Meet Lisa: Education Director

March 7 was Employee Appreciation Day, but we’re celebrating our team members all month long by sharing their stories. Read more about Lisa Strom, M.S., M.Ed., Education Director at Spire School, and how she is making an impact through education.

What is your favorite thing about working here?

My favorite thing about working at Spire is the community of families and professionals who believe that we don’t have to educate our children in the same way that we were educated. I appreciate the ability to take the initiative to do things in a new way.

What keeps you coming to work each day?

What keeps me coming to work each day is my desire to make a contribution to the world through education. I also had some amazing teacher mentors throughout my career, so I want to try to be one if I can. After 30 years, I still love going to work.

How do you make an impact on students’ lives?

I hope that I make an impact by showing humility. It’s important to me that I am real with students – being someone with sheer human frailty, who doesn’t know everything but who strives to be an active listener and a lifelong learner.

What does a “day in the life” look like for your role?

A day in the life for my role can look the following:

·       Arrive, greet students and staff, and check my calendar

·       Check on staff attendance to ensure we have coverage

·       Answer emails and phone calls

·       Review progress reports for an upcoming Planning and Placement Team (PPT)

·       Send emails to confirm student internships

·       Work on my computer a bit - upload documents onto the State database, create materials for Professional Development (PD), research an issue I’m trying to problem-solve

·       Walk through a few classrooms and give teachers instructional feedback

·       Supervise lunch; check in with students informally

·       Attend a life coach meeting to hear student updates

·       Meet with students who have concerns they want to discuss

·       Meet with a teacher for a mid-year check in on their professional learning goal

·       Meet with a teacher to review some curriculum questions/changes

·       Attend a PPT meeting

·       Revise an Individualized Education Plan (IEP)

·       Telephone a district to give them an update on their students’ progress

·       Return a parent phone call

·       Take a student outside for a fresh-air walk

·       Send a thank you letter to confirm our upcoming guest speaker

·       Reply to more emails before the end of the day

·       Write the PowerSchool daily bulletin for the next day

·       Organize my desk for the next day and print any materials I might need to review that night

·       Call my teenager to pick me up since she took the car

Can you talk a little bit about your career trajectory and what led you to where you are now?

My mom would tell you that I wanted to be a teacher since preschool, when I played with my chalkboard and magnetic letters. I started teaching in college by leading a team-building program called Appalachian Leadership School Outdoors. I returned home to Connecticut to teach in a special education boarding school as a reading and learning specialist (weird, at age 21, I was hardly a specialist). I eventually moved into public school where I was an English and journalism teacher, department chair, curriculum leader, housemaster and assistant principal in a few different districts. I retired from public school in 2023 and sought a new role in a smaller setting where I could support teachers, know the kids and families more, and provide a more attentive kind of education. Having navigated special education as both an educator and a parent, this felt like a place where I could be an asset.

What has been your proudest moment or accomplishment in your role?

This new role as Education Director is probably my proudest accomplishment. I came to Spire as Academic Dean and viewed the school as full of unique possibilities. I think I earned my new role as Ed Director by striving to make contributions that championed Spire’s robust program. I am humbled at being valuable enough to be awarded this new role.

What is something about you that not many people know?

I think my colleagues would be surprised to know that I’m actually not very social. I prefer spending the day working in my backyard or lounging around with my dogs and a few books and puzzles. It is through my commitment to community volunteering that I have a wide network. I have deep respect for my neighbors who work in organizations that support others, so I am committed to volunteering as much as I can.