In this episode of Cool Coffee with Kansas Principals, host Rick Sola interviews Laurel Scott, the principal of Haven Grade School. They discuss Laurel's unique journey from growing up in Alaska to becoming a principal in Kansas, the community of Haven, and the challenges of student recognition in schools. Laurel shares her insights on communication with parents, the transition from secondary to elementary education, and offers valuable advice for aspiring principals. In this conversation, Principal Scott discusses...
In this episode of Cool Coffee with Kansas Principals, host Rick Sola interviews Laurel Scott, the principal of Haven Grade School. They discuss Laurel's unique journey from growing up in Alaska to becoming a principal in Kansas, the community of Haven, and the challenges of student recognition in schools. Laurel shares her insights on communication with parents, the transition from secondary to elementary education, and offers valuable advice for aspiring principals. In this conversation, Principal Scott discusses the importance of creating a community of fans within the educational environment, emphasizing the need to celebrate and engage students and staff. She shares insights on innovative programs like the bee club and student council at Haven Elementary, highlighting the significance of community involvement and support. The discussion also touches on future aspirations for student engagement and the unique culture at Haven that fosters a sense of belonging and pride.
(full show transcript below)
Connect with Laurel Scott
X: @barefootpond
email: lscott@havenschools.com
Laurel's "Under the Umbrella" article (page 24)
Book: Banana Ball
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Chapters (time stamps do not account for Cool Coffee intro)
00:00 Introduction to Principal Laurel Scott
02:58 Haven, Kansas: A Community Overview
05:51 Journey into Education and Administration
09:10 Transitioning from Secondary to Elementary Education
11:55 The Importance of Communication with Parents
14:52 Advice for Aspiring Principals
18:07 Challenges of Student Recognition and Celebrating Success
21:34 Celebrating Community and Creating Fans
24:24 Engaging Students Through Clubs and Activities
29:08 Future Aspirations for Student Engagement
36:42 Bragging on Haven: A Community of Support
Full Show Transcript (AI generated)
Rick Sola (00:00.923)
All right, hello, and we are here again with another episode of Cool Coffee with Kansas Principals. We have another featured principal today doing great things in the state of Kansas, Mrs. Laurel Scott, principal of Haven Grade School in Haven, Kansas, USD 312, home of the Wildcats. Welcome.
Laurel Scott (00:20.59)
Well, thanks for having me. I'm glad to be here.
Rick Sola (00:22.877)
Yeah, it's great having you and home of the Wildcats. I am home with the Wildcats as well here at the school I call home. very cool. Are you a K-State Wildcat by chance?
Laurel Scott (00:34.222)
Actually, I'm neither K-State or KU. I am not from Kansas. I was born and raised in Alaska. So actually, if I had to choose a school, you know, that would be my school, would be UAA, Home of the Seawolves. So I actually attended Wichita State. if a Kansas school, I would definitely be a Shocker.
Rick Sola (00:48.89)
wow.
Rick Sola (00:54.545)
Okay, as a K-Stater, I can handle that. You know, if it's KU, it's like a different ball game, I think. But no, love the Jayhawk people that I work with, but yeah, certainly K-State proud. But grew up in Alaska, that's awesome. Very unique. How are the schools out there? Very similar, very different.
Laurel Scott (01:10.402)
Yeah.
Laurel Scott (01:16.518)
I grew up in Anchorage, so big city. It's about the size population-wise of Wichita. Obviously geographically it's much more compact, but lots of big schools there. I went to one of the larger schools in Anchorage and my mom was my eighth grade PE teacher. That's a different level of, I always say it's a different level of trauma, but it was a great experience growing up. So yeah, I just, I...
Grew up there and joined the Marine Corps after high school and worked on fixed helicopters while I was in the Marine Corps. And then I came back here. My husband is from Wellington and we attended Wichita State together. He's an engineer by trade and I got into education and the rest as they say is history.
Rick Sola (02:03.763)
That's awesome. actually, of course, this is an audio only podcast, but I can see the Marine Corps emblem right behind you there. So that's really cool. Thank you for your service there for the US military. Very awesome. Haven, give us like a 30 second nutshell of Haven, the city. I know you're near Wichita, right? Is that northwest of Wichita?
Laurel Scott (02:25.792)
Yeah, yes, so.
Right off K96, I always described if you're going to the state fair, we are the gas stop in between Wichita and the state fair. It's a little town right in between and we serve three different counties. We serve Reno, Sedgwick and Harvey County. We pull as far geographically from South Hutchinson. We go down clear down to Cheney Lake. We go over to Mount Hope, which is closer to Andale and as far west as Partridge. So we have a very, very large
geographic district. It makes it a lot of fun, a lot of different challenges, but it's a great place to be. It's a great place to call home. I've lived here for about 11 years and been the principal here for five.
Rick Sola (03:11.539)
That's great. Awesome. So you actually kind of got into it. Actually, I was going to ask you Haven. I've not been to Haven, I don't think. But if I were, what is like the must-eat-at restaurant in Haven?
Laurel Scott (03:24.91)
Well, we actually have we have a couple different restaurants we have Daisy Joe's which is like your traditional burger joint It's really really good. I would compare it to like a five guys. The fries are very very similar They're fresh cut daily We also have a little coffee shop that serves like little sandwiches and stuff like that. And then we recently opened a restaurant. It's called curbsides to go. It's open Wednesday Thursdays and Fridays For like lunch and dinner and it's really really good
good, but it's like a takeout type style meal and it's good. So it's lots of fun.
Rick Sola (04:01.331)
Is there any one of those or other places where the students gravitate toward where after school that's the place to go?
Laurel Scott (04:07.374)
I would probably say Daisy Joe's. mean, this year ice cream shop, so they're open late nights when we have basketball games and football games and do lots of things like that to support the community.
Rick Sola (04:19.933)
Great. Actually, you brought up basketball and I actually saw Haven is having a really good year this year, aren't they? On the boys' side.
Laurel Scott (04:26.094)
Yeah, our boys are still going strong. Yeah, so they beat Heston the other night. And so I think our next game for a sub state is Wednesday night. Unfortunately, our girls lost. It was a really tough loss and it was a really close game. We just kind of couldn't pull through in the last little bit.
Rick Sola (04:43.463)
Well, congratulations. You mentioned Heston. I actually have a nephew that's a senior on that team. And so I know that they're both really good teams. And I was looking at the sub-state brackets and they're in separate sub-states. anyway, good luck to the Haven Wildcats out there. You kind of touched on a little bit of your kind of road in education. What got you into administration? What was that turning point where you went from teacher to
admin.
Laurel Scott (05:13.794)
Well, I'm a history, I'm secondary history, so the fact that I'm in a grade school is very, very different. And I would tell you my department members from my previous building, which is 259, it's Wichita High School East, they would always kinda tease me and say that I was probably meant to be an elementary school teacher. I just love office supplies and post-it notes and all the colors and all the things. And they used to give me a hard time. I decided I wanted to get my master's.
in curriculum and instruction just as a way to kind of perfect my craft and improve upon.
my what's my purpose and what is my passion. So I really enjoyed that and I wasn't really sure where I was gonna go with that other than I just knew I wanted to be a better instructional, just better instructionally and better in the classroom. And then, you know, I just was kind of thinking, well, do I wanna be department chair? Do I wanna do administration? And I thought, well, I kind of like that as part of it. And I had some really good principals who were really good role models for me and just kind of guided me.
As one of my students said the other day, said, helps me get out of situations. And you know, and being an administration, we help a lot of kids in a lot of different situations. So just having that leadership in my life and having that guidance. And so I just decided I'm gonna do administration and see where that takes me. And when I was finishing my program, this position opened up and I thought, well, I didn't ever think that I would want to be in my children's.
building because I always said I wanted to give them autonomy but I thought shoot I'm gonna just put in for it and see where it goes and I interviewed right at the very start of COVID.
Laurel Scott (07:05.326)
And this is home. I I live right outside of town and I was driving in and my kids were attending here. So my eyes were a little bit open at the students that we serve here in Haven. I would have told you that it's just this pretty little, cutesy little town and we still have some of the same challenges that other schools have, that any school has really.
And, but it just, it just is a great place to be. It's a great place to work. It's a great place to raise your kids and to know like, I'm, you know, I'm supporting my community and I'm helping, you know, my kids' and, you know, helping them out of situations too. So that's kind of how I ended up here. And like I said, I never thought I would be here in Haven, but I've loved every minute of it.
Rick Sola (07:55.187)
That's great. You know, it's been brought up multiple times, different principals on this podcast and talk about being the principal at the building with their kids. And I'm one of those. it just makes me think that might be a good episode. Just because I think everything you described are all the things that I remember feeling like, know, kind of should I? this the best thing for them? And so anyway, that's really neat. And I'm a former social studies secondary as well. So, but the idea of being in elementary
Laurel Scott (08:08.865)
Yeah.
Rick Sola (08:24.787)
I love the elementary. I've got an elementary kid myself and going in there, but you know, that does not seem like, that's an adjustment I would imagine.
Laurel Scott (08:34.402)
Yeah, and they asked me, I remember that was a question in my interview actually, how do you think you will transition from the secondary level to the elementary school level? And my answer, and I still hold true to this.
When we think about brain development and the development of the prefrontal cortex, there's not much difference between an eight-year-old and a 16-year-old when we talk about brain development. I mean, obviously, there's a lot of differences and we see them, but so the problems are the same. The things that they face are the same. The academic challenges are the same. They're just in smaller packages.
Rick Sola (09:09.939)
That's really great. I like that. Yeah, the elementary still kind of scares me a little bit for where I'm at, but...
Laurel Scott (09:14.594)
Well, know, kindergarten scares me a little bit, but I will tell you this. If you want to have compliments, if you are having a down day, go down to kindergarten. They will tell you they love your outfit, they love your earrings. Did you just get a haircut? How beautiful you look. mean, that is like, if you're needing some encouragement, go down to the six year olds. They've got it for you all day long.
Rick Sola (09:39.197)
There is such a special energy about elementary schools. Every once in a while, throughout the year, I need to go down to our feeder elementaries. And you're right, kids, they just come right up to you. They have no reservations. They'll just say, you know, whatever. And it's one of the favorite things I do every year is when I go down to work with our fifth graders who are coming up to the middle school. there is a special energy with elementary.
Laurel Scott (09:51.297)
Mm-hmm.
Rick Sola (10:05.201)
And you mentioned that you started at the start of COVID. So we have that in common, starting in a building at that time. That's a unique challenge in and of itself. I'm interested in, because this is also something that's been recurring. I think it'd be really interesting to really have people share about this. you talked about the good role models and mentors that you've had along the way. Was there anything that any of them shared with you as far as advice in particular that really stuck with you that maybe it
kind of formed your early admin or maybe it's still with you and driving you today.
Laurel Scott (10:38.68)
First story always wins, that would be it. If I knew and so there was one of our administrators.
Growing up and I ended up in her office a lot and would tell me she said boy You better go tell your mom because I'm calling her I'm gonna let her know but if you get home and that was kind of what I learned if I can tell my story First at least I've said well, this is what I was thinking when I made a really poor decision So that's something that I've that stuck with me not only as an administrator I mean now as a parent number one, I want my kids to tell me that too I want them to say hey, I made a mistake today And this is what I do about it
Rick Sola (11:15.091)
So does that drive your, like, when you work with a student who's made a poor choice that you're going to the first call, you're going to call home before they have a chance to get home? that?
Laurel Scott (11:25.686)
Yeah, well, yeah, it does. And that's the thing I tell our classroom teachers too, like communicate. Like parents want the opportunity to be a parent. I want the opportunity to be a parent. There's nothing more discouraging to me when I call a parent and I say, well, you know, we've had several conversations and they say, this is the first time I'm hearing about this. Why is this the first time? Same thing with parent teacher conferences. know, my mom being my PE teacher, parent teacher conferences are this week. I'm going to go in. there anything?
I need to know before I go meet with your teachers and I would it used to give me the most anxiety I can remember just stressing What did I do that? I forgot to tell my mom like what story are they gonna tell? That I didn't like it wasn't a big deal to me and it's just stuck in that teachers crawl And so that just used to give me so much anxiety So I always try and you know, even when I was in the classroom just telling teachers just telling my students It's okay. Hey, I'm gonna have a conference with you beforehand We're gonna talk about it and I'm gonna share exactly that with your parents. There's no sir. There should be
know surprises. And so again, first story wins and then there shouldn't be any surprises. So our parents should know what's, you know, how they're doing in their kids, how their kids are doing in school and there shouldn't be any surprises. And if we communicate well and do our due diligence in that, then it usually goes pretty well.
Rick Sola (12:48.017)
Yeah, there's always a balance I struggle with kind of depending on the situation, maybe a low level thing. think as a parent, I would like to know this. This is important. You you got called to the principals and you're having this conversation. And then there's the other side that sometimes like, well, you know, give them a chance to, you know, kind of work through it and that sort of thing. But there's definitely, definitely a balance there. But I err on that side of caution, too. I would rather call home, have the conversation and.
be able to share how the conversation went here and invite that discussion at home and then hey, call back if you have any questions and that sort of thing.
Laurel Scott (13:22.958)
Yeah.
And that's just, and I always say that too. And that's the thing I am, I'm so fortunate to have my kids in my building, but I'm like, hey, my kids aren't perfect either. As a parent, I would want to know. Cause again, I want to have those conversations like serious, like again, like just little things, even as like you have a negative lunch balance and you pack your lunch every day. So what's going on here, bud? You know, why are we, what's happening with our lunch? Well, I forget it on the playground and then I go out and I can't find it or I left it in the car or things like that. So just again, I just always
want the opportunity to parent my kids and even in this building sometimes I don't know stuff and I want to know and I want to be that parent that's involved but if we don't give parents the opportunity and don't invite them to the table.
Rick Sola (14:06.151)
Yeah. So there's a principal who or aspiring principal, know, or someone listening to this out of Wichita State or Baker or whatever. What advice would you give them? You talked about some advice that you had gotten. First story wins. What advice would you give someone as they are aspiring to the chair of principal?
Laurel Scott (14:28.896)
So they're interviewing or they are thinking maybe they want to be an administrator or?
Rick Sola (14:35.507)
Let's go with they are about to assume the role of principal or they're trying to actually interview for a principalship.
Laurel Scott (14:42.83)
Okay, okay. I would say seek first to understand is a big one. Listen first.
And that's always something I can, you when you think about things that don't go well, whether, you know, you had a crisis drill, you had a fire drill, something that didn't go well, some professional development, you know, in any situation like that, people will say, hey, I need more communication. I need I need more of that. And and I would say that would be creating those opportunities for that, for that follow up, for the for those critical conversations that you can have. One of the things that I've done recently is I felt
you know, like I always say, hey guys, if you need to talk to me, I will make myself available for you. that's really important to me, but what I find is that I will see people walk past my office and they'll kind of pop in. And if I've got somebody here, they'll just keep walking. So creating opportunities for people to schedule those appointments with me. So I use an app for that.
and so they can just go in and it links their calendar to mine and they I just have a standing 10 minute appointment and I go to them that way no matter what it is I've made time for them in my day and it usually it works out pretty well because they are able to say hey this was a problem for me or this was a frustration
And then they're not waiting for me to either get out of an IEP or, you know, another meeting with where someone did just pop in. It's scheduled and it's intentional. just, you know, see when you think about those first year, your first year principal, or you're getting ready to come into the building and you you're wanting to do this, just create lots of opportunities for staff to come to you, set boundaries with them. But ultimately, just try and be the best listener that you can and just, you know, assume positive intent with people.
Laurel Scott (16:35.376)
parents, students, and staff and just be a listener.
Rick Sola (16:41.873)
Yeah, you just said assume positive intent. That's a big one. And there's times where I'm sure we're in the role where you're like, my gosh, but almost always people's heart are in the right place. And sometimes things just go one way or the other. And so I really like that. What's the name of the app that you just referenced there?
Laurel Scott (16:56.142)
Mm-hmm.
Laurel Scott (17:01.64)
I use Calendly and
I know you can do it through Google calendars, but Calendly is really, really easy for me. There is a free version. I pay for it. It's not that much. it just helps me, especially scheduling your evals. How much time do I spend like, hey, does this time work? Or I have these three times. Sorry, that one's gone now. It's like, just go in. I've blocked out the right amount of time I need for your observation, and I've blocked out the follow-up. You schedule it. You schedule it.
when it works for you. So that's really nice.
Rick Sola (17:37.799)
Yeah. So I want to transition actually the as we record this, it's very timely because like earlier today we all got an email from under the umbrella in your article, which I'm looking at right here, but I haven't read it yet. It came out a couple hours ago, but the challenges of student recognition and finding meaningful ways to celebrate success. And so it's very timely. We had some things to talk about. This certainly goes right along with that. And speaking of which, I mean, we
Appreciate your persistence with connecting here our schedules, because we have had some false starts. I think this is originally like a month ago that we were trying to get together and talk. the job, things happen. And then we had like 58 snow days in a row. that, yeah. Yeah. And where I'm at right now, they're talking about a big old storm again coming here in a couple of days. So.
Laurel Scott (18:24.908)
In the month of January.
Laurel Scott (18:32.75)
Yeah.
Rick Sola (18:34.015)
But anyway, I appreciate you weathering through that. Not necessarily pun intended there, but you just had the USA under the USA Kansas under the umbrella article out. let's hear a sneak preview. And then I will put the link to the under the umbrella into our show notes so you can find it. There's a lot of good articles in there from people who have been featured along the way. So what can you tell us about it?
Laurel Scott (18:59.372)
Yeah, it's funny, Stacey Green's article is also in there this month and she and I did not talk or visit about that before at all and then we shared our articles and they're actually on kind of some similar stuff and that's just celebrating your people, whether that's stakeholders of any kind, but students and staff, just the people that work in your building, the people that are there and staff recognition is actually something that I've figured out. It's pretty easy to do, create some different avenues.
for staff recognition. But student recognition is something that I continually struggle with in making it meaningful because I can reward kids for, you know.
You know, GPA, you know, I can award those honor roll kids and we do, we send home certificates. But then I struggle with attendance awards because you know, lot of times, know, kids are, they're missing for legitimate reasons. They are legitimately sick. Also, I have kids with braces on, orthodontist appointments are really, really hard to schedule. Certainly during that time that's after school or before school. So whether it's orthodontist, eye appointments, you know, things like that. So I struggle with perfect attendance awards.
as well. And then again, when kids are sick, want them home. you know, they need to be home. They need to rest when they're ill. So just struggling with that. And then, you know, then there's the student of the month challenge and whether, you know, are we recognizing the kids that deserve it or are we recognizing the kids that need it? And then when we recognize everyone, does that dilute the meaning behind it? So just some of the things that I struggle with as an administrator in a building where I really want to champion those kids,
but finding the right way to do it.
Rick Sola (20:42.575)
I love all of those topics because there's so much just philosophical angles from it and people can have very valid reasons to come at it from both ways like recognizing those who need it versus those who've earned it or whatever. And maybe that's the social studies background there too because I like I'm hearing that I'm like yeah that'd be an interesting conversation because attendance is really tricky and I found that this year and I know there's a lot of talk about
chronic absenteeism and things, but you hit the nail on the head. People do get sick and sometimes they get sick for an extended amount of times and when it's on top of some ortho appointments or maybe they had something come up that did pull them from the building. The next thing you know, you look at those numbers and it can present a conversation to be had, but it gets tricky to say the least.
Laurel Scott (21:12.45)
Mm-hmm.
Laurel Scott (21:34.924)
It's challenge. So yeah, that's kind of what it's about. Again, just I try and think about things that I'm going through and things that I'm working through in my mind and in my brain when I'm writing an article. so that's something that I've really been working on this year. And it's not a challenge that we were given by our superintendent. Just how do you celebrate your people? And that was the question. So I read a really good book.
the owner of the Savannah Bananas, the baseball team, the guy that created Banana Ball. And I actually don't have it right now, but so it's called Fans First and it's about creating fans and everything that we do and just creating those fans and not customers because it kind of references like the Blockbuster and how Blockbuster had a lot of customers but they didn't have fans and they didn't adopt what they were doing.
to create fans, but just some of the things like Chick-fil-A, how they are really big on...
when the phones come to night ring.
Rick Sola (22:40.595)
You
Laurel Scott (22:41.678)
They come into my office. but just Chick-fil-A has changed the, you know, it's not no problem. Those are two negatives together, but it's my pleasure. Or, you know, Starbucks, when they have meetings, they leave an empty chair and that chair represents the customer. So just creating fans from our people, from our community, and that we really truly want people to be a fan of our district and a fan of our building. And so what does that take to create people who are fans? Because fans are a boil. Fans are, you know, they're
die-hard, you know, Chiefs fans, their die-hard KU, die-hard K-State, they will do anything. They will, you know, travel miles, stay up super late watching a game, or, you know, study the draft picks. Those are fans. Those are, that's who you want. So how do we take that and adapt it to what we're doing here in education and create those fans? So I think the step for, first step for that is, you know, recognizing and celebrating your people, you know, whether it's your alumni that have come back to work in your district. People have a lot of places that they can work and
and things that they can do. But if they choose to come back and attend the school that they grew up in, that speaks volumes about your fan base. So again, I would highly recommend that book.
Rick Sola (23:55.227)
Yeah, I'm gonna I'll find it. I have not heard of it. I'm gonna put it in to our show notes as well. I mean, just by how you've described it, it sounds like a really interesting read and definitely something relevant for all of us here in the school. So, you know, one thing we had talked about here a little while ago now, but is in Haven, you've got some things going on surrounding clubs at the elementary school and
I would love to hear just a little bit of kind of a nutshell of how it works at Haven and then what you see as the values. I know clubs can really be so powerful in schools and for kids and motivators and so forth. And so you talk about bragging on your people, brag on your club program out in Haven.
Laurel Scott (24:43.96)
Well, and this is something that we're still working on and we're still developing. It kind of, we knew that...
We wanted to have a student council in our building and we just didn't have one. I don't know if we have had one in the past, but as long as my kiddos have been going to Haven, we have not. And so my oldest is an eighth grader. And again, I have several staff members who went here and didn't have student council then. So just kind of thinking about what we wanted that to look like and just reaching out to other places. But it actually started with some student interest in B's.
Rick Sola (25:18.301)
like bumblebees. honeybees, okay.
Laurel Scott (25:19.502)
but more particular honey bees.
There's several grants that you can get to get bees and I had reached out to a couple different teachers I'm like, my gosh you guys I want to get bees. How do we do it? And it kind of took a little bit of like trial and error to find the right person to be the bee club sponsor But one of our kindergarten teachers her name is Cory Kroll just said absolutely. This sounds awesome Let's do it. So Every year in the fall, we have a farm day. We actually have a school farm. That's not very far from here
And so we, our FFA and Ag programs bring in all sorts of speakers and just kind of present on what they're doing and community leaders and things like that. Well, one of the presenters was the Prairie Hills Middle School Bee Club. So that is Bueller. So one of our surrounding districts has a bee club. So they came out and presented on that and our kids were so just inspired. They're this is so cool. We could do that. We want to do that. Then at our fall festival, a local
I
They do tree trimming business, also has bees and they kind of had a little bee station and we're selling local honey. And again, our kids are so excited. They just wanted to do it. But we had some steps to jump through first, which was really absolutely like this was the most like the history teacher and we just get super excited because it just taught our kids some civics and how to be civically engaged as a student. So we had to first we needed to present our idea to the middle school science teacher.
Laurel Scott (26:54.476)
who lives next door to where we were going to put our bees and she was all about it, super excited. So our little bee club went over and that was their first presentation was to her. And then they went to the school board and got permission from the school board. And then they had to actually go to a city council meeting where they had and they had to figure out how to get added to the agenda and how, you know, to have that idea sponsored. They had their lawyers there and they presented their idea of changing our
Rick Sola (27:19.734)
Ugh.
Laurel Scott (27:23.446)
our town regulations on owning bees in the city limits because it was not permitted. So they did that and they voted to amend some of those regulations so that we have an educational exemption to allow bees for obviously the educational purpose of it. And so pretty cool there. So we have had our bees for almost a year now and we checked on them not too long ago and they were doing pretty good. it obviously when it gets warm, they come out. And so we have some support.
who have helped us just keep that up, because it's a lot of work. I used to think, not yet, not yet, but we will be. But just learning what our bees need and how much, like how much.
Rick Sola (27:57.329)
Are you producing honey? Okay. Okay.
Laurel Scott (28:07.758)
how much foliage do you have to have available for bees to even produce honey? Not just talking about making it through the winter, but I thought it was like I just set up the white boxes and you just leave them there. There's so much more to it than that. Bugs, parasites, all the things that we're learning about. So that kind of got our feet wet with student organizations and then moving into our student council. And we started it this year and we had kids apply. They had to get letters of recommendation and letters of reference from people and it couldn't,
people in the building as well as outside the building had to write a letter for these kids. And again, just the things that they're doing and they meet.
every other Friday and one of our counselor leads it and they're just involved, just learning how to be involved and we're learning right along with them on how it should work and how it could work and how we could do it better. So it's pretty cool to see our kids step into leadership roles and just become ambassadors for the building.
Rick Sola (29:08.529)
Yeah, really, really cool. You talked about the B's and kind of the launching point of other things. Where would you hope to see three years from now Haven Elementary School as it relates to clubs?
Laurel Scott (29:22.008)
Well, I'd like us to have more opportunities and just for our fifth and sixth graders to just be engaged and involved in our community and what that looks like for each kid could be different. But engaging our staff members and where they find interests. I actually had a staff member, she's a Horizon Award winner this year. She brought me a book for my sixth grader because they love to read together and my daughter just finished a book and so the teacher comes down and
hey I got this book for your daughter. She's gonna she really enjoyed it and Frank she was telling me about it so now this is another one like that. So just you know and she's talked about having a book club and creating those opportunities so just how can we get kids excited about being at school and give them something other some other drive to look forward to that gets them in the doors and keeps them engaged and whether that's band or or we have an advanced art program or students have some choice in that or a book club.
or being involved in student council or getting to work with the bees. So what is it that brings kids here? Because I know that I love coming to my job, but what is it that keeps me here? And making sure that we're asking our students, what is it that brings you here? What is it that gets you excited about being here at school and how can we make sure that we're providing those opportunities for kids?
Rick Sola (30:44.167)
Yeah, you mentioned a lot of different examples of ways kids can be connected to school and not every example is going to resonate with every kid, but hopefully at least one example will resonate with all the kids, you know, and that's, it's really the power of kind of, it's almost outside the box thinking basically. I mean, bring in bees. Not every elementary school has got a beehive producing honey out there, which I find awesome by the way, because I love honey and some authentic honey being made there.
Laurel Scott (30:56.568)
Mm-hmm.
Laurel Scott (31:13.708)
Yeah.
Rick Sola (31:13.709)
is fantastic, but it's such a powerful thing for IC as a school community and so forth. And the fact that they had kind of a real life civics lesson too and the things that they'll remember with that.
Laurel Scott (31:23.81)
Yeah.
That I think was the coolest thing and then our local paper wrote an article about the kids and just the work that they were doing. So then the day that we actually got the bees, it was pretty exciting. So it's a lot of fun.
Rick Sola (31:39.347)
Great. Well, hey, before we wrap up here, I'm going to give you some quick hitters. then you talk about bragging on your people. I want to give you a chance to really just brag on Haven and kind of leave us with that. But some quick hitters here. Favorite movie.
Laurel Scott (31:43.266)
Okay.
Laurel Scott (31:53.61)
gosh, sweet home Alabama.
Rick Sola (31:57.715)
Okay, I have seen that movie, yes. Okay, very good. No comments on this here, but yeah. Okay, last concert you saw.
Laurel Scott (31:58.25)
What?
Laurel Scott (32:06.729)
Yeah
Laurel Scott (32:11.918)
I went to Morgan Wallen in Kansas City. No, no Benson Boone. Benson Boone was the I went to Benson Boone with my my big girls in Tulsa.
Rick Sola (32:21.925)
Okay, yeah, Morgan Wallen, I did not go to that, but that was like huge out here and so many students were going to that.
Laurel Scott (32:28.01)
I have not, I've been to more concerts this year too than I've probably been to in five years.
Rick Sola (32:35.503)
Yeah, I like to go to concerts. don't go all that often. Ben Folds is, I'm a big Ben Folds fan and he is coming to the KC Symphony, which is a really cool experience and I'm to catch that over spring break. But anyway, a typical lunch, and I'm talking about at school. What does your typical lunch look like?
Laurel Scott (32:40.6)
Mm-hmm.
Laurel Scott (32:52.642)
Okay, well my assistant principal and I have a list of our top five, okay? We have amazing food here. Our nutrition services, like they do a phenomenal job. Every Friday, by the way, we have biscuits and gravy for staff every Friday morning. So that is like, like if you wanna know, like just.
Rick Sola (33:11.613)
That's incredible.
Laurel Scott (33:13.198)
Come on, come to Haven. will buy you biscuits and gravy on a Friday morning. One of the things I love about that too is we always have or we try to get the high school athletes to come over. So they'll come over, they have biscuits and gravy too with us and just hang out with the little kids. Again, we're in a community where we're just so close. The high school is just the next block over. They walk over, come have breakfast with our bus kids and we open our doors to kids at 745. The merry-go-round on those days,
Rick Sola (33:29.456)
gosh.
Laurel Scott (33:43.144)
gets a little bit crazy because those guys come over there and they really get it going. But that's fun. It's a fun time for us. But for lunch, man, if it's got gravy on it, I'm there. Like if it's chicken nuggets, mashed potatoes, always a good day. Crispy dough is always another really good day. And then we have a phenomenal salad bar for staff. So if I'm not really feeling it, Super Nachos, again, one of my top faves. But we keep, my assistant principal and I
Rick Sola (34:05.703)
Wow, okay.
Laurel Scott (34:13.038)
he and I keep a rolling list of, this is a favorite.
Rick Sola (34:16.581)
Yeah, that's that's really good. Now is it are you eating lunch in your office? Is it quiet? Or like you standing up in a lunch room somewhere and
Laurel Scott (34:23.246)
I get up pretty early, but so I'm ready for lunch. I usually like I try and eat early because if I don't sit down and eat early Then it doesn't happen. So usually I'm eating like at 1030, but usually before 11 1030 1045 I'll grab my lunch Sometimes I eat with the kids but that's always you know, you know, it's always you know hit or miss on if you get lunch or not and
depending on if we have lunch duty that day or not. But I always sit down. I try and sit down because I'm just not coordinated enough to stand up and eat.
Rick Sola (34:55.709)
Yeah.
Rick Sola (35:00.941)
I have been told here that I eat like a toddler because I tend to have a peanut butter sandwich and a cheese stick and I'm like walking and you know, but your lunch and breakfast sounds amazing. And I think it's awesome too. bet your kids just love having the high school kids there. I mean that is really cool.
Laurel Scott (35:12.297)
Yeah, we have
Laurel Scott (35:16.622)
It's pretty cool. So we did a thing too. So our PTO, we have a pretty awesome PTO. We call it Wake Up with Wildcats. We have it a couple of times a year. We bring in Daylight Donuts. And let me tell you, Daylight Donuts is pretty particular on their donut pickup. I had said, well, we'll just pick them up the day before. They're like, no, no, no, no, You can't do that. And I was like, what do mean I can't pick them up the day before? They're like, you'll have to come that morning. And they were legit serious. They were not letting me pick up those donuts the day before. So luckily I had a couple of staff members who said, we'll grab them in the morning on our way. No big deal.
So we have a Wake Up with Wildcats Day and it's just come in, have a donut, have some coffee with whomever you want to bring. It doesn't really matter, just really it's, you know, just hanging out with the kids.
And on that day we have a large bus population and sometimes that just doesn't work for families. So we bring the high school athletes over and they have donuts. So we have two locations. You can have donuts with your parent or your grandparent, your aunt or uncle, your neighbor, or you can have it with the high schoolers. And at some point I'm sure the other kids are gonna realize they'd rather have it with the high school basketball team because those guys are a lot of fun.
Rick Sola (36:20.529)
Yeah, yeah, I bet. Okay, last one. Favorite morning drink.
Laurel Scott (36:25.296)
coffee black.
Rick Sola (36:26.993)
Okay, we have that in common. That's basically, it's this black coffee. So very good, very good. I do wanna end, and I like to end these podcasts this way, but just brag on your people. Let's hear all about Haven and what you love about it.
Laurel Scott (36:31.244)
Mm-hmm.
Laurel Scott (36:42.414)
It's just, just, they're just good people. They're good people that believe in what we're doing here. Again, like I said, we have a lot of alumni who choose to come back and work here, whether they're a para, whether they're maintenance teaching. It's pretty cool to see people say, like, I went away to college, I went away for several years, and I came back to this place, and I think there's something special about that. You go to a game on a Friday night or a Thursday night, or actually this
week it's Wednesday night and and and it's filled and and they're not they're not just parents they're not just grandparents it's community members who've been here and they want to see this town succeed and they want to see these kids succeed and it makes it a pretty special place it's a small town so you know if you if you mess up they know about it but they also the cool thing about that is they celebrate you too they're the first ones they're championing kids they're the kids that are the people that are screaming on the sidelines
They're showing up for the spelling bee. We actually have a girl from the grade school going to the state spelling bee this year. we had a girl make it to the next round of the National Civic Spee Competition. just lots of really cool things going on both athletically and academically at Haven. And it makes it a really fun time to be here and a fun time to work for USD 312.
Rick Sola (38:06.707)
Yeah, really great words about Haven and between the biscuits and gravy and Daisy Joes and all the things that I need to stop through there. And what's cool really just listening to how you're describing them is it goes back to that book you were just talking about, The Fans First. You're describing what sounds like a lot of fans of Haven and the community or they're fans of everything in USD 312 and.
It's really cool, and I want to wish you all the best in basketball season and unless you take on the Swathers again which would I think be like in the in the final round or championship, but But now very good and Laurel. Thanks again for making this work and for joining here today and Yeah, absolutely and in all the best in the days or weeks leading up to spring break and a good fourth quarter to you
Laurel Scott (38:43.128)
Yeah, I think so.
Laurel Scott (38:50.254)
Well, thanks for having me.
Laurel Scott (38:59.276)
Yeah, you too. Yeah, you guys too. again, thanks for having me. It's been a lot of fun. I really enjoyed it.
Rick Sola (39:04.467)
All right, take care.
Rick Sola (39:09.171)
All
