Kip Motta-Elected President of the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP)

 

I would like to get all Rich County School Stakeholders and community caught up on my educational learning adventures.  Before I get to this, I would like to let all the students and staff at Rich Middle School and North Rich Elementary how much I sincerely miss them.

As the elected President of the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), I have been traveling the country since August.  During this time, I have been able to address Principals while they attend their respective State Principal Conferences.  I also get to visit middle schools, junior high schools, and high schools in the States I am visiting.  This is way cool, and it has taught me how much I miss and value the students and staff at NRE and RMS.

The visits started in Vermont for their conference.  They are a small state with a lot of rural schools the size of ours, so I was able to learn about how they function and compare our school systems. I am very proud to say we have more and better resources and educators than most of the principles I visited with.

The next stop on the tour was to Columbine High School in Colorado to meet with the Principals Recovery Network (PRN) as they released the PRN Guide to Recovery.  The PRN is a group of principals who have experienced gun violence in their schools.  The Guide to Recovery is a proactive document with information critical to helping principals, schools and communities navigate the recovery from, not only gun violence, but any significant trauma affecting a school and their community.  The event profoundly moved me as I was able to have a guided tour of Columbine High School given by Principal Frank DeAngelis.  As he explained the step-by-step Columbine tragedy, I realized there is nothing more important than building trusting strong relationships with students and staff and loving and caring for them.  This the paramount foundation needed in every school before learning at the highest level can take place.

After Colorado and up to the first of November, I have visited Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maine, New York, Delaware, and California.  In each location, I have learned about the value and impact of understanding and accepting the diversity within our schools and how important it is for educators to ensure we know our children as individuals.  The students I visit with are telling me these relationships and the understanding of a trusted adult is the key to unlocking their full potential for learning.  The collective student voice says there is a strong need to be an active, valued, and understood partner in their education.

I cannot express enough how amazing this learning journey has been so far.  I have collected information and resources which will be valuable assets to our schools.  I have also learned how strong Rich County Schools are.  The resources, technology, educator commitment, and district leadership we have is second to none.  I really want our community to realize how blessed we are to have access to the high level of quality education available in Rich County.

This has been an incredible experience  so far, and I need to publicly thank Superintendent Lamborn and the School Board for allowing me this opportunity.  I will be keeping in touch as the year progresses.