Jackson's Lance McClard selected as Missouri's National Distinguished Principal

Millersville Elementary School and North Elementary School principal Lance McClard’s distinct approach to fostering education for faculty beyond the 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. threshold has earned him the honor of being selected as Missouri’s National Distinguished Principal by the Missouri Association of Elementary School Principals.

McClard said his reaction was “of surprise and shock” when he was honored March 2 at a reception banquet at Tan-Tar-A Resort in Osage Beach, Missouri.

“The Southeast Region was really excited about it, because I think this is the first time someone from Southeast Missouri has won,” McClard said by phone Friday. “I really didn’t know if my name was really called. And then you’re supposed to give a speech, and I was not prepared to give a speech. ”

Much of the emphasis of the award’s criteria was focused on how the nominee builds other leaders and how he or she innovates within today’s scholastic climate, he explained.

And how McClard innovates is a major component of his leadership style.

Principal Lance McClard talks with first-grader Jacob Tucker on Friday during a classroom visit at North Elementary School in Jackson.KASSI JACKSON

McClard said he will be leading a Chromecamp on March 23 in St. Louis. With no predetermined topics for the participants, they show up with what they want to talk about and are placed on correlating session boards.

If the session is not meeting the needs of the participants, he said, they’re encouraged to attend a different one. The somewhat unusual format aids in breaking the mold of traditional meetings, “where you’re forced to sit through it,” McClard said.

“And that [event] is on Saturday, so you know the people that show up are the people that are passionate about it,” he said.

With having eight years as school principal and several years of elementary teaching experience under his belt, McClard agreed teaching methods have changed. But, he said, the style of leadership and basic philosophy have stayed the same.

If you’re a real, true leader, he said, you know you don’t always have all the answers.

“That’s why you hire good people, and you rely on those people,” McClard said of his leadership style.

He and his fellow faculty belong to a professional learning community, he said, with a focus on four major aspects: being very clear about what they want students to learn; how they will know whether the students learned it; and if they don’t learn it, what is the faculty going to do about it; and what if they do know it?

McClard’s morning routine usually consists of listening to podcasts on the way to school, and his children also know who some of his favorite educators are, he said, because of his passion. Constantly learning and getting input from other people is what McClard said he stays fixated on.

“Our goal is to make sure that students grow a full year or more than a full year within a year,” McClard said. “We’re looking at not just are they on grade level, but are we adding enough value to where they are gaining more than a year?”

McClard added, “We also want to expose [students] to some of those skills that no matter how the world changes, they’re going to be able to adapt with that world.”

jhartwig@semissourian.com

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