LPS psychologist awarded for excellence

With all the turmoil happening in schools around the country recently, here’s one that highlights the good in public education.

Marnie Zabel has worked at Belmont elementary for the better part of her 30 years with Lincoln Public Schools.

“What I have found over my 30 years is that all kids are individuals and it may take something different for each child to be successful,” Belmont elementary psychologist, Marnie Zabel said. 

This October she was named the 2019 Nebraska school psychologist of the year.

She says the trick with early childhood education is to stick with the children all the way.

“We are qualifying fewer children, at least at Belmont, for special education services, so in my mind that means that we are meeting needs at an earlier time,” Zabel said.

“Marnie has several students that she will check in with every day and she’ll greet them in the morning and help them to have a great start to their day, help them set some personal goals for the day of what they’re going to work on, and then she always finds those students at the end of the day to find out how they did on the goals they set together,” Belmont elementary principal, Kim Rosenthal said. 

Marnie attributes the accolade to the power of feeling and listening.

“That’s what it’s all about. It’s making kids recognize their potential and giving them those opportunities to really shine. If we can do that for all kids, we won’t have parkland shooters, because they’re just part of the community,” Zabel said. 

She has figured out that the schools need a larger hand in intervention with those students that are feeling troubled.

“I can’t stress enough the importance of relationship building. If you look at any of the school shootings, those are kids that were bullied or were not included, and so what we need to do is make sure that all kids feel a part of the community,” Zabel said. 

Belmont elementary say her methods take an approach they’ll never forget.

“All of us believe that Marnie is a huge asset to Belmont elementary. She has worked with multiple generations here at Belmont and has made life impact for a lot of our students and their families,” Rosenthal said.