The Story of Longbranch: March 2015

During the winter of 2014, the staff at Longbranch gathered and discussed an overwhelming feeling that at 3.5 years as an established school, something was missing from our culture. Something made us feel incomplete. The administration asked a very simple question: Who are we and what is our identity?

We had spent 3.5 years building a school from the ground up, working tirelessly, pushing, organizing, becoming a team. At the end of the day, however, we knew we loved Longbranch but we weren't sure what Longbranch really meant.

Then we discovered our missing piece. Our students are bright, inquisitive, creative problem-solvers. They are kind, they make mistakes, they make great leaps. When we think of the Longbranch students we think, "Incredible potential". However a common theme continued to permeate staff meetings when we attempted to determine why our children were not achieving at the level we knew they could. All of the concerns we had were directly connected to undeveloped 21st century life and work skills. So we set out on a mission to establish and implement this missing piece. This is when we discovered The Leader In Me.

Since then and as of April 23, 2015, 100% of our certified staff will have visited a Leader In Me school, 100% of our staff have participated in a pilot year with the model, 100% of our staff have read the Leader In Me book by Sean Covey, and 100% of our staff believes this is how we intend to fill the void so that YOUR children will be more prepared and better able to achieve at a rate and level beyond expectations in middle school, in high school, in life.

2015-2016 will be our Year One of implementation. This is a 3 year transformation process. During this time, you will begin to witness ideas permeate our kids' lives. They will become responsible, they will become reliable, they will listen before speaking, they will work before play, and they will know the value of balance in their lives and realize that working together helps us achieve incredible results. There will be student leadership groups, parent leadership groups, service learning opportunities to help others. We will host visitors from across the state to view our progress and we will learn from their feedback.

To say I'm excited about this process is an understatement. We now understand our identity. We are charged with creating a world class learning environment where children are not only academically challenged, but a place where children learn to become leaders of their own lives today, tomorrow, and forever.

We are the first Leader In Me school in Northern Kentucky and we join forces with over 2000 Leader In Me schools around the world. Join us as we prepare 850 students per year to create a level of leadership in Boone County we've not yet experienced in our youth. Together, we can.

Sincerely,
Erika Bowles and the staff of Longbranch Elementary School