A Conversation with Anderson-Livsey Elementary Leaders

(Editor's Note: This article was originally published September 2011.)

Lesline Moore is the kind of educator that brings people to tears with her compassion and drive. She's the kind of leader who is exuberant, without being pushy.

Kristy Hendricks wasn't the best student in school, but that doesn't keep her from pulling the best out of her students. She's a data maven, who knows there's people behind those numbers.

And, then there's Janice Ward Warren. She's a leader who others take notice of. She is concerned about children's futures, and she has ideas to move things forward.

Snellville Patch sat down with these three new administrators of Anderson-Livsey Elementary, as they begin anew at a school that got off to somewhat of a rocky start. In the past school year, its principal resigned and its assistant principals where forced to leave.

For a school that is only a year old to Gwinnett County Public Schools, it was a lot for this well-known community. Now, with the new leaders' help, things are smoothing out.

We broke our 50-minute interview into parts, so check back this week for more from the new school leaders.

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1. Patch: How has the reception been?

Hendricks: "It has been such a warm welcome, such a warm community -- from the staff, from the parents. I've been graciously welcomed with open arms. It's been wonderful."

Moore: "It's been a wonderful transition just getting to know the parents. The parents are happy. The staff is really excited, and they're just really motivated to get stuff done to take care of the kids. It's really been a good transition. Everyone's really excited about the great things the kids are going to do. The kids are excited about a new school year. It's really going well."

2. Patch: Have you all had meetings with parent groups, and how did those go?

Warren: "We've had several meetings with the parent groups. We had a huge Title 1 meeting ... prior to our curriculum night. That was an opportunity for us to talk about the money that we were receiving through Title 1 by being a Title 1 school, and exactly what they're wishes are for how they'd like to see the funds spent.

We shared scores (on) the CRCT. We did acknowledge the fact as we would like them to be. We were concerned about our math scores in particular, in grades 3, 4 and 5. Therefore when we looked at those scores we started talking about what we need to put in place so that our children are able to excel and do a much better job. So, we looked at just all the resources. We talked about using money for teachers...

Parents were very receptive. I think they were excited because we were excited...They were just excited to have the momentum. They felt there was a momentum being built, and that their children are going to be recipients because of all the enthusiasm that is taking place here. With that, there's a lot of accountability that falls into place, as well."

3. Patch: How are the teachers responding to some of the changes, including working more with special education students and an early intervention program.

Warren: "We're doing a lot of collaboration, a lot of push-in with our teachers for special ed. We're pushing into the classrooms. But, with that comes training. So, Lesline's (whose background is special education) going to be doing training with them to teach them what collaboration looks like. What teachers have to do -- the regular ed teachers and the special ed teachers...They have to be a team...Teachers have been very flexible."

4. Patch: How are you pushing those students who need extra help without singling them out?

Moore: "I will say, as a special ed (educator), that one of the goals that we have is for it to be a seamless transition between the two teachers. So, when the children are in that classroom and my second teacher -- the special education teacher -- is coming on in, as far as the children are concerned there are two teachers in the classroom just for that period of time.

The children, and that's why we love inclusion as much as possible, because the children really don't know who are the children who have IEPs and who need that additional support. And, the accountability is also there for all the children who are in that class, because our goal is to meet them where they are, as well as expose them and have them work on the grade-level curriculum. So, those two pieces are very important.

One of the things we're going to implement, which I (did) at my previous school, is we have a parent meeting for all the (parents) who have students with disabilities. Largely, we talk about what IEP is, what the expectations are.

Our goal is to have your child get a high school diploma at the end of the line. Even though this is elementary school and they do have several years prior to that, our goal is that regular education diploma. So, our goal is to have those children be accountable and let them know that it may seem a little rough at the beginning, but just know that we're going to work hard and your child is going to work hard, and we're all going to work hard on closing that gap."

5. Patch: How are parents of students with special needs reacting to your ideas and theories?

Moore: "We focus on the entire child, and just having them be successful, and empowering them. And, the parents really buy into that. There's always that ugly stigmatism form years ago of special ed, that hallway down in the basement someplace, hundreds of years ago, and we have so gotten away from that."

6. Patch: How are the students responding?

Moore: "Many time prior to them coming into special ed, they've had difficulties, they were always the student who go things wrong. So, our goal is to build their self-esteem and see that they can do this. It can be done. I can learn, I just learn a little bit differently, and I can get this done. And, the kids feel so empowered. At the end of the day, I mean, they are just so excited and feel so good, and that makes me feel good, to know that I get to serve as a facilitator to support not only my students, but also the special education teachers.

This is actually my dream because being a special education teacher for the last seven years, my dream was to be a special education AP (assistant principal), so the fact that I'm allowed to do my passion is just the best thing in the world. I'm excited every morning when I get up because I get to do that -- now supporting children on a larger basis."

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Check back this week with Snellville Patch for more from the administrators at Anderson-Livsey Elementary School.