Daviess County Public Schools Superintendent Matt Robbins shoulders a lot of responsibility. His day in, day out work schedule can often be quite chaotic, so it would come as no surprise that Robbins might welcome a little assistance. What Robbins didn’t expect was that the learning opportunity he hoped to provide to his assistant, proved true for Robbins as well.
“My intention was to give a unique day to a special student, where the student and I could better understand one another,” Robbins said. “And also to provide the student a ‘big picture’ learning opportunity about the school district.”
Robbins said that, when it was time to choose that special student, there was no doubt in his mind who it would be.
“I selected a student from Deer Park Elementary School, Luis Loaisiga. After visiting his classroom multiple times over the last two years, Luis stole my heart as a student,” Robbins said, adding that Luis greeted him with a huge smile and a big hug on the very first visit. And, when it was time for Robbins to leave, Luis asked, “When can you come back and visit me again, Mr. Robbins? How soon?”
Robbins and Luis spent the day Wednesday visiting DCPS Central Office (CO), College View Middle School and Daviess County High School, the two future schools Luis will attend.
“Since Luis is a 5th grader, I gave him a tour of his next venture at CVMS,” Robbins said. “He had the chance to meet several staff members and get some idea what middle school life will be all about for him. Luis came up with some new school nutrition ideas after lunch and he discussed those ideas at CO with School Nutrition Director, Lisa Sims.”
One of those suggested school nutrition menu items was reportedly chocolate mousse pie.
DCPS Public Information Officer Lora Wimsatt said it was a special day for the staff at Central Office as well as for Robbins.
“He and our Junior Superintendent have had a wonderful time together,” Wimsatt said. “They did some school visits this morning, checked on progress of athletic facilities at Apollo and Daviess County High Schools, and met with several key administrators. Luis, who is keenly interested in biology and earth sciences, was impressed by a dissection project that was taking place at DCHS this morning.”
Luis also had the opportunity to record Robbins’ weekly segment, ‘Minute with Matt’ with him before sitting in on a few official telephone calls and helping conduct an interview. At the end of the day, he had the chance to see several district departments up close, including human resources where he learned how to conduct background checks and print employee ID badges.
Luis made such an impression that he has been invited to attend the upcoming DCPS board meeting on Thursday, Feb. 21, which he has his mother’s permission to attend.
Robbins said Luis helped him to recall and better understand what the educational process looks like through a student’s eyes.
“I am confident Luis learned a lot today. However, what I did not envision was how much I would learn,” Robbins said. “Through our conversations over the day, I learned a lot about what his life is like as a student. I believe I needed a real-life experience to refocus my own commitment to our belief expressed in our KidsFirst district motto. Luis provided this to me today.
Overall, the experience also served as a reminder to Robbins that he has a daily mission and message to live out for the students in the DCPS district.
“This is ‘Why’ I do what I do,” Robbins said. “As the leader — living out the message of ‘KidsFirst’ begins with me. Today was an opportunity for me to demonstrate I am willing to connect with our kids and reserve time for them. I finished the day better than I started because of a young boy named Luis.”
