Principal Perspective: Decorah Middle School's Justin Albers

In 2017, decorahnews.com interviewed the then newly-hired Justin Albers about his goal for his position of Decorah Middle School principal.  Albers said at that time, "When they (the students) come to school, I want our middle schoolers to walk through the doors, walk our halls, and have a positive experience, know that their teachers care about them, that they feel comfortable being themselves, being who they are. That's the end goal, that our kids have a positive experience." And even now, when the doors are closed and the halls are empty, Albers helps continue the pursuit of a positive experience for the students just in different ways with the new online continuous learning platform.

The middle school is off to a good start as the third week of online learning begins. Albers says, "Overall, we were very pleased with our participation at the middle school after our first week." And there's good reason to be: close to 80 percent of students in each grade participate in some capacity, and a few grades had close to 90 percent or higher online participation.  

These numbers reflect a coordinated effort between families and staff. Albers comments, "To me, this shows the commitment our students, staff, and parents have to education as none of this would be possible without those three groups working hand-in-hand to provide the academic opportunities and support needed to succeed."

Albers credits students' resiliency in this unprecedented time. He says, "For our students to be able to dive into these learning opportunities, despite our current reality, shows just how capable each and every one of them is, and the community should be very proud of their efforts under these circumstances."

With little time to plan the details of the new online continuous learning, major bumps and roadblocks would be expected.  But Albers adds, "I can't say that there has been much fine-tuning that has been needed, so it's just a matter of building on the foundation that our staff helped establish for our families as we look toward the reminder of the year."  Even if bumpy situations arise, Albers assures the community that the middle school staff will continue to reach out to families to ensure access to the materials, encourage participation, and really work to provide the appropriate feedback.    

Albers says that as a principal, he feels fortunate to be able to continue his duties using reasonable options, such as Zoom meetings and emails, to get essential information to staff as well as parents and students. He continues, "More so, it's allowed us to really pause and reflect on the most important parts of our roles."  

With a humble answer, Albers gives credit for the success so far of the online learning to his teaching staff and his students and their families. "Ultimately, the biggest transition has been for our teachers, students, and parents.  Each of those core groups has had to completely alter their day-to-day work to allow for the success we have seen thus far to occur.  Teachers, for example, were asked to quickly determine the essential elements of their content and facilitate in a new online format to reach each student.  At home, students and parents are adjusting schedules to ensure the learning opportunities are taking place and adapting to a new format as well which we will continue to adjust to meet the needs of students and parents."

Decorah Middle School is focused on engaging with their students through multiple channels to continue to build relationships and through that, really focusing on the most important academic content as they prepare them for the next school year. Albers concludes, "My goal is to provide any support and resources to our students, parents, and staff to accomplish this task to allow for growth in such an unprecedented situation."