Jan Masterson, principal, Lino Lakes Elementary School

"It is an honor to serve with the Lino Lakes community where our vision of ‘Together we're building a community of care and hope’ is lived on a daily basis.”

Jan Masterson is the principal of Lino Lakes Elementary School, a suburban school with approximately 425 kindergarten through 6^th grade students.  Lino Lakes Elementary offers academic opportunities that start with two all-day kindergarten options: regular kindergarten is every other day; tuition-based Kindergarten Plus is every day. The school offers many choices for before and after school programs including: extended day (for identified students), math power enrichment classes through youth development, zero hour for homework help, Future Problem Solving, and community education classes such as Mad Scientist and Watch Me Draw.

Learner-centered leadership at Lino Lakes Elementary starts with a strong new teacher mentor program offered by the district and reinforced by all staff. This allows each new teacher to have a person who will check in with him or her on a regular basis and provide support. For all teachers, the school participated in Quality Compensation for two years providing instructional coaches to assist teachers in developing lessons that differentiate instruction to meet the needs of all learners. The Response to Intervention (RtI) pilot that Lino Lakes teachers participated in for two years has been expanded to include all eight Forest Lake Area elementary schools during 2009-2010. In addition, Title 1 Stimulus money will contribute to providing a shared Reading Teacher to increase research-interventions with students.

Lino Lakes Elementary is strong in the integration of technology (including three portable labs of 20 computers each), several computer lab settings, and media arts experiences through student video production and a daily news show. Recently the school installed a SMARTboard in every K-6 classroom, in the music room, in the media center, and in the ESL classroom. Also, the school excels in regular art, music and media instruction using MN Art Standards, and in physical education by having a physical education specialist and the commitment to have physical education experiences every day through either PE follow-up or with a PE specialist.

A core of very involved parents help and support Lino Lakes Elementary through: strong PTO fundraising efforts; parent involvement and training in the Olweus Anti-Bullying Program; volunteers who serve as “Picture People” in the Minneapolis Institute of Art’s Art Adventure Program; refreshments for musical programs; and reading volunteers, having students read to them using research-based repeated reading of materials with a guide sheet of research-based questioning. Since 2007-2008, Lino Lakes Elementary has held Family Math and Literacy Nights at which home activities are introduced and

Principal Jan Masterson receives Lino Lakes Elementary MN School of Excellence endorsement from MESPA President Jon Millerhagen.

given to parents as vehicles to encourage learning support at home. The evenings address standards, assessments, ways to support learning at home, and the district parent portal, SchoolView, that allows parents with Internet access to view students’ grades and attendance.

As principal, Masterson believes: "Lino Lakes Elementary is great place for kids thanks to the contributions from an effective partnership of dedicated, caring staff, supportive parents, and phenomenal students. Every staff person contributes to the total program designed to help each student reach his/her potential. It is an honor to serve with the Lino Lakes community where our vision of ‘Together we're building a community of care and hope’ is lived on a daily basis.”

Lino Lakes' students cheer their MN School of Excellence status.