Northwest Local School District (NWLSD) is proud to announce that Kevin Gale, Principal of White Oak Middle School, and Karen Grayson, Co-Principal of Struble Elementary School, were accepted into the University of Cincinnati’s Alpaugh Scholar’s Leadership Program. Gale and Grayson will join 500 other leaders across the Cincinnati area to improve and sharpen leadership skills, gain access to educational resources and to work towards addressing issues that affect schools and communities.
Participants in the program will have an opportunity to not only build their professional network, but also exchange ideas and methods with community leaders and education professionals.
NWLSD places a strong focus on professional development for teachers and administrators, in order to create a better learning experience for students within the classroom. This year, District middle school principals and teachers are making monthly visits to various schools and districts to collaborate and to learn about what other education professionals are doing to improve outcomes for students in mathematics. There is a Districtwide effort to encourage staff members to participate in various development activities whether it is through academic degrees, coursework, collaboration with other educators or through third-party leadership programs.
“We have a number of exciting initiatives in place in the Northwest Local School District designed to create a learning culture for administrators and teachers,” said Brenda Miller, NWLSD Director of Instructional Accountability. “We believe that we all need to be life-long learners and that educators who are learning, growing and trying new things in their classrooms will positively impact students and student achievement.
The Alpaugh Scholar’s program is a five part series of sessions that will begin in October and will run through February of 2020. The participants will meet monthly for half a day on UC’s campus in the Economics Center and will cover topics that include: regional economic development, regional history and economy, workforce development challenges and opportunities, social service programs, and student enrollment projections. Participants in the program will also have the opportunity to go on a bus tour of Cincinnati given by local historian, Dan Hurley.
“We are very proud of our teachers and administrators. Mr. Gale and Mrs. Grayson’s pursuit of this exciting leadership and learning opportunity with the University of Cincinnati will allow them to collaborate with many other professionals and is to be commended. We know that their work will positively impact the lives of our students,” said Miller.
Thanks to the gift of the Alpaugh Family Foundation, the program is free to local educators and will cover all meals and refreshments.