Lincoln Public Schools

Visit LPS online at http://www.lps.org/
This page can be found at http://www.lps.org/about/speakersbureau/index.html?
or by using the QR code to the right.

Sunday May 26, 2013 · 73° and mostly cloudy in Lincoln

Lincoln Public Schools Speakers Bureau: Speaking for the Children

Lincoln Public Schools is the second largest public school district in Nebraska, serving over 34,000 students from early childhood and kindergarten through senior year in high school—and at 37 elementary schools, eleven middle schools and six high schools. 

In addition to Superintendent Steve Joel, members of the LPS Speaker’s Bureau offer a broad variety of voices in all aspects of public education in the School District, telling the fascinating story of our schools:  addressing the School District’s master facility plan, the value of school athletics, the School District budget, what we want students to learn and how we know they are learning it, and much more.

Speakers tailor their time and topics to the needs of your group, whether it is a community organization, a business or a neighborhood group.  There is no fee for this service, but we suggest advance notice.

Please call us today—and invite us to speak for the children.

Contact Mary Kay Roth, Director, Communications for Lincoln Public Schools
Phone: 402-436-1609—Email: mkroth@lps.org

Speakers & Topics

President, Lincoln Public Schools Board of Education

  • The Lincoln Board of Education is working for you
  • The value of public education to our community

Additional members of the Lincoln Board of Education are also available.
For information about our board of education, president and members
please visit our Board of Education information page.

Jane Stavem, Associate Superintendent for Instruction

  • Teaching and learning with LPS students
  • Challenges in public education
  • State and federal requirements
  • Continuous School Improvement
  • Student Mobility

Mark Shepard, Associate Superintendent for Business Affairs

  • School budget finance 101
  • Lincoln Public Schools: Good stewards of our tax money
  • General topics on business and finance

Nancy Biggs, Associate Superintendent for Human Resources

  • Human Capital (otherwise known as Human Resources)
  • Public Sector Employment
  • Sexual Harassment

John Neal, Assistant to the Superintendent for General Administration and Governmental Relations

  • Lobbying: Why a political subdivision needs one
  • Favorite school district statistics
  • Legislative issues for public education
  • Community Learning Centers
  • Athletics
  • TeamMates
  • Pet Therapy

Thomas Christie, Multicultural School/Community Administrator

  • Cultural diversity with students and staff
  • Multicultural education: What does that mean?
  • Race Relations

Jenny Fundus, Director of Special Education

  • Quality Special Education Programming for students birth to age 21
  • Aligning teaching strategies and the budget to meet student needs
  • Building capacity of all educators to meet the needs of struggling learners

Jadi Miller, Director of Instruction

  • What’s new in curriculum at Lincoln Public Schools?
  • How we develop curriculum
  • State standards

Pat Hunter-Pirtle, Director of Secondary Instruction

  • Middle school and high school education
  • Graduation Rate 
  • Future leaders and leadership development

Bess Scott, Director of Elementary Instruction

  • Students at Promise: Resilience, At-risk, Poverty
  • Teacher appraisal
  • BackPack Program with Food Bank of Lincoln

Deila Steiner, Director of Federal Programs

  • Early childhood
  • English as a Second Language
  • Title I

Josh Cramer, Supervisor of Federal Programs

  • School community partnerships
  • The role of federal funding in education
  • The magic of mentoring

Kirk Langer, Director of Technology

Mary Reiman, Director of Library Media Services

  • Moving a media center for renovation
  • Designing a new media center
  • Books, literature and the importance of reading

Scott Wieskamp, Director of Facilities

  • A comprehensive master plan for LPS facilities
  • Update on construction across the School District

Marjorie Theel, Supervisor of Health Services

  • School nursing
  • H1N1 influenza
  • Childhood obesity issues

Karen Hand, Director of Athletics and student Activities

  • What's new with LPS Athletics?
  • Budgeting for Athletics
  • The value of school athletics

Representative from the Foundation for Lincoln Public Schools

  • How to save money and leave a legacy
  • Simple ways to make a charitable gift
  • Learn about Fund-a-Need

Walter Powell, Coordinator of TeamMates

  • The power of mentoring

All of our LPS Curriculum Specialists can speak about their area:

  • Karen Saunders, Reading Language Arts, 436-1804, ksaund@lps.org
  • David Smith, English Language Arts, 436-1803, dsmith@lps.org
  • Matt Larson, Mathematics, 436-1801, mrl@lps.org
  • Kirsten Smith, Science, 436-1802, ksmith@lps.org
  • Randy Ernst, Social Studies, 436-1805, rernst@lps.org
  • Carol Andringa, Career and Tech Ed, 436-1819, candrin@lps.org
  • Marybell Avery, Health and Physical education, 436-1812, mavery@lps.org
  • Joan Jacobs, Gifted Education, 436-1822, jjacobs@lps.org
  • Nancy Childs, Visual Art, 436-1813, nchilds@lps.org
  • World Language, Jami Holbein Swanson, 436-1814, jswanson@lps.org
  • Tim Hahn, Instructional Technology Coordinator, K-8, 458-3133, thahn@lps.org
  • Ray Lowther, Music Supervisor, 436-1631, rlowther@lps.org