LISD Superintendent Ed Murray
May 27, 2022
Earlier this week, I sent everyone an announcement regarding the tragedy in Texas. That is a situation that remains at the forefront of my thoughts. I cannot emphasize strongly enough how important safety and security are as a foundation for successful outcomes in a school environment. But let’s take this from the macro- to the micro-level.
We avoid tragic circumstances by doing the right things for and with our students every day. This includes making sure we include student voice and choice in our lesson planning; we must allow student interests to drive student learning; every student needs to have a personalized learning path. Every student needs to develop mastery of fundamental concepts before moving on to the next level of their studies. This allows every student to feel successful in the long term, while failures are recognized as learning experiences in the short term. Creating the environment for this dynamic student experience requires a substantive change in how we do things as educators. We have to give up a degree of control and trust in the capacity of our students to make good choices (or to learn from their bad choices). We also have to help our teachers learn new processes for engaging students and making them partners in learning, rather than subjects of our work.
I mention all of this because we are nearing the end of our strategic planning process. A preliminary draft of the strategic plan will likely be presented to the school board at its June meeting, with the final version submitted for board approval at the July meeting. I believe the vision of the stakeholders involved in developing the strategic plan will highlight many of these same concepts, and the plan will become our catalyst for change while still embracing the many things that make Lopez Island School District unique and special. I hope to enlist everyone’s help in making our community’s strategic vision the reality of the future for our students.
Thank you for everything you are currently doing as a community to support our school district, and thank you for your commitment to the future of our students.
Ed Murray
Superintendent
Lopez Island School District
86 School Road
Lopez Island, WA 98261
Office: (360) 468-2202
Cell: (360) 421-6377
Email: [email protected]lopezislandschool.org
Previous Superintendent messages
March 23
Superintendent's Report to the Board
March 11, 2022
January 14, 2022
January 7, 2022
12/17/2021
12/10/2021
12/8/21 School Threat Followup
12/3/2021
Fall 2021