The Columbia School Board recently approved a change to the district’s leadership structure, likewise welcoming a new face who will be focusing efforts on curriculum matters when she starts later this year.

The leadership change came at last month’s board meeting as current Columbia Superintendent of Schools Chris Grode is set to retire this June, with Assistant Superintendent of Schools Amanda Ganey stepping into the position.

Rather than simply fill the assistant superintendent position, the board opted to establish a new title with an emphasis on addressing a key concern of Ganey’s.

“One of my big focuses this year specifically has been in the curriculum and instruction piece,” Ganey said. “With that work, it became evident to me that we really needed someone that was going to be able to completely focus on the curriculum and instruction and student programming side, which is one of the reasons the title shifted from assistant superintendent to curriculum director.”

Stepping into this role is Laura Yarber, whose appointment was also approved at the January board meeting.

Yarber is originally from Mascoutah. After graduating from Mascoutah High School, she attended McKendree University, earning her bachelor’s degree in education. She went on to Lindenwood University, earning her master’s degree as well as her administration license.

Like many educators, Yarber’s interest in teaching was nurtured by her family as she had a pair of teacher parents who happily encouraged that passion in her.

“I grew up in the classroom,” Yarber said. “I grew up grading papers, I grew up putting up bulletin boards. I have known in my heart that I wanted to serve kids, and that’s really what drove me, serving kids, helping them grow.”

She spent 11 years at Belle Valley School teaching fifth grade as well as seventh grade math, later jumping back home to teach middle school math in Mascoutah for a decade.

It was there that her administrative interest really came about as she pursued a Department of Defense Education Activity grant.

“That really led me into this curriculum path and supporting teachers to help kids grow,” Yarber said. “By helping teachers grow, we help students fly. The growth is utterly amazing to me, and I felt like I could truly help support teachers. I was right there with them.”

Still in Mascoutah, she further recalled the work she did with teachers to build a math curriculum specially for the district.

She also spoke about pursuing another DoDEA grant concerning STEM, bringing in Project Lead the Way programming.

“When you think about the workforce, it’s not just the knowledge,” Yarber said. “It is the collaboration, it is working together, it is solving problems and coming up with solutions,  and that’s what we really wanted to embed.”

Still sticking around in her hometown, she spent time as assistant principal at Mascoutah Elementary School, then a year at Holy Childhood of Jesus Catholic School focusing on administrative duties before finding her current place at O’Fallon, where she’s spent two years focusing on curriculum.

Yarber remarked that her interest in the Columbia School District is largely due to the culture and existing emphasis placed on curriculum.

“I know that there’s a sense of community,” Yarber said. “It just seems like a family, community-oriented place that is on this path of growing. Growing instructional strategies; I know that they’re adopting knew curriculum. They’re actually starting professional learning communities.”

Yarber offered further insight into professional learning communities – which were also recently discussed by Ganey and district principals – noting how PLCs provide a foundation philosophy focusing on the three pillars of student learning, collaborative culture and a focus on data.

She went on to describe how emphasis is placed on four key questions: What do we want students to know, how will we know if they’ve learned it, what if they don’t learn it and what if they already know it?

These questions establish the approach of considering state standards and vital knowledge, using data and assessments to determine if students are really learning the material, building a system of support for struggling students and extending learning to meet the needs of all students.

Yarber spoke passionately about PLCs, noting how she will be bringing her own experience with this system to a new district which is already striving to implement it.

“I get to come and be a part of it,” Yarber said. “I get to help the district grow with my knowledge and experience with the PLC process.”

Ganey spoke positively of Yarber and the experience she brings with her.

“Laura brings a wealth of knowledge with student programming experience,” Ganey said. “I have no doubt that she is going to positively impact the student learning for all of the Columbia students here.”

Yarber further commended Columbia for the focus placed on curriculum and reiterated her drive to support the progress made so far.

“My hope is to join the team and continue to build that curricular alignment that is already starting,” Yarber said. “I’m so excited just to partner with the teachers, the administrators, the families to help us all just continue to improve. My goal is I’m gonna be a listener first. I really wanna understand where we’re at and how I can help.”