Roundup's Hometown Teacher Becomes Lavina's Superintendent

 

November 25, 2020

Lura Pitman

"I like having kids make mistakes because those are opportunities to learn and grow. To help a kid through a problem has been the highlight of my career, I love it." Nicole says.

Roundup's own beloved grade school teacher, Nicole Hanson, has taken another step on her career path to become a superintendent at Lavina.

Eighteen years ago, Nicole, a graduate from Roundup, began towards her path as an educator. She had started college in Dickenson North Dakota in Nursing studies, but after doing some job training, she felt this was not her calling. She knew she wanted to work with children, and transferred to Billings. Her advisor suggested education, as she got involved in field study at the Catholic school, she loved it. She went on to do her student teaching in the Roundup Schools with Barb Crosby, who was her 3rd grade teacher. In full circle, Nicole then was able to teach with Barb during Barb's last two years before retirement. Nicole taught in Roundup till this past school year. I asked Nicole what motivated her to go into administration. She explained that goals have always been a huge part of her life. One of her goals was to advance her career and, "try the administration thing out". Nicole says that, "If it doesn't work out, she will return to teaching because she knows she loves that".

When I asked what kind of things she does as an administrator, Nicole explained that working in administration involves being a politics buffer, enforcing rules, working with budget, staff, community, as well as with the children. She enjoys working with teachers involving new technologies and strategies for teaching. Helping them with Google classroom is also something she enjoys. She is also required to enforce the curriculum. The school belongs to the ACE consortium, a group of people who get together and plan curriculum. They always strive to teach common core standards.

The biggest take away of Nicole's career journey was when she sincerely stated: "I like having kids make mistakes because those are opportunities to learn and grow. To help a kid through a problem has been the highlight of my career, I love it." The love of children certainly is needed whether in education or administration. Children always know when you care.

When leaving the Roundup grade school, a homemade quilt was given to her. This is a treasure she has proudly hanging in her new office. Her husband Ben and her two boys have rented a farm house out of Lavina and are enjoying the country life. Nicole says the biggest challenge of this career has been dealing with Covid-19. With the many restrictions and mandates that she must enforce, it has been extremely difficult for all of the schools to make things work. She has had to hire extra staff just for cleaning every four hours. Nicole says she has a new appreciation for Chad Sealy who has been very supportive and helpful to her for her transition and questions, all while having to deal with many of these problems himself for more than one school, with many more students. Nicole says the worst part of Covid-19 is being the "Mask Police". She says "Whether we agree or not, we have to do it." Complying is part of keeping the school open.

Lura Pitman

Nicole Hanson

Lavina currently has three Senior students. There are sixty-nine students in pre-K through grade twelve, up nine students since last year. Pre-K through Senior students are all together in the same school. The High schoolers are upstairs, the younger students are downstairs. The staff is the same as last year except for her being the new superintendent. Lavina has around 30 employees, with extra staff to clean for Covid-19 requirements. Nicole proudly states that they have not had to shut down at all.

Lavina's gym was recently used for tournaments. Because of many shutdowns, Lavina School became the host. They had four days to get ready and they were very stressed to accomplish the requirements for the tournament. They amazingly got it all prepared and took the opportunity to dedicate the gym to long time employee Mr. Grammen, to honor his long career at the school.

Nicole has an enthusiasm for her new career, and is looking forward to the positive ideas that she can bring to her new community. I hope her journey ahead is the best yet.

 

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