Dr. Lee Ann Kwiatkowski—or Dr. K as she is affectionately known in the community—serves as the director of public education and CEO for Muncie Community Schools (MCS).
When she accepted the role in July 2019, Dr. K assumed leadership of the innovative partnership between MCS and Ball State. Over the past five years, she has helped the district make good progress in achieving our collective goals: student enrollment at MCS has stabilized; budgets have been balanced annually; and compensation for teachers and staff has increased by more than 30 percent.
In this episode, Dr. K talks about what inspired her to lead MCS in this distinctive administrative role. She also reveals more about her background and career, for which she has spent 35 years working in public education in Indiana.
Dr. K also shares what she views as the challenges and rewards of her demanding profession, as well as her goals for the coming years for MCS.
If you enjoy this episode, please leave a review to support the show.
Dr. Lee Ann Kwiatkowski—or Dr. K as she is affectionately known in the community—serves as the director of public education and CEO for Muncie Community Schools (MCS).
When she accepted the role in July 2019, Dr. K assumed leadership of the innovative partnership between MCS and Ball State. Over the past five years, she has helped the district make good progress in achieving our collective goals: student enrollment at MCS has stabilized; budgets have been balanced annually; and compensation for teachers and staff has increased by more than 30 percent.
In this episode, Dr. K talks about what inspired her to lead MCS in this distinctive administrative role. She also reveals more about her background and career, for which she has spent 35 years working in public education in Indiana.
Dr. K also shares what she views as the challenges and rewards of her demanding profession, as well as her goals for the coming years for MCS.
If you enjoy this episode, please leave a review to support the show.
[GEOFF MEARNS]
Hello, everyone. I'm Geoff Mearns, and I have the good fortune to serve as the president of Ball State University. On today's episode of my podcast, I will introduce you to Dr. Lee Ann Kwiatkowski, the director of public education and CEO for the Muncie Community Schools. The next school board voted to hire Lee Ann in July of 2019, and one of the many reasons why Lee Ann was well-suited to lead MCS is because she has more than 35 years of experience working in public education here in Indiana.
Lee Ann spent eight years serving as a teacher in Indianapolis public schools. She has been a principal and an assistant superintendent for the Warren Township MSD, and prior to her tenure at MCS, she was senior education advisor for the office of the Governor of Indiana and she was executive director for the Indiana State Board of Education. Over the past five years at MCS, Lee Ann has built on the positive momentum underway as a result of the district's historic and innovative partnership with Ball State. I'm grateful to her for her leadership and for her passionate dedication in our collective efforts to improve our city's schools. The children of Muncie and their families are very fortunate to have Lee Ann at MCS. And today, it is my pleasure to welcome her to the podcast.
Welcome, Lee Ann, and thank you for joining me in the studio this afternoon.
[LEE ANN KWIATKOWSKI]
I'm glad to be here. Thanks for inviting me.
[GEOFF MEARNS]
So why don't we begin where I begin with each of my guests and that's about asking some questions about their upcoming upbringing, their childhood. So I understand in preparing for today, you're an Indiana native, so where did you grow up? In the Hoosier State?
[LEE ANN KWIATKOWSKI]
I grew up in Kouts, Indiana. Have you heard of Kouts, Indiana before?
[GEOFF MEARNS]
Not before I prepared for today's conversation.
[LEE ANN KWIATKOWSKI]
Kouts, Indiana is in Northwest Indiana, Porter County, ten miles south of Valparaiso, a small, rural and country community where I had wonderful experiences growing up.
[GEOFF MEARNS]
Tell me about your parents.
[LEE ANN KWIATKOWSKI]
My father worked for a steel mill, so he worked in manufacturing and my mother was a stay at home mom until my youngest sister started school, and then she worked at the local grocery store.
[GEOFF MEARNS]
So sometimes when I talk to teachers and educators, I hear that they knew they wanted to be a teacher from the time they were very young. So was that your personal experience?
[LEE ANN KWIATKOWSKI]
That is absolutely my personal experience. I started out when I was pretty young, teaching Bible school in the summers and they recruited me to teach a Sunday school class and I became the best babysitter in the town. I would often not only take care of one family, but multiple families would be bring their children over. So I might have 10 to 12 children I was taking care of when I was in middle school.
And so I was very prepared to become a teacher.
[GEOFF MEARNS]
In middle school. Meaning you were 12, 14 years old.
[LEE ANN KWIATKOWSKI]
Those were the days before people feared being away from home and making sure that their children had someone old enough to be caring for them.
[GEOFF MEARNS]
Yes. So you knew you were going to go down in this line of work?
[LEE ANN KWIATKOWSKI]
I did. I knew I always loved being with children and wanted to be a teacher.
[GEOFF MEARNS]
So you graduated from Kouts High School. Did I pronounce that right?
[LEE ANN KWIATKOWSKI]
You pronounced it correctly.
[GEOFF MEARNS]
And then you attended Indiana State University for your bachelor's degree. So I have to ask you, you know, Ball State is nationally recognized for our teachers college. What made you pick Terre Haute over Muncie?
[LEE ANN KWIATKOWSKI]
Well, that is a good question because I say I have diplomas from almost every university except for Ball State. When I was growing up, I was a first generation college student, and so I had to work to submit my college application. And I think at that time it was about $25 an application. And that's a lot of babysitting money when you make $0.50 an hour.
My parents coming from a small town told me that Purdue and IU would be too large of universities. So my two choices were Ball State and Indiana State. I wish I had a better response to you, but it was really a flip of a coin to decide which university was going to get my application and my $25.
[GEOFF MEARNS]
Well, you certainly got a good education at Indiana State—
[LEE ANN KWIATKOWSKI]
I did.
[GEOFF MEARNS]
and you've put that to good use. So and as you said a moment ago, you have degrees from lots of different institutions in Indiana. So as I understand it, after you completed your undergraduate degree, you earned two master's degrees, one in elementary education, one in educational administration, then an educational specialist degree and a doctorate. What has continued to inspire you in your own journey to acquire more education?
[LEE ANN KWIATKOWSKI]
Well, I would like to think that I'm curious and I love learning. And so that makes me always eager to continue my education. But I mean, so to begin with, getting my master's degrees, it was just natural. I first wanted to be the best teacher possible, so I continued and received a master's in education for elementary education.
And then when I was tapped to move into administration, I needed to have a master's degree in administration. When I was in Warren Township, and they asked me to move to become the assistant superintendent, they said, “Lee Ann, you need to have your educational specialist degree.” I had two sons in college at that time and was not thrilled to go back and receive another degree, but I knew I needed to do that.
And once I received my EDS, I was so close to having a doctorate, it just seemed natural to keep going.
[GEOFF MEARNS]
You probably have as many diplomas on the wall as the rest of your family combined.
[LEE ANN KWIATKOWSKI]
Probably so.
[GEOFF MEARNS]
So when the MCS board was looking for another superintendent, it was important that they wanted to hire somebody who had spent time actually in the classroom. So you were an elementary school teacher from 1984 to 2000 in the Indianapolis Public Schools. So you went from a small farm town to Indiana State and then to the largest city and largest public school system in the state. Why did you make that choice?
[LEE ANN KWIATKOWSKI]
Well, I always wanted to work with the students who I could make the most impact. So originally, my plan was to join the Peace Corps and go somewhere overseas. And after working and having some practicum experiences, I knew if I found the right school in Indianapolis Public Schools, there were many children that could benefit from someone who really wanted to give to them.
[GEOFF MEARNS]
Yeah. So tell us a little bit about some of the challenges that you found during those sixteen years. And after you do that, just to give you a little heads up as to where I'm going, then I'm interested to hear what was so rewarding about those sixteen years.
[LEE ANN KWIATKOWSKI]
Well, you know, challenges when you have students who, you know, many of them face challenges in their lives. One example I can give, the school where I worked, Brookside Elementary School, their social worker was going to meet with groups of students who had immediate family members that were in prison or in jail. And by the time he got to first grade, he worked through kindergarten and first grade, and he had all of his spots filled up.
And so the need was just tremendous with students who had challenges I couldn't even imagine living through and coming and persisting and being resilient and coming day after day and wanting to learn. And so those were some of the challenges, just knowing what students were going through and finding ways to help them be successful.
[GEOFF MEARNS]
And so was it rewarding when you helped one of those learners facing some of those external challenges actually succeed in the classroom?
[LEE ANN KWIATKOWSKI]
Absolutely. So I have a great story that just this year I received an email from someone that I taught in the late eighties and she sent me a note and talked about how I always encouraged her with writing and encouraged her with learning new words. We call them “fancy” words and trying to find fancy words to use. And she went on and became a journalist, and she wrote many years later and thanked me for what I was able to do for her. And she was one of those students that needed a caring adult in her life to encourage her.
[GEOFF MEARNS]
And those are such rewarding messages for teachers to receive from their former students.
[LEE ANN KWIATKOWSKI]
Absolutely. And I remind our teachers in Muncie Community Schools all the time that, day in and day out, you may not realize the impact that you're making, but students don't forget it. And it may be 30 or 40 years later they may hear about it.
[GEOFF MEARNS]
Yeah. So for any of you who are listening, if there was a teacher in your life who had a profound impact on you, it would be a great idea to send them a message and reach out to them, right?
[LEE ANN KWIATKOWSKI]
That would make all the difference in the world.
[GEOFF MEARNS]
So every year now at makes you have the opportunity to present the Teacher of the Year award and you received one of those back in 2001. You were named the Teacher of the Year at Indianapolis Public School. School No. 54. What does it feel like for a teacher to receive that kind of recognition? And what is it like for you now to be able to confer that recognition?
[LEE ANN KWIATKOWSKI]
Well, I would say some words I think of are: gratitude, grace, appreciation. That is how I felt in knowing that my peers recognized the work that I was doing along with the administration. You know, those awards have more meaning than people would realize. Now that I'm able to identify and recognize our teachers of the year, I see that we are picking outstanding individuals who are going above and beyond to do wonderful work for students and their families.
And it's one of the best days when I'm able to recognize those teachers.
[GEOFF MEARNS]
Are there particular characteristics or contributions that you're looking for in selecting, among the many outstanding teachers at MCS, are there particular characteristics or contributions that you're looking for?
[LEE ANN KWIATKOWSKI]
Well, we always look for teachers who build those great relationships with students. We also look for teachers who are academically making an impact. So we see that there's a lot of learning and growth going on in their classrooms. And we also look for teachers who are going above and beyond the regular school day, but doing extra things for our students.
[GEOFF MEARNS]
So now I'm going to ask you a little bit of a technical question, and you're going to educate me and the folks who are listening. I understand that when you left the classroom in 2000, you became the Title I literacy facilitator for IPS, and you held that position for five years and then you spent five years as the state's Title I director.
Why don't you educate me and those who are listening: What is that federal program and why was it important to you to participate in and lead in?
[LEE ANN KWIATKOWSKI]
Title I started in 1965, and its purpose is to provide all students significant opportunities to receive a fair, equitable, and high quality education. It supports students who are historically underserved. So if you heard anything about me so far, you know, it's the students who I always say are the ones who need it the most are the ones that this title program is directed to impact.
[GEOFF MEARNS]
And it's now also helping us here at MCS.
[LEE ANN KWIATKOWSKI]
Yes. Title I has been good to Muncie Community Schools. All of our schools qualify for Title I. The higher the poverty, the more funding that goes to that school. And then we've also received some federal grants through title programs, school improvement grants. And so those also greatly benefit us.
[GEOFF MEARNS]
So in response to an earlier question, you mentioned that you spent time in the Warren Township schools. I think you made that transition in 2011, first as a principal and then as a superintendent. Tell us about that transition from being in the classroom to being in administration.
[LEE ANN KWIATKOWSKI]
Well, when I left IPS and went to the Department of Education, that … I would say that was the time that it had the biggest change for me because I wasn't around students anymore. And when I worked at the Department of Ed, and we would interview, people always said, “Lee Ann, you are trying to scare them away.” Because I would talk about “you'll be sitting in cubicles and you'll be working with adults, and if you love those sloppy hugs, you won't be getting those anymore.”
And so, when I went back to Warren Township, I had opportunities to be in schools on a regular basis. And so the progression through my career had me prepared for that change from being a teacher to being an administrator. I still enjoy the teaching, though. I find times to tutor students or I get into schools often. Try to read with students. I think that's still important.
[GEOFF MEARNS]
Yes. So by the time you went to Warren Township, you had actually been out of the classroom for about ten years, and now you're you weren't returning to the classroom, but you were returning to a school building.
[LEE ANN KWIATKOWSKI]
That's absolutely right.
[GEOFF MEARNS]
What were what were some of the challenges that you faced at Warren Township?
[LEE ANN KWIATKOWSKI]
Well, Warren Township also is a district that has a high number, a high percentage of poverty. And when you have a lot of poverty, there’s often single parents. And there are students that, you know, have … have great need. Often we had students who weren't reading at their potential or who were struggling with math. So those were some of the challenges.
But while in Warren, we also had great diversity in that school district, just like Muncie. And that really is one of the strengths both of Muncie and of Warren Township.
[GEOFF MEARNS]
So now moving ahead in your career, in 2017, you were appointed by Jennifer McCormick. At that time, she was the state superintendent of public instruction, and she appointed you to serve as her chief of staff. And about a year later, you became Governor Holcomb’s senior education advisor. Why don't you tell us about that appointment? Did the governor reach out to you? Did Dr. McCormick recommended you? It's a pretty lofty position. How did that happen?
[LEE ANN KWIATKOWSKI]
Well, do you know, I feel very blessed with my career and the different opportunities I've had. Serving as Doctor McCormick's chief of staff, I would meet biweekly with Governor Holcomb's deputy chief of staff, Danny Lopez. Nobody has said this for sure, but I believe that Danny was the one who mentioned my name to the Governor from our biweekly meetings. Because the Governor called me to his office one day, and I was just expecting to discuss education, and that is when he said, you know, he needed someone who had teaching and administration in a school district in his office, and he would like me to come and work out of his office.
[GEOFF MEARNS]
So how did you feel during that conversation? What was your kind of emotional reaction?
[LEE ANN KWIATKOWSKI]
Well, I felt very … I mean, that was a very humbling experience because I started my career never expecting … I just always thought I'd be a teacher, which is a very, you know, wonderful profession. But I've had some opportunities to serve in different roles. And, you know, I, I just never expected to work out of the Governor's office.
[GEOFF MEARNS]
Yeah. So what was it like … you know, did you ever think when you were growing up in that small town in Northwest Indiana, taking care of ten or 12 toddlers or young kids, that you would be working in the Capitol building?
[LEE ANN KWIATKOWSKI]
Every day when I walked into the State House, you know, I would just be in awe and I would you know, I felt a great sense of responsibility like I do working with Muncie Community Schools. But when I worked for both Dr. McCormick and the Governor, I had opportunities to work with our General Assembly, both Republicans and Democrats. And education is a topic that's important to everybody. And I built good relationships with our General Assembly.
[GEOFF MEARNS]
Well, and that's a good transition then to my next question. As you know, the General Assembly passed House Bill 1315, now House Enrolled Act 1315. They passed that bill and the Governor signed it in 2018. And it's that legislation that created the distinctive partnership between Marks and Ball State. So I'm curious, were you following that legislation when it was working its way through the General Assembly? And was there ever a point during that legislative debate when you pondered the possibility of saying, well, maybe I want the opportunity to participate in that partnership?
[LEE ANN KWIATKOWSKI]
Dr. McCormick was from … had been a superintendent in Yorktown, and so she was the one who was spending quite a bit of time having conversations about House Enrollment Act 1315 and talking to different legislators about that. And I was taking care of many other topics at that time. And so I was aware of it, but I was not deeply involved with that legislation.
It actually was when I moved to the Governor's office, and then he also had me serve as the executive director for our State Board of Education. When I received one of our board members said, “Boy, we'd like an update to see how Muncie Community Schools is doing.” And I reached out to Jim Williams and we began having a conversation and Jim said, “You know, this is exciting work here. Have you ever thought about it?” And it is, as you mentioned before, an administrative job when you aren't directly impacting students compared to one where I could be and it was just the right time to have that conversation. And that made me very, very interested.
[GEOFF MEARNS]
Well, we're quite fortunate. I'm not sure the Governor was as happy as we were, or at least some of the folks in his office. So when you were selected and appointed as the new leader for MCS, Jim Williams, who's the president of the school board, he described you as a “transformational leader”. What were those early days leading MCS like for you when you started? I think it was 2019.
[LEE ANN KWIATKOWSKI]
It was, and I would just say one word: long. Because we would … I would work all day trying to get to know our school, our students. And then I was spending, you know, every evening, just like you, trying to get to know the community. And we had an open door where I wanted to be able to meet anybody that had something that they wanted to share about Muncie Community schools. I wanted to make sure I was listening to them. We met with many of our community members and our parents, and so the early days was just spending time getting to know the school in the community.
[GEOFF MEARNS]
So now fast forward, we're five years into this distinctive partnership. You're four years into your service and you and your leadership team and the board and the teachers and the staff throughout the district working together, you've had many, many positive outcomes. A lot of progress. Stabilized enrollment, substantial increases in pays for teacher and staff, a balanced budget, school renovations, new football stadium. So as you reflect on those first four years, what are you most proud of? Which of those outcomes or achievements are you most proud of?
[LEE ANN KWIATKOWSKI]
Well, I think what I'm proud of is that we are taking the district and turning it into a very functional school system. And those outcomes one by one, are pretty significant. But when we can change the system and we can have multiple outcomes, that's where I'm really proud of. So we have a strategic plan. We have five different pillars of focus.
Our first pillar of focus is early childhood education. I'm extremely proud that we've been able to implement and have pre-K in our buildings, and we're seeing that growing and we're seeing students begin kindergarten, ready for kindergarten.
Our second pillar is retaining and attracting top talent, and we have increased our retention rate among our staff, and we have the most diverse workforce that Muncie's had since I began tracking it. And so that's exciting.
We were able to put in master and mentor teachers. And, you know, I feel that we're providing teachers many good opportunities for professional growth.
Our third pillar is the heart of the plan, the teaching and the learning. And we have implemented new programs, and students are having many opportunities from our science of reading that's happening in our elementary schools to career exploration and our high school students being able to do internships and work based learning experiences. We have Project Lead the way in all of our classrooms grade K-8 or grade one all the way through high school.
Our fourth pillar is social emotional learning. We have, you know, partnered with Ball State to be able to offer additional resources with our students. And our fifth pillar is, is the family engagement. And this year we have what we call Big Idea Nights where we have food giveaways, but we have educational opportunities.
So all of those together, I see great progress. We have tremendous leaders in our district and and it's just a good place to be.
[GEOFF MEARNS
Yeah. So let me just follow up on a couple of things that you said. You mentioned the investment in pre-K education, which is really outside the scope of K-12. And you mentioned science of reading and the importance of literacy. My understanding is there's now substantial data not just here in Muncie, but all across the country, that if a child can't read at grade level by the third or fourth grade, the likelihood that that student will graduate from high school goes down significantly.
So why don’t you, if you would, just elaborate on the importance of pre-K and literacy by the third grade and tell the folks who are listening a little bit about that extraordinary $8.1 million grant that you helped secure from the State Department of Education to support that work?
[LEE ANN KWIATKOWSKI]
Yes. One thing we try to do is write as many grants as possible, and that helps us financially be able to offer the great raises that we've been able to do and to maintain our good balanced budget. And so that part of the $8.1 million school improvement grant also helped us be able to implement science of reading earlier than what most schools throughout the state are able to do, even though there's now legislation with that.
So science of reading is, you know, being able to not only have the good phonics and phonic make awareness that many of us had, but also the core knowledge of learning words and vocabulary and comprehension. And so all of our teachers have undergone many, many days of professional development. And we see students are engaged and excited with what they're reading in school now.
[GEOFF MEARNS]
And that improvement in kindergarten readiness and then what we believe will translate into increased proficiency in reading is really the signs that we're building a strong foundation for future high school graduation rates and graduation and college going rates.
[LEE ANN KWIATKOWSKI]
And many will say, and that's going to help our workforce because we're going to have students prepared to do whatever they dream to do in the future.
[GEOFF MEARNS]
And it requires persistence and patience and it requires looking out into the future. So that's what I want to ask you about next. Why don't you share with us, reflect for just a moment, where would you like to see MCS be in the next maybe four or five years, 2027, 2028? What does success and progress look to you look like to you at that time?
[LEE ANN KWIATKOWSKI]
Well, do you know one area where people will point to are our state assessments —the I-Read III and the I-Learn and, you know, we're inching closer to the state averages, but my goal is to be have our students be such great readers and so good with numeracy and math that we will exceed the state averages.
We also want to make sure that we give our students relevant and meaningful experiences. And so I see that we will always continue to be innovative and creative with what we're able to offer students.
[GEOFF MEARNS]
So then let me end our conversation with a question that I ask all of the guests on my podcasts. You know, as you know, at Ball State, we're guided by our enduring values, and we believe that those values are represented by the iconic statue of Beneficence. We walked by Beneficence just a few minutes ago as we were coming to the studio. Beneficence means the quality of doing good through service and philanthropy. So, Lee Ann, let me ask you, what does beneficence, what does doing good for other people, what does that mean to you?
[LEE ANN KWIATKOWSKI]
Well, when I do good for others, that means that I have the power to change their lives for the better. I believe that being kind is one the simplest things we can do and the effects can be profound. I believe in being a servant leader, so that means I get in there—if it's running to the store and buying supplies for a new homeless family so they have the clothing and they have the food that they need, or helping as we get new refugees into our school district to be able to receive the top quality type of education … those are the type of things that I like to roll up my sleeves and help lift. And so some would call that being a servant leader. And so I hope that that is one thing that people will always say about me is, “Lee Ann was certainly a servant leader.”
[GEOFF MEARNS]
Well, Lee Ann, you are. And I am grateful that you joined me today. And I believe I speak for all of your colleagues at MCS, the faculty and staff, and the school board at MCS, and all of your colleagues here at Ball State and all of the students and their families here in Muncie. We are truly blessed to have you in our community and working together with us on this partnership.
Thank you.
[LEE ANN KWIATKOWSKI]
Well, thank you.