by Jim Hasselbrink
Principal Deb Jokela is new to Kennedy Community School, but she is certainly not new to education. She arrived at Kennedy with 28 years of education experience, including 12 years in District 742.
Along the way she has taught a wide range of grade levels – from early childhood education to classes of high-school seniors.
Jokela comes from a long line of educators. Her mother was a teacher, and her grandmother taught in a one-room schoolhouse. She enjoys following in their footsteps.
“That’s what I had experience with, so I kind of landed in it and loved it,” she said.
After earning a degree in elementary education and a license to teach special education from Minnesota State University (Moorhead), she attended graduate school and expanded her special-education licensure at St. Mary’s University of Minnesota. While in graduate school she also earned licenses for becoming a K-12 administrator and a director of special education. She has taught at many schools in Minnesota during her career. Most recently, she had been assistant principal and then lead principal at Oak Hill Elementary in St Cloud.
Several factors attracted her to the position at Kennedy. One of her mentors and a former Kennedy principal, Diane Moeller, designed the building to be an environmental “green” school, which is in line with her own values.
“Being a good steward of the environment is important to me,” she said.
She said she was also excited for an opportunity to be in a building that has pre-K through eighth-grade students. She said she is eager to expand her horizons and work more with middle-level learners.
When asked about her advice for new and aspiring educators, she said she encourages teachers to choose District 742, citing its in-depth teacher induction program and academic coaching. She also noted it’s important for teachers always to be coachable.
“You make it through the first year and the second year,” she said, “(then) you are just amazed by how much you have learned because you’re doing something new every day.”
Goals
Jokela said her main goal for her first year as principal is to learn about the students, staff and families of Kennedy.
“To lead, you need to know who you’re leading in a very in-depth way,” she explained.
Already she said she is impressed with what she has seen.
“The people are what make a school a school, and what makes Kennedy great is our people, our community, our families, our teachers,” Jokela said.
She said safety is also top priority for her. The St. Joseph and St. Cloud police have maintained a close relationship with Kennedy, something she said she hopes is reassuring to families.
She also said she hopes students take away two things from their time at Kennedy – the joy of lifelong learning and good bonds of friendship. She said she also wants to spread awareness of the detrimental effects of “social-media” online screen time can have on students.
“Screen time is taking the place of time to read, time to play, time to problem solve, time to build, time to be creative,” she said.
Recreation
Jokela emphasizes the healthy vitality of recreational pursuits, as well as lifelong educational pursuits.
When she is not at work, she said she loves to be out in nature, whether she is hiking, skiing or kayaking. When on vacation, she said she is likely to seek adventurous activities in the great outdoors of states like Oregon and Montana.
“I think exploring the world and recognizing the world is a bigger place than your backyard is really important,” Jokela said.
She and her husband, Pete, have three grown children. When the kids were growing up, she said she did not let them play any online games until they were well into high school, encouraging them to enjoy the outdoors instead.
“And we only had a few broken bones because of it,” she said. “That was a ski hill. That’s a whole ‘nother story.”
Jokela’s leisure activities include reading, watching movies and attending concerts at The Ledge amphitheater in Waite Park.
Leadership
Jokela said she takes a collaborative, problem-solving approach to leadership, citing the phrase “seek first to understand.” She aims to be open to input from the community.
“I know as a leader I do have a certain amount of power,” she said, “but I’m very, very cautious about how I use that because I want people to feel like my door is open.”
She said she hopes to maintain clear communication between administration, teachers and families through many methods, including weekly newsletters, phone notifications, the Kennedy webpage, conferences and community events.
As a leader in the ever-changing world of education, Jokela said she considers leading people through uncertainty to be an important part of her role. Whenever she encounters such new, uncertain territory, she said she remembers skiing down from the top of a mountain in Telluride, Colorado.
“That’s way scarier than whatever it is I’m facing, and that helps me because I think of the old saying – courage is not the absence of fear, it’s taking action despite the fear.”
Future events
Upcoming events at Kennedy include a Veteran’s Day program on Nov. 11 and parent-teacher conferences on Nov. 20 and 25.
Kennedy Community School Principal Debra Jokela
