Benton Grade School Connections47

Today, I have the pleasure of speaking with longtime music educator, Alisa Leffler and Band Director, Aaron Lay. As you can imagine, sitting down with young people for a living, asking them to share with me what matters to them—what is important in their school lives, in their friendships, and in their dreams for the future, and then shaping those stories into magazine-sized windows into their worlds is a pretty great gig. But what you might not imagine is how often one of those kids says to me how important music is to them. I’ve sat down with hundreds of students of all ages to talk with them about what matters in their world and, almost without exception, music enters the conversation. In fact, for the upcoming Connections47 Magazine, I had the distinct honor of speaking with a young man who credits much of his very happiness to the time he spends in school with one of today’s guests—Mrs. Leffler. So, music definitely matters to kids, and we are so fortunate to have this dream team here at Benton47. 

Today, I have the privilege of speaking with two professional educators who have been making those kinds of differences in individual lives for more than a quarter of a century. They have taught in widely ranging environments, have served in several administrative capacities, and together, now very capably lead Benton 47. I first met Dr. Steve Smith and Ellen Gibbs this summer, and I immediately sensed that these were people who knew how to get things done; who had a demonstrable track record for doing so, and who really cared about kids and their families. It turns out, for all the plates spinning in the world of Dr. Smith and Mrs. Gibbs, they distill everything down to a few simple mandates, “How can we best serve the students of our community, creating fearless learners?” And, “What can we do to build a culture in our school community that will enable everyone to want to bring their ‘A-Game?’” Yes, Dr. Smith’s got a budget to prepare, he’s got to work with his administrators on all manners of daily complexity, he’s got to make himself available to the media, decide what qualifies for a snow day and what doesn’t, participate with a range of community groups and organizations to forge community partnerships for the District, he’s gotta keep a close eye on the assessed valuation of real property within the district boundaries and make important recommendations to his board regarding tax levies and possible bond issues, and Mrs. Gibbs has an enormous team of teachers, paraprofessionals, specialists, non-cert staff and more than 1,100 students to greet every day, but when the dust settles, these two seem to have found a way to bring unusual focus into incredibly tight alignment in the service of the Benton community: Create Fearless Learners and build a great culture of support. Think of those two ideas as a pair of stones tossed into a pond and imagine the ripple effect they will have for generations to come. That is no small thing.