Internationally recognized educator tells teachers to get 'fired up' for students

Kelly Urban, The Tribune-Democrat, Johnstown, Pa.
·3 min read

Feb. 20—JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — Jimmy Casas told area educators on Monday that they must strive to be better versions of themselves.

"I truly believe from the bottom of my heart that everybody in this room wants to be great," he said at Richland High School, where he served as the keynote speaker in Richland School District's annual educational speaker series. "Sometimes we don't bring our greatness, and we have to begin to understand why that is happening. I need you jacked up, fired up and walking in every day like you're ready to change the world, and I believe you can."

Casas is the CEO and president of educational leadership company J Casas and Associates, and served for 22 years as a school leader.

Under Casas' leadership, Bettendorf High School in Bettendorf, Iowa, was named one of the best in the country three times by Newsweek and U.S. News and World Report.

He was named the 2012 Iowa Principal of the Year, and runner-up for the 2013 National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) National Principal of the Year award. In 2015, he received the Bammy Award for the National Principal of the Year.

Casas is the author of nine books and serves on the professional development faculty for NASSP and as principal adviser for Future Ready Schools.

The presentation to teachers from Richland, Forest Hills, Westmont Hilltop, Ferndale Area and Windber Area school districts, along with other area school and program educators, focused on the theme of "Culturize: Every Student. Every Day. Whatever It Takes."

"I want to focus on truly recalibrating, and we're going to refocus and dial it back and remind ourselves of the work that we're trying to do," Casas said.

He spoke about being a champion for students, expecting excellence, carrying the banner and being a merchant of hope.

"We're all in this together, and when we change our behaviors, we get better results," Casas said.

"Bring a better version of yourself, no matter what's happening around you. Sometimes you'll have to reach out and ask for help, and other times you have to shift your mindset."

Mike Sabol, an earth and space science teacher at Richland High School, said Casas' talk gave a perspective of looking in at yourself as being the solution to reaching students.

"It's easy to go into a classroom where kids want to learn, but in reality, the classroom isn't like that," he said. "We have kids who have all kinds of issues and backgrounds, and Jimmy gave the perspective of if we can learn more of what these kids are bringing into the classroom, then we can better understand the issues. We can try to meet them on their level."

Sabol said he's had knee-jerk reactions to behaviors in the classroom without questioning why students are acting a certain way.

"It gave me the perspective of approaching things in a different way and talking to a kid a little bit more on an individual level and identifying reasons for not doing work or being disruptive," he said.

Brandon Bailey, Richland School District's director educational services, said Caras is a great motivator and a perfect fit for the speaker series.

"I think his engaging style will motivate our educators to get ready for the second half of the school year," he said. "Jimmy's key takeaway is that every student matters and each and every student needs somebody to mentor them, and that's our job as educators."

For more information on Casas, visit www.jimmycasas.com.