Leadership Matters January 2014 - page 6

6
E
veryone included & valued
It’s more than a catchy acronym.
“We relate everything we do back to that vision.
When everyone understands the big picture and has
ownership in it, it makes the little changes easier,”
Stewart said. “Hiring a really good team of people
with strengths that complement each other also is a
big part of the puzzle.”
In her
t the Joint Annual
Conference in late November, Stewart said of her
administrative team: “You remind me of the trail mix
with the popcorn and M & Ms. They are very
different, but together they work. We are all very
different, but each of us brings our own skills to the
table, and together we work.”
Longtime Benton School Board President Mark
D. Minor credited Stewart for the leadership she has
brought to the school district.
“When many other schools are decreasing class
offerings for students, Benton has provided more
opportunities for student educational development,”
Minor wrote in his letter of nomination for Stewart.
“The introduction of READ 180 has met specific
special education needs. Quality professional
development, differentiated instruction and the
Understanding by Design approach, to name a few,
have kept Benton’s teaching staff ahead of the curve.
“These successes are, of course, impossible
without the cooperation of teachers, staff, the Board
of Education and the community. Bringing these
stakeholders together to get things done for our kids
may, in fact, be the greatest feather of all for Kelly
Stewart,” Minor added. “Her tireless efforts have sure
made a difference in our school.”
Located in deep Southern Illinois, the Benton
district serves some 600 high school students, with
49 percent of them being categorized as low-income
as opposed to 38 percent five years ago. Despite
that trend – which normally results in lower academic
performance – the percentage of students meeting or
exceeding standards in the Prairie State
Achievement Exam has risen from 44 to 50 percent
in the past three years.
Dr. Brent Clark, executive director of IASA,
praised Stewart as “an educator who has dedicated
her professional career to the vision of IASA, which is
‘Maximum Educational Success for All Students.’ Her
work in the Benton district is a testament to that and
she is most deserving of this honor.”
So much for being a college “dropout.” Stewart
not only returned to Southern Illinois University to get
her Bachelor’s Degree, Master’s Degree and Ph.D.,
but she also was in the inaugural class of the IASA
School for Advanced Leadership (ISAL), one of 23
superintendents to complete the rigorous two-year
cohort.
Tony Frontier, an associate professor at Cardinal
Stritch University in Milwaukee and one of the lead
instructors for ISAL, may have captured what makes
Kelly Stewart such an effective leader when he said,
“Every time I’ve been in a room with Kelly it is
obvious to me that her compelling interest is not to
be the best person
in
the group, but to be the best
person
for
the group.”
(Continued from page 5)
Getting to know the Illinois
Superintendent of the Year
Name:
Dr. Kelly D. Stewart
School district:
Benton Consolidated High School
District #103
One thing you would like people to know about your
school district:
We are never satisfied, we constantly
strive to improve our instructional practices and means
to provide learning opportunities for our students.
IASA Region:
Egyptian
Years as IASA Member:
13
Years as educator:
30
High school:
Benton Consolidated High School
Colleges or Universities:
BS, MS, Ph.D. Southern
Illinois University
Family:
My nephews are spoiled by me enough to
claim them as mine -- Alex 28, John 25, Landon 20, and
Braxton 5.
Favorite hobby:
Crossword puzzles/ reading mysteries
Favorite movie:
Rear Window
Favorite book:
Anything
by Patricia Cornwell or James
Patterson
Favorite musical artist:
Bob Seger
One thing people probably would be surprised to
know about you:
That the actor John Malkovich played
football for my dad and is a family friend.
Biggest concern about public education:
While I
support all of the current reform efforts, the timeline for
implementation is way too fast and adding a great deal
of stress to teachers. Couple that with having to work
more years to reach full retirement, leads me to fear two
things: teachers will burn out and that potential good
teachers will steer clear of the profession.
Most encouraging thing about public education:
Over the past few years I have seen teachers begin to
collaborate more than they have in the past. I am of the
opinion that given our current challenges, we need to
work smarter not harder and collaboration is the key.
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