Retired administrators back in school for CSC

Beginning this fall, CSC began working more closely with retired school administrators to build stronger relationships with schools and help supervise the many teacher interns that populate elementary, middle, and high schools in Nebraska, Wyoming and South Dakota each semester. Dr. Don King, chairman of the CSC Education Department, said the program is off to a great start and is expected to become increasingly successful.

King, who proposed the change after learning of a similar program during a conference last winter, said the new arrangement has benefits for each party involved. One of the greatest attributes, he said, is continuity.

“This program provides retired administrators with a continuing foothold in their profession, and they’re obviously doing something of merit and value to our society by helping us train teachers using their expertise,” he said. “These former administrators are people who are already living within those communities, and in some cases are retired from the local school district, so they can develop or continue a relationship with the faculty and current administration. It’s going to be the same face that shows up at the school each time wearing a Chadron State name badge.”

The first cohort group of teacher intern supervisors attended an orientation session at CSC in August. While on campus, the six “trainees” had a barbecue lunch, attended a department meeting and participated in a three-hour training session. From their time as a school administrator, those hired to the program have already conveniently been trained in what it means to observe quality instruction.

“In most cases, they know what to look for,” King said.

Members of the inaugural group are Charollene Coates of Rapid City, Virginia Lester of Tryon, Roger Wess of Chadron, Jenne Twiford of Douglas, Wyo., and Ed Jolovich of Torrington, Wyo.

Twiford, 64, was an administrator in Douglas schools for 22 years and retired in July. She said she appreciates the opportunity to put her years of experience to use, and finds the position to be a great way to “transition from the work force.”

“I have found it to be a very rewarding experience,” she said. “The thing that impresses me most is the quality of the program. It’s well thought out and doesn’t just leave student teachers at the site with no support.”

While Twiford’s employment at Chadron State is new, she said the quality of CSC’s teacher education program is not.

“When I had student teachers as a principal, I was always very impressed with the students we got from Chadron. They’re very well prepared and it shows that they’ve been through a quality program,” she said.

King said another notable benefit to the new program is found in the budget, especially considering the rising cost of fuel and travel. Until now, CSC has relied on members of its education faculty to make journeys to schools to check up on each teacher intern at least five times per semester. With CSC’s large geographic territory, King said it hasn’t been easy.

“For us to supervise a teacher in Ogallala, which is in our service region, we’ve had to get up and leave by 5 a.m., travel 3½ hours, spend two hours there, then we’d maybe try to see another student teacher along the way. On a day like that, we don’t get back until 6 or 7 at night,” he said. “Maybe there are better uses of our time and taxpayer money. With help from our new supervisor cohort group, we can reduce our personal travel to these distant sites by at least 50 percent.”

King expects the CSC presence in schools to grow as the administrator-supervisors return to their local schools each year and gain familiarity. In turn, he says the faculty of the CSC Education Department will more regularly receive program feedback from schools.

Another group is scheduled to train in January, and the department will continue inducting new supervisors to the program until CSC’s expansive geographic service region is covered. The department solicits suggestions from the schools when finding supervisor candidates.