LPS Superintendent Paul Gausman featured at Face the Chamber

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — On Tuesday, LPS Superintendent Dr. Paul Gausman was featured at Face the Chamber to talk about his transition to the capital city from Sioux City Community Schools and what’s ahead for the school year.

“I am so honored to serve as the superintendent of the Lincoln Public Schools,” Gausman said. “I can’t imagine that my career could have taken me to this place with any more excitement than I have.”

Face the Chamber is a luncheon event held seven times annually with speakers addressing a variety of topics.

Some of those topics include public policy issues and updates on matters affecting business and Lincoln’s quality of life.

Stepping into his role as the new superintendent, Gausman noted that there is a lot more LPS needs to do to represent the student body as a whole.

He said with 135 languages and a diverse population, we need to better serve them through an idea called the All Means All Equity Plan.

“We’ve got disproportionality, unfortunately,” he said. “In graduate rate, in honors classes, registration and enrollment and some of the career program enrollment with students from different backgrounds, different cultures, different populations. Our staff does not mirror the student population in terms of their makeup and so on. They’ve really put together some very high-level goals that will allow us to improve this district well beyond where it is today.”

Some in attendance questioned Gausman about what will be done for teachers, as the employment shortage continues.

His answer included giving third through fifth graders that a teaching job is a good job to dream about.

“I love his answer saying starting at, you know, third through fifth grade that we will start teaching our kids what it is like to be a teacher,” said Jennifer Meints, director of community outreach for Hands of Heartland. “That was really eye-opening and really comforting to hear that we are already starting to think about it with our new superintendent.”

But Gausman says through his experience serving as the Urban Superintendent Association of America President, Lincoln is in fact better off than most in terms of our teachers.

The focus is serving the students and giving equal opportunities to all.