Cool Coffee 3 - Ms. Megan Hankins - Louisburg Middle School

Ms. Megan Hankins, principal of Louisburg Middle School in the Louisburg USD 416 school district, just completed her first year as principal. This was also her first "official" year as an administrator. Listen in as Ms. Hankins discusses how she prepared last year, what she'd do different, and how she plans to move forward in year 2 on the job.

00:00 Introduction and Background
04:45 Taking on the Principal Role
08:46 Preparing for the First Year
12:46 Lessons Learned and Advice for New Administrators
16:57 Balancing Work and Family Life
19:40 Looking Ahead to Year Two
23:17 Pride and Support in the Louisburg School District

Connect with today's guest: hankinsm@usd416.org

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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.

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FULL TRANSCRIPT

Rick Sola (00:04.152)
Good morning, Megan, and thank you for joining us today.

Megan (00:09.194)
good morning!

Rick Sola (00:11.502)
Good to have you. I've got Megan Hankins here. She is principal of Lewisburg Middle School, USD 416, home of the Wildcats. And that just makes me so happy as a Wildcat graduate of K -State myself. And that I know we go way back and I know that you are a Jayhawk. And so that just makes me smile to know that. But Megan, I appreciate

Coming on here and looking forward to a good conversation because you just wrapped up your first year as a principal at the middle school there in Lewisburg and so much value I think could be shared here about your successes. As I say, the glows and the grows of the school year and what you've learned. But let me turn it over to you. Tell us about yourself. Introduce yourself, where you went to school, your background on

to the chair that you are currently sitting

Megan (01:11.617)
Hi Rick, thanks for having me on today. I just wanted to address the Wildcat Jayhawk situation. I want to thank Chisholm Trail and the 23 years that it took me to get used to wearing a Wildcat slash Power Cat. Thankful for those 23 years that they were green. I am now at Lewisburg and we are purple, so I've had to stomach the purple Wildcat, but I'm 100 % proud to wear it every day. But yeah, so thank you for...

for getting me used to that wildcat. Yeah, I, you know, born and raised in Olathe, I went through my career there as a student and off to KU I went for undergrad and master's degree and to Baker for doctoral classes, which I'm finishing up a dissertation through Baker.

right now and be done with that in April. So that's kind of my history as far as schooling goes. And then I started my first year as a PE teacher in Gardner at Nike Middle and really enjoyed that school district and came back to my roots in Olathe and hired on at Chisholm Trail in 2000 and had 23 amazing years there, a few of which we were

peers and of course we worked together as you were there as a first year teacher and I got to boss you around a little bit so that was very enjoyable and moving forward you came back to boss me around a little bit so and then on to Lewisburg and the 22 -23 -24 school year as a principal and getting ready to start back on Monday for my second year so that's a little bit about my career and

Rick Sola (02:43.778)
Yes.

Megan (03:03.551)
And how I got there, started in the teaching process and kind of decided I need a little bit more and went and got an Ashley board certified and that filled up my bucket a little bit and decided I needed to go back again to get my doctorate in administrative leadership and sat on that for little bit, tried to raise a few kids here and there and then decided it was time to make the leap and with a lot of support, that's kind of how I landed in Lewisburg.

Rick Sola (03:31.884)
Yeah, that's awesome. I just wrote down to myself, stay professional. You and I go so far back that there's just things I want to say that, you know, we've got a professional podcast going here. So no, actually, we do go way back and starting my career here. It's amazing the impressions that people make when it's your first year in teaching. And you and I did lunchroom supervision together along

the other PE department, the other ninth grade teachers at that time, because we were a junior high. But yeah, I got to know you that way. And then it's been awesome to come back. And you are now principal at Lewisburg. And it was really exciting, Juan, to see you go through that process and the interview. And truly, think Lewisburg hit a home run in hiring you, because it was kind of unorthodox in some ways, because you came from the classroom.

and you jumped straight to the principle that there was no AP in between there. talk about that a little bit, just kind of your feelings at that moment. Really, it was like this time last year that that all occurred.

Megan (04:45.939)
Yeah, absolutely. I remember reaching out to a friend and some advice and I said, hey, there's a principal opening in Lewisburg. Surely there's going to be an assistant principal spot. The assistant's going to bump up and you think I should go for that assistant principal? And she's like, no, go for the principal. And so in that moment, are you sure I should do that? She said, yes, I think you should. And I did and went for it and just, you know, really appreciative of the opportunity

Dr. Bierman and Lewisburg community gave me to be the principal of the building. But at first, I feel like I questioned myself whether or not that jumping straight into that role was something that I could handle right away. being in this role now for the last year, I realized that a lot of what I was doing for 23 years and the mentorship that you and other principals gave me.

allowed me to, you know, for the most part, I feel, be very successful in the run as principals as far as, you know, what I did in the coaching world and the teaching world and, you know, building those relationships and forming a climate and a culture that everyone wanted to be a part of was something I didn't realize I was doing daily in

job as a teacher and it just filtered right over into the principal part. And as you know, making decisions is never very hard for me. And so I was able to then, know, tack on my strength of being a leader to make hard decisions and potentially get in situations that aren't always easy. I was to thrive in that based off of what I experienced at Chisholm as a teacher.

Rick Sola (06:36.558)
Yeah, it was interesting for me thinking through the process because truly, as I thought about when you were going through this last year and this was becoming more and more of a possibility than a reality, it was like you've been an administrator for the last 23 years through your dance program. mean, people who are in this area know how robust of a program you ran, but there's so much management that goes into that, so much leadership. So, I mean, everything.

So much of what you deal with now as a principal, you've been getting trained on the last 20 some years as a dance head dance coach. You also referenced just like just like you said, going for that principalship. And I'm classroom teacher jumping straight there. And you can basically what I hear is like that imposter syndrome that I think I think we all feel if we're all honest with ourselves, I think we all probably.

at times feel that imposter syndrome of, man, am I the person for this job or is this, when you look around and see so much greatness? But the thing I thought when they made that decision was they absolutely made the right call with you as principal there at Lewisburg because I knew you were ready for it. In the hindsight, seeing you go straight

where you were here at Chisholm on up to the principalship at Lewisburg Middle School. It's been awesome. And I know you're killing it out there. So that's actually why I thought it would be so fun to have you here because you just finished your first year as a principal. And there's so many lessons in that first year. And so I'd love to just get your insight. I might do some some just quick Q &A, but I'd love to just hear your thoughts this time last year. So I say this time is July 19th right

You are already named principal and I know you are putting in the hours. For those who may be listening to this and they are in your shoes this time last year, getting ready for the upcoming school year, what was going on in your mind or what were some of the things that you were doing in late July to prepare yourself as a first time administrator?

Megan (08:46.675)
You know, I got this job and I had a trip planned to Greece. So I had to do my best to enjoy myself in Greece because coming back I was going all in. you know, the first thing I knew my contract didn't start till mid July and I got back from Greece and it was just I kind of hit the ground running. But I had to tell myself one day at a time. So it was like I woke up and what I could accomplish in that day I had

make sure that I felt good about that. If I looked at the big picture

I think it would have been way too overwhelming. I just started basic and I thought, you know what, I need to sit down and have as many meetings with people that will allow me to meet with them. And I'm just so really appreciative that people came in when they weren't on contract and they weren't getting paid to come in. But I sat down with my custodian, I sat down with my secretaries, I sat down with PTO presidents, I sat down with other admin in the district and everyone was just so gracious and giving of their time.

But they just allowed me to just dabble in those conversations. And it was really crazy to see, would sit down with the PTO president and then we'd have great conversation. And that led me to having conversation with another person in the community and getting community sponsors. TJ Solander who works in insurance in Lewisburg was just so gracious to be a community sponsor. just one conversation led to the next opportunity.

which then I knew it was just really heading the right direction.

Rick Sola (10:20.654)
That's awesome. Yeah, you said dabbling in conversation and I think that's a really good way to describe what's necessary. You're going into a new building, a new profession in many ways, in the field of education, but a whole new role, talking with so many people and all the while they're all trying to figure you out too. And what are you all about? the way you gathered information, is there anything like if you could tell yourself a year ago what you know now?

What would that be? What do you wish you knew then that you know

Megan (10:54.355)
I think I was definitely focused on the job. I was definitely focused on trying to understand the community and what their strengths were and what they were needing. But I think that if I would have just told myself a year ago, be you, be who you are, continue to exemplify the work ethic and bring to the table everything of truly what my roots are.

then I might have gone in a little bit more with a little bit more faith and trust that everything was going to be okay versus worried about, know, not necessarily being judged, but not coming in as a without experience and maybe a little bit on the insecure side of wanting to do the job so well. But I really think if I would have just trusted my gut is who I am and what I was bringing to the table, I would

Maybe then I feel like I was authentic in my job, but it might have been come through a little bit more.

Rick Sola (11:59.31)
I think that word authentic is so important in education, especially working with, well, working with people in general, but especially with kids, especially with middle school kids at authenticity, which you clearly have, but a really good word to describe that very beginning, those very beginning steps of, you cause you also, I think the balance as a new administrator is always, you want people to have confidence in you. So you want to have answers.

And sometimes the right answer is, know what, I need some time. I need to take a moment on this.

Rick Sola (12:36.96)
Is there anything in the course of the school year that was a big surprise for you? Didn't expect

Megan (12:44.865)
I don't think I expected, I know that my job and my passion is to be a support system for all the staff

you know, be their biggest cheerleader. I just, my biggest surprise is the amount of staff members that I felt like were cheerleaders for me in the job on a daily basis. it just, truly, I just appreciate knowing that they wanted me to succeed just as much as I wanted to succeed. And they were,

a cheerleader is like part of me wanna be like, no, no, no, that's my job. My job is to support you and cheer you on. Your job is not to do the same for me, but they came out of the woodworks and did that. That was definitely my most unanticipated surprise, I think.

Rick Sola (13:35.938)
That's awesome. That's also humbling too, I'm sure. When your staff come out there for you. Talk about, you know, we have some overlap in administrators we've worked with, and I know you've got some really good advice you've gotten from some that we have shared probably a bunch since you started out in Lewisburg. But what would you say is the best advice? I'm going ask you two advice questions. The best advice that you've received as an administrator.

Megan (13:39.453)
Very much so.

Rick Sola (14:05.334)
And then what would you, what advice would you give for an administrator right now, especially one that might be starting their first job?

Megan (14:13.729)
I have received so much advice over the years. feel like a lot of the advice that I feel like I've received has been in the actions of other principals that I've just watched and I've learned from. Some great advice is basically go in and learn the climate and the culture and don't try to change too much right away. Just get a feel for, you know, what your staff needs from you, what your students need from you, what the community needs from

learn it, digest it, and then maybe this year I get to go in and make some more changes with confidence and ones that I know that will be great for the building. You know, some advice I'd offer, you know, principals, you know, coming in. A lot of people say, hey, welcome to the dark side, but I truly...

You know, do not feel like I'm on the dark side. I do not feel like I'm alone. I do not feel. So I think the more that you embrace your, people that you work with, everyone, your kitchen staff, your custodians, your secretaries, your teachers, your paras, the more you embrace them and the more vulnerable you're willing to be to let them know truly who you are and what you want to do for your school. I think you will not be alone and nobody wants to be alone, right? And,

Nobody wants to be on an island. And I work in a smaller school where I just have one assistant principal and I don't, and there's not a lot of, most of the people I work with are my teaching staff. And so I've just, just be vulnerable. And your relationships will come and it won't be dark. Nobody wants to have it be dark.

Rick Sola (15:37.752)
All right.

Rick Sola (16:01.102)
It's good. if anyone's listening who's starting their first year, I think that's really good to remind yourself. It doesn't need to be dark and you've got a whole bunch of people around you that are there to support you. yeah, being vulnerable, I think it goes back to being authentic. we're not robots. We got to be measured and we need to make good decisions and things.

Certainly the input and the relationships that you build are so critical. You're very busy person and that's aside from the job that you hold. You've got three kids. You're involved in so many things and I know what kind of worker you are. You're the 110 percent, 100 percent of the time. And how do you balance all that? You've got two now going, you got two in college.

Is that right? And then one in high school, but one recent high school graduate. And so this past year, I know it's been super busy, but what do do to balance out and still be able to be

Megan (16:57.633)
Two of them.

Megan (17:08.949)
You know, first, I think all the things that I've gone through to get to this position, my own children have seen the rise and the falls and the struggles and wanting to pursue this position. And so they respect my wanting to work and to do right by everybody.

My number one thing to my staff and I stood up the very first day and I said who I am and what I represent and I represent family and I expect all of my staff members to put their family first and I have that conversation day in and day out. I live by that. I treat them that way and in turn they also treat me that way and I put as much effort and organize my schedule so

Everything that I need to be at and that I want to be at, I can give 100 % to. And then things that I know that I need to be out for my own kids, I do have to trust other people in my building. My assistant principal to help me out, he's got kids as well. And so we just do a really great job of saying,

You go be with your family, you go to your kids games and I'll cover these events or I'll be here supporting our community and he does the same for me. And so I think it's great having that relationship with him, but family first and I'm a mom and I love watching my kids grow and yeah, Rosie was in her senior year

I really don't think I missed anything her senior year, but I also feel like I didn't miss anything in my building. So just that organization piece and just letting everyone know where you stand and I support you and your family and I do that when they need me to support them and they support me. So I think that's very important.

Rick Sola (19:05.026)
What a great message for your staff to hear and then a positive example on the flip side of it, just that you live your words to because it's really it's really easy to not live that advice. And it's really hard sometimes to step away from from your job because you feel that ownership. And so now I'm sure your staff loved love to hear that. Your.

on the cusp of starting year two as principal Hankins. What's on your mind right

Megan (19:40.053)
I feel like last year was a year of grace and everyone gave me grace. feel like Dr. Beerman gave me a lot of grace, my staff, the parents, the students, everyone did. And I just, know more.

And I have to do better and I have to keep what was good, good. And I have to grow in areas that need work and I'm here for it. And I'm able to own and recognize areas in which I feel like I need to get strong. I spent the summer kind of going to different trainings trying to grow in areas where I need that growth and not afraid to ask for help. But also know that the community is behind me and they support me but

I know more, I just gotta keep doing better and I'm gonna keep learning.

Rick Sola (20:30.69)
That's awesome. All right, a couple more questions, some quick headers. Tell me you're a principal without telling me you're a principal.

Megan (20:42.645)
Well Rick, you should

You know, a couple things. One, I got a checklist a mile long and I go into a day and I'm going to complete that checklist and I'm going to knock everything out. It's going to be a great day. And I leave the building and I come home with the same exact checklist and nothing gets checked off. However, you know, I put out.

a lot of fires. You know, I joke one day I walked into work and I had a staff member was like, hey, I appreciate all you do. It's the end of the year. Eighth grade is going to worlds of fun. Here's a Dunkin Donuts coffee. And I was like, oh, that's my favorite. You're the best. And I start to drink it and I don't think 30 seconds went by. let's just say there was a little bit of entertainment in the hallway behind me and the coffee went one direction and I went the other.

And I didn't get a sip of the coffee that day, and I don't know that I remember anything else happening that day. was just, know, a wind of events, but I missed out on the coffee.

Rick Sola (21:52.172)
So I did not put you up to sharing that story. That's like the inspiration behind the name of this podcast, Cool Coffee. It's kind of double meaning. I hope this podcast is super cool and everyone wants to hear this cool new podcast. But it's really about our coffee that we all have our morning drink. I'm a coffee drinker. I come in, I brew the coffee, I put it my desk and then something happens. by the time you get back to your coffee, it's a little cool. So that's the inspiration. So it could have been spilled coffee.

or like knocked out of my hand coffee podcast. don't know,

Megan (22:25.185)
Yeah, ironic that that is the story I chose to tell. Yeah, I agree. Coffee gets cold on the regular, but by gosh, I'm drinking that thing no matter if it's eight or if it's 11. Bombo, put that coffee down.

Rick Sola (22:40.428)
Yeah. So I'm to give you a chance here before we wrap up. You have you and I have we've connected off and on over the last year. And every time I talk with you, one, you're so energized and like you've got so much energy, but you're energized. I can just see it with with the job that you're doing. But you always speak so highly of the place that you're at. Lewisburg, Lewisburg Middle School, but the district. And so I want to give you a chance just

Bragging your people and just for anybody who's listening, tell us about

Megan (23:16.193)
I'm like I said, I'm sold on purple Rick. My closet's purple, my shoes are purple. I'm in that Wildcat Jayhawk Pratt and all. I mean, I'm in it. The school district is small. We just have one high school, one middle school and two elementary split K235. It's small. I never realized coming from a Latha which I

Rick Sola (23:25.07)
It's a great color.

Megan (23:42.433)
I love the district, it's big. always felt like I was also meant to be in a Latha, which I still believe that with my career up until this moment. a small district, the support system I feel is overwhelmingly there. I have so much gratitude towards Dr. Beerman, the superintendent.

who gave me this opportunity and felt like I was the right person to take this job over. Our middle school is great. We don't have about 371 kiddos in there, grade six, seven, eight. Teaching staff of about 32. Staff is great. They work so hard. We're number one in the state at our grade level for assessments and in the Frontier League. our

Teachers are always up for the challenge to keep pushing hard. But not only that, they build relationships with our students. their ability to, a lot of them have grown up in Lewisburg. teach in Lewisburg, their kids go through Lewisburg, they live there. And man, Friday nights, it's Friday night lights. It's like, kids show up with boots and jeans and proud football jerseys. And the whole community goes out to those football games. And so it's just something I'm really proud.

to work for every single day and I go to work and I'm energized, I'm passionate. But man, I loved my time in Aletha equally. And now I'm on to my passion in Lewisburg and so yeah, support, support, endless support.

Rick Sola (25:19.052)
Yeah, that's awesome. And like I said, I definitely picked up on that. It's been fun to catch up. We just connected with another principal friend of ours a few weeks ago and just debriefed the school year a little bit. But yeah, it just sounds like amazing, an amazing district, amazing job. And I know you're you're just killing it out there. And year two is going to be every bit of year one and more, I'm sure of it. But

Megan (25:44.373)
Well, I do. I do want to say and I not to float your ego by any means, I hate to even say this on a podcast out loud. Honestly, though, like without your support, and I would not be here and not a wholeheartedly believe that that your belief in me and faith in me and all the steps that

took the time to do to meet with me on a weekly basis for an hour and act like nothing else was going on. think about that all the time. Like, man, could I do the same thing Rick did for me on a weekly basis for an hour? And when I know that there's so many other things you could have been doing, but you prepared for those meetings, you took the time and it got me to where I am. And so I do wholeheartedly appreciate that. And don't let this get bigger than it is. I do appreciate

Rick Sola (26:34.554)
No, please, please go on. No, no, it was was it was awesome. It was fun. And, you know, of course, and it's just it's just awesome to see see you out there in Lewisburg and then stay in touch. And I know we will. The building I'm at has 25 years celebration coming up and you've already reached out about that. And it's awesome to see not just you, but others

Megan (26:38.892)
That's not it!

Rick Sola (27:02.23)
And I think you'd see the same at Lewisburg the longer you're there that people, keep their roots and they revisit and, but no, thank you for that. But yeah, you are where you belong and kudos to Lewisburg for, I don't want to say take a leap. I mean, I know that in the interview you had to, you just conveyed, you were ready for that job, but it's unorthodox. You don't hear too many classroom teachers straight to a

when there is a position of AP in between and kudos to them for recognizing the skill set that you have and it was absolutely the right decision. I'm confident of that and it's awesome to hear. I know your staff love you. I appreciate it's summer for you. And so I really appreciate you taking the time to sit down here and share some things. And I want to wish you all the best on your school year up ahead.

Megan (27:56.799)
Yeah, no problem. I'm glad to give you my last day off of contract. I start Monday. So I'm glad to give this to you and now I appreciate all your time and everything you do as well. And thanks for listening to me.

Rick Sola (28:09.174)
All right. Take care, Megan. We'll talk soon.

Megan (28:11.465)
Alright.