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Navigating the Future: Bridge to Innovation. Pacific East District Leadership Summit

Daisy Alegre-Cruz, Ph.D. Education Research Analyst
Feb 15, 2024
Conference scene, with attendees focused on a large screen on the stage.

YOKOTA — In the Pacific East District, more than 100 school administrators, ISSs, CIL representatives and teacher leaders recently gathered at a space-themed Leadership Summit to develop critical components of MTSS and to inspire and illustrate the district’s way forward in its continuous improvement process.

Topics discussed at the Summit included action planning and aligning regional and agency initiatives with school plans (team-based leadership), laying the foundational components of PBIS (data-driven decisions, core instruction), and supporting HQIP and secondary math (core instruction). In addition to the featured topics, afternoon choice sessions, which were facilitated by district leaders, taught skills from communicating through Microsoft Teams and SharePoint to accessing data reports in SchooLinks and Mathia. Job-alike work sessions gave administrators, teacher leaders, and ISSs opportunities to build relational capacity and learn about resources specific to their roles. 

NASA astronaut and former DoDEA student Dr. Kjell Lindgren also made a virtual guest appearance as part of Pacific East district’s NASA (Notably Accelerating Student Achievement) space theme for the current accreditation cycle. Dr. Lindgren commanded the Space-X Crew-4 mission to the ISS in 2022. During his presentation, he treated summit participants to a narration of one of his mission videos and spoke to them about the importance of resilience, teamwork, and collaboration.  His delayed journey to becoming an astronaut and his belief about what skills students need to be successful resonated with many. It also set the tone for the day’s focus on “rocket-boosting” Focused Collaboration as the cornerstone of the district’s CI plan. 

Frequency and feedback from the FCOT and Learning Walkthrough Tool are leading indicators in the district’s monitoring plan. 

“As we implement, monitor and adjust, quality, timely feedback and continued collaboration are our main levers in the Continuous Improvement process ensuring we Navigate the Future successfully for the benefit of our students,” Dr. Jacqueline Ferguson, Pacific East District Superintendent, said.

Four women collaborating together with LEGO bricks in front of them.
The school/complex team from Sasebo Elementary School (Cinnamon Warner, teacher, Jill Hess, Elementary Science ISS, Jeneanne Liston, Speech Language Pathologist, and Hannah Choi, principal) collaborate to build a structure out of Legos to represent continuous improvement in their schools on Thursday, January 25, 2024, at Yokota AB, Japan. The catch – they must use the round, white piece to represent Focused Collaboration as the cornerstone of their structure.

 

pacific-east-district-leadership-summit
Liv Switzer, Professional Learning ISS for the Misawa schools, leads a small group session on the “Power of Feedback”, one of the PacEast’s main levers in the CI process on Wednesday, January 24, 2024, at Yokota AB, Japan.

 

Three women focused and working diligently on their laptops.
The school leadership team from Iwakuni Intermediate School, (left to right) teacher leader Samone Chapman, principal Dr. Hoai-My Winder, and teacher leader Esther Anelli make use of a work session to update their School Action Plan on Wednesday, January 24, 2024, at Yokota AB, Japan.

 

A conference scene, with attendees focused on a large screen on the stage.
Superintendent, Dr. Jackie Ferguson, kicks off the Leadership Summit with her Mission Control metaphor to go with the PacEast district’s NASA space-theme for their accreditation cycle on Tuesday, January 23, 2024, at Yokota AB, Japan.

 

Three men engaged in collaborative teamwork.
(left to right) Joshua Henry and Ted Persinger, teacher leaders from Perry High School, review the PacEast District Scorecard with Jason Goodwin, assistant principal at Yokota High School, to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats using a SWOT analysis protocol on Thursday, January 25, 2024, at Yokota AB, Japan.

 

Conference scene, with attendees focused on a large screen on the stage.
Breakfast with an Astronaut – Summit participants started their day early with a special virtual appearance with NASA astronaut, Dr. Kjell Lindgren, who spoke about resilience, teamwork, and collaboration on Thursday, January 25, 2024, at Yokota AB, Japan.

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