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A well-deserved honor was recently bestowed upon Avon School District principal, Lindsey Fathke as she was named Region 3 Principal of the Year. Lindsey is in her third year as school principal for the Pirates. When Lindsey first received the call about being selected for this award, she was in disbelief, but once the initial shock wore off, she felt very overwhelmed. To win this award, Lindsey was nominated and selected by fellow principals. For Lindsey to be chosen by her peers especially when Avon’s region has many good principals was incredibly humbling. Lindsey knew from a young age that being a teacher would be her career path. When she was younger, she would play school as well as help her mom, who was also a teacher, grade papers. Upon graduating from high school, Lindsey followed in her mom’s footsteps and became a teacher. Lindsey took the next step and became a principal because even though as a teacher she loved being able to help students and teachers, while as a principal she is able to work with every student as well as help teachers reach their professional goals. When she was a teacher, Lindsey always felt like she could be doing more for the school, and by becoming an administrator she was able to. What Lindsey enjoys most about being the Avon School District principal is getting to work with all of the students and having contact with all of the teachers on a daily basis. Another amazing aspect of her job is getting to see the students enter the school as preschoolers and watching them grow until they graduate. The staff and the administration make the Avon School District feel like home. When a student or staff member enters the building, they are an Avon Pirate. It is a place where students are pushed to their best and teachers are excited to celebrate students’ successes in and out of the classroom. When asked how she would describe her leadership style, Lindsey said that her style would be servant leadership, meaning that she is there to serve her students and staff members. Her leadership style goes hand-in-hand with her involvement in both school and community activities. Lindsey serves as head volleyball coach, 5th-8th grade boys basketball coach, Student Council advisor, church pianist, Sunday School teacher. . What continues to motivate and inspire Lindsey as a principal are the students and staff. She wants to be her best for them every day. The students inspire Lindsey to continually learn and discover new ways to make the Avon school better. She is inspired and motivated by the staff to continually find ways to better serve them so that they can be their best in their educational careers. Her motivation and inspiration coincide with Lindsey’s philosophy on education. Lindsey feels that every student should be supported, cared for, and helped to reach their full potential. She wants every student within the school’s walls to know that they have someone in their corner. When Lindsey describes herself as a principal, she said that she is fair and honest, but as she is incredibly humble fails to mention how much of a team player she is. This comes to light when asked what she was most proud of accomplishing in her time as Avon’s principal. She responded with, “There isn’t anything that I have accomplished myself, but as a team…”. Lindsey and her team of teachers have implemented Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) along with their Response Through Intervention (RTI) meetings that include Pirate Time groups. The purpose of PBIS is to provide the framework for schools to create and maintain a safe and successful learning environment for all students. Lindsey and the staff at the Avon School District’s top priority is to help their students learn the skills needed to be successful both inside and outside of the classroom. Creating new initiatives to better help students be successful is an important way to improve the school to make it better for both staff and students, which is something that Lindsey continually works towards. One of the latest initiatives that has been implemented would be the weekly Monday missing work list. The list lets students know if they have 8th hour, which is time after school when students can complete missing work. As students turn in their work, their names are removed from the list. Lindsey then takes the data collected from these reports and shares it with the staff. This initiative has evolved to where another list is printed at the end of each week and if a student has a certain number of missing assignments, the parents are called in order to encourage the students to come to Saturday detention in order to get caught up before the next school week begins. The Avon School District is unique in the area as it has only one principal K-12th. Lindsey did not see this as a negative, instead she felt it was beneficial because she gets to work with students throughout their entire education at Avon. It gives her the opportunity to get to know the students better as well as the students get to have the same opportunity to get to know Lindsey as their principal. It makes it much easier to be clear on what Lindsey expects out of the students. Lindsey plays an active role in the professional development of the Avon School District’s teachers as well. Whether it is Lindsey or the teachers themselves that find some type of professional development, as long as they both feel it would be beneficial, she encourages her teachers to take those opportunities. She knows that it will enhance both the students and school as a whole. Lindsey herself is a part of various principal/educational blogs as well as online groups. With her membership to principal groups, she also receives various journals and attends meetings and conferences to help her stay up to date on the latest educational research and practices. The vision that Lindsey has for the school would be to continue the longevity of the Avon School District and the qualities that make it the great school it is. It is her goal to build a culture at the school where everyone feels supported as well as inspired to thrive which just exemplifies the kind of educator and administrator that Lindsey is. Congratulations Lindsey on being named Region 3 Principal of the Year!