[CharterSchools] Congrats to CEO Mardele Early and her national award

[charterschools at LACharter.org]

Lake Forest Elementary Charter School Leader Mardele Early Recipient of U.S. Department of Education 2021 Terrel H. Bell Award for Outstanding School Leadership Early to receive award in Washington D.C. on November 4 Joined by Superintendent Henderson Lewis, the U.S. Department of Education will present Lake Forest Charter Elementary School CEO/Founder Mardele Early the Terrel H. Bell Award for Outstanding School Leadership for 2021.  The Bell Award is a Lifetime Achievement Award for a leader in transforming local public schooling. Lake Forest will also be named a 2021 Blue Ribbon School at a ceremony the following day. Eight school leaders from the 2021 cohort of National Blue Ribbon Schools will be honored during a National Blue Ribbon Schools awards ceremony on Thursday. WHEN:  Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021, between Noon-1:45 (Central)/1pm -2:45pm (Eastern) WHERE:      Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, Maryland USA  Early, who founded Lake Forest in 2001, now directs the highest performing K-8 charter school in the state, serving more than 600 students in New Orleans East.  The school consistently ranks as one of the best in the state of Louisiana and will receive its second National Blue Ribbon School award in Washington DC, the first was awarded in 2013. Named for the second U.S. Secretary of Education, Terrel H. Bell, the Bell Award honors school leaders who are committed to education as a powerful and liberating force in people’s lives. The award is part of the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program. School leaders are nominated by their school communities during the final stages of the National Blue Ribbon Schools application process. “Bell awardees are truly extraordinary leaders,” Secretary Cardona said. “Being chosen for this distinction puts school leaders in special company. As a former principal, I know how much time and energy school leaders devote to caring for their school communities and preparing students for success. Over the last 18 months, in the face of unprecedented circumstances, these school leaders have found creative ways to protect, nurture, and engage children, families, and school staff. Bell awardees have worked tirelessly, investing every ounce of their energy and expertise in their schools and students. Congratulations on this special recognition.” The U.S. Department of Education, together with the National Association of Elementary School Principals, the Association for Middle Level Education, and the National Association of Secondary School Principals, present the Bell Awards to school leaders of National Blue Ribbon Schools for their outstanding work and the vital role they play in guiding their students and schools to excellence, frequently under challenging circumstances. To learn more about the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program and the Terrel H. Bell Awards, click here.
We also think this wonderful feature by New Schools New Orleans bears repeating, featuring CEO Early in her own words: https://newschoolsforneworleans.org/new-orleans-citybusiness-what-mardele-early-ceo-of-lake-forest-charter-knows-about-our-schools/


For me, knowing what is best for my school and my children started with being a classroom teacher years ago. Being a teacher was crucial for every role that followed; it gave me the understanding of what educators and students really need. It also gave me my first taste of educational leadership. At Lake Forest, we refer to our teachers as “instructional leaders.” There’s a lot we can learn about leadership from what great teachers do. A great teacher and a great leader can manage many different aspects of a role at once. A great teacher knows their role is to push each child to their highest level of student achievement, while nurturing them and keeping the flame alive for a love of learning. That teacher is also keeping an eye out for any changes in that child’s behavior, having consistent contact with parents, and constantly looking for where each child can grow. It is a lot to carry, but great teachers manage to hold it all. A great leader, and a great teacher, is also a planner. They have to be detailed and see the whole picture, just like a CEO. Their organization is their individual classroom. They need to account for how each child is growing – intellectually, socially, emotionally and beyond. They keep track of all that, and they use it to shape the schedule and the details of each day. Their lesson plans don’t leave any time wasted. If a lesson is set for a 55 minute block, they plan for 65 minutes, so there’s no moment that goes by without something to learn. Great leaders and teachers take responsibility and respond to data. If a certain percentage of a class did not do well on a skill, if too many of them are scoring C+ or  B- instead of As, a great teacher takes that in and is not offended by it. They find a new way to get that information across and they reteach it. They start again and learn. They go back to the drawing board and get it right, just as they would encourage their children to do.There’s a great deal to learn from teacher-leaders, but I learned from my other roles, too. As a department chair, I had practiced being a collaborator and bringing together teams of people to meet on common ground. As an assistant principal and a principal, I learned what it was like to see a school as a full puzzle, with many pieces that I was responsible for. In all of those roles, I carefully studied and I learned from others. I was an assistant principal at Kennedy High School for one year, after being an administrative assistant. While I was there, I learned the ropes from Kennedy’s principal, Dr. Anita Dumas. She shared so much with me and I just ate it up. I kept a spiral notebook of all the departments in the high school and I would write down what I learned – from each of the academic disciplines to the jobs like managing data, scheduling classes, counseling, coaching sports, directing the band. I talked to everybody and knew everyone had something to offer. So I learned from the folks in the office, from the secretary of payroll, to the person keeping attendance, and I looked at all the books they kept. I realized you can learn something from everybody, and you should. In my journey as an educational leader, I have also seen the importance of knowing your community. I was the principal at Hansberry School on Clouet street between 1995-2001. At that time, being a principal was being a neighborhood mayor. The neighborhood knew you, and you had to reach outside your building, from the grocery store to the cleaners. Still today, I constantly look both within my school’s direct community, of the East, and outside of it, to the broader world my children will grow up into. In this complicated world that we are in today, how do we help our children see the goodness in life? How we can help them cope with the meanness in our society? Striving to answer those questions is a moment for true leadership.After 44 years, I feel fortunate to be in the position to ask myself these questions and to do this work. I feel blessed. I feel that I am doing what I was created to do, from before I was even born. I am energized to continue doing it each day. 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://pairlist9.pair.net/pipermail/charterschools/attachments/20211103/b02bdb5f/attachment-0001.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 5d138c8b936a4.image.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 67259 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://pairlist9.pair.net/pipermail/charterschools/attachments/20211103/b02bdb5f/attachment-0001.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: MardeleEarlyLFC.png
Type: image/png
Size: 69060 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://pairlist9.pair.net/pipermail/charterschools/attachments/20211103/b02bdb5f/attachment-0001.png>