This story was written for the Eagle but shared with The Walpolean by Chuck Bingaman.  Isn’t it great to have “connections”?

Debbie Livingston, Dr. Debra Livingston, that is, Superintendent of SAU60, the Fall Mountain School District, is this week’s Eagle Person of the Week.

As the Chief Executive Officer of a $28 million enterprise in charge of schooling 1500 children in Charlestown, Langdon, Acworth, Alstead and Walpole, Dr. Livingston directly influences children and their families throughout the region. And that influence impacts what the children learn, the values they accumulate and their futures as adults. A very important cluster of roles.

And Mrs. Hile? Well, Superintendent Livingston remembers her quite clearly as her second grade teacher back in the little town of Shell Lake, Wisconsin, her hometown nearly 50 years ago, as someone who believed in Debbie way back then and inspired her to think about becoming a teacher herself. 

Mrs. Hile’s unit on elections “was absolutely intriguing” Livingston said last week. It got her thinking about how government might work and about elections. In fact, Livingston still remembers the mock election in that second grade class as a valuable life lesson.

While there were many mentors along the way, Livingston faced the challenge of growing up with parents that had not attended college and who had difficulty understanding or supporting a young girl’s academic dreams. But she persisted, attended college as the first to do so in her family, got her degree from St. Francis College in Biddeford, Maine (now merged into the University of New England) and later earned a Masters and a Ph.D. in education from the University of Texas. And she became the teacher Mrs. Hile modeled for her at the beginning of her educational journey.

For most of her career, Livingston served in the Socorro Independent School District in El Paso, Texas, as a teacher, assistant principal, principal, Director of Secondary Education and Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction.

When SAU60 was seeking a new superintendent in 2006, Livingston saw it as a chance to return to New England near her son Andrew, a middle school principal in Maine and to lead a district similar in many ways to that faraway district in Shell Lake. Livingston’s other son, Matthew, is a computer programmer in Madrid, Spain.

How does Livingston manage eleven schools, 7 principals and 200 staff members, and 1500 students in the district? “It all depends on the situation,” she said last week. “Sometimes one has to be very firm, but mainly I try to work collaboratively with our staff and board and with our parents and students. Actually, I’ve become so much more collaborative since coming to New Hampshire. And,” says Livingston, “the results of a collaborative approach have been clear in the district’s improvements in academic achievement. Everyone is focused on the students.”

What developments in SAU60 is Livingston most proud of? “First,” she says, “we all believe so strongly in the potential of the kids.” Echoes of Mrs. Hile! “And, second, I’m very proud of our team’s vision and the collaborative work of our principals and board.”

As for areas Livingston still hopes to improve, she lists “student academic achievement while balancing their social, artistic and technological growth. And we must never lose sight of the fact that they are children and very complex.”

 In looking back over six years in New Hampshire, Livingston says “I don’t think I could have found a better match for me with a district. The job is just so much fun, even with the occasional tough day!”

 She adds, “I believe in being visible in this job, in being in all the schools and having direct knowledge of how our teachers and students are doing. Just a few days ago I was in Kathy Hesch’s kindergarten class in Charlestown Primary School where all the kids are now reading. Several of them wanted to read to me, and I loved the joy in their voices, how proud they were. It just doesn’t get any better than that!”

Here she is in that classroom.  Who do you think is having more fun?