individual and not everything hits everybody. kind of tapping into, is that a thought that you give as far as how do I reach everybody or maybe you know, costume day is gonna really hit well with this group and then there's a Mr. Sola over there who's like, I don't wanna wear a costume, you know.
Jenny Woolever (06:15.821)Okay.
Jenny Woolever (06:33.486)Well, I have a Mr. Todd. He doesn't like to do that either, but he does a lot of others. So you're exactly right. And I think our staff does a nice job of, you know, it's OK if you don't want to participate, but you also need to mix different activities in. You're exactly right. I would say, you know, sometimes food is driven by people, and sometimes it's just a simple spirit day. Ones that I, you know, sometimes people that are less hesitant around the Super Bowl, we did odds, like they do of the game, like will it be heads or tails? We've done NCAA brackets.
So sometimes I have just varying staff, so I know their interests, so we try to combine different activities to help meet that. Because you're exactly right, Rick, that you have varying abilities, varying interests. But it's kind of interesting, because if you find one activity that gets someone involved, they end up kind of joining those other activities too. So that's where I feel like I've really kind of brought in the staff is, they may not like this one as much, but they know we do some others as we go through. A new one that actually was led by our science department, I think,
When you kind of create that climate where people feel like they can contribute ideas, our science team is actually doing a legacy night, which I think is really cool. Your building, in fact, had a recent one for years of, it's been established, right, Rick? Can you tell me how many years?
Rick Sola (07:49.464)Yeah, 25 years. Yep.
Jenny Woolever (07:51.502)25 years, yes. And so FT kind of had that before I came, but what they're wanting was they're trying to raise funds for an outdoor classroom. And so their idea was, you know, we've had so many staff that are no longer here that have a desire or want to help. And so there we worked with the American Legion and we're doing a pitch night. So they're going to be playing cards, they're coming in. But it was almost like another community outreach, but it was kind of neat because I didn't even, you know,
do that. I was just asked, hey, can we get this going? So our SRO officer as well as our science department is leading that. it's kind of changed since then. Even though we have a good social committee, if you give that ability to staff to come up with ideas and stuff, it really builds that. I just, I enjoy that.
Rick Sola (08:35.448)Well, what a great culture and like you say, it's almost like a snowball once you get it going and then it sparks ideas and that's perfect. Not that you wouldn't have wanted to have been involved, but I bet it's really nice that you had some champions in the building ready to move forward with it. And then at the end of the day, once they achieve that goal, that classroom, how great is that as far as the ownership and the maintenance of it and that sort of thing. It's ironic because we just did a father's club cleanup on our classroom over the weekend.
Jenny Woolever (08:39.459)Mm-hmm.
Jenny Woolever (08:50.446)Mm-hmm.
Jenny Woolever (08:56.3)Yeah.
Jenny Woolever (09:02.774)I saw that.
Rick Sola (09:05.594)you know, that's going to be a different move moving forward, maintaining that and getting it back to its good use. So, no, that's awesome. You had mentioned in the perspective you did, kind of the, I mean, there's things we can do, we can spend a lot of money, but then there's times that, you know, we need to do so on a budget or we can't maintain a trajectory of oftentimes like a pre-service before the school year. And there's a lot more meals and activities and things.
Jenny Woolever (09:13.87)Yeah.
Jenny Woolever (09:22.888)yeah.
Rick Sola (09:35.21)that you do invest in, what are some of those kind of budget friendly items that you have found that have been really a big success?
Jenny Woolever (09:35.309)Thank you.
Jenny Woolever (09:45.09)Yeah, well our staff loves the snack cart and so that's something that we have here in the office and typically staff just pay 50 cents. We just kind of cut even on it. We buy supplies from Sam's and just kind of keep it stocked. But anytime you can just get a free item from the snack cart is a big deal. And so they can use coupons at any time. So it's kind of very much like our PBIS system that we do with students. They can earn tags and they can earn something. So if it's something within that that's a little amount, but hey, it's a pick me up during the day, those are really nice.
I also do prizes where they can select a menu. So we have two parking spots that are free, that one in the front of the building and one on the side of the building. And so they can earn those two as well. That's an item that doesn't cost us anything that we just had. Maybe the sign that says staff appreciation so they know that they can park there. And they can maybe earn that for the month.
Just covering a class is really nice Supervision duty is a big one sometimes I always thought it was the class But it made if they don't have to get up in the morning or go outside when it's cold They love those as well and so those are just some of the free things that we kind of have incorporated within and sometimes just making a fun certificate I was surprised
Because our staff is so competitive, just having a certificate that they hang behind their desk or on their door, that's enough for them sometimes too. So if you have that kind of environment, it's fun too because, or a traveling trophy, that sometimes just does the trick too.
Rick Sola (11:06.626)That's really cool. You mentioned tags. How do staff earn tags? What do you do with that?
Jenny Woolever (11:12.104)So they don't necessarily, it's similar role, but they don't necessarily earn it. We have little slips that they can nominate each other to as well, or I can earn it as a prize, but you're exactly right. And sometimes, pizzas are really cheap, so we will allow them to, they can purchase a pizza and they share it with their team. But again, that's kind of a team builder too. So it's just a list of menu items. So it's rather than you earn this, but they can pick what they want.
Our local church that is one of our community partners, they also give us little $5 gift cards. So those are kind of the Sonic and Starbucks too. But again, those were brought in from the community so it didn't cost us anything, but it's a way that maybe they want the $5 card or maybe they want the parking spot. It allows for a choice option. And so we have those laid out. So it could be that staff nominate other staff or maybe we give it as a prize for one of our activities that we're doing. But having a menu each month is helpful because it allows us to kind of pick and choose.
or what's been given, what hasn't been given.
Rick Sola (12:08.448)You know, as the year goes on, there's, I think there's certain times of the year that we know that it just gets to be a grind or it's just kind of that ebb and flow. But there's also just times where there's, you sometimes we'll pick up like an undercurrent. What's going on and how do you go about, A, I guess, discovering it, I mean, outside of your own gut instinct. How do you determine that? then,
Jenny Woolever (12:15.778)Yes.
Jenny Woolever (12:30.338)Okay.
Rick Sola (12:35.98)What are some of those things you may do kind of in the off times versus like, we need to pick me up. We had a rough week. We had whatever go on. How do you get to that point?
Jenny Woolever (12:42.722)Yeah. Well, I'm lucky that my social committee, a lot of times they'll see things if I can't see it too as well, like, hey, we really need this. You're exactly right. Like, I think about assessment season. It's kind of an enduring one. And sometimes just placing little Easter eggs around. Like, you just try to come up with some different ideas. Sometimes it's as simple as writing little things in the restroom of just encouragement. You know, just kind of those little pick me ups. I know that they...
They have little like sometimes song quotes and different things that we kind of add into that could be through announcements as well. And just checking in that those many times just through conversation. Hey, how's it going? Yes, I agree. This is kind of like this one that is kind of my favorite. do a little stock the fridge.
and I get pop and so it's like they need a little pep in their step and it's like different flavors of Dr. Pepper or you know so really we just try to read it and find little reasonable things and just plug it in randomly throughout and I think those little pick me ups and surprises are really nice.
Friday is sometimes tough getting subs in and teachers in that will do a free cart Friday. So I kind of mentioned the snack cart. So they know, I get two free items from the cart. And so a free cart Friday, they love to. And again, that's just determined on, do we have a lot of subs in the building today? Hey, who are those staff that are there? Do they need this? Kind of pick me up. Kind of sprinkling those in is really helpful. But many times, like you said, I kind of use my group to let me know, hey, I think we could use something here. I do meet with my other admin.
team every Monday. And so they're also a good idea of, hey, assessment season's coming. What can we do here? What can we do there? But always doing things and activities for students. But I think it's also important that one of our conversations is what can we do for staff too? Because again, we know how difficult our job is and their job. So anytime I can kind of sprinkle those in. I'm all about ideas. Again, I get a lot of input off Twitter. Like Rick, I saw you guys doing the cleanup for your group.
Jenny Woolever (14:38.05)I think that's important as administrator because I don't have all the ideas and if I see a really cool one, that's something I would share with the team. What do you think would look like this at FTE? It may not be the time for it, but it could be something that we add later on. So I just really try to keep open minded and let other people drive it as well as myself.
Rick Sola (14:55.352)Yeah, I like that you, I mean, thank you for the shout out on that, but it's awesome. mean, that's what's great about Twitter. Truly, these conversations that I'm able to have and hopefully others are listening to because...
Jenny Woolever (14:58.338)Yeah.
Rick Sola (15:08.728)There's just so many ideas. I've been just taking notes almost feverishly because I'm thinking, we could do something like that or what would that look like here? And there's just so many, just so many ideas out there. And I can probably take credit for like 2 % of my original ideas. But at the end of the day, I don't know that it matters where the idea comes from. If it's going to help your building, because if you're helping your staff, it's going to help your kids and it's going to help your community. I'm a big believer in the
Jenny Woolever (15:15.758)Okay.
Rick Sola (15:38.834)the whole community aspect of it, but kids go home and talk about school. They talk about their teachers, and they do that with their parents. so it's really, you know, talk about the snowball, but that's a good positive snowball effect of these little gestures that can manifest into really a positive, not just school culture, but community culture. what are you doing?
Jenny Woolever (16:00.578)Mm-hmm.
Rick Sola (16:03.72)right now to take care of yourself and as you head into the holidays but you're also heading into the holidays as a mom but also as a principal of a building and how do you take care of yourself?
Jenny Woolever (16:06.252)Yes.
Jenny Woolever (16:14.286)Mm-hmm.
Jenny Woolever (16:19.234)Well, I love the holidays and I think that's why I'll probably always be a building administrator because I love my breaks. I love that time with family.
I'm fortunate my family and my husband's family are all really local and so we have an opportunity to spend time at each. We now have our children and their children, my siblings and things and so really it's about family I would say as I kind of shut it off when I can. I like to still follow and see what staff are doing and so that's something when I come back I can say I see you guys traveled or I see you guys went you know you had you went to your grandparents and so those are things that I think is important to share and then I think if staff get to know
the things you do on the things that you find important to as well. It resonates with them, but I'm excited. So like we do movies, we do game nights and all those kind of things built into the Thanksgiving break. I really love having the full week. Most of you know it's the time to clean your house, get those things caught up as well, get those decorations out and kind of, it just allows for that break time. And so I really recommend is,
unconnecting to school and just really focusing on your family and resting because I gotta tell you when you come back those next three weeks are a lot too so you gotta take care of yourself and I really do that through just spending time with my family.
Rick Sola (17:37.59)Yeah, one thing you mentioned in the perspective was, you know, kind of tapping into the energy. And you're exactly right. When we come back from break, from Thanksgiving, it's three weeks and it is a sprint. just like you, we have concerts, we have games, there's a city basketball tournament. There's spirit, you know, we do a 12 days of holiday, leading up to the holidays of spirit days and pep assemblies. And it's a lot.
Jenny Woolever (17:49.792)Yes, it is.
Rick Sola (18:07.466)that you had mentioned tapping into that energy, that's naturally there funneling it in a positive way to get to December 20th or whatever it is.
Jenny Woolever (18:11.178)Thank
Yeah.
Jenny Woolever (18:19.33)Mm-hmm.
Yeah, and I would say is our staff is really good about inviting other staff too. So it's not even that they're helping supervise the event, they're just attending to watch students. And sometimes that's nice because I think we forget that, I need to supervise and so we're constantly monitoring and watching maybe the halls or the event. But just coming to an event to be a spectator is really important. And I would say I've seen more and more of that, especially with our new staff. I really enjoy that because it gives you a different light that you're not so much worried about supervising everyone, but you're really able to watch and absorb.
that and so that's something I would recommend to staff as they kind of go through is just asking them just to attend just to be able to observe and watch and maybe bring their family in. I know my children loved watching our musical and so those are things that I bring them to it too as well because I can make that a family event as well as what I'm doing too so I I would recommend that for others that we do have a lot of events so some that you can incorporate your own family in is important too.
Rick Sola (19:17.868)Yeah, now that's.
That's really great and there's a lot of the kids notice when you're there like as as a teacher you step into the gym for a basketball game and they they love that they kind of light up and then you know there's a lot of great conversation the next day at school. It's just building those connections and I'm going to have you share here in a bit about your KPA membership and what what leads you to it but there was a quote I was just going to share it since this is going to be right before Thanksgiving.
Jenny Woolever (19:24.182)Yes.
Jenny Woolever (19:34.947)Yes.
Rick Sola (19:49.418)Thanksgiving, but I put this in my staff newsletter, but it kind of goes to a lot of what you're talking about, especially this week of gratitude or leading up to Thanksgiving. But you cannot do a kindness too soon because you never know how soon it will be too late. And that's Ralph Waldo Emerson. And I just came across that as Google searching some good gratitude quotes and put
Jenny Woolever (20:10.681)huh. It is very good.
Rick Sola (20:13.666)put that out there and you know, especially this time of year, that's one thing that we try to encourage our kids to write a note of thanks to their teachers and all the things that are mentioned. Sometimes that note is just like so meaningful. You see the notes on teachers walls, whether it came from us or it came from a kid or a parent. So I wanted to incorporate that into this one, but as a KPA in last year, Jenny, we didn't present together, but we traveled together.
Jenny Woolever (20:22.541)Mm-hmm.
Jenny Woolever (20:31.981)again.
Rick Sola (20:43.66)to the KPA conference and we both had our separate sessions but what is it about the KPA that keeps bringing you back?
Jenny Woolever (20:51.318)Yeah. What I enjoy about the KPA is it's so interesting to see what other Edmin are doing across the state of Kansas. Our buildings, our demographics can look very different and it's so neat to hear and learn different perspectives, but also the similarities we still have and the same things that we go through. And so really why I've joined KPA and why I keep going is the relationships that I have formed with other colleagues.
And it's really neat to get insight in what seeing what we're doing across the state. I have to say is it really allowed me to build more relationships outside of my district or even Johnson County. So I have to say is that's really what I enjoy about it. And I'm a person that likes to continue to learn. So the stuff that KPA pits out, whether that's to the newsletter, your podcast, Rick, conferences.
I went to also the Women's Leadership Summit that they had in February and stuff and I really enjoyed that. But like I said, it's the things that they produce and support us to is really why it's kind of continued and why I feel connected to that.
Rick Sola (21:55.774)Awesome. Gonna give you a chance to brag on Frontier Trail. I know there's a lot over there to talk about, but speak about your people.
Jenny Woolever (22:00.942)Well, I have to say is the past two years we've really taken a look at our data and we've seen great growth in our ELA. So our focus has really been math and really what we're seeing is about enriching students. And I'd have to say I'm really proud of our MTSS. We have an academic extension block and really students sometimes we're really focused on those ones doing interventions.
It's been really neat to watch my staff then look on how we're enriching those students that aren't in interventions. And so still trying to grow that. It's something I've been really proud of and taking time to really look at the data. What is it telling us? How can we help students? Really means a lot. And this past Friday was also another opportunity that we had. I've been really watching some of our buildings in the district that do community outreach.
we were able to have a half day this past Friday and when you mentioned about thanking one another, one of the stations was writing notes for our first responders, police, fire department. We also had a station that helped make things for dogs and cats for shelters and we just really reached out of what do others need and we spent the afternoon dedicated to that and I just, think education's more than just what our dad is telling us to is.
how can we create people that are showing empathy and how they can help one another. And FT did a lot of that prior to COVID and it kind of drifted off once we got back. And so we're not at the scale of other buildings, but we were able to dedicate kind of an assembly schedule where I built kind of rotation and we did these activities within the building. And it was just really nice and I heard such great feedback from staff and students participating. And I got to tell you, that was also a day we had zero office referrals.
So sometimes when you build those in, you realize everyone participating and it's meaningful to everyone, that behavior goes down quite a bit too. when you get kind of to breaks, we all know as admin how that can be, but kind of plugging something like that in, again, it's.
Jenny Woolever (24:04.974)being an administrator, open to ideas. That was something that I know they've mentioned. We just didn't do it last year and we knew we wanted to do something with community service. We just didn't know how to do it. And so this was the perfect opportunity. And we kind of had an assembly and they wanted each grade level to be in an assembly. And you all know trying to figure out a bell schedule with that is very difficult. And so.
We were able to work it out through BLT, but it was something that, even though there's a great idea, it took probably a year for us to establish that. it was really nice because you're excited and nervous whenever you start something new because you're 700 kids preparing for that. But it was well worth it. And I got to say is those are the things, even though you don't have to rush to something right away, just over time, mole it and it will be successful when you kind of have your support of your team.
Rick Sola (24:51.466)I love that you talked about the importance of data and we know how important it is. That's how we measure a lot of things, but sometimes we can be data rich and maybe people poor, you know, and we're not focusing enough on, there's people behind the data, you know, and there's got to be a balance of, that's going to drive a lot of our goals, our vision, but we've got to keep the people in the center of that and doing that community outreach and providing an example.
Jenny Woolever (25:16.846)Thank
Rick Sola (25:21.582)students that there's something bigger than just themselves or even the school and that there's people out there that can benefit from them is such a powerful message. So a lot of awesome things going on at Frontier. I also see the things that are posted on Twitter and of course we're colleagues so we stay in touch but so many great things going on over there and I just want to say one thank you for coming on here today but for sharing everything you did and all the things that you mentioned that are happening at Frontier Trail that you are
Jenny Woolever (25:37.804)Yeah.
Rick Sola (25:51.286)that Frontier Trail, I'm confident that you're making an impact on Chisholm Trail too because I'm gonna steal some of these ideas.
Jenny Woolever (25:57.012)Nope. And I'm all about sharing. So you tell anyone that's listening to this, Rick, they got my email. Just I'd be happy to share anything because that's what it's about. And it doesn't have to be exactly the way we do it. You just make it to your building. You're exactly right.
Rick Sola (26:11.424)Yep, and actually I'm glad you said that, just a reminder. Check the show notes. Jenny's email and contact will be there. X handle, Twitter handle, and the quote that I read just a little bit ago. I'll put that in there as well. But Jenny, thank you so much. And I know there's a busy day ahead of us and a busy week, but it's going to be awesome. thanks for sharing everything and making the state of Kansas and the principles within it a little better today by listening.
Jenny Woolever (26:39.97)Yeah. Thank you guys.
 

Cool Coffee 9 - Mr. Mike Wiley - California Trail Middle School

In this episode, Principal Mike Wiley of California Trail Middle School shares about Father's Club, the activities they do, and impact it's having on his building. Father's Club is a grassroots effort that started in a Blue Valley high school but has since grown and spread to 40+ middle and high schools. Only 3 years into his program, Mr. Wiley's school and community are enjoying the fruits of this group's efforts.
https://fathersclub.org/
Mission Statement
The Father’s Club is a dad-led, grassroots effort creating simple ways for dads to be intentional with their KIDS, with other DADS and within their COMMUNITY.  With resolve, humility, and love, our mission is to be a catalyst for positive influence around the world.
 
Contact Mike Wiley: mwileyct@olatheschools.org
X: @KSUWiley
Chapters (time stamps do not account for the Cool Coffee intro--full transcript of the show below)
00:00  Introduction to Father's Club
01:54  The Origins and Growth of Father's Club
07:23  Implementing Father's Club at California Trail
10:47  Engaging Dads: The Role of Father's Club
13:16  Annual Events and Community Impact
18:03  Screen Sanity and Parental Involvement
22:02  Mike's Journey in Education
26:05  Celebrating California Trail's Community
30:11  Conclusion and Reflections
 
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The mission of the Kansas Principals Association, an organization committed to educational excellence and the lifelong success of all students, is to develop and support all principals through optimized learning, collaborative leadership, networking, and service.
Read more about the KPA HERE.
TRANSCRIPT (AI produced)
Rick Sola (00:01.56)Hello and welcome to another edition of Cool Coffee with Kansas principals. Today I'm with Mr. Mike Wiley of California Trail Middle School, home of the Bulldogs here in USD 233, Olathe. Hello Mike.
Mike (00:16.194)Good afternoon, Rick. How are you?
Rick Sola (00:18.186)I am doing okay. We're just completing a Monday and the start of a week off of a Chiefs win. I see your Chiefs attire there. That's perfect.
Mike (00:28.398)Well it is Red Ribbon Week at California Trail and today was Red Day so it seemed pretty fitting.
Rick Sola (00:35.63)Perfect. We won't bring up the other game, although I'd like to. I know we're on the same side of the state collegiate game on Saturday night. Don't want to alienate our listeners, but I think you and I were happy with that outcome.
Mike (00:50.046)Anxious, anxious most of night, but yes happy ultimately.
Rick Sola (00:53.612)Yeah, we got it done. So before we get started, I do want to draw attention again to the show notes for this and every show. You're going to find a full transcript of today's show contact information for our guests and also a Google form to leave some feedback input or express interest to be on this show. So please check it out. And I do think today there's quite a bit that will be in the show notes cause some resources will be left. We're talking about father's club and
Mike, your school at California Trail is heavily involved in that. And it's, I don't know if it's totally unique or if it's fairly new. It's new in the Kansas City area, but what has been really interesting about it is seeing it grow. And so I wanted to talk with you a little bit about that and the school I'm at. have our experience with it as well, but I know you're doing really great things at California Trail. So for those who have no idea what Father's Club is,
Talk to us about Father's Club, what is it?
Mike (01:54.548)Absolutely. was in that seat a few years ago, knowing nothing about the organization and actually experienced it first as a dad. My kids went through Olathe South, my two older went through Olathe South, my youngest is actually struggling her way through a building now in middle school, at Rick's school to be honest. That leads me
Rick Sola (02:19.03)Yeah, that was very, very nice of you. Thank you.
Mike (02:21.854)Olathe South and she's doing great there, great things going on. when my oldest was at Olathe South, there was a little bit of a buzz about a new organization, a new way to get involved as a parent and that was Father's Club. Father's Club, think originally started at Blue Valley High School and as an organization that they were struggling with some things with kids.
having some mental health issues and some of those kind of things. And I think a group of dads talked to the principal about how could they get involved and make a positive impact on the school. And that's kind of where it started. And then it has spread to a lot of metro schools. And I think they're even expanding to kind of guide different clubs outside of both the
Kansas and Missouri sides. As a parent, I looked at it as an opportunity to connect with my daughters as well as friends of theirs and things like that in a real low key manner that maybe could just make a difference in a kid's day or a kid's week or a kid's school year. So that's kind of the gist of why I got involved in Father's Club and
kind of where that started.
Rick Sola (03:53.762)Yeah, and I'm to put the website up here and I've got it pulled up right here and there's over 40 schools on the Kansas and Missouri side that are with active chapters. And, you know, I think when you and I were initially talking about this a few years ago, kind of in the same boat, trying to get some information, how does it relate to middle school? Does it relate to middle school? There weren't, I don't know if quite half, there weren't nearly as many schools that were involved, but it just, it's
in the area we're in, we're seeing a major growth and certainly the districts out here in the Kansas City area. You mentioned Father's Club and your involvement as a dad. What did that look like as you were a parent of Olathe South? How did it present itself to you?
Mike (04:42.708)Sure, so they wanted to do some encouraging things around finals, I think was the first one that I went to. And at that event, a group of dads organized it and then invited others in to help pass out. They did breakfast burritos from McDonald's. Somebody had a connection.
a connection with McDonald's and got them at a fairly reasonable rate. And they handed out breakfast burritos to every student as they arrived in the morning. Of course they had run it through admin and made sure that they were good with those kind of things. But just they're offering a fist bump and a hey, good luck on your finals. And here's something to munch on to make sure your body's ready to go in and utilize what you've got in your mind with finals.
That was pretty cool. I got involved and did a couple of those kind of as they as they worked in my schedule, which was a little bit more difficult since my school and in late the South are starting in times were fairly close at that time. And so it took some finagling on my end. But what I got out of it as a dad was just seeing seeing some kids that maybe my daughters had played softball or soccer.
with years ago and I hadn't seen for years and they're like, hey, Mr. Wiley, how are you? And that was fun. And then I also had the kind of the inside with knowing the admin team pretty well and asked what, how did that impact your day? And they were just talking about the buzz that it created in the building and just the overall kind of positive feeling that was really obvious to all of the staff there.
So I'm like, okay, this is something that I want to get behind as a dad and do. And then ultimately there came a conversation. I was talking with the leader of the Olathe South chapter and he was talking to me about, you know, what would it look like in our middle school to get something like this done? And so I reached out to, reached out or he helped me reach out to kind of the
Mike (07:06.942)the core group that was helping guide the club on a bigger scale and had a conversation around some of the different things that we could do and it was exciting and so we started here at CT.
Rick Sola (07:23.586)So you talked a little bit about as a dad, shifting positions or putting a different hat on now as a principal and you're of a middle school that did not have it. You see it around you. What were some of those, I guess, growth processes you went through or considerations as you went to adopt it or consider adopting it at California?
Mike (07:45.324)Yeah, so if you've ever been involved in a booster club or a PTO or something like that, you know very clearly that the impact that that group is going to have is, you know, truly correlated to the folks that are involved. And so we first started talking to some parents that I knew were, you know, that were involved with different things like coaching kids and doing some of those kind of things already. And I would
them at you know parent teacher conferences in the drop off and pick up lane and they were friendly charismatic people and so I shared those names kind of with the district director if you will and he did kind of a soft reach out to them said hey this is the organization and
And we're thinking about thinking about doing something at the middle school level. Mr. Wiley shared your name as somebody that's a positive influence in the community and some of those kind of things. And they went through and talked about what the program has been in different places. And then we sat down as a group and talked about what would be a way to kind of start off small here at California Trail and then build some momentum and some of those kind of
So that's kind of the way we we kicked it off from from
Rick Sola (09:14.434)So, now go ahead.
Mike (09:17.626)From there, we had some events coming up that we were having parents into the building for, think it was a spring fifth grade, fifth grade parent night where parents come in and learn about different activities. had Father's Club had a table, it sat out there by our PTO table and each group was kind of talking to talking to parents as they came in. They shared a little bit.
that night about the vision for each of those organizations and that was kind of the way we kicked off and started the membership. At first was kind of, know, membership was slow. I think people thought, gosh, I'm going to get hooked into doing something every week and for two hours a week and some of those kind of things. And we tried to reassure that it's a pick and choose, find what fits in your schedule and some of those kind of things.
It started to build momentum.
Rick Sola (10:19.362)So you touch on this little bit at the origins of when it was popping up in Blue Valley, but kind of that why Father's Club? And I think there's an obvious question that has presented itself. And we do have a chapter here at the building I'm in. And it's been asked as it's very specific, Father's Club. What about moms? Where do moms fit in this? Or how does that look with this club?
Mike (10:47.854)Yeah, I know your wife and my wife have been very, very involved in the elementary booster club and some of those kind of things and been used to that and been very involved in talking with our elementary principals. That's kind of the model there, right? The majority of their involvement is from the moms and there's a spot for that. In our building, we do have a PTO and PTO looks at doing some different things.
And, you know, they're really their mission in our building anyway, the PTO mission is building community, supporting tradition and expanding opportunities for students and staff. When we added the Father's Club, we were able to engage a part of our community that really wasn't engaging in that program, you know, in the PTO program. And it's really been good as far as, you know, if there's a mom that wants to,
wants to get involved. I think there are all kinds of avenues to do that. The Father's Club organization as a whole has had a couple of those conversations, I think, in other buildings. We really haven't run into that here because we do have different ways to get involved and know what's going on and be able to support your child's education. And Father's Club hasn't had to be that for.
That group,
Rick Sola (12:20.428)Yeah, one thing I've liked is, you it's a stereotype perhaps, but dads are generally speaking underrepresented at the table in schools, in our schools. And that's a point of emphasis here is, you know, we may do a handful of events throughout the year. If you miss the first one, that doesn't mean you don't come back or that, you can't commit. It's truly a
hey, you can make this fist bump welcome, but you can't make the burrito give out or whatever. That doesn't disqualify you from being a part of the Father's Club and just being a part of it. speaking to that, your building, think you're three years into it, what are some of those maybe events that have grown into an annual expectation versus maybe something you're trying new this year?
Mike (13:16.14)Yeah, so.
Kind of the annual expectation piece would be showing up at drop off a few times and doing fist bumps. We started that, I think the first one was around finals also because it was about the end of first semester, that first year that we started doing some events. And it's just, holding the door, telling a dad joke maybe.
into having some music out there and just making it a, you know, kind of a festive time as they're walking in. Our group has gone with some chicken and biscuits from Chick-fil-A. Somebody had a connection there, so that's kind of the way that went. Each year we do a full day community service piece where every one of our students and the vast majority of our adults go out somewhere in the metro area.
we're doing some sort of community service on on those days now for the last couple of those our father's club has reached out to Andy's frozen custard and and brought that in during our during our lunch and on the next day after after our CT serves day and and what they love about that is they're hearing from kids you know hey what did you go do what did how did how did you how'd you feel about that and they're seeing the the impact that
that community service has on our students and then also, you know, getting to feel that excitement. So that's kind of cool. For when assessments roll around, Kansas assessments, that first day of the reading assessment, our dads were out doing or handing out bookmarks that had some positive quotes on them, had their father's club logo on the backside, but just encouraging kids to do well on the test. They did the same thing for the math assessment.
Mike (15:17.9)handing out pencils, you know, and just really, really just being there for kids and starting the day off right. The last two years we've been really fortunate on the first week of school. Some days it's the same dads for like the three days in a row, but they're out there at parent drop-off. They're helping direct traffic there. My building is such that we have a
a street right in front with one of the push button lights that flash to tell cars to slow down and stop so that someone can walk through the crosswalk. We've had dads out there that are teaching the kids, no matter if you see a car or not, you push this button before you enter. And just kind of giving some of those coaching things that we kind of think are common sense, but at middle school, nothing's common. So they're out there doing that.
helping parents as parents pull up and and you know look kind of confused they're they're giving them directions on how how the car loop goes and some of those kind of things which has been awesome. Yeah.
Rick Sola (16:29.282)One thing I've noticed that's been fun is we have kind of a once a month fist bump Friday and it's all about relationships. mean, ultimately that's what's really neat about this. It's just another way to build relationships with the school, the community and our community back with other students. But it's funny because you'll see the kids whose dad is out there, especially when we do like ugly sweater or
you know, they're dancing to the music they have jamming out there. And you could just see the wave of embarrassment sometimes from the kid whose dad is out there, but the kid, the kids friends love it. And they, they see, and they're just having a great time seeing each other's dads. And I think, truly I've seen so much, so many more just super positive interactions and kind of that, I'm embarrassed, but I'm so glad you're out here. look as I've seen full on bear hugs given from
a dad to one of their kids' buddies that it's just a fun way to pick up. And what I've seen as well is there's certainly some comfort in our parents dropping off and you see a lot of adults and the dads and some staff out there, especially a lot of times, you know, kind of where it started was some of the need, maybe something's going on in the building or in the community that's
of concern and that added presence just goes a long way and I've heard so much good feedback from that.
Mike (18:03.5)I agree. It's neat to see and like you said, I think it starts as a little bit of embarrassment and then rolls into, well, maybe this is OK, you know, in their own middle school way. They're not going to come right out and tell you that probably. But I think our kids do like seeing their parents involved and that's awesome.
Rick Sola (18:22.99)So Mike, know that I can't remember what your building has done over here. Our father's club sponsored screen sanity and then a fentanyl presentation, which both of those were intended for parents, but it was sponsored by father's club. And I wanted to throw that out there as kind of another example of, I think the father's club can kind of be what your each individual building needs it to be. And
we had an opportunity to bring both of those in and there's always the challenge of bringing parents in at night after a long week and our numbers were maybe not as high as we'd like them to be but actually not terrible but it was a really good outreach from the Father's Club. Have you as a parent or a principal been a part of those that you're building?
Mike (19:12.438)Yeah, so we also hosted a screen sanity. We had hosted it a few years ago before we got involved with Father's Club. We as a district connected with screen sanity and it's actually a fairly expensive program to put on in your own building. And so as 10 middle schools, we split up the cost and had two sessions.
one on each side of our district, if you will. And that cost us several hundred dollars each, if I'm remembering right. And this is something that the Father's Club has worked out a contract with Screen Sanity. They've gone through and had actually their couple dads that have been trained as trainers and they come in and present it. we actually had that presentation, I think it was either in late August or early September.
And we had good involvement that night and the parents that were able to attend absolutely appreciated the information and it's just one more way that that organization is making an impact on many kids.
Rick Sola (20:25.41)Well, it's been a lot of fun and you know, I guess the full transparency, maybe this should have been at the top of this, this episode. and I go way back and you know, doing all, all that I can. I'm sure you are too to keep it professional here and not, not take any shots at each other. no, Mike and I go way back. We presented last year at the KPA conference. But going back a few years, we were both getting into getting information about Father's Club around the same time. And it's been fun.
now that it's expanded to several of our middle schools here where we're at, we all have a different flavor on it. We all have a different need. And truly, I think we're all kind of learning from each other as well from this. But it has been a real positive. I know you're doing really good things. That's why I'm so glad you're able to come on here today. And I'm going to put a lot of information just for accessing.
some information about Father's Club and it's been a really, I think it started kind of unique, but we're a few years in and it's spreading. It's over 40, I think over 40 some schools here, just in the metro area, both sides of the line and it keeps growing and growing. So, Mike, gonna, you know, I mentioned the KPA and one thing I've found, I'm shifting gears here, but anytime we do anything,
with USA, Kansas or KPA or we're in statewide groups, you are like almost like a mayor. seems like everybody knows you or you know, you know, you know so many people. Talk about, you you've got a lot of connections. Talk about your road. like to ask people their road to the chair. What is your road to the chair you're in right now?
Mike (22:02.126)It's cause I'm old Rick, it's cause I'm old.
Mike (22:18.85)goodness. I started out, I graduated with an elementary Ed degree and I taught three years of fifth grade in Wamigo. Then my wife and I were getting married and we moved to the metro and I made that move into the middle school world where I taught middle school math and coached about everything under the sun and then
As we, you as I progressed through that, I decided that, you know, that leadership route was something that I really wanted to explore and I was associate principal at Turner High School for two years.
And then, then went to Baser-Lynwood where I was middle school principal for six years, opening a new building there, which was kind of fun out in the middle of a pasture that is an absolutely gorgeous building now. And then, and then my kids had always been in Olathe. We'd lived in Olathe since my wife and I got married. And there was an opportunity to make the move and get a little closer to home and shrink that drive.
from about 40 minutes to about eight and be able to go home and eat dinner and then come back to a choir concert or some of those kind of things was good for me. In my time, both at Turner and Baser and now in Olathe, I always wanted to be kind of fed, right, professionally. And so I went through several different programs. currently in Elevate Leadership.
leadership too with USA Kansas. It's a great program. I really enjoy that opportunity not only to just pause and focus on the leadership side of our job, which on the day to day, I know you're just as busy as I am that that doesn't that doesn't happen as much as we'd like it to. And so getting involved in those those type of courses, whether it's Elevate Kansas or, you
Mike (24:25.88)something else going locally. KSB had a leadership for tomorrow program I went through.
gone through leadership Olathe, which I think that lot of different communities have that kind of explore that connection, not only that schools have with legislators and the community and those kind of things. But that for me is where I get my, you know, I get my feed, if you will. That's a horrible word for it, but that's where I get, where I feed my need to keep pushing myself forward.
Rick Sola (24:54.158)You
Mike (25:02.992)Personally, that's been great. Like you said, the KPA conference last year was fantastic. It was a great opportunity to present with you. And yeah, look forward to hitting that again soon.
Rick Sola (25:17.346)Well, I've had a lot of these conversations and talking about just the collective resources of either the KPA or the networking that's done. it's just, the word I use is energizing. That's what it is to me. Or feed, it feeds me well. But it's energizing. even within my own team, but just connecting with people all across is...
Mike (25:32.524)much better speed.
Rick Sola (25:46.826)It's just a huge value and so glad you brought that up and I appreciate you sharing your road to the chair that you're in and I always give everybody a chance to brag on their people and you got some great things going at California Trailed. I know it takes great people so take a moment. Tell us about California.
Mike (26:05.1)Yeah.
my goodness, you know this is my tenth year in this building and each year I'm more more impressed with the level of connectedness my teachers have with the community. You know it's a joy each day to come in and work and work with people that really have the student needs at the heart of everything that they do. You my office staff is amazing.
together a staff that can you know work really hard for our customers which our customers are students and parents and community and and and and really do some great things for them but also have some fun and this is a group of people that I come come to school each day excited to spend my day not only
with our office staff and our teaching staff, but our paras that are working every day so hard with some bigger challenges than we've faced in education in a lot of years, and ever in my estimation, some of the things that kids are having to deal with, and we're helping them through that, and it's a joy each day to come and do that. And I would say this,
In Baser, I was kind of a one-man team, right? I was the only middle school in the district. being in a district like ours where there are 10 of us that share the same seat, I love the opportunity to be able to pick up the phone and call any of the other nine and say, here's what's going on. Have you ever dealt with this? And be able to kind of be a little bit vulnerable, but then also gain.
Mike (27:56.88)gained so much from other people's experiences and those kind of things in it. And the flip side of that is it feels good when people reach out and ask for, ask if there are things that we can help them through. So great team both in my building and outside of my building. I love that, and like you said, knowing a lot of people from really the metro especially, but across the state that are out in
in buildings every day. fortunate to be able to have a Rolodex of people to reach out to and share a laugh and gain some knowledge.
Rick Sola (28:36.11)Well, absolutely. And you got to share the laughs or else the job can swallow you up. And that's one thing. Going back, I don't know, nine years or so, we connected, I guess, or you said 10 years, I guess it's been longer than that, but we connected for the first time. You've always been there and always a good perspective, a good ear. So I'll always appreciate that. And you're right. It's those connections that really what the KPA is all about, what
our own districts and then networking that we do. It's, you know, without it, it really can be a job that, like I said, can just swallow you up. But, you know, there's also, there's just so many celebrations in there and having those networks and those connections are huge. And, you know, kind of on that point, I want to thank you because a few weeks ago you recorded a perspective, the crosswalk, see at the crosswalk. And if you're listening to this and you haven't checked that out, it's about a five minute PD.
Mike (29:28.721)Yeah.
Rick Sola (29:34.734)principal perspectives. But Mike did one of those about the importance and value of being outside and the crosswalk being visible every day and what that means to a community. It's really, really good. So check it out. Mike, I appreciate you taking the time. At the end of a long day, I know, but jumping on here talking about some really neat things going on in your building and all the things that we spoke about today. I'm going to put some links in the show notes, so make sure to check it out.
I really appreciate your time and giving back to the listeners in this way.
Mike (30:11.582)Well, I appreciate you asking me to join and I will also give a shout out to
those principal perspectives that you're posting. I listened to one on the way to school today and that was Dr. Woolever talking about different culture things to kind of energize your staff as we're getting into this tough time of the year and that was a lot of fun to listen to but I've enjoyed each of those that I've listened to. If someone's by chance hearing this and hasn't
tuned into those. There are some really good ones and they're quick hitters that I think you're going to leave every one of them with something to take back to your building. Even yours Rick, the man slash woman in the arena is a great quote and I love the way that you put some thought to that and made it extremely applicable to what we do on a daily basis. And thank you for all you do for my daughter at your building.
Rick Sola (30:58.467)Uh-uh.
That's right.
Rick Sola (31:12.994)Yeah, that's what.
Yeah, no, she is awesome. Yeah, you may miss that early on if you're listening here, but Mike's daughter is here at the building and she is a wonderful, wonderful person and certainly takes after her.
Mike (31:30.594)Clearly.
Rick Sola (31:32.578)But no, I appreciate your time, Mike. And we'll be seeing you around soon. So check the show notes, and we'll get it all connected. But thanks for being here today.
Mike (31:44.743)Thank you, sir. Have a good one.
 

Cool Coffee: A Principal's Perspective 16 - Jenny Steele - Is this a sitcom?

In this perspective, Mrs. Jenny Steel, principal of Manchester Park Elementary School in Olathe, USD 233, talks about the unbelievable, the heavy, and the need to find the joy every day, no matter what's going on in your building. 
Mrs. Jenny Steele
Manchester Park Elementary School
USD 233, Olathe
Is this a sitcom?
 
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The mission of the Kansas Principals Association, an organization committed to educational excellence and the lifelong success of all students, is to develop and support all principals through optimized learning, collaborative leadership, networking, and service.
Read more about the KPA HERE.

Cool Coffee: A Principal's Perspective 15 - Jenny Woolever - Building Morale through the Holidays

In this perspective, Dr. Jenny Woolever, principal of Frontier Trail Middle School in Olathe, USD 233, shares many ideas on how to build up morale during the second quarter and through the holidays. This episode is packed with ideas for the building principal to consider. 
Dr. Jenny Woolever
Frontier Trail MS
USD 233, Olathe
X: @WooleverJenny
Building Morale through the Holidays
 
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The mission of the Kansas Principals Association, an organization committed to educational excellence and the lifelong success of all students, is to develop and support all principals through optimized learning, collaborative leadership, networking, and service.
Read more about the KPA HERE.

Cool Coffee: A Principal's Perspective 14 - Stacey Green - The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

In this perspective, Principal Stacey Green provides insight on a book called Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKoewn. Stacey provides the listener an opportunity to discern their location on the spectrum of essentialism and explains how this can impact our own performance as a principal. 
Stacey Green Pre-K-8 PrincipalStockton Grade SchoolUSD 271 StocktonX: @usd271sgsEssentialism- the disciplined pursuit of less
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The mission of the Kansas Principals Association, an organization committed to educational excellence and the lifelong success of all students, is to develop and support all principals through optimized learning, collaborative leadership, networking, and service.
Read more about the KPA HERE.

Cool Coffee: A Principal's Perspective 13 - Krista Dueringer - The Power of Student Service

Listen to Mrs. Krista Dueringer, assistant principal of Chisholm Trail Middle School in Olathe USD 233, describe why she views community service as an essential part of a student's school experience and development. In this perspective, Krista shares about her passion for serving and for promoting a building that values student service in the community. 
Krista Dueringer
Assistant Principal/Athletic Director
Chisholm Trail Middle School
Olathe Schools, USD 233
X: @kdueringer
Topic: The Power of Student Service
 
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The mission of the Kansas Principals Association, an organization committed to educational excellence and the lifelong success of all students, is to develop and support all principals through optimized learning, collaborative leadership, networking, and service.
Read more about the KPA HERE.

Cool Coffee 8 - Mrs. Kelly Whittaker - Ottawa High School

Mrs. Kelly Whittaker, 7 year principal of Ottawa High School, USD 290, discusses the success they've had with parent-teacher conferences, her time with the KPA, and the upcoming KPA conference where she'll lead a session for new and early year administrators. Conversation leads to the mutual value for new and veteran administrators to share ideas and work together as they navigate the "fire hose" of administration.
Contact Kelly Whittaker: whittakerk@usd290.org
X: @kelwhitt217
Kelly's favorite quote: Optimism doesn't mean that you are blind to the reality of the situation. It means that you remain motivated to seek a solution to whatever problems arise. --The Dalai Lama
Chapters (time stamps do not account for the Cool Coffee intro--full transcript of the show below)
00:00 Innovative Student-Led Conferences02:52 The Journey to Leadership05:56 The Value of Networking in Education09:05 Insights for New Principals11:50 Optimism in Leadership14:45 Celebrating Ottawa High School's Achievements
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The mission of the Kansas Principals Association, an organization committed to educational excellence and the lifelong success of all students, is to develop and support all principals through optimized learning, collaborative leadership, networking, and service.
Read more about the KPA HERE.
TRANSCRIPT (AI produced)
Rick Sola (00:01.666)Hello and welcome to another edition of Cool Coffee with Kansas principals. Today I'm with Miss Kelly Whitaker of Ottawa High School USD home of the cyclones. Hello Kelly.
Kelly Whittaker (00:15.226)Hello, Rick. Thanks for having me today.
Rick Sola (00:17.494)Yes, great. Appreciate you jumping on here. And you had told me earlier in the week that this is conference week for you.
Kelly Whittaker (00:25.326)It was, yep, we had our parent teacher conferences. So we do student led conferences at our high school, ninth through 12th grade. And so students call their families after they've worked for several weeks on those individual plans of studies and they invite them to come meet with their advisory teacher and they go over that information. So.
We had over 85 % attendance this year, which is the best attendance we've ever had. And then the really cool thing was my teachers were turning in their attendance sheets saying, hey, I've got a meeting scheduled with this parent next week before school and this parent after school. And a lot of them were very motivated to get 100 % of their students to join us, which is just really encouraging. And it shows the value of that work.
Rick Sola (01:08.494)So that's awesome. And that wasn't really even the topic I was, we were going to spend some time on today, but we are also just finishing conference week. It's a Friday, it's October 18th. And this is a day off here where I'm at. We had just finished a week long conference week and it's fairly similar through the grade levels and it's by appointment. And then we have some common time on a Wednesday evening where it's open arena style. But I love that IPS approach and you said you had 85 % attendance.
Kelly Whittaker (01:38.822)Yep, we've hovered around 75 to 82 % the last four years and this year we really got over the bar which was exciting.
Rick Sola (01:47.822)So when did this begin?
Kelly Whittaker (01:49.638)We started when we were a school redesign school. So we would have started this. This is my seventh year at Ottawa High School. So we would have started six years ago. This is our sixth year doing it. And we've done different iterations and variations, but we kind of like the process that we have in place right now. We've done a lot of reflecting on it, gotten a lot of student and parent input.
And the most important thing is my teachers are pretty bought into our advisory process. We have pretty high expectations around that, but without them being bought into it, we wouldn't be able to, I think, have the success we do with our kiddos.
Rick Sola (02:23.692)Yeah, no, I really like that. I'm really intrigued. That might have to be another topic for a show sometime because we do the conferences here and, going back, I'm in my, I don't know, 14th, 15th year in administration. And at the very beginning, I definitely remember, you know, as, you know, learning management systems were kind of, were kind of pre in existence or not quite fully there. It was a little bit more of what, you know, kind of the
for kids coming in or parents, is it going to be a surprise night or what are we going to expect? But now there's really no mystery. I've said that for a long time. There's not much mystery for a parent who wants to know how their child is doing. They can find it almost in real time. And so I love that new approach with more of a presentation at conferences or a demonstration or a product being displayed.
Kelly Whittaker (03:20.12)Absolutely, no, we have found a lot of success in it and so we just, don't know, we're not, I'm not all about reinventing the wheel. And so now that we've kind of gotten a groove and we stole a lot of what we do from different schools and we've kind of made it our own and then reflect on it every year to make sure that it gets better. And then more importantly, keeping up with whatever the individual plans of study, guidances from the state. We try to make sure we're adding those new components each year.
Rick Sola (03:47.064)So you mentioned seven years at Ottawa High School. What is your road to the chair that you are in right now?
Kelly Whittaker (03:55.332)My road to this chair. So I was a special education teacher in Indiana for six years.
And then I actually was only taught at the elementary and middle school level. And my first high school experience was I did a lot of coaching, high school basketball and track when I was a teacher. But then I jumped into being an assistant principal at a really large high school in Indiana. And I did that for six years. And then my husband and I relocated to Kansas and I spent two years as an assistant principal at Shawnee Heights High School in Topeka. And then I have now been the principal at Ottawa High School for seven years.
And I really enjoy my job because I live in the community of Ottawa and I know that is not everybody's jam, but I enjoy being three minutes from work and interacting with all of my students and parents at the grocery store and everywhere else that I see them in town. And my son goes to school with, you know, a lot of my students' siblings and I just enjoy that aspect of it.
Rick Sola (04:54.028)That's interesting. I originally worked about 20 minutes away from my house and then had the opportunity to become principal at the neighborhood school where I currently do have one of my kids here. And it was one of the biggest parts of the decision was, is this going to be a good thing or not? And I tell people all the time, because that's a common question, is there are far more perks and far more advantages and
Kelly Whittaker (05:11.301)Yeah.
Rick Sola (05:22.638)Just just being in the community and being a part of it and I'm about a two minute drive from from the building and it's it's awesome so it's cool to hear you say that because I know there are some that's like, you know, I want to be across state line and You know go to my own little area, but that's cool
Kelly Whittaker (05:35.865)Absolutely.
And I don't want to make it sound like rainbows and butterflies, but I agree with you. There's pros and cons to everything, and there are, in my opinion, just way more pros to just being immersed in the community than if I lived 20, 30, 40 minutes away and I felt disconnected from what was happening outside of the school day.
Rick Sola (05:56.598)Right. So brought you on here because we are just a few weeks from the KPA conference, the principals conference, which I attended last year, presented at last year, loved it, had a really great time. It is such a valuable conference, I feel like for principal development. You are presenting and so I wanted to give you an opportunity to share a little bit about the conference you're going to be presenting at, but also you've been in the KPA for several years and just
what you have found and gotten out of it over the last however many years it was.
Kelly Whittaker (06:28.549)Yeah.
Absolutely. know I was saying, I think this is my sixth year as a member of the Kansas Principle Association. And it was, I was about six years ago when I was at a conference and I really didn't know anybody. And I was kind of just freelancing around by myself and a couple of the principals that were on the board of directors, they invited me to dinner, invited me to hang out. And really what
I think got me is it's for me. It's a lot of the networking opportunities. It's just being able to connect with principals from all across Kansas. I think of my relationship with you, Rick, and you're a principal that I would have really have no reason to ever get to know or be able to learn from if I wasn't a part of an organization like KPA and just the idea sharing and the sessions at the Kansas Principals Association. To me, those are some of the most valuable sessions because there are other principals talking to you about
know, just programs and inspirations that are happening in their building and really giving you some food for thought to bring back to your building leadership teams, to bring back to your assistant principals as you guys are just continuing to, you know.
probably work on your path towards whatever your strategic plan looks like. And so that's probably for me, like the biggest. then I think when I really outside of that is that professional development and not when I being a member of Kansas principal association has brought me so many opportunities that I would have never been connected to. I was fortunate enough last year to be a Kelly mentor through case state where I got to mentor a brand new assistant principal that was 40 minutes from Ottawa.
Kelly Whittaker (08:08.552)and I got to visit his school and he came to my school and we met weekly and it just was, I learned so much from him despite him saying he learned a lot from me being a brand new administrator. It was a really cool opportunity. Kansas Principal Association is even more associated with USA Kansas now and just the professional development opportunities for principals in the state of Kansas, to me it's...
I don't know any other state that offers what we do. I have had luxury of spending some time on some state committees where I can really advocate for our profession and voice, you know, an opinion that might lead to some positive change for teachers and for administrators. And so really all of those opportunities without the Kansas Principles Association, I don't know that I would have been afforded those opportunities. And really for me too, it's just about serving my profession. I'm a big boy.
and giving back to your community, probably why I enjoy living in Ottawa and being the principal at the high school. But I also believe in giving back to our profession and being a member is just to me one of the many ways that you can do that.
Rick Sola (09:19.734)You mentioned the idea sharing and you know that's what to me this conference is like the value. There's a lot of conferences in education. There's I mean they're all over there all the time. And what I really like about this is it's it is specifically designed for the building principle and it's it's for promoting that that idea sharing that conversation and the common challenges that pop up day to day and.
connecting with people from across the state. That's what I have enjoyed. Like you mentioned, you're right, you and I probably have very little opportunity to have paths cross except for this. And now we have had some conversations, communications of potentially sharing candidates and things like that. And it just builds that network. It's got just such great value.
Kelly Whittaker (10:16.166)Absolutely, I couldn't agree with you more.
Rick Sola (10:19.054)So you are presenting, talk about your topic that you're presenting with one of our other members, I believe, Dr. Dane.
Kelly Whittaker (10:28.602)Yeah, Dr. Dane and I are.
We decided to team up to do a presentation. And he's another person that I've become very close with and I don't know that I would have had the opportunity to do so for any other reason. But Dr. Dane and I are together. We've got over 20 years of high school administrative experience and we by far do not know all the things and we are learning every day. Both of us, think, are lifelong learners. So we wanted to put together a presentation for principals that are in years one to three and really our goal
is to provide some insight and some advice, but more importantly, we've got some scenarios built that we want to give the administrators in the room an opportunity to collaborate with one another and process those scenarios, and then us be able to talk as a whole group. And those scenarios are somewhat aligned to some of the advice or tips and tricks of the trade that we are going to be giving those new principals. And so we really just want to encourage anyone who's in years one through three to come in the room.
We'd love to hear and learn from them. Just give them a little bit of advice and have some time to be able to connect and process with some scenarios that we feel like are pretty common amongst those first three years that you're in administration and you just need help processing and listening to other people's advice on how they might handle things.
Rick Sola (11:50.574)That's awesome. The first three years, it's funny, you mentioned like learning from them and that, you know, I have the opportunity, most years we have kind of a grow your own administrator program and to be a mentor for a week with one of the candidates and I love it. And I kind of try to put myself back 14 years, 15 years ago when I was in that position. And I was just perceived that the principal or the administrators, I mean, they just do it. They just know it.
you know, boom, boom, boom. And reality, we're picking up the phone and we're calling people. We're calling. If it's not within our district, it's people like you or Dr. Dane, even if it's, you know, if you've got those kinds of connections and it absolutely is an opportunity to learn from us as veteran principals, to learn from the one to three year, because that's a whole different perspective too. And there's a lot of like, huh, I hadn't thought about it that way before. You know, I've thought about this way for, for years and
Kelly Whittaker (12:28.88)Yeah.
Kelly Whittaker (12:45.784)certainly.
Rick Sola (12:48.814)What a great session.
Kelly Whittaker (12:49.062)then fresh, fresh energy. Don't you think fresh energy too? A lot of new principals have fresh energy and I think sometimes things are working well in our schools and we're kind of in a groove and maybe a rut and we don't wanna be perceived as adding too much to our teachers' plates. And so I really appreciate that fresh energy and fresh perspective that new principals bring to the table. Cause it really challenges you to be reflective of what's happening in your building.
Rick Sola (13:14.518)Absolutely. And just given the opportunity for some scenarios, know, I go back, I went to Baker for my, my leadership degree and just all the scenarios. And there were some that were fairly wacky and then you kind of get into it it's like, you do see it. You see a lot of the wacky, but I always enjoyed those and that'll be a really great session. You, you mentioned tips and tricks that are going to be shared. Do you have one or two that you could kind of give us a sneak preview of or like some advice?
Kelly Whittaker (13:41.792)sneak preview of. we were, so we've been problem solving and all of it is, it's all research based and so we really want to talk about like things that you're tight and loose on. We think it's really important when you are a brand new administrator to figure out what are you going to be tight with, what are you going to be loose on, because as you know, Rick, we can't hold our teachers
extremely accountable on every little thing. We gotta figure out what is that value that you have in the building. So we wanna talk a little bit about that. We also wanna just talk with them about decision making strategies. As you know,
I, there are days that I, sometimes I wish I could keep track of how many decisions we make in a day, because they just are constantly coming at you and we want to just give them some strategies and some tips about kind of quick and efficient ways to make those decisions. and then really talking about leaning on your team. So whether that's your team within your district, whether that's colleagues that you're meeting through organizations like Kansas principals association. but this is my 13th year as a high school administrator and I don't know that
I have a week that goes by that something occurs that I have to stop and think. And it stumped me and it's something new, something I've never had happen before. And I might be calling my superintendent. I might be calling Dr. Dane. I might be calling one of my league colleagues in Spring Hill to say, hey, have you ever had this happen before? And like, how have you handled it? So we really want to just encourage that networking and that collaboration as well throughout kind of our time with these new principals.
Rick Sola (15:16.814)those early years and especially I kind of, don't know the first very first year principal it's like you're drinking from a fire hose and you're just trying to kind of get your feet under you. When I made the transition to the building them and now had the opportunity to really have some experience to draw on and I just remember of course it was kind of a crazy time it was 2020 but I just remember like every decision is potentially precedent setting.
Kelly Whittaker (15:44.26)correct.
Rick Sola (15:44.558)And so you don't want to rush into just every, any decision, I guess, and be very selective. And I even share that out loud. There were times I kind of just want to think about this because there could be some unintended consequences. And I think that's part of our job to be kind of, to kind of evaluate the decision and what that might lead to. So no, that's great. That'll be a really interesting session.
Kelly Whittaker (15:57.211)Yep.
Kelly Whittaker (16:13.678)And Rick, I love that you said the title of our session is drinking from the fire hose, insights and strategies for new principles.
Rick Sola (16:20.642)Perfect. That's... Yeah, no, it's...
Kelly Whittaker (16:21.606)It is, so I love that you said that. I think that just proves though, because it really is truly, those first few years of being an administrator, you truly are drinking from a fire hose and you are just trying to keep moving and keep going and be methodical in your thought processes and your decision making while continuing to keep up with the pace of everything that's happening around you. So I love that I heard you say that, because that was exactly where our minds were.
Rick Sola (16:45.292)And that was not planned. I did not like scope it out. like, hey, I'm gonna plant this fire hose line. You know, it's, now I lost my train of thought, because I'm thinking about the no, just that first year, think part of the fire hose is kind of that feeling, like I mentioned, as a teacher envisioning my administrators. They just make the decisions. No, I think part of that fire hose is
Kelly Whittaker (16:50.726)That's great.
Rick Sola (17:14.561)kind of feeling like I have to know everything. I have to make a quick decision. I don't know everything. And so then it just compounds on itself. And that's what I love about, well, the session you're talking about, the conference that we're talking about, and the KPA in general is it is about building that network because it's, there's so many things and we don't.
Kelly Whittaker (17:17.158)coordinates.
Rick Sola (17:37.61)It may be a first time for us, but it's not the first time in education, but having that network and people to draw on both within your district and without outside of your district, there's just so much value. And at the end of the day, it makes us better leaders, which at the end of the day then helps our building become better and it's better for students.
Kelly Whittaker (17:51.225)Absolutely.
Kelly Whittaker (17:55.8)No, absolutely. And I just think too, especially with the Kansas Principal Association Conference in November, it's also just when we really think about our school year.
Our evaluations are winding down for those first round new employees that we have. There's been a lot that's going on and kind of just to take a day and a half for yourself to build and grow your own network, building your own professional development, and also just laughing with other people that can really relate to what you're dealing with or going through. That is huge and I think it's important for our mental health, right? We talk about self care a lot for our teachers and really
going to the KPA conference for me is kind of part of my self care, right? I go and I get to relax and I get to maybe challenge some of my colleagues and maybe do a presentation. I get to go and learn from my colleagues and then we all get to spend some time in the evening together, you know, just kind of laughing together, telling stories and really getting to know each other. And I value that. And I just, I always try to encourage every principal in my league, every principal that I come in contact with that it's not
We're not being cheesy. We're not just trying to increase our membership because we want every principal part of KPA. We really want every principal part of KPA because of what it means and what we know that it could do for them professionally. There is a lot of sincerity behind the work that the board of directors do when we come together to really promote our organization.
Rick Sola (19:27.086)Yeah, like you said, it's a professional refresh or restart or it's energizing. You go to those and then ultimately we are better for it. So I'm gonna shift gears just a little bit here to a quote that you had shared was your favorite quote. I'm pulling this from last year, but I thought it was interesting as I looked at it again. Optimism doesn't mean that you are blind to the reality of the situation.
Kelly Whittaker (19:31.376)Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Rick Sola (19:54.496)It means that you remain motivated to seek a solution to whatever problems arise. Do you remember putting that down?
Kelly Whittaker (20:01.574)I do remember putting that out, I do. I do, that's one of my favorite quotes, because I think a lot of time as educators, it's easy for us to focus on the negative. And sometimes as a leader, when you choose to be...
optimistic. think sometimes your fellow colleagues in your building, they assume that you're ignoring all of the maybe issues or the struggles that are happening, whether that's within your own building, within your district, maybe within education in general. And I just, I truly believe in looking and thinking at the best of every situation. Even when students come to my office for really egregious behaviors, I
Our goal with my assistant principals and I, goal is we're going to address the behavior. We're going to give consequences if we need to, but more importantly, we need to figure out how to learn from this situation and maybe build a little relationship with the family in the meantime. So that way we can wrap around this student to move forward. And that doesn't mean that we're happy with whatever consequence or whatever behavior or action that they maybe did to another student in our building, but we're looking for the best in every situation. And I truly believe in that. Just really believe in
and optimistic. I think if we are pessimists in education and focus on all the things that are driving us crazy, you're not going to find yourself to be able to have a very longevity of career within education because there's a lot of negative feedback we get. There's a lot of negativity out there about being an educator and being an administrator. So I really believe in focusing in all the good that we do for students and for our communities.
Rick Sola (21:37.454)Yeah, it's a great quote and you hitting on a lot of things, you know, I always find it's a balance between just what you said and just what the quote says of, you know, being positive, but also kind of acknowledging the things that aren't positive and not with blinders on or being perceived as head in the sand about really important issues, but kind of being able to finesse what's really going on, but staying positive because it's so important and critical for.
Kelly Whittaker (21:49.51)Hmm.
Rick Sola (22:04.05)what it is we do and who it is we're working with, which is our students. So I want to give you a chance, to brag on Ottawa High School, USD 290, home of the cyclones. Brag about your people.
Kelly Whittaker (22:17.914)Yes, let me brag about my people. So Ottawa High School is a really special place. I've been there for seven years. Like I said, I live in the community. We get, we are fortunate enough to offer over 20 college and career pathways, CTE pathways to our students. And I always like to brag on that because the only reason that happens is because I have amazing CTE educators as well as amazing math, science, social studies, English teachers that are willing to teach some of those introductory
level or technical level courses so we can offer more opportunities to our students during the day. Over the last six years, we have done a lot of work with our individual plans of study. We've implemented a really robust advisory program. We have a student success team, is basically it's our sit process and at a high school, that's a really difficult sometimes to get a good process in place, but we believe in what we do. And because of all of those things that everything
that the teachers at Ottawa High School do. We have been fortunate. We've had over a 90 % graduation rate for the last four years. And I'm really proud about that because that echoes the hard work of not just my teachers, but my students. And we are bringing over 90 % of our students every year entering the community of Ottawa with that next step, right? They've got opportunities because they have graduated from high school. So it's not about them just earning that piece of paper, but helping them really.
analyze and think about what are my next steps, what could I, can I believe in myself, and what could I do with this. So that's what I'm probably the most proud about and I just have some phenomenal educators like we all do at Ottawa High School.
Rick Sola (24:03.596)Great. Well, you're just up the road here and it sounds like some really great things happening in Ottawa, Ottawa High School. And I really appreciate your time on, it's always a busy week, but conference week tends to be, you know, kind of different types of hours and potentially long. And I know you work this in. So I really appreciate your time and all the best here in a few weeks at the KPA conference and it'll be a great time.
Kelly Whittaker (24:21.615)Yeah.
Kelly Whittaker (24:32.738)Absolutely, I look forward to seeing you then. I think we've got a Zoom KPA meeting before that as well. So I appreciate you, doing this. And I just appreciate all of the hard work that all the educators across Kansas do, because our kids really do need us.
Rick Sola (24:45.486)Well hey, have a great day and a great weekend and we'll see you soon. Alright, see you, Kelly. Bye.
Kelly Whittaker (24:50.886)All right, perfect, you too.
 

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Courtney Weber
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@DrWeberSHMS
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The mission of the Kansas Principals Association, an organization committed to educational excellence and the lifelong success of all students, is to develop and support all principals through optimized learning, collaborative leadership, networking, and service.
Read more about the KPA HERE.

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The mission of the Kansas Principals Association, an organization committed to educational excellence and the lifelong success of all students, is to develop and support all principals through optimized learning, collaborative leadership, networking, and service.
Read more about the KPA HERE.

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The mission of the Kansas Principals Association, an organization committed to educational excellence and the lifelong success of all students, is to develop and support all principals through optimized learning, collaborative leadership, networking, and service.
Read more about the KPA HERE.