La Conner Schools superintendent finishes doctoral degree

A former marathoner, La Conner Schools Superintendent Dr. Will Nelson knows the value of committing to a plan for the long run.

He Is also familiar with having to negotiate different routes leading from Point A to Point B.

But more than that, Nelson has learned to cover ground separately and simultaneously along equally challenging paths. During his first two years as administrator he has overseen implementation of several innovative academic programs, overseen the launch of a five-year strategic plan, dealt with post-COVID-19 fiscal constraints and painful campus budget cutbacks, and completed work on his doctorate at Western Washington University.

Nelson, who was born in northern Montana and is an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Nation, expected a heavy workload when he succeeded interim superintendent Rich Stewart in 2021.

"As I interviewed for this position," Nelson, whose traditional Native surname is Makoyiisaamihaa, related to the Weekly News, "I looked at all aspects of the La Conner School District. I reviewed data from OSPI (Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction)."

He couldn't have predicted having to add special programs duties to his assignment list this coming year due to the retirement of Andy Wheeler and a streamlined 2023-2024 budget designed to right-size the district in response to declining student enrollment and loss of federal emergency pandemic funds.

Nelson's earlier research, though, not only gave him an idea of the makeup of the school system but also provided inspiration for his doctoral dissertation.

Like his mentor and one of his predecessors, Tim Bruce, Nelson opted to explore factors that enhance academic achievement for Swinomish students, whose culture is steeped in the storytelling oral tradition rather than one based on written language with knowledge measured by a numerical grading system.

Nelson was influenced in his research by author Dr. Betty Bastien, whose premise is that "knowledge is generated for the purpose of maintaining the relationships that strengthen and protect the health and well-being of individuals and the collective in a cosmic universe. Through stories and lived experiences indigenous communities have gained the knowledge necessary to embrace their ways of knowing."

Yet Nelson was equally influenced – if not more so – by insight from numerous Swinomish sources whom he sought out both for the dissertation and in his role as superintendent.

"What I did," said Nelson, "is create a focus group of Swinomish community members that could help develop the right research questions. That way they came right from the Swinomish people."

In his dissertation, which Nelson successfully defended earlier this year, he notes that stories and anecdotes provided by the Swinomish focus group "tell factors that contribute to successful experiences while sharing barriers and challenges they faced as well."

Nelson received input from a cross-section including – but not limited to – tribal senate chair Steve Edwards, school board members J.J. Wilbur and Loran James, tribal senator Alana Quintasket, elders Janie Beasley, Diane Vendiola and Lona Wilbur, tribal social services director Tracy James, paraeducators Theresa James and Taysha James-Sherman, tribal education department head Michael Vendiola and La Conner alumni Dean Dan, Anna Cook and Wilbur Bailey.

The practical application of Nelson's research can be seen in key initiatives now undertaken in the district. The headliners are universal design for learning, professional learning communities and mastery-based learning along with promotion of student equity across the curriculum.

Universal design for learning emphasizes the need to offer instruction that meets a wide range of student learning styles and brings culturally responsive voice, choice, interest and relevance to learning.

Professional learning communities encourage teachers to collaborate and forge student-centered lessons that prioritize essential standards to be met while progressing toward graduation.

Mastery-based learning promotes a learning pace relevant to each student.

The dissertation process confirmed for Nelson, 61, who previously lived in California and Florida before embarking on careers in education and technology in the Pacific Northwest, that La Conner is a great fit for him personally and professionally.

"I knew that working in the La Conner School District was where I needed to be," Nelson stresses in his dissertation.

That hasn't changed despite a busy work schedule that no longer leaves time for marathon training.

Instead, the job itself has Nelson constantly on the run.

"It's definitely a round-the-clock position," he said last week.

And one in which he is willing to go the distance.

"I wanted to work at a school district with a large Native American population," Nelson said, noting that 35-40% of students are indigenous.

As for the dissertation, his two-year mission simply seemed the right thing to do.

"People are good," he explained. "It's everyone's responsibility to engage in communication to learn one another's history and culture."