By Axel Gumbel
Five new staff members have joined or re-joined the LeRoy Ostrander School District this school year. Some of them also are familiar faces because of other roles they’re currently holding. Here is a round-up of the new faces you’ll see at L-O.
Georjeanne Carlin
It’s also a homecoming of sorts for Georjeanne Carlin. She is the new student services advisor in L-O’s Student Services Center and a familiar face in the district after many years of subbing.
Carlin is the main substitute teacher at L-O. Should more than one sub be needed, she will coordinate that, as well. Carlin also tracks attendance and transcripts, helps seniors prepare for graduation, assists juniors in getting ready for their final year and provides career assistance to freshmen and sophomores exploring colleges or the work force. Carlin also works closely with the Southern Minnesota Education Consortium to assist students with credit recovery.
Carlin is a familiar face in area teaching circles. In addition to subbing at L-O, she has worked in the Southland, Kingsland, Fillmore Central and Austin school districts.
“As much as I love subbing, the creative ability in the other components of the job was very appealing to me,” she says. “I love research and dealing with the minutia of details.”
In her new role, Carlin says she enjoys being a resource for teachers and that she looks forward to already established relationships with many staff and students.
“I love planning, organizing and data, so it was like two pairs of perfect jobs all in one,” she says. “And it’s like coming home.”
Carlin and her husband have lived in LeRoy since 2000 – with a six-year interruption – and raised their two kids there. Their son and three grandchildren live in LeRoy, as well, and Carlin says she has enjoyed the small-town experience.
Shawn Kennedy
After a stint as L-O’s athletic/community ed director and physical education/health teacher from 2019-2021, Shawn Kennedy has re-joined the district as middle school science teacher.
Last year, he taught special education in Mason City, which he says challenged him in new ways as a veteran teacher.
“It made you more aware. All my students had severe trauma, so communication was key,” he says. “I didn’t teach a lot of academics, I taught a lot of employability and how students could be productive in society.”
The appeal of being closer to family, a shorter commute to L-O, and rekindling previous relationships drew Kennedy back to the district.
“I just missed the kids and teachers here, I really enjoyed it,” Kennedy says, who was also Southland’s varsity football coach for 17 years.
While teaching science is a mostly a new field for him, Kennedy says he is eager to show students that science relates to everything in life.
Kennedy adds that it’s important to him that all kids are able to learn and remembers his own struggles.
“School was hard for me. I see the kids who struggle. When you have your students not afraid asking questions in front of everybody else, then you know you’re connecting with them. It’s about creating relationships,” he says.
Kennedy also drives school bus for L-O and volunteers with the varsity football team.
Lindsay Milks
Already a familiar face to many in her roles as volleyball and basketball coach, as well as LeRoy Community Pool manager, Lindsay Milks is teaching 4th grade this year. She comes equipped with an elementary and special education degree and already taught as a paraprofessional in L-O’s special education program for four years. After she completed her student teaching in the district, she taught special ed in the Stewartville School District last year.
“It was very challenging due to a large case load, but I gained a lot of experience,” Milks said.
She adds that she will use many of the skills she learned in the special ed setting to manage her new classroom at L-O.
“In special ed you teach but you don’t really teach sometimes, so I’m still learning what my style might be,” she says. “I like to be very scheduled, and I have everything planned out to the last minute. I’m very structured.”
Milks says she is also looking forward to reconnecting with her students, many of whom she has known through her other roles or by being familiar with their older siblings.
She also has several relatives working in the district, such as husband Cassidy, who is a member of the L-O School Board, her father Tim, who is head custodian, and brother Nick, who is an assistant volleyball coach.
Sarah Otto
Sarah Otto is L-O’s new third grade teacher, succeeding Lisha Hindt who retired from teaching after more than 30 years in the district. Otto joined L-O as a first-time teacher after a 15-year career as a veterinarian in the Harmony area. She says teaching has been her other passion, and she is now fulfilling that dream.
“I’ve always thought about teaching. I grew up knowing I wanted to be a vet but still maybe wanting to teach at some point,” she says.
As a vet, Otto says she always enjoyed it when kids came to her farm or the vet clinic and she could teach them something. She now plans to insert her vet experience in her classroom, especially in sciences.
“I’d like to really bring that to the students, that critical thinking. You’re searching for answers as a vet, that’s a great skill for students to figure things out,” she says.
Otto adds that she is a hands-on teacher who wants to encourage investigative creativity in her students. She also plans to emphasize reading and take students outside as much as possible.
Otto has a husband, who is a truck driver, a daughter in 10th grade, a son in 8th grade and a daughter in 4th grade in the Fillmore Centerl School District. The family lives on a farm outside Harmony and raises goats and sheep.
Kylie Tart
Kyle Tart teaches one of two kindergarten sections at L-O this year. That means she is coming full circle, after graduating from the district in 2011.
“I’ve always wanted to return,” she says.
Tart is currently finishing up her online elementary education degree with Grand Canyon University. This year will be her student teaching year.
She already has experience as a paraprofessional through Teachers on Call, a substitute teacher service, which led her to sub at L-O long-term a few years ago.
After teaching preschool for two years at St. Johns in Wykoff, Tart says she is excited to start in her kindergarten classroom. She describes her teaching style as very center-oriented.
“We have desks and assigned seating, but we probably won’t use it much,” she says. “I might say ‘let’s go sit on the rug,’ and I’ll demonstrate what we’ll do.”
Tart also will be mentored by Amy Hungerholt who teaches the other kindergarten section as part of her college program.
Tart joined Grand Canyon while she was working on her two-year degree at Rochester Community and Technical College, while also growing her family, which includes husband Mitchell, 4-year-old Isaiah and 7-month-old Hayes.
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