NewTech High--It is Personal!

Good afternoon, NewTech High listeners! Today, we hosted Ortonville's leadership team on the weekly podcast. I am so excited in the work they have done. They are working to be a transformative district. Kris Evje, Superintendent, and Trevor Keller, HS Principal, come from two distinct positions and experience with the District. Like me, Kris has been at a number of different places, in different roles, before becoming Superintendent. Trevor has mostly been at Ortonville and has built himself into this leadership position, mostly while living in the same house. Each of them has merged into a collective voice that can influence the District, staff and students for a long time afterward. Their decision to join NewTech High last summer was one I was really happy that they made, and I think you will find, one that they were also happy to have made.  Take a listen at their enthusiasm for the future of their District; their desire to have their strategic plan grow in their district. While...

Good evening, NewTech!  I had the pleasure of hosting Gina Morken and Rachel Udstuen, Superintendent and former Superintendent of Spring Grove public school system. SG is not a NewTech High school, but they certainly could be based on their merit. Spring Grove has been clearly a top performer for years. They have created an innovative district that has shown to be durable and sustainable. Watching their work and their district perform consistently over a number of years certainly speaks to their skills and passion as educators. In Music, this would be classified as a Superior rating.  This model is part of the genesis of how NewTech High even came about. Research suggests that schools that can apply effort and sustain a well-thought initiative can successfully create an impactful innovation. Smaller schools are probably easier to change, but also lack the experience, staff and capacity to make it happen. At one point, I was asked where innovation was happening, with the suspic...

NewTech High Podcast January 13, 2026 Good morning. I just finished a podcast with Rocori. We pre-recorded this for you due to conflicts in time tomorrow because of MSBA. I invited a select crew to listen and communicate with Ryan Hauge, MS/HS Principal and Nate Guetter, I'll just call him the Pathways Coordinator, both at Rocori HS.  If you look at Rocori closely, you will find a school that is an advanced status in terms of the change orientation. However, they would be the first to tell you that the journey remains. There are a number of things to do in the future, and they are purposely managing in that space. It is fun to watch. Just watching the podcast would provide you with a pretty clear picture of those things, both done and into the future.  This is the first NewTech school that I am podcasting with. I think it shows how thoughtful planning over a period of years can really make a difference with organizational change.  I have a plan to feature each of the seve...

Bill Sommers Podcast January 7, 2026 [ link to podcast ] What an amazing man to listen and learn from. I really hadn't had much interaction with him for over twenty years until the past few weeks when his blog caught my eye again. If you haven't been there, I  invite you to go to  Learning Omnivores . Bill was a professor of mine in the EDPA program at the University of Minnesota. He was a big influence on me because he was one of those rare birds who had actually been an administrator. You literally can't help to learn when you have a conversation with him. Just talking to him again after a long time is a call to me about the things I stole from him. He actually talks about this phenomena, bringing in a concept from John Dewey, "You don't learn from experience, but through reflection on that experience." We can't change anything by just being employed or by just being there; we have to consciously receive the stimuli, make a plan to change what we are doi...

The Palace & Kingdom Philosophy Early in my career, I experienced a game situation that involved different levels of communication and power that affected how you are perceived, how effectively you operate, and all the conditions that affect the various subgroups. After a while, I started to see some trends that became part of an organizational philosophy that I've listed above, the Palace & Kingdom philosophy. Bear with me for a bit as I describe the folks and their varying levels of knowledge and power. It resides in our concept of royalty making decisions (The Palace) that affect the people that reside in those areas (The Kingdom). Perhaps you've heard the Palace called the Ivory Tower. Same principle.  At that time, I had a King who had a very cynical view towards the people that I was closest to in that school district, and the same types as my previous work. They were teachers and coaches, mostly male, probably teaching because they loved athletics...that type. Te...

Lars Esdal Podcast December 15, 2025   Today, I had a special podcast with Lars Esdal, Executive Director of Education Evolving.  Education Evolving is offering a 5 month cohort in January that will likely be of interest to some of our NewTech High schools. If you would choose to be in this cohort, we can combine forces this Spring (NewTech and Education Evolving). Here is the one-pager document from Education Evolving that you can share with your teacher-leadership team.  I think it is in part the same message towards student-centered, personalized learning and certainly would give us more structure for the second half of the year, as we move past the changes that have already been made for 2026-2027.  Esdal has been working on these ideas moving from his days at New Country School in Henderson through college and then beyond in various shapes and forms with Education Evolving. I mention and remember having a tour at New Country from a young Lars Esdal when he was ...

Episode 15 December 17, 2025 Jay Haugen, Former Superintendent at Farmington, MN This is a bit different podcast. It is kind of the retro version of casting where we would have the audio, which was originally the genesis for the term podcast. However, the transition to video along with it, the precursor to Zooms, and WebEx's were called vodcasts. I guess we're just getting old.   Anyhow, Jay and I were visible to each other the entire time. I didn't realize until afterward that perhaps a camera button somewhere was off. I will have to check on that in the future. If you see a man with a 30" gray beard, you may be seeing Jay about somewhere. It's too bad you missed that; you would never mistake him for someone else if you did.   Nevertheless, we have this conversation for you to listen to.   I think you will find Jay to be a very unique man. Whether you are an administrator or just a human being, you will enjoy this conversation .  One of the unique things I took fr...