Principal looks to new career

By JoAn Bjarko
North Forty News

On June 19, Cache La Poudre Elementary School Principal Steve Schiola will leave a 30-year career in education.

He decided that the change in school configuration--with kindergarten through fifth grades at elementary schools--would be a good time for him also to make a shift. "It's a good opportunity for a new person to direct a K-5 school," Schiola said.

The new person and principal will be Roxann Hall, who will be moving to Poudre School District. She has four years of experience as an elementary school principal and 34 years of education experience.

Hall will be taking the helm of "the best school in the world," according to Schiola, who became CLPE principal in 2004. "There is such great community support," he said, in addition to school's proximity to a beautiful river that serves as an outdoor classroom.

Schiola proudly noted the 140 items donated for a silent auction fund-raiser in February and a $2,734 check from Whole Foods. CLPE earned the latter through supporters who donated their bag credits to the school when shopping at Whole Foods. The donation will be used to fund community service and environmental projects around the school.

Looking back five years to when he arrived at CLPE, Schiola recalled how welcomed he felt. "I will never forget that feeling," he said.

He praised the school's teachers and staff for "always looking for the greater good."

"The people here are the kind that like to have fun, and they're serious and passionate about their work," Schiola said.

His greatest concern for the future is the school's declining enrollment because each school's funding is based on the number of students. When Schiola arrived at CLPE, 409 students attended the school. The school lost about 15 students last fall as families had to move because of economic conditions.

The current population is 370, and the loss of sixth graders going to a reconfigured middle school next year will bring enrollment down to around 300.

"With 300 students, you're budgeting as close to the bone as you can," he said.

Base funding for an elementary student in Poudre School District is $3,527. Schools get additional funding based on factors such as school size and English language learners, which will add about $100,000 to the CLPE's budget.

"It's a great community school, but I worry about where the kids will be coming from," Schiola said, noting there is very little growth projected for the LaPorte area.

There are a couple signs for optimism, however. CLPE has a large kindergarten enrollment of 59 this year, and 55 kindergarteners are signed up for next year.

When asked to look back over the last 30 years, Schiola observed that scientific research in the field of education has made big differences in teaching. "There's quite a bit of research about what are the best practices," he said, in addition to studies of how the brain works and how children learn.

One of the biggest changes is today's emphasis on teaching young children to write. "Our kindergarteners are writing; our first-graders can write expository paragraphs; fourth graders are doing what junior high students did back then," Schiola said.

It's not just teaching writing skills earlier, it's teaching everybody to write well, he added.

Compared with teaching 30 years ago, the expectation now is that every child will go to college or trade school, "that every child has the same right to a fine education," he said.

Childhood has also changed significantly, he noted. "Children today live in a digital world," he said. "The way they socialize is far different."

Nevertheless, they still have to learn to read well, to comprehend math and to get along with people, Schiola said.

"They have to learn how to access information, though it's done differently, and to make a decision about whether that information is useful or even true," he said.

The federal reach into local education also is significant, he said. As a result, schools are doing more early intervention to make positive changes that prevent failure.

"We use student achievement data to influence how we teach kids," Schiola said.

Moving from individual learning to group projects is another change. "Thirty years ago, we weren't putting the kids in groups and having them work on projects together," the principal said. "Clearly, that's how the workplace has changed as well."

But something special remains the same: "Kids are kids," he said. "They love to learn, and they are so honest with you."

At age 51, Schiola is not ready to retire, but he hasn't quite decided what to do next. He has a strong interest in the field of conflict resolution and is looking into opportunities to work as an independent consultant. His wife, Julie Schiola, is principal at Harris Bilingual Immersion School, so he will be sticking close to PSD.