Context

Empowering Voices: Expanding Leadership Participation

Union Leadership Philosophy

I’ve come to a frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in my union. It’s my personal approach that creates the climate. It’s my daily mood that makes the weather. As a leader, I possess a tremendous power to make my union brothers’ and sisters' lives miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a member humanized or dehumanized. ~An adaptation of Haim Ginott

Educational Context

I am an educator of twenty four years teaching exclusively in Montana. I earned my Bachelors of Arts in Mathematics from Carroll College in 1998, and a Master's degree in Educational Technology from Lesley University in 2006.

For the past 17 years, I have been a math and engineering teacher at Glacier High School in Kalispell, previously teaching six years at Kalispell Junior High. I started my teaching career teaching at Browning High School for two years before moving to Kalispell.

As the head of Glacier’s math department my teaching assignments have included AP Calculus, Algebra 2, Geometry, Algebra 1, and Principles of Engineering. I was the head of the freshman academy for five years. I have taught summer school for the past thirteen years and am currently the director of our summer school program.

I have been an involved member of our local union, the Kalispell Education Association for nearly two decades. I have been the vice president of KEA for the past 12 years and I am currently the lead negotiator for our collective bargaining team. I have participated in committee work for MFPE and its predecessor MEA-MFT.

Glacier High is part of Kalispell Public Schools. KPS has approximately 850 employees supporting 6,200 students. Our building configuration consists of six elementary schools, one middle school, two high schools, and one alternative high school. In addition to eighteen building administrators, the central office administrative team has nine administrators. Glacier High has a population of approximately 1400 students.

Kalispell has a median household income of $55,000, with a city population of 28,000 and county population of 112,000 people. Approximately 90% of the population identify as white, 4% hispanic or latino and 2% or lower for all remaining demographics. From year to year, 300 to 400 students in the Kalispell School district are identified as homeless.

How does awareness of your own biases, experiences of privilege, and personal values inform your chosen Capstone Project?

My personal experience has been highly colored by two very different environments. My early career was tainted by a toxic educational leader, in an isolating environment, with an ineffective support structure for teachers. Later I have had the pleasure of working in a supportive, empowering environment that encouraged collaboration, risk taking, and trust. I realize that all educators, including those just entering the profession through educators nearing the end of their career will have different criteria to determine if the environment is supportive and empowering, or toxic and isolating. The environment for one educator in one building or a district is not universal for all in the same building or district. My capstone project focuses on developing a diverse cadre of union leaders that can bring their unique talents and passions to the Kalispell Education Association, assuring that each of our members can find the specific support they need to feel welcomed, and valued by our organization.

Describe how your awareness of those from different cultures, experiences, and backgrounds inform your chosen project.

All organizations need to grow leadership. I have seen firsthand what toxic leadership does to an organization. It not only hurts the current operation of the organization but it stunts its future growth, cutting off branches that never have an opportunity to grow. A toxic environment is not always an environment that is negative, it may be an environment that is inhospitable to just certain members. By embracing all members for their diverse experiences and valuing a cultural viewpoint that may be different from current leadership we can ensure that our union will continue to grow.

OVERARCHING COMPETENCIES

Communication, Performing with moments of Transforming

The focus of my capstone project is to influence union members to build their own leadership capacity greater than the four walls of their classroom or their building site.

Group Processes, Developing

The goal is to lead new groups that are able to take on new groups themselves. This is an aspirational goal that will take multiple years of implementation to see the sustainability build.

FOUNDATIONAL COMPETENCY

Collaborate Purposefully, Developing with room to grow

I have participated in a strong effort to intentionally and thoughtfully expand our leadership team to be inclusive and representative of our membership. Our effort has yielded an improved supportive organization, but continued strong effort is still needed to grow the environment that will foster greater participation for more diverse stakeholders.

ASSOCIATION LEADERSHIP COMPETENCY

Building Capacity of Others, Developing to Performing.

The creation of the negotiation advisory team along with the recruitment of new TLI fellows has been a major step in growing the leadership capacity of our local organization.

Organizational Effectiveness: Leading With Skill, Emerging and Developing

I have been an active member of KEA leadership for many years along with being the lead negotiator. I recognize the need to engage many more members to participate in not only providing simple feedback regarding negotiation priorities but to also engage in the process of generating new organizational goals and helping implement them through the collective bargaining process.

Describe your work with diverse stakeholders, shared learning experiences, and how you anticipate your leadership pathway mindset might evolve during the TLI process.

Through the collaborative development of a membership survey, our negotiation advisory committee was able to engage our entire membership in a conversation about educational values, and perceptions. With over 290 member survey results we were then able to further engage with our members leading to a dialogue of 15 separate listening sessions to discuss the survey results and to put them into a context to develop a negotiations platform. This process served two purposes, the first being the specific need of developing a negotiations platform and the second being the identification of and development of new union leader candidates. Engaging members in conversations about what they are passionate about and finding out what makes them feel valued is a more effective way to recruit new leaders than to just ask, who wants to be a building rep!

Lapke Capstone Approval Form.pdf

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