NewTech High--It is Personal!

NewTech High Podcast June 24, 2026 This morning, I hosted Dr. Joe Hill,  speaker, author, educational leadership consultant, and founder of the Higher Performance Group, whose career spans nearly three decades as a campus and district leader in K–12 and higher education, including HS Principal at  Alexandria, Assistant Superintendent in Duluth, and Superintendent at Sartell.  Podcast Link A first-generation college graduate and two-sport collegiate athlete, Dr. Hill rose through the ranks as both a principal and superintendent before turning his focus to a challenge he observed repeatedly throughout his career: brilliant individuals forming average teams. At age 45, a pivotal personal life event prompted him to redirect his lifework toward solving what he calls the "Individual Brilliance Ceiling" — the phenomenon where a team's smartest members inadvertently become the ceiling on its collective performance. Drawing on research across nearly 1,000 leadership teams, he deve...

NewTech High Podcast June 16, 2026 Brandon Wait Podcast (Paladin PCTHS) I had the good fortune of hosting Brandon Wait, Executive Director of Paladin Career and Technical High School. Brandon has been at Paladin for 18 years under several iterations. You can't get a full flavor of his work until you hear this podcast, as well as a site visit. Even a visit to his office was instructive, which is briefly talked about in this podcast. I really enjoyed the session. He is uniquely thoughtful about his counseling approach to students. His skills in that area have certainly parlayed toward his leadership of this really unique high school.  Today's Podcast w/Brandon Brandon really does a great job of explaining his belief and practice around the idea of learner-centered. In fact, he corrects me when I mention student-centered. This is like Brittany Griffin from LCC, Bill Sommers and Jay Haugen. When you think of learner-centered, you are embracing the idea that everyone in the building...

NewTech High Podcast June 3, 2026 Today's Podcast w/Steven Rippe      Today, we held our podcast with Steven Rippe, Executive Director of EdVisions.  Steven has 30 years of experience working with individuals and teams to build and implement innovative learning and workplace cultures that are in alignment with their mission and vision.  His passion is helping each individual become their best.  A successful science teacher, school principal and university administrator, Steven works with students and educators to create nationally recognized schools, led by teams who transform themselves into high performing, joyful, learning organizations grounded in Hope Theory.  EdVisions website Podcast Link:  (click here) In this podcast, Steven shared information on so many terms and topics. He also corrected me during the podcast when I made some distinction between public schools and charter schools. Of course, they are both public.  Steven has a grea...

NewTech High Blogpost Tuesday, June 1 “The legitimate object of government,” he wrote, “is to do for the people what needs to be done, but which they can not, by individual effort, do at all, or do so well, by themselves.” Abraham Lincoln Wednesday's Podcast Tomorrow's Podcast: Steven Rippe, Executive Director, EdVisions, 1pm on the Zoom Link Steven has 30 years of experience working with individuals and teams to build and implement innovative learning and workplace cultures that are in alignment with their mission and vision.  His passion is helping each individual become their best.  A successful science teacher, school principal and university administrator, Steven works with students and educators to create nationally recognized schools, led by teams who transform themselves into high performing, joyful, learning organizations grounded in Hope Theory. EdVisions website The End of Another School Year I am looking out over a beautiful playful morning and early afternoon here...

NewTech High Blog May 25, 2026 Happy Memorial Day! For those of us in the Upper Midwest, this was the weekend where things finally broke free. In turn, we are looking forward to a warm and outstanding week. Many of us closed our schools and had graduation this weekend. Other school districts are going to be going through this over the next couple of weeks. Enjoy our transition into June and summer vacation! I had the good fortune of coming across this Substack yesterday from Katie Martin, Co-Director of our partner Learner-Centered Collaborative. If you recall, we hosted Katie last fall in one of our episodes. She has so many great articles on personalized, student-centered learning. Take a look at this graph. If you are intrigued, I will push you on toward the rest of the Substack.  The Title of the Substack is " If We Redesign School, What Should We Build Instead?" This is an awesome   article , a must-read for those who are passionate about our impending redesign! I'm ...

NewTech High Podcast May 20, 2026 Today's Guest - Peter Ladwig, VP Technology & Engineering, Niron Magnetics This podcast certainly appears to be a curveball at first glance. Don't fall for that idea. Pete was a former colleague of mine in Hutchinson and was an influential part of our TigerPath advisory team. When I saw that Pete was now working on this unique and cool company Niron, I have spent some time trying to get an update of where he is at from an education and leadership process.  Not only does Pete explain this exciting new Science, but also talks about how their company has expanded into Sartell, Minnesota. One of the biggest reasons in choosing this next site was   because of their potential success because of the top-flight Sartell HS. This goes to show how a high school can become part of the economic development as a driver of the local economy!  Thanks for sharing with us, Pete!  Peter's Bio Peter Ladwig has over 20 years of experience leading eng...

NewTech High Blog May 13, 2026 Early this week, Senator Klobuchar and Sen. Demuth published early position papers on the platforms they are running on. Here are those two links:  https://lisaformn.com/priorities/ https://www.klobuchar.senate.gov/public/ Today, our NewTech High took on the idea of the reform agenda in the area of education. We had a strong panel to discuss this issue -- Lars Esdal, Bob Wedl, Bill Sommers, Jon Bacal and Jerry Robicheau.  Neither candidate has published anything landmark in the education area. Better test scores, more accountability, etc. Won't it be interesting when we have candidates that are talking about the potentially radical disruption of long-held institutions in there of the event there is no change to the status quo? I am not dogging either candidate. I get it. Electability.  In this conversation, the Board takes on several issues such as personalization, AI, standards, innovation zones, mentorships, CTE, teacher-powered institutio...