Irina Belikova Erickson

EDAC - 987 C
Re ections

During my internship I was able to observe, re ect, and participate in numerous activities and
events. Some of these activities repeated throughout the school year and were focused on the
same goals, such as improvement of student achievement. Others were monthly meetings in
which the same agenda was kept. A few opportunities presented to me were unique in their
nature and I would like to deliberate more in depth on those experiences.

Here are some of my re ections.

ICG Meetings

In 2020 Hastings Public Schools contracted a consulting group that has been helping it with
improving reading instruction for grades K-3. Every two weeks meetings are held in which
consultants meet with the leadership team to identify instructional needs based on students’
results. These instructional needs are continuously changing because of various demands in
student ability to read. New students bring new challenges. A system has been built to address
the numerous needs of our students. This includes the loss of instructional time during COVID,
students’ learning disabilities, students’ behaviors, and any other indicator of students not
showing growth in reading. The reading experts have trained sta in research-based
interventions, and highly e ective instructional strategies such as explicit instruction and
systemic approach to teaching reading. Every time sta meet with these reading gurus, they
learn something new. The most exciting thing is that their recommendations work! Students are
showing great improvement in reading. I am looking forward to strengthening this system in the
coming years.

School Board Sessions and Meetings

Every second Thursday and every third Monday we have our HPS Board Sessions and Board
Meetings. In the duration of these meetings I have learned that it is important to follow the due
dates for when to present what information. For instance, there are times of the year when
nancial information is due for review. It is important to follow policy updates dates. Some
policies could be due for review from the board. Events such as teacher of the year or
retirements also have their timelines for presentation. Curriculum reports and adoption also
follow a predicted progression. HR reports need to be completed in a timely manner, otherwise
sta members won’t be able to start working or get paid in time. Negotiations with the local
education association is also very important and follows a certain schedule. Various grants
take a large amount of time to present the reports and submit them to NDE. Assessments
planning and preparations, as well as student results also play an important role during the
board meetings.

One of the most interesting meetings I attended the Property Tax Request Hearing. Our
community was invited to a public hearing on September 18 to o er support, opposition,
criticism or observations of taxpayers relating to setting the nal tax request. The attendance of
the meeting was scarce. People did not quite understand why the meeting was held and how
they were asked to impact the outcome of the Final Tax Request.
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 District Wellness Meetings

Our district participates in EHA Wellness (Educators Health Alliance). During the meetings, the
team discussed the EHA plan and requirements for participation in it. The program requires to
do self-assessment for educators and having it signed by a family doctor. Then there are some
physical challenges that educators must complete in order to receive a certain amount of funds
as a reward. At the meetings every school set annual wellness goals for teachers and students.
The annual walk/run challenge was planned. Various information about sta wellness was
shared with all schools. Sta members have access to Weight Watchers program and
HeadSpace.

February 16, 2023, Amplify Science of Reading Conference

Attending this conference was an amazing opportunity because everything that we do with our
reading initiative was related to what the presenter was speaking. The importance of building
reading instruction on the ve components of the science of reading - phonemic awareness,
phonics, uency, vocabulary and comprehension. The speakers presented on aligning
instruction with the science of reading - what should be happening in classrooms? They also
talked about speech to print, the science of reading as a matter of equity, using the science of
reading to impact student outcomes, and how writing instruction can narrow the knowledge
gap. They also presented the reading skills “rope” research. Finally, there was a conversation
about what administrators can do to lead reading change in a school district. Overall, it was
time well spent.

MTSS Handbook Revision and District Meetings

During the summer I was asked to organize several teacher leaders to revise our MTSS
Handbook and present it to each building as a resource that will guide our MTSS work. The
team spent several hours reading, editing, revising and updating strategies, procedures and
protocols that are in place in our school district. Once the handbook was updated, I shared it
with all principals. Each principal was asked to present the handbook to sta . The team
requested additional meetings, as the members felt the collaboration, support and
encouragement of the team was helping them to navigate this process in each of their
buildings.
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Administrators’ Days

Besides the usual impressive keynote presentations and interesting sessions, this year’s
Administrators’ Days was highly helpful to me because of the unique experience in which I was
able to participate. I was invited to listen to a dissertation defense presented to the UNL
faculty. It was a very meaningful experience because I could see myself in the place of a
student. Some day I hope I will be going through the same experience and seeing a great
model of what it should look like was very helpful.

Digital Awareness Meetings

BraveBe is a group that promotes healthy media use for youth. They travel around the state to
educate students and parents about the dangers of digital media. The group had two parent
meetings held for our parents. One was for elementary parents and the other one was for
middle school parents. Later they came to talk to our students, teaching them lessons on
healthy media use and the dangers of harmed by digital predators. After witnessing the
lessons, the district leadership team decided to continue these lessons and invite BraveBe to
present to our parents and students every year.

BreakThrough Coach Conference

This was a conference worth my time. Trying to balance my work, family and graduate work
has been very di cult. It’s e ected my health and the quality of time I am spending with my
family. I wanted to nd out if there were better ways to manage my time, work load, and
responsibilities I am committed at work. At the conference I learned some very good practical
strategies of how to be more e ective and impactful as an educational leader. I am using some
of these strategies in my work already.

Reading Curriculum Adoption

This is one of the most exciting tasks I have been involved in in the last few year in our district.
I have learned so much about reading in the past ve years and want to make sure that my
knowledge and skills can be used to bene t our teachers and students. I read about di erent
ways of how to go through the curriculum adoption and suggested that we use a 4-meeting
process for choosing a new curriculum. The process goes in stages: 1) establishing shared
beliefs, 2) understanding the options, 3) evaluating the options, 4) making a choice. There are
several protocols that are used in the process to ensure focus and productivity during these
meetings. They also protect team members’ time. We are in the initial states of this process,
and I am very excited to be a part of this important process.
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