Letter to Community

A letter to the community from Mr. Michael Lansing, Fall 2020 Monkton Central School Principal:

I am overjoyed to have the opportunity to become the next Principal of Monkton Central School. I so wish we could have connected in person this past spring and yet it was best for community health and well-being to set aside that plan. In lieu of that time with you, I am writing this letter to introduce myself and my vision for MCS. Above all, it is a great privilege of mine that you have entrusted me to become a part of your community and your children’s academic journeys from kindergarten through sixth grade.

Over the past decade, I have served as a school administrator across grades K through 9 and honed my instructional leadership skills in both rural and urban elementary schools. Across those years our family was dedicated to supporting my wife in her career, too. This involved many moves: from Maine (native Mainer here; I was once the American East Track Athlete of the year while a student at UMAINE) to Utah where I was a teacher, athletic director, and assistant principal of two community K-9 schools while my wife completed her PhD in clinical psychology; then back to New England where I was a high school assistant principal and then for two years an elementary school principal while my wife completed her intern year and fellowship at Brown and Dartmouth Medical Schools; and, last to Northern Nevada (near Lake Tahoe) where I served as an elementary school principal for the past three years while my wife worked as an assistant professor at the University of Nevada, Reno. Along the way we added two big, loving, rambunctious poodles and a spunky, delightfully endearing daughter (now 20mos) to the family. It’s been a big decade!

Now, our family could not be more delighted to be coming home to New England and settling down for good in Vermont (we mean it, we are so very done moving and being far from our families :D). As I join MCS, my wife will join the faculty in the Department of Psychological Sciences at the University of Vermont as an Assistant Professor in the fall. It’s the perfect landing—better than we could have dreamed at the start! Once we’re here, you’ll find our family anywhere outside—running, mountain biking, hiking, snowshoeing and skiing. (I still need to conquer the snowfields of Mt. Mansfield, after spending my youth skiing Tuck’s it’s a must do, and we’ll see if I can top my 7th place finish in the Von Trapp 25k from last summer, fingers crossed!) The Lansing family is excited to get to know all of you as we explore our new home in Vermont.

Last, and absolutely not least, I want to share about my educational philosophy that I look to bring to MCS. As a school administrator and educator, I believe strongly that positive student development and academic outcomes occur in strong, spirited, school-wide communities. This requires the enforcement of a bully-free environment, student-focused instruction, and effective communication with all stakeholders. Moreover, an overarching goal of all my work in education has been supporting both the academic and social-emotional development of my students, families, and staff. I hope that my strong values around helping the “whole child” shine through in all that I do as the principal of MCS. I will bring extensive experience in the implementation of Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports and Social Emotional Leaning curriculums to further build on academic successes in the classroom. In my short time at MCS I have been impressed with the hands-on learning, conceptual understanding, and family atmosphere that was evident in the building. I look forward to getting to know the school community, our staff, and each of our families, so I can ensure that each child’s whole needs are being met academically and socially. And, trust me, we are going to have a whole lot of fun along the way!

I am so excited to be the principal at MCS. I hope to meet every one of my new students and families before the school year starts in the fall (and others from the community, too). I will be in the building as much as I can and hope to meet you all soon.

Take care and thank you for believing in me.

Michael Lansing