Jen Lamia

Byram Hills Administration Shares How the District Achieved In-Person Classes Despite the Pandemic

February 18, 2021 by Ella Ilan

And the keys to success meeting unprecedented challenges…

Bravo Byram Hills! Facing unprecedented challenges due to Covid-19, the Byram Hills School District has risen to the occasion successfully implementing a well-laid plan for the safe education of our children. Despite an abrupt shutdown of schools in mid-March with no handbook on how to remotely educate an entire district, things are now running smoothly with a mixture of in-person (K-6), hybrid (7-12), and remote instruction (K-12 option). The magnitude of this accomplishment cannot be overstated when many of the nation’s schools were unable to reopen and remained completely remote this school year.

“The Eye of the Storm”- The First Few Weeks

In mid-March, when Covid-19 forced a historic shutdown of our schools, Byram Hills administrators and faculty kicked into high gear to try and provide a semblance of normalcy and continuity of education for students.

“It felt like we were in the middle of a storm,” recalls Dr. Jen Lamia, Superintendent of Schools. “We were trying to support teachers who were out remotely for the first time, trying to deploy Chromebooks to support parents, trying to get curriculum and technology up and running, and it was incredibly difficult.”

Initially, no one knew how long schools would be closed because school districts were awaiting instructions from the governor. “We made decisions based on temporary status,” says Dr. Tim Kaltenecker, Deputy Superintendent. “We would’ve made different decisions, such as having a schedule, if we knew it was going to be long term. So, we took those lessons learned from the spring, we surveyed the community, the students, and faculty, and used much of that information to start planning for September.”

“We had no idea we were in that lull and things were going to continue to get worse,” says Lamia. “However, once we realized this will be somewhat permanent, we moved our minds to preparations for the fall.”

“Pots on a Stove” – Preparing for the Fall

“We watched our K-6 learners struggle in a remote setting, so our number one goal was to get K-6 back in school, socially-distanced, and then to identify curriculum, so Tim, Gina Cunningham (Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources), Kelly Seibert (Assistant Superintendent for Business and Management Services) and I started this work,” explains Lamia.

To bring students back, the administration had to tackle a myriad of details related to building operations, curriculum, instruction, personnel, technology, and safety. Every building and every grade level had its own challenges to address. “We had a lot of pots on the stove, we had different urgent items that we needed to tend to for things to run well,” says Lamia.

Communication was key. The process involved talking with teachers and staff to ascertain what they needed to feel safe to return, talking to parents about what worked for their children in remote learning in the Spring, talking to students about how instruction could be enhanced, and conversations with the Byram Hills Education Foundation (“BHEF”) about how they can support the District with the technology needed.

Separate task forces and sub-committees of faculty and administrators for K-5 and 6-12 were convened to make curriculum decisions. A Strategic Planning Committee was formed to keep everyone on schedule and ensure they were meeting benchmarks.

“Our students are at the center of our decision-making,” says Kaltenecker “our teachers were consulted every step of the way.”

Administrators worked around the clock to prepare for all scenarios. “While awaiting guidelines from the state, we planned three different models including a plan for all students in school with safety precautions, a hybrid plan, and an all remote plan,” explains Kaltenecker. “We needed to be ready because we wanted to bring in as many kids as possible for as much time as possible.”

The work paid off because Byram opened its doors on September 1, 2020 with K-6 students attending daily and grades 7-12 attending in a hybrid model. School was able to proceed because schedules were adjusted to cohort students as much as possible to de-densify classrooms, custodians prepared the buildings to meet public health guidelines, the BHEF supplied classrooms with cutting edge technology for synchronous hybrid learning, and all staff were determined to make this work.

The Importance of a Well-Prepared Team

This herculean effort could not have been undertaken without the strong foundation that had been built by the administrative team. Lamia and Kaltenecker have been working together and refining their organizational plans since 2003. “We’ve had a lot of practice in doing this sort of planning and thinking work, just never of this magnitude,” says Lamia.

“Because of our relationship, I trust Jen with my life so when we’re making these decisions…I know they’re with good intent for the district,” says Kaltenecker. “Fifty percent of our administrative team has been here a long time, we’ve studied leadership texts together, and we have a good language built in our system that helped us as we were designing this.”

“The message from Jen that was consistent whenever people were wavering, was ‘Our children need to be in school. We have to bring them back day one. How do we make that happen?’

And that was our mission,” says Kaltenecker.

“We worked very hard on this, but it’s our faculty, staff, and administration that made this happen because of their care for our children. They built it,” emphasizes Lamia.

Throughout the planning and execution of this effort, leadership consulted with a stakeholder group comprised of physicians, hospital administrators, a military veteran trained in strategic planning, nurses, principals, town supervisors, members of the board, members of the teacher’s union, and PTSA. “This group was incredible,” says Lamia. “It occurred to me that if I’m going

to move forward with opening schools, I need experts to weigh in, I need studies, I need organizational plans, and I need input from all stakeholders.”

Moving Forward with Lessons Learned

Much has been learned both about the ever-evolving science on Covid-19 and on a smaller scale, about educating the students. This past fall, in accordance with Department of Health guidelines, any child that had been in a classroom or on a bus with a Covid-positive person was instructed to quarantine for fourteen days. In December, the NYS Department of Health reduced the quarantine to ten days for exposed individuals. Also, since there have been no known cases of quarantined individuals becoming symptomatic, purportedly due to the vigilant adherence to social distancing practices, the district is not casting as wide a net when identifying exposed individuals. Only “close contacts” are directed to quarantine.

Looking ahead, the administration is discussing lessons they have learned, practices they may want to continue in a post-Covid life, things they may want to tweak, accessing vaccines for the district and arranging testing for everyone. For now, the district has facilitated weekly surveillance testing of twenty percent of students and staff using the Mirimus saliva-based PCR tests.

“If I had a gift,” says Lamia, “it would be to receive enough rapid PCR tests for every adult and student in the schools to take every Monday morning at home, so I knew with assurance that at that snapshot in time everybody was coming in Covid-free. That would be the most beautiful gift to take us from now forward.”

In the meantime, students and parents are grateful to have school in session. In a recent board meeting, Wampus Elementary Principal Peggy McInerney remarked on how appreciative the kids are to be in school. That is what makes it all worthwhile.

School Officials Describe a “Reflective, Quiet and Respectful” Mood

March 14, 2018 by Grace Bennett

The Walkout at Byram Hills High School and a Sit In Emphasizing Kindness at the Middle School

Byram Hills Central School District Superintendent Jen Lamia shared a few details about today’s walkout of over 200 Byram Hills High School students. She described the walkout as being “in response to the Parkland tragedy.”

“Deputy Superintendent Dr. Tim Kaltenecker informed me the kids released 17 balloons when they said the names of the victims,” said Lamia.

She relayed that the students at the high school organized the event with the building principal Chris Walsh. “The students gathered outside the front doors of the school and were reflective, quiet, and respectful,” she said.

“Some students spoke the names of the students from Parkland. A few others spoke about supporting safety in schools. Overall, our students care about making a difference in the world and are very thoughtful about how they hope to do it!”

Lamia was on a board visitation to the H.C. Crittenden Middle School at the time of the Walkout; Deputy Superintendent Dr. Kaltenecker was at the high school.

At the middle school, students had organized a sit-in and spent their time writing acts of kindness on index cards. “The event at the middle school was also run by students—completely–and they were fantastic,” Lamia added. “Our kids are a gift.”

While not a student-organized event, per se (“Developmentally, the kids are too young,” said Lamia), at Wampus Elementary School, the teachers engaged the children in acts of kindness activities.

Byram Hills Superintendent Jen Lamia Focuses on Leadership & Collaboration

December 1, 2017 by Stacey Pfeffer

With nearly three decades of experience in the Byram Hills School District, Jen Lamia has seen educational trends come and go but in her new role as Superintendent, Lamia knows firsthand that the collaborative culture is paramount to the district’s success and goal of “creating leaders of the next generation.” The Inside Press had the opportunity to sit down with her and hear how she plans to continue keeping the district nationally ranked for its excellent reputation.

A New City resident, Lamia recalls playing school with her friends as a little girl and hearing stories about her father’s job as a principal in a New York City high school. In college she majored in English literature and initially planned to work in journalism but when she took her education classes for her minor, she knew it was the right career choice for her. Lamia has two sons, J.P, 17, and Michael, 16 and credits them for giving her a “real sense of what it is like” for high school students and their parents today.

Creating Leaders for the Next Generation

Since assuming the role of Superintendent on July 1, Lamia and the administration hit the ground running with some “lofty initiatives” in a two-day goal making retreat for 23 district administrators. Under the umbrella of creating leaders of the next generation, the faculty discussed the concept of leadership and what that means for students. Lamia feels that in order for students to become leaders they need to “identify who they are, assess what their needs are and what resources are available and figure out who can help them on their journey.”

During our hour-long conversation with much of it focused on leadership, Lamia references Simon Sinek, the popular TED speaker and leadership expert who believes that all leaders must start with the question “why?” “The administrators were asked why are they doing what they are doing? What are the outcomes for students and as an educator how are we going to get them there? The administrators worked on these answers collaboratively this summer,” explains Lamia. When asked why prospective buyers should move to the Byram Hills school district, Lamia’s answer is at the ready. She pulls out a binder that sits on her desk and answers succinctly on how the district is focused on creating leaders of the next generation. It’s a document that she and her administrators “live and breathe everyday.”

Research Underpins Decisions in the District

The district has several research initiatives underway in partnerships with leading universities and institutions. This fall, two administrators were sent to the top three universities accepting Byram Hills High School graduates with the goal of assessing whether their offerings in STEAM education were aligned with what higher educations expectations were. “There’s all this push for STEAM and the next generation standards of science but we wanted to interview our students and ask if they feel prepared.”

Similarly, when the district was choosing a new math program for K-5, the district evaluated seven programs and piloted two. Acknowledging that changes needed to be made, Lamia is quick to explain that they don’t make decisions in haste. The district’s decisions are based on careful research.

Student Wellness: A Key Focus

Lamia believes that students can’t learn until they are emotionally ready to. In order to support student readiness, the district in collaboration with BOCES has a partnership with the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. Teachers are being trained in the whole growth mindset and mood meters. The district is also working with Stanford University to survey 6-12 grade students on stress, anxiety, support, social pressures and homework. “It is the first time we are getting a snapshot of what’s going on in the district with data. We hear anecdotally that some kids are getting too much homework and others too little but anecdotes don’t give you the big picture,” noted Lamia. “We want to hear their [student] voices and experiences.

Not every child is articulating how they feel and many kids go about their day seemingly enjoy themselves but they may be struggling.”

The district is also working with the University of Michigan and training several educators, guidance counselors and school psychologists on cognitive-based therapy to help struggling students. They also held a panel discussion for parents and addressed questions such as when to get help for a struggling student, where to get help and how long should that help last which offered parents a lot of good guidance.

Collaborative Culture

Lamia enjoys the collaborative culture of the district and feels that it is a hallmark of the district’s success. “The vision of the district and the vision of the community are aligned which doesn’t always happen elsewhere. We have incredibly knowledgeable people on our district’s board of education that bring a unique skill set and care about every kid in the community. Will there be times that people complain? Absolutely but you have to listen because there may be a nugget in there that is very valuable.”

Celebrating Individuality

Lamia notes that the Byram Hills mission statement is ‘do what you like, be who you are’. “There are kids who excel at athletics, poetry and as scientists and their talents run the gamut. When I was growing up every piece of knowledge was taught to me. Today your knowledge comes from experiences and its more critical than ever to help students determine what they like and figure out who they are.” One way the students are figuring out their passion is through the eighth grade capstone project. Students undertake a yearlong research project and it can be as diverse as studying ways to increase fundraising for their baseball team to clean water solutions in Nicaragua. Lamia believes projects like these are critical for student growth and development and to help them discover their passions.

A Lifelong Educator

Currently a doctoral candidate with Johns Hopkins University, Lamia is focusing on teacher mentoring through an online course of study. She anticipates completion of her doctorate by May and is in the process of developing an e-mentoring platform that supports pedagogical content knowledge. “The standard for pedagogy has changed. It’s not enough for teachers to read off a PowerPoint. They need to have the students engaged.” Acknowledging that professional development for teachers is often a time constraint especially when they are out of the classroom, Lamia hopes that her platform will make it more convenient for teachers to advance their skills.

Since 1990 Lamia has been with the district holding various titles such as English department curriculum chairwoman, assistant principal, assistant to the Superintendent and an assistant Superintendent for human resources. But it’s clear that she is not the type of administrator to rest on her laurels and sit behind her desk. As the interview concludes, she excuses herself as the Byram Hills Bobcats are playing a home game and she wants to catch some of it. When we get to the field, the Bobcats are winning. “That’s great,” she exclaims. Lamia wants every child in the district to succeed whether it be in the classroom or on the field. With her at the district’s helm, the chances are certainly that much greater.