June 7, 2000
Blair bids adieu to longtime staff members
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Team Blair will face one of its strongest challenge next week.
With the retirement of principal Zita Shipman and social worker Sharon Lund, Blair Elementary School is losing the core of its administrative team. Yet, because of their hard work and innovations over the years, Shipman and Lund leave the school's students, staff and parents in a prime position to carry on without them.
And as staff and parents begin looking ahead to next year, they quickly shift into acknowledging all that the two have done for the school over the years.
"They have brought the community into our school and had them provide some resources to help us," said Colleen Drzewiecki, a teacher's aid at the school who is also the parent of two children enrolled there. "I think they have been a real big asset and helped our school have a close family-type feeling."
Shipman and Lund began creating a feeling of community from scratch when the school opened ten years ago. Over the years, they have worked very closely together to forge a strong school in an area with high percentage of children living in poverty, single-parent homes and families in transition.
When some children and families at the school faced personal tragedies, the principal and social worker spearheaded efforts to pull everyone together and help out. During the 1995-1996 school year, the region's infamous tire fire, which forced the whole school to relocate several times because of the intense fire and smoke nearby, events merely pulled the community closer together.
"I think that watching over the growth and progress in the Blair community over the past ten years, we are seeing the coming together of a community," said Shipman, whose education career spans 35 years. "We are a resource center, not just a school. Sharon and I brainstormed together and reached out into the community to see what the needs were."
The needs were easily found; determining ways to meet them came next.
Together, Shipman and Lund proudly point out what a difference a decade can make in meeting those needs. The school now has a strong, active Parent-Teacher Organization, increased family involvement and a network of community resources to call on. Big Brothers/Big Sisters has been matching with students at the school for five years and some staff members are volunteers in the program.
A community resource program, Blair-CAN, matches residents with services and also has funds- raised from the community- available to help families in an emergency. Blair Elementary staff also founded the Peacekeepers program, where students learn and practice conflict resolution skills on the playground. This program is spreading among other elementary schools in the district.
"Magic things happen at school," said Lund, who is retiring after 16 years in the public school system. "As a social worker and a principal, people let you into their lives. They are really giving you their trust to share their lives and their children's lives."
Thinking about next year, after Shipman and Lund retire, parents and staff are thrilled that Interlochen Community School principal Glenn Solowiej will be taking over next fall as principal of Blair. He will bring his own brand of leadership, inspiration and innovation that have been his trademarks over the years at Blair's sister school. In fact, the Blair-CAN program is modeled after Interlochen's I-CAN program, something Solowiej was instrumental in founding and nurturing.
"I am very excited about him coming here because he is the right person for the job," Shipman said. "I live in Interlochen and I know about the things he's done there. The staff is very excited about him coming, too, and he is going to bring a good dimension in what he knows in academics and about MEAP testing."