Delta R-V schools look to possibly adopt Leader in Me program

Self-improvement and honing leadership skills are two things Delta superintendent of schools Mellisa Heath is passionate about.

That passion translates to the upcoming Leader in Me presentation that will be hosted Wednesday in the Delta High School Cafeteria. The presentation is for the district employees, parents, business owners and other members of the six to seven communities serviced by Delta R-V schools.

What initially began as a business philosophy developed by Stephen and Sean Covey became something so much more when it was adapted for schools. Leader in Me is that adaptation of a mind framework called the "7 habits of Highly Effective People."

Those seven habits as part of the FranklynCovey program Leader in Me that are broken up into three subsets of skills: independent skills, interdependent skills and renewal skills. All are designed, Heath said, to foster leadership skills among students and staff alike.

"It's basically just teaching children self-leadership and communication with others," Heath said.

The presentation is just the first step in a process in which Delta schools will consider becoming a Leader in Me school, Heath said. It will feature FranklynCovey Client Partner Lance Wheeler, who Heath said will be available to answer questions and explain Leader in Me.

She added the district has been thinking about Leader in Me since she began at Delta last year. The program would be implemented to all Delta R-V schools, covering grades K to 12.

"It's a process," Heath said. "It's something we wouldn't want to begin without involving our parents and our businesses."

The next step in that process is garnering interest from community stakeholders and businesses. The presentation, Heath said, should help do just that.

After looking at finances to see if implementation into the district would be possible, Heath said the program would then become a board-approved model.

She previously was the principal of Doyle Elementary School in East Prairie, Missouri where she was involved in bringing Leader in Me to the school in 2010. Over the next six years at Doyle, Heath saw a major transformation in the way her students interacted and behaved.

"The children would communicate better. When people entered the building, they would look them in the eye and speak to them," Heath said.

As principal of Doyle, she had seen about 400 discipline referrals in one year. Heath said that number was down to 168 after two years in the Leader in Me program.

When Doyle Elementary became a Leader in Me school, Heath said it joined about 521 other schools in the world with that distinction. Now, she said, that number is closer to 2,700.

Heath said there will be no change to the curriculum as a result of Leader in Me, but rather a change in the manner of teaching.

"It's [a change in] the activities and the way you teach and speak to the children," Heath said. "You start using the language [of the 7 habits] in your teaching style, so it starts to be taken on by everyone."

Heath said there isn't a pre-existing problem to be solved with Leader in Me, but through it will develop new ways of teaching self-leadership.

"I would suggest that every school get it," Heath said. "I really am passionate about self improvement. We all make mistakes but it doesn't have to be an end-all to everything, but that we just readjust."