Topic: Individualized Education Plan (IEP)
Interview of Christy Levings, June 9, 2025
Interviewed by Mark Tallman
Christy Levings’ interview highlights how schools and educators have adapted to significant changes in education over the past fifty years and how professional organizations such as the Kansas National Education Association (KNEA) and Kansas Association of School Boards (KASB) worked together in making those changes. Levings spent time as a national and state officer in the NEA and worked in forty-two different states. She credits her undergraduate years at Washburn University with instilling in her the need for “learning all the time…being a scholar.” Throughout her professional career, she has been committed to helping teachers and administrators Show Moreimprove their skills and the educational opportunities of their students and to advocating for the teaching profession.
Highlight -- short excerpt from the interview
Interview of Carol Strickland, June 9, 2025
Interviewed by Mark Tallman
In Carol Strickland’s first teaching job her principal told that she had to do two things “You have to let the students know that you care about them, and you have to treat them all the same.” That advice set her up for success. She also had mentors, veteran teachers who helped her organize, who gave her the structure she needed in her classes. She noted that there is not one program that works for everyone because “children learn differently”. In the interview she gives examples of including special education children in regular classrooms, teaching immigrant children Show Morewho need English instruction, and the changes that technology brought to teaching. There was a discussion of how to teach children to read as well as how to train teachers. Strickland makes a case for recognizing teachers through the National Teacher Hall of Fame. She ends the interview asking, “How do we make school a ‘joyous’ experience again?” Show Less
Interview of Benjamin Anderson, May 7, 2026
Interviewed by Robert St. Peter
Benjamin Anderson is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Hutchinson Regional Healthcare System where he is responsible for the management, direction and coordination of all organization operations. He is a great story-teller and his personal story about his experiences getting into college and later gaining entry into the health care system shows his determination and creativity toward solving problems. He rescued failing Kansas rural hospitals in Ashland and Lakin by figuring out how to engage these communities and provide services that people needed. His story about organizing a basketball game to pay for mammograms for women Show Moreis inspiring and unusual. When asked if this was a role of a hospital administrator he replied, "It is the role of a leader." Anderson described his reaching out to Somalian immigrants who worked at Tyson's Food Processing plant. That outreach led to strategies to engage the community and deal with all sorts of community attitudes towards the immigrants. His philosophy was, "Pick one meaningful thing to measure that brings about meaningful change, lowers costs, and improves outcomes. Show them how you did it and they will run to you. Don't wait on the feds to solve your problems. You solve them." After spending six and a half years in rural southwest Kansas, Anderson made a decision to leave and work for the Colorado Hospital Association for four years in order to get specialized services for one of his children. He was recruited to come to Hutchinson because the hospital needed to make some changes. Anderson is now meeting those challenges with creativity and energy.
Highlights -- short excerpts from the interview