"Advocating for Every Student" - The GIPS Cast, Ep. 074

Breanna McDonald is a community builder. 
 

Mrs. McDonald has been with GIPS for a decade, with the last four years serving as the Principal of Lincoln Elementary.  As a former Kindergarten Teacher and Academic Support Coach, she has a big heart for not just reaching every student — but advocating for every student and their families. 
 

Everything she does is fueled by the mission of building a strong community.  A community for her staff to feel supported in collaboration and their expertise; a community for students to feel seen, heard, and gain opportunities for them to succeed; a community for families to feel like Lincoln Elementary is their second home.  All of it is community. 
 

At the close of the school year, Mrs. McDonald joined our podcast to share her philosophy of public education, and give an inside glimpse into what makes Lincoln Elementary special and how she and her staff view each school day as an opportunity to make an impact.
 

Listen to the latest episode above or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform.

(Transcript may be found below the episode player.)

#WeAreGIPS  

--

--

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: 

Podcast Intro  00:00

This is Grand Island Public Schools podcast, and these are our stories. We are learners, we are educators in teaching hearts as well as minds. We are 10,000 diverse voices, and we're changing the world together, one classroom at a time. These are our stories. We are GIPS. We are GIPS. Somos que efe ese. We are GIPS. Somos GIPS. We are GIPS. And this is 'The GIPS Cast'!

 

Mitchell Roush  00:31

Welcome back to 'The GIPS Cast', a conversation-based podcast exploring the voices of Grand Island Public Schools in Nebraska. I'm your host Mitchell Roush, the communications director here at GIPS, and as always, I'm grateful to bring to you new stories from all corners of our district, because here we're driven by our mission of every student every day a success. Brianna McDonald is a community builder. Now, I use that term specifically because, to be honest, I think community builder better captures the heart of what she does better than simply saying she's a school principal. Now, mrs. McDonald has been with GIPS for a decade, with the last four years of her serving as the principal at Lincoln Elementary as a former kindergarten teacher and academic support coach, she has a big heart for not just reaching every student but advocating for every student and their families. Everything she does is fueled by the mission of building a strong community, a community for her staff to feel supported in collaboration and their expertise, a community for students to feel seen and heard, and gain opportunities for them to succeed, and a community for families to feel like Lincoln Elementary is their second home. All of it is community now. At the close of this school year, mrs. McDonald joined us here on the podcast to share her philosophy of public education and to give an inside glimpse into what makes Lincoln Elementary special, and how she and her staff view each school day as an opportunity to make a positive impact. Give a listen.

 

Breanna McDonald  02:31

I'm Bre McDonald, and I'm the Principal at Lincoln Elementary.

 

Mitchell Roush  02:34

You're here on 'The GIPS Cast'. We're hanging out. Thank you so much for being here.

 

Breanna McDonald  02:39

Hello, thanks for inviting me.

 

Mitchell Roush  02:40

Yeah, absolutely. It's always a good time when I get to come to Lincoln and see the cool stuff that's going on here, even in the summer. So, thank you for letting me come out.

 

Breanna McDonald  02:48

Absolutely.

 

Mitchell Roush  02:49

And why do you love this job?

 

Breanna McDonald  02:51

I have been at Lincoln for four years now, and I would say that I really love my job because of the students and the staff I get to work with. It's really neat being principal, because when you're in the classroom, you only get that one year, really, to build that relationship and get to know the kids, and as the principal, you get to watch them, and in our situation, all the way from preschool, even all the way to in their fifth grade, and get ready to leave you, and just that development of who they are as they figure out, are they kind of goofy? Are they, are they more than the academic and quiet side? But you really get to learn about the kids all the way through, rather than just those isolated times in their life at elementary school.

 

Mitchell Roush  03:31

It's an interesting perspective at that point, right? You get, you've got hundreds of kids here, and you get to be a part of watching all of them grow and discover and develop and make mistakes and learn and all those sorts of things, you get a front row seat to all of that.

 

Breanna McDonald  03:45

Absolutely, and you get to be a part of also their parents' lives, you get to see their parents grow and just understanding school, you get the siblings and you're like, oh, I know, and just it's it's really a family atmosphere at Lincoln, and so I think we really lean into that family component, get to know our families, we know whose car is pulling up out front before our kids even see it, so it's just really personal here. So we really develop that story with our families of what education can be for their kids and how they can support it too.

 

Mitchell Roush  04:20

That's such a meaningful way to frame it, and as funny as that might sound, I've seen that in action. I'm pretty sure between you and Schultz, you know every family's vehicle that pulls up.

 

Breanna McDonald  04:29

Pretty close. And we often are like, did you get a new car? I've not seen that one before. They're like, no, it's my aunt.

 

Mitchell Roush  04:37

I love it. So I've got a loaded question for you, but I enjoy asking this question when I have principals on the podcast, because every building is different and has its unique traditions and things like that, but what does a normal, quote unquote, normal day look like for you as the principal at Lincoln Elementary?

 

Breanna McDonald  04:57

All right, well, normal day, I would say. Is rushing in from dropping off my own kids, and then recruiting a student to put out our cones, and getting set up for morning announcements. This year I started being at the front door with mrs. Schultz, and it's just been a good experience to get to be that first hello to students and really welcome them in, starting all the way at 730 in the morning, so bright and early before breakfast is served. Then we get morning announcements, and morning announcements always usually have a couple jokes in there, and just what's for lunch, which everyone still asks you five times that day, even though you already announced it. But what's really special is we get to recognize kids who got their positive office referrals in the morning.

 

Mitchell Roush  05:39

That's awesome!

 

Breanna McDonald  05:40

And they get to come up in front of the school and receive that slip of paper, and so that's one of my favorite parts of the day. And after celebrating kids, yeah, right, exactly.

 

Mitchell Roush  05:49

A great way to start the day.

 

Breanna McDonald  05:50

Absolutely, and they always get a little trinket to go with it, which is always a hit.

 

Mitchell Roush  05:54

Yes.

 

Breanna McDonald  05:55

but from there on, the day just gets a little questionable, depending on the day. Sometimes walkie calls come in, and you just go and support teachers. Ideally, we get in. I get into the classrooms every day, trying to touch base with teachers or check in on some kids. I also have some check-in, check-out buddies I get to work with, and those are always fun interactions at the beginning and end of the day, but one of my favorite things, which it's grown on me, is mrs. Schultz, and I do fifth grade lunch and recess duty every day.

 

Mitchell Roush  06:29

There you go.

 

Breanna McDonald  06:30

It started out because, you know, fifth graders can be a little ornery sometimes, but really, we've developed really good relationships with our fifth graders through that, and it makes it a little bit harder to let them go at the end of the year, because you get really close and learn a lot about them during that time, and so that would be one of my favorite things, and I get to do it every day, so that would also be a favorite.

 

Mitchell Roush  06:50

There are worse things than hanging out at recess, right? I mean, like, you get the job to go outside and hang out at recess.

 

Breanna McDonald  06:56

I know sometimes when a walkie call comes in, Schultz and I look in rock paper scissors, who has to go back to you.

 

Mitchell Roush  07:04

Yeah, we're fifth grading it up right now.

 

Breanna McDonald  07:06

I know, I know. And they have great sense of humor.

 

Mitchell Roush  07:09

Yes.

 

Breanna McDonald  07:10

That's the bright side of

 

Mitchell Roush  07:11

Feeling like they're ready for middle school, but maybe they're not quite, but you're getting them there.

 

Breanna McDonald  07:15

Yes, yes, a lot of discussion of, okay, but when you're in middle school, you have to do these things. Yes, yes, it's kind of that, that little transition, getting ready, and we get to be a big part of that as their fifth grade year.

 

Mitchell Roush  07:29

That's so cool, and again, like the different moments of intentionality, while no two days look the same, like you ask any principal in our district, they'll tell you, no two days look the same, that's part of what makes the job exciting can sometimes be stressful, but you also have these things built in, where you know I'm going to get to celebrate kids today. I know I'm going to get to make connections with kids today. I know I get to do these sorts of things, and that's got to be grounding.

 

Breanna McDonald  07:53

Absolutely. Yeah, I would say something too, that's special at Lincoln, as our office staff all eats lunch together. Oh, cool. When all lunches and recesses are done, so it's our little like landing spot of catching up on what's going on, knowing what families might need different things, but also just a time to build community within ourselves too. And so we really work as a team. I can't tell you how many times I've been the nurse temporarily, which nobody's usually a big fan of, but I have been the nurse quite a few times, and help do ice packs and things, but there's just a lot of trust there, and so, Who knows what you may be that day. I've learned, though, secretary's not really for me. Yeah, and usually, if I sit in Flor's chair, nobody calls, they must know it's me.

 

Mitchell Roush  08:35

The energy is out there. They're like, okay, Flor is off the desk for a minute, we're gonna wait till she's back.

 

Breanna McDonald  08:40

I've always told her, if you need a break, Flor, just have me sit in your seat, because I bet nobody calls.

 

Mitchell Roush  08:46

And that's okay. She's a rock star. She is. She's amazing.

 

Breanna McDonald  08:49

She is the real boss. If you ask any of the kids on bosses day, they're like, isn't it floor? Yes, yes, yes. Floor runs the show. I am just the principal. She is the boss.

 

Mitchell Roush  08:59

It's an important distinction, right?

 

Breanna McDonald  09:00

Very, very,

 

Mitchell Roush  09:02

So I know that again, we kind of mentioned this before. Every school has its unique identity, and the things that make it their school. So Lincoln has things that make it Lincoln that are unlike any other elementary, and that's what makes it a fun place to be. I also know that the community aspect of your school, and building connections with families and truly trying to advocate for every student you have in your building that really matters to you. I've known you for a few years now, I know that that's really what drives you. So, what does that look like for you as you approach your job? What does trying to be, what does being equitable and advocating for your students look like for you as you lead this building?

 

Breanna McDonald  09:40

I would say a lot of it starts at getting to know the kids, getting to know their families, and really just working with teachers when there's a student who's struggling, and even students that are feeling success, but maybe there's some other part going on there that just doesn't feel right to the teacher, really trying to wrap around. Student, and reach out. We're fortunate we have things like counseling come in, we have the dental clinics, all those basic needs we can try and fill for students that need more, and a lot of it just comes down again to that office staff teamwork. I mean, the nurse gets information that maybe we don't, but everyone's communicating to each other, so we can reach out when we need to to families and ask if there's more support that they need, but it's, it's really just building that up. Also, that the school is a place we want parents to come into, and we want them to ask questions, we want them to feel comfortable to be at conferences and be like, I don't understand what that means. Yeah, tell me more. And I think we still have a lot of room to grow in that aspect. We're still working on trying to make sure the things we do at school are often have jargon and things that are really confusing, even to the teachers. They're like, which one is that?

 

Mitchell Roush  10:58

Yeah!

 

Breanna McDonald  10:59

So trying to make it as clear as we can for parents what expectations are, and how they can help support. We've done a lot of that through Class Dojo, which was a big push for us, and so our teachers are even able to communicate back and forth through messaging that automatically translates for parents too. And we found huge success in supporting our students, whether it's spelling tests or a kid, maybe is going to miss a few days, so the parent lets us know ahead of time, just opening that communication as much as we can with them.

 

Mitchell Roush  11:31

You spoke about the importance of families feeling comfortable here, like that's as cliche as that sounds, like that's cliche for a reason like that matters, and we talk in education quite a bit. You hear this all the time, I hear it all the time, and it's not a bad thing, but we talk all the time about belonging, right? We want students to feel like they belong. If they feel like they belong, they're going to do better in school. I think that's obvious, but think that bleeds over into the parent thing too, right? If the parents feel like that their family belongs here. There's probably going to be a stronger emotional investment in the education.

 

Breanna McDonald  12:08

Yeah, absolutely. I think we were seeing a lot. It kind of went down after Covid. Just a lot of people had to build that back, and we're like, why aren't they coming in? What can we do? What can we do? But I mean, this year we had quite a few kids make great growth in attendance. We only had 1% have chronic attendance this year.

 

Mitchell Roush  12:28

That's amazing. And you've got preschool here too, by the way. You have preschool through fifth grade in this building, that's really impressive.

 

Breanna McDonald  12:35

Yeah, so that just it shows that they're valuing it, they're paying attention to our newsletters. I think, have been super helpful. We have 250 clicks. My favorite are after breaks, because it's like in 30 minutes you have every parent has read it, because they're like, 'Please take my kid back. When do I go back? That's all I want to know. Put it at the top, which I always do. They can come back on this day, but I think we've just really tried to streamline our avenues of communication and also make sure that other languages are available. Yes, both at a district level and in the school, and that's really helped to establish why we should be at school, all the good things going on at school that parents just want their kid to be a part of, too. Like, we've had a lot to where parents will bring their kid in, and the nurse looks at home, and they're like, "I just don't think they should be here today, kind of thing. So they're even coming in, because we've always told them that too. If, if you're not sure, bring them in, the nurse, bring them in.

 

Mitchell Roush  13:31

and we can talk.

 

Breanna McDonald  13:32

Yes, right?

 

Mitchell Roush  13:33

And that's okay.

 

Breanna McDonald  13:34

Yes,

 

Mitchell Roush  13:34

Again, it's that's community, right? You're not just teaching students, you're building community.

 

GIPS COMMERCIAL  13:48

Public Schools News Flash: free meals are available for the month of June and part of July. That's right, GIPS has summer meals open for free breakfast and free lunch all throughout the summer. Children one to 18 years old eat for free, and adults may purchase a meal for only 550 Meals will be available at seven of our schools. Go to gips.org/summer for information on where you can get free meals this summer. GIPS is an equal opportunity provider. See you there!

 

Mitchell Roush  14:24

It does feel like that your staff and your families and your students are connected beyond just here's what we do in the classroom.

 

Breanna McDonald  14:31

Yeah, absolutely. And I think we see that too, as kids grow up and graduate high school and have their own kids, a lot of times they're so excited when their kid gets to come to Lincoln School. We still have kids come back when high school gets out or middle school gets out early, and they'll come up and say hi to the teachers at dismissal. There's just a lot of deep relationships formed while they're here, and it makes it hard for them to leave at the end of their time, because a lot of them spend a long time here, can. Including preschool, when it was three year olds all the way up, we've had a lot of kids be here that whole time.

 

Mitchell Roush  15:05

It's, it's a huge chapter of their lives. And so, and also, your school is such a wonderful collection of diversity and representation here, and so it's, I, it's, it's a lot of work to make sure that everybody is seen and heard and valued in the way that they deserve to be, but it's so cool to see the students, regardless of their backgrounds, coming here and building connections, so you get a part of stewarding that every day. So, like, is that part of, is that part of why you do what you do?

 

Breanna McDonald  15:38

Yeah, I grew up in Crete, Nebraska, which became very diverse by the time I graduated, I was the minority, so I got to kind of experience that change in a, in a culture of a school, and I mean, I think there's so much value added when the mixtures of cultures come, and especially when they have the opportunity to share their culture, like our fiesta, even though it's always either hot or rainy, and it's like the worst week ever, because you're just building up to this huge event, like that is like Lincoln to a tee, that's everything we represent, celebrating, and we've gotten even more in depth with how we can show different cultures through different games, we've offered food trucks, our dance club that we have did a bunch of different style of dances, and the kids always love being a part of that, and it's, it's awesome, because to it's anybody can be a part of that. Yeah, and so even no matter who you are, if you want to be a part of the dance, you can be a part of the dancer, you want to be a part of the art project for it, you can too. So, really just highlighting what makes them special, because there's a lot of value added to society by what they bring to the table.

 

Mitchell Roush  16:53

I couldn't agree more, and, like, selfishly, I love that event, like it is such a great event, because you can't not have a good time, everyone's so happy there. I know one year I was covering it, and I brought my daughter with me, because I was explaining it to her, and she goes, "That sounds awesome. I'm like, "I know, let's go check it out together. And, but you talked about, you know, how important it is for the kids to be able to share this part of themselves, and to be able to weave that into making it feel effortless, because that's just what we do here. I know that there's a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes to make that happen, but to make that feel like that's just the normal experience for your students, that's that's what it's all about.

 

Breanna McDonald  17:31

Yeah, I think anybody at Lincoln would say that's their favorite. We still have teachers that have left that come back just for that event, like I think it's kind of the event of the last year, it was rainy, and it was hot in our school, because everyone crammed in here, but I think people really look forward to it. We start planning it again from the moment it ends till the following year, so just a lot of pride in that event, and we, we hope to keep making it bigger and better every year.

 

Mitchell Roush  17:59

Earlier, you, you did briefly mention, you know, the cool things that you get to see when you're watching your students grow. You know, student growth is a huge thing for us in the district right now. Well, we always want our students to grow, but I mean, we built an entire strategic plan around prioritizing student growth, not just assessment scores, or not just like certain achievements, it's we want our kids to grow, and we know we can measure that and see how much they're growing. So, to you as a building leader, why is prioritizing student growth important, and what does that look like for y'all here at Lincoln?

 

Breanna McDonald  18:34

I think why that's so important is because not every kid comes to you at the same point,

 

Mitchell Roush  18:39

Exactly.

 

Breanna McDonald  18:39

And growth is our best way of seeing if we are really helping fill the gaps that are missing and catching kids up to be grade level. If we only look at achievement, it sometimes can become disheartening, because you're like, why aren't we moving as fast as we can? But when you look at how kids can grow in a year, a lot of times they're growing over a year's worth of growth in the one one little blip of nine months, we don't even get a full year, and they're able to grow that much.

 

Mitchell Roush  19:08

Amazing.

 

Breanna McDonald  19:09

I think it really just reinforces for teachers too that the work they're doing is is the right work, because it can again be defeating to see, oh, my achievement scores, they've been, they've been kind of stuck, they've been kind of stuck, but when you start to look at the picture of where kids are falling in their growth, you're like, oh my gosh, look how far they've come in one one blip of time, and if we can replicate that all the way through, they will see that grade level, we just, we have to be consistent and keep working towards it, but also kids setting goals is super important, and we've done a lot of that around our testing, because we found that when kids set the goal themselves and have seen it before the test, they oftentimes achieve higher just because they're aware of that.

 

Mitchell Roush  19:56

They're aware; they're bought in. And that high expectations thing. If they're sharing that with the teacher, yeah, that makes sense.

 

Breanna McDonald  20:03

In the best is when I've done some makeup tests and they come to me and they don't even have their goal sheet with them, but they finish and they get that little score at the top and they would go, I beat my goal, and you're like, How do you even remember the number you wrote down? Like, I would never remember that, but they, they know, and they're really excited for it, and it's always a celebration at the end of the year, and we're seeing a lot more kids meet that 50th percentile above in both reading and math. Yes, and that's huge for us. We're starting to see the achievement side come along, the growth side. We've been heavy looking at growth specifically at Lincoln, and I think at the district level it's a great focus area, but we are starting to see the effects of kids making big growth in our achievement as well.

 

Mitchell Roush  20:46

I think, that's such a good sound bite, because that, like, to me, that's public education, right? It's, it doesn't, every kid is welcome to walk into these doors, and it doesn't matter what level they're at, what their experience was beforehand, we're going to welcome them in, and we're going to do our best to make sure that, while we have them, they are going to grow from where they were when they got here. And I think it's just, it just feels like a natural thing to do, and to your point, like the other things come eventually over time, if you continue to focus on, are we taking care of our kids and helping them see that they can grow and have grown while they're here.

 

Breanna McDonald  21:24

Yeah, I 100% agree with you. I think every kid that comes to Lincoln, and we really reinforce it with our parents too, like we're gonna, we're gonna do the work, and we want you to support it too, but we don't want you to feel like it's on you either.

 

Mitchell Roush  21:37

Right?

 

Breanna McDonald  21:38

We just say it's our job, it's our job to really form that foundation, and your job is to support it, get them to school, help them know how important it is that they work hard while they're here.

 

Mitchell Roush  21:50

Families and schools working together for the same interest that we all have, which is seeing kids grow and succeed. That's everything. What's your favorite thing about being a principal? If you had to pick one thing, fifth grade recess duty, I mean, that is a highlight.

 

Breanna McDonald  22:10

I think one of the things I like is that I get to sub in a lot of classrooms, whether it's just coverage or sometimes when you're in a bind, you just, you got to pick it up and go, and I think you learn, you continue to learn a lot by getting to do that. And as the instructional leader for Lincoln, I think it's important that I have those experiences and step in and try the new math curriculum. I got the opportunity to go in and support around Christmas break time for the math block for every teacher, and I learned a lot. Fifth grade, I'm not super great at math,

 

Mitchell Roush  22:49

But next year you'll be better.

 

Breanna McDonald  22:51

I remember a girl asking me a question, I'm like, yep, you're gonna want to ask mrs. Spielberg. Story problems are hard for me too, but I think the more I get to be in the classrooms and interacting with the kids, that's, that's my favorite part, for sure.

 

Mitchell Roush  23:05

And that's, I mean, also keeps you grounded into what is the experience like, not just for students, but for your teachers, who you want to support, you want to see them do well too. Yes, and if you, if you know a little bit more of what it's like to be in there, I've got to imagine that that just helps everyone feel seen.

 

Breanna McDonald  23:23

Yeah, I remember too. I covered in a classroom and got done, and it was lunchtime for that teacher. I walked in, I'm like, did your kids get that? Because I don't know what I did, but it didn't work, so they're gonna have to fix that tomorrow. They're like, no, mine didn't either. And I think some of those conversations do help them know, like, I don't know everything either. Yeah, I'm, I'm trying to do the best I can, and I know you are too. And I think teachers feel that at Lincoln, that I have a lot of trust and respect, and that they're professionals, and they, they're doing what they believe is best for kids, and that my job is to support them. And if we need redirected, we'll figure it out, but we're not going to do it apart or as individual silos. We're going to do it as a team, and I think that that helps me keep a lot of staff here, because they feel that support, whether for me or the coach, or Schultz steps in and subs sometimes, too, which is my favorite experience, by the way. I'll be like, Schultz is teaching science. Let's go, let's go. This will be good, especially when it's kindergarten. That's my favorite.

 

Mitchell Roush  24:27

Love it!  It speaks volumes about that, that common through line of your building community here, and that includes everybody that steps into this building. So, Brianna, I'll ask you, I ask everybody that guests on this podcast, because I love the answers. What's one thing about public education you want people to know?

 

Breanna McDonald  24:43

I thought about this question for a long time, since I saw it in the email.

 

Mitchell Roush  24:47

Yep.

 

Breanna McDonald  24:48

I think one thing I'd want people to know is how much joy is in education, but just the amount of joy you get to come and you get to be with kids every day, and you get to, you get to see them grow. You get to see them start as these little kindergartener faces, and I love the slideshows we do at the end of fifth grade that show them all the way through, and you just, you really see them develop into little people, and they're not adults yet by any means, absolutely not, that that problem solving isn't there, but there's just so much joy when you come into school, and I'm just always grateful for the opportunity, and I would recommend anybody give it a try. If you ever thought maybe I could be a teacher, I mean, try it. We need subs, yeah, Lincoln Elementary be happy to take you, but just know that there's people that are in education are in it for the joy of both themselves and for kids, and that the work we do, it matters. Believing that education can make an impact to make the world a better place for everybody, including ourselves, is is what we're after.

 

Mitchell Roush  25:56

That's a good word, evergreen, as far as I'm concerned, but and you see that you go into here, you go here at Lincoln, you go into our schools, and you see kids are happy, teachers are proud of the work that they're doing, and that is, that is truly a joyful experience. Even on the hard days, there's still, there's still joy to be had, because you're, you're investing in kids.

 

Breanna McDonald  26:17

Absolutely.

 

Mitchell Roush  26:19

Well, Brianna, thank you so much for being here. Thank you to you and your Lincoln team for everything that you do to support your students and make them awesome.

 

Breanna McDonald  26:28

Well, thank you.

 

Mitchell Roush  26:36

Thank you again to Mrs. McDonald for not only joining us here on the podcast, but for everything that she does every day to support Lincoln Elementary, and to make it a great place to be. And of course, thank you listeners for joining us here at 'The GIPS Cast'. We wouldn't be here without you, and if you enjoyed this episode, or if you enjoy this podcast, we'd love it if you gave us a rating or a review on your favorite podcast platform, whether that's on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, or wherever you listen to us. That will help other people discover us along the way. Always, as a reminder, check out gips.org that's www.gips.org that is our district website, and your hub for all of the information, articles, updates, resources, and what you need from Grand Island Public Schools. Thank you for joining us here at 'The GIPS Cast'! We will be coming back at you soon with some more great stories from our district. 

--