Envision a building under construction and realize the top floors of the structure cannot stand straight unless the foundation is solid and sturdy.
Right?
Now, apply the reference to a child’s education and liken veteran educator Lori McLaughlin as the project foreman.
Now there’s a clear vision of what is talking place on the elementary levels in Brooke County. McLaughlin is the former director of special education in Wetzel County, and she also was a K-through-8 principal in New Martinsville and an elementary school teacher in Marshall County. Along the way, she’s also accumulated 15 years of experience in special education.
Now that McLaughlin accepted a multi-faceted position with Brooke County Schools in August, she’s now in charge of elementary education, federal programs, attendance, and the school system’s Communities in Schools initiative.
“We know we’ve given Lori a lot of hats to wear here in Brooke County, but we are very blessed to have her join our team because we know what she’s accomplished before in education,” explained Superintendent Jeffrey Crook. “She joins a talented group of administrators in our Central Office, so that means we’re even closer to our goal of providing the best possible education for our students. That’s the goal every day we come to work.
“We’ve asked Lori to achieve several goals for us in her position,” he said. “And she’s been doing a terrific job during her first semester with us.”
And she’s accomplishing it with a brick by brick mentality.
“There’s been a lot to learn with coming into a new school system, but it’s been terrific working with everyone in our elementary schools and in our Central Office. We have a lot of work still to do, and I am still meeting people in the district and in the state, so we’re getting there,” McLauglin said. “I may have several functions of the school system in my job description, but they all go together so that makes a lot of things easier.
“The best part is the team I have around me,” she said. “We’ve been working hard to get a lot of great programs into place, and the reaction has been great. I’m building relationships not only with the staff members, but also with the students. I also want to hear from our teachers as much as possible because they are on with ground with our kids.”
From the Bottom Up
Simply, McLaughlin explained, it begins with paying attention to every single student in every single classroom in the county’s primary and intermediate schools.
And, of course, the process takes place one student at a time.
“Building the foundation in our students is the most important thing we do on the elementary level, and to accomplish that, we have to monitor every student as an individual so we can be sure they’re learning the material,” McLaughlin insisted. “We have to do that on every grade level, too.
“We’re also paying attention to how we’re using our time in the classroom to be make sure there’s time for every student during each class,” she said. “We’re also examining data to identify our students’ strength and weaknesses so we know what to address and when. I’m also trying to talk with as many teachers as possible because they are with our students every day laying that groundwork.”
McLaughlin has spent time each day to meet and speak with as many educators as possible in the county to familiarize herself with the elementary students and their families to gain a full perspective on the challenges each child may have while attending his or her classes.
Brooke County Schools educate more than 2,000 students on a daily basis, including a total of 746 in the district’s two primary and two intermediate schools.
“One thing that Dr. Crook believes is building relationship so there’s always a better chance for communication, and I see what he and our assistant superintendent (Corey Murphy) do when they are out in our schools,” McLaughlin said. “Dr. Crook is out in our schools most days of the week because he has goals in mind and he wants to do everything he can to help our students accomplish them.
“Dr. Crook and Mr. Murphy have been conducting one-on-one interviews with our high school seniors so they can hear what’s most important when it comes to the annual tests,” she explained. “They want to hear about their experiences so we can make the improvements that are necessary because our kids come from many different places. It’s important to recognize that fact.”
The district’s superintendent believes a student’s educational foundation must be based on those good ole fundamentals like reading, writing, and arithmetic.
“Our educators do a great job recognizing the areas that a particular student is having issues, and they address them immediately,” Dr. Crook reported. “In education these days, the data is very important to monitor because those numbers tell our story in a lot of ways. But our educators play the biggest role in our schools, and they always have.
“We have to learn from our mistakes and that’s why we have to be more to our students to help them achieve their potential,” the superintendent added. “Children learn differently than I did when I was in school, so it’s important for us to recognize it and adapt to it. That’s how we help our kids achieve their goals and the response has been what we were hoping for because it’s always easier to learn when it’s fun to do so.”
