MAXWELL — Any time away from Maxwell Intermediate School is too long for Principal Lisa Leliaert.
A 20-year staff member of Greenfield-Central Schools with most of her time at MIS, Leliaert says her heart and her community are in the building.
“It just feels like home to me,” she said.
Leliaert just wrapped up her first academic year as principal at the school that serves fourth- through sixth-grade students.
Relationships and teamwork are at the core of what Leliaert hopes to build at MIS, according to a press release from the G-C corporation. That’s not only reflected in how she listens to teachers, but also through student development. Take a walk through MIS on any given day and you’ll find groups of three and four students together on a marker board, solving mathematical problems or brainstorming what they learned in a book.
“Can you show me the process,” Leliaert asked a group of sixth grade boys one recent afternoon as they solved a triangle math problem on the board. “Looks like you’re trying to figure out a pattern – what’s your process?”
Oftentimes, students will come into a room and grab a playing card with a number on it. That number points them to the table at which they should sit that day. It creates a new combination of students to meet with every day, and allows children to understand the importance of working together.
“I’m not going to force everyone to be friends in the school, however we all have to be respectful classmates,” she said.
She became principal in October. Leliaert was assistant principal when Jobie Whitaker took on a job elsewhere.
Originally from Ferdinand, Leliaert lives in Fishers but has been part of the Greenfield community for years. She started at G-C schools in 2004 as a fourth-grade teacher at Weston Elementary, then taught fourth grade at MIS from 2010-2016. She was an instructional coach at both of Greenfield’s intermediate schools for four years before becoming an administrator.
“Lisa’s experiences in different schools has enabled her to learn from many great educators in her career, including teachers and administrators,” said Superintendent Dr. Harold Olin. “(She) is a professional sponge, and she has an amazing ability to retain the knowledge of others and to embrace the positive skills, habits, traits and attributes of other great educators who have gone before her.”
Her work over the years as an instructional coach means many of the teachers trust her to share in the joys and struggles of the classroom. One fifth-grade teacher, for example, will often text her to say, “You gotta come in and see this” when her students have a lightbulb moment. Leliaert will dash upstairs to the classroom, and it validates the work the fifth graders are doing in math and also encourages the teacher.
She gives the teachers plenty of credit for the success of MIS: they put student growth at the forefront.
“The first thing they think about is, ‘How is this going to impact students?’” Leliaert said.
This year MIS has been working at improving writing skills, not only because testing data shows that’s where growth could happen, but because it’s a skill they need for life. With improving writing, she said, comes better communication because they are able to clearly articulate their thoughts. Teachers at both G-C intermediate schools worked through “The Writing Revolution” book this year, becoming intentional about giving “actionable feedback” — ways students can grow and improve.
Leliaert said she wants to continue the high expectations of her predecessor, and said any changes she’s made this year have been slow and steady.
“I constantly think about, ‘What is the smallest change we can make that will have the biggest impact on students,’’” she said. “There are already so many positive things happening at MIS. I want to model being a lifelong learner by making small changes to support our students.”
