By Dave Berns
The Somerset Academy’s Skye Canyon Campus, 8151 North Shaumber Road, continues to build its climate and culture at the 7-year-old northwest Las Vegas campus.
Principal Kate Lackey says it’s her“first priority” and “It’s the hardest part of the job,” Lackey says. “My first priority is to get to know every staff member, get to know about their hobbies, their families, their likes, their dislikes and just get to know them on a personal level so we can start building that trust.”
Kate Lackey, principal of the Somerset Academy Skye Canyon Campus, has run the school since it first opened seven years ago in Skye Canyon. (Photo by Ben Robertson/Silver Tree Films)
We recently visited the campus, where we spoke with Lackey and Instructional Coach Ami Keeter about the challenges of establishing a young charter school in the competitive Las Vegas K-12 market.
Question: What’s it like to establish a culture in a new school?
Lackey: I’m a very transparent person so I’ll start sharing personal things with my staff to make those connections. My goal every year is to keep that culture going and to keep it positive and family oriented. We say “family first here,” and we consider ourselves a family.
Question: What are we not getting about the state of education in this country?
Lackey: Trust the educators. We are the professionals and would like parents to work in partnership with us to help educate their child.
Question: Much of the population seems to think, “I could teach. I could be an educator.” Is that a challenge?
Lackey: It is. There are a lot of really good educators out there. Unfortunately, COVID burned a lot of people out. It was detrimental to all. We have phenomenal educators at this school. They work extremely hard. There’s a lot of bureaucratic stuff that they have to do on top of teaching. If I could take that away from them I would, and we try to clear a path for them some of the time.
Question: What sort of stuff are you talking about?
Lackey: State reporting, documenting special education accommodations, which are the accommodations teachers have to give to their students when they’re in their general education classrooms, documenting interventions, provided to learners for ELA and mathematics. There is documentation in general. There are initiatives like “Read By Grade Three” in the State of Nevada, which require additional actions and documentation. Teachers have to write and implement an action plan on how they are going to get a child to read by grade three. All of that is best practice, but the documentation piece gets a bit cumbersome. Our teachers are doing what they need to do, which is what’s best for kids every day, but you add that paperwork piece and that can be a little overwhelming.
Question: In light of all that, if you could fix anything about K-12, what would you do?
Lackey: Allow for autonomy in schools, as we have here. Give the principals and their teams the autonomy that’s best for their demographics and give them the ability to choose the curriculum that will help them succeed. I think that’s the biggest thing because curriculum doesn’t drive instruction, but it certainly helps get you there.
Question: You say “give them.” You’re trying to set them up for success.
Lackey: You don’t want to handcuff administrators. Trust that they know what is best for their school. My board fully supports the decisions I make on my campus. There are certainly things I need to go to them about and get their permission for, such as big initiatives, especially when it involves money, but they’re very supportive.
Question: Have you worked in public schools?
Lackey: No, I came from a private school.
Question: So, you don’t have that public school culture to compare it to?
Lackey: No, I worked in private. I really consider this charter world, coming from 20 years as an educator and administrator in private schools has really helped me in this position because I feel like it’s a hybrid of both worlds. We’re publicly funded. We do have to report to the Nevada Department of Education and the State Public Charter School Authority, both whom oversee us. But at the end of the day I have the autonomy you would in a private school to run the ship. The biggest battle is just having supportive families trust what we’re doing is the right thing. I know it doesn’t happen at every school. So, I understand the skepticism at times, but overall we are doing what’s best for kids. We work hard to take every child under our wing.
Question: What other tools do we need in a post-COVID era to help students succeed in a post-pandemic world?
Lackey: That’s a tough question. They need time.
Lackey’s colleague Ami Keeter briefly joins the conversation to note that teachers need time to receive some of the professional development that they need but wasn’t available during the pandemic.
“This whole thing after COVID is going to be a process,” Keeter said. “It’s not going to be fixed overnight.”