October 18, 2025 • 27 mins
TD Flenaugh revisits an interview with Mark Bielang, a superintendent from Portage Public Schools in Michigan, discussing his journey from trades to education and his commitment to career and technical education (CTE). Bielang emphasizes the importance of CTE, noting a $100 million donation for a new CTE center. He highlights the need for a supportive culture in schools. Bielang advises parents to understand their children's learning styles and encourages them to support diverse educational opportunities, including extracurricular activities that build confidence and skills.
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Episode Transcript
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TD Flenaugh (00:03):
Welcome after 120 episodes of the falling for
learning podcast, we are goingto give you a few throwback
episodes every now and then, andthis episode is from my first
interview of the falling forlearning podcast with a
superintendent named Markbelang. And he is from the
(00:28):
Michigan schools, asuperintendent of one of those
school systems. He brings in alot of insight and wisdom about
how to get kids on track forlearning and how to make sure
that they're on track forsuccess, and he is representing
his journey as a person whostarted in the trades, as a
(00:49):
person who was inspired by ateacher and as a parent, in
addition to his journey and hiscareer as an educator. So I hope
that you sit back and relax andenjoy. Hi. Thank you so much for
joining the falling for learningpodcast. We have this podcast to
help parents and caregivers withhaving the resources, strategies
(01:12):
and tools needed to make surethat their children are on track
for learning and to stay ontrack for success. Thank you so
much for joining us on thefalling for learning podcast.
The podcast is for parents toreally help them to understand
tips and strategies andinformation that they need to
(01:33):
make sure that their studentsare achieving at high levels, K
through 12, right, and what theyneed to do on their side to make
sure that they're setting theirchild up for success. So I'll
let you kind of introduceyourself and tell us about
yourself.
Mark Bielang (01:53):
Sure. My name is Mark Bielang I'm currently
serving as superintendent ofPortage public schools. We're a
district of just under 9000students, located in Portage,
Michigan, which is in thesouthwest corner of the state of
Michigan. Our community is itwe're a suburban community is
(02:17):
just south of Kalamazoo, mostlya typical of many suburban
communities, high percentage ofwhite students. We have some
minority students in ourdemographics are changing. We
our families speak over 50different languages in our
(02:38):
community, so we're trying tomeet their needs as well, but
that's a little bit about thedistrict myself. I'm been in
this business for quite sometime, and I started out as a
industrial arts teacher. Itaught middle school shop, and
then moved into the high schoollevel, where I taught
(02:59):
construction trades. Ourstudents built homes out on the
on a job site. And then fromthere, I decided that I really
wanted to pursue administration,so an opportunity arose where I
became an assistant principal ofthe High School. Later moved
into a high school principalshift in two different schools,
(03:22):
and finally took asuperintendency in a smaller
school district of about 2000students, where I served in that
capacity for 18 years, and I'mcurrently in starting my 11th
year as superintendent ofschools in Portage, Michigan.
(03:43):
Wow, that's all I got for youthere. We've got more questions,
TD Flenaugh (03:47):
of course. Thank you so much. So it sounds like
you've been in education forquite a while, and so we're glad
to hear and kind of lean in onsome of that expertise that
you've had for so many differentroles within education. So what
brought you into education,like, what was the reason that
(04:08):
you decided to pursue thiscareer?
Mark Bielang (04:12):
It was all because of a teacher I had in high
school. There was a obviously,my interest has always been
around woodworking, and that gotme into the construction trades,
that got me into industrialeducation. But I had a teacher
in high school who took a realinterest in my abilities. He saw
(04:34):
something in me that othersdidn't see, and he was the
guiding force that they becamepassionate around not only the
content, but in making sure,wanting to help others
understand woodworking. In thisparticular case, the same level
of I did so as I did so. Thiswas a gentleman that that
(04:56):
believed in me, gave meopportunities, both in the
classroom. Room and outside ofschool to help him on some
projects that he was working on,and that's what really ignited
my passion for getting aneducation. I knew what I wanted
to do from day one going intocollege.
TD Flenaugh (05:14):
Wow, that's really fascinating. So that one
educator really made adifference in your life as far
as helping you to choose a path.
And and I it would really standsout to me from that is that a
lot of educators are, you know,very academic, and they really,
you know, focus in on that part,but you came in from a trade
(05:36):
aspect, I think. And so I thinkthat is interesting. And how do
you all, how do you in theschool district where you serve?
How do you all foster that sonot just maybe an academic, but
also those trades as well, andmaybe even business as far as
students and their career path?
Mark Bielang (06:01):
Yeah, I've been a big proponent of career and
technical education, obviouslycoming from that background.
Back then we called itvocational education. Now we
call it CTE, career technicaleducation. We're very fortunate
in our area to have a verystrong program and partnerships
(06:21):
with the nine other schooldistricts that belong in our
county. We're organized around acounty based system, so the nine
schools have combined efforts,and we call currently, it's been
called education for employment,where different schools will
offer different programs, andour students are bused back and
(06:41):
forth or drive to other schoolsto get programs that we may not
offer our community, our largercommunity, the TD, Kalamazoo
County community, has supporteda millage to support career and
technical education, and we hada an anonymous source who gifted
(07:04):
us $100 million plus the landbuild a CTE center. Wow, that
construction has just started,but we're pulling together many
of the programs that the localshad into a central site into a
beautiful facility, and so ourstudents will have access to
(07:24):
programs like never before. Andwe're hoping that by eliminating
kind of that, you know, thatcompetitive nature that exists
between students and schools,some kind of some some students
from going to another schoolbecause they're a competitor in
athletics, you know, in thearts. So having a neutral site
(07:48):
we we believe, will increaseenrollment in those areas and
provide state of the arttechnology that they'll be able
to operate there in.
TD Flenaugh (08:00):
Okay, that's really fascinating. So you are saying
that that money is for all nineof those school nine of those
counties, or something like, isthat, right?
Mark Bielang (08:11):
It's nine different school districts, but
we belong to a service agency,and so the kind of the vehicle
that's receiving those funds isthe the ESE, the educational
service agencies, they'reresponsible for constructing a
facility and coordinating theprograms that will be held at
(08:32):
that site.
TD Flenaugh (08:35):
Okay, that's really great to hear. You know, pulling
of resources, people workingtogether, and all of it's for
the, you know, promotion ofstudents and making sure
students have what they need,right, and not just thinking
about the academic aspects. I'vedefinitely been guilty of that
as a teacher that you know,started off on a really academic
(08:59):
it is really not alwaysrecognizing the importance of
the vocational or careertechnical and education, and
then also the business aspect ofof what students can do to
contribute to the economy andour society. So I'm glad that
you all are bringing thattogether, and that definitely
sounds like something thatpeople around the United States
(09:22):
can take notice of and maybeduplicate different type of
programs like that for you. Sothat's really good.
Mark Bielang (09:30):
Yeah, not, you know, not every student is
destined to go to college. Andyou know, preparing students for
whatever they believe their nextphase of life will be is so
important to us, and thatdoesn't preclude the fact that
students who go through a CTEprogram can't go on to college.
Many do. I mean, I did. I was inin vocational programming,
(09:54):
industrial education in highschool, but knew I wanted to be
a teacher. But. That was mycontent area. So I think kids
need to find their own passionand dabble in different things.
You know this, it doesn't juststart in high school. This, this
Career Technical Center. We'realready starting programming for
(10:15):
seventh and eighth graders,exposing them to different
careers where beyond just whattheir family might be involved
in. And so many of our studentsdon't see those those trades and
those activities going on, sothey don't even understand what
the possibilities are. Soexposing those our youngest
children to our younger than, Iwould say, youngest, but our
(10:37):
younger children to to what'spossible is so important to us
as well.
TD Flenaugh (10:43):
Absolutely, I'm really glad that you have this
aspect that is really thrivingand being nurtured in your
school district and thesurrounding districts that you
work with. Yeah, I just thinkthat's one of the missing links,
right? We forget. Some of usforget students who aren't on
(11:05):
the academic path. And I thinkthere was a time, depending on
the school district or the area,that when they tracked kids you
know, like, maybe you know,someone's for trade or someone's
for academic, that maybe at theend that I wouldn't have the
skills, like, if I chose thetrade, I wouldn't have the
(11:27):
skills depending on my my otherclasses didn't prepare me to be
able to go to college, but Ithink now most of the districts
have it normalized. Wherethere's all the classes pretty
much will prepare you. Ofcourse, there's advanced level,
but even the basic level or theregular classes still are going
to be able to prepare you forcollege. And I don't think that
(11:49):
was the case always. And sosometimes people don't really
notice that, because before youput were put on a track and you
didn't have a college levelcourses that you need it. So
Mark Bielang (12:02):
we're very fortunate our our community and
I speak, according specifically,has been very supportive of of
education in general. I mean,they've been very generous with
with with providing us with newfacilities. We're in the middle
of a building project now. We'rereplacing five of our oldest
elementary schools. We'vealready built new middle
(12:24):
schools, and that's all thesupport our students. We want to
make sure that our students arein the best possible places they
can be. And you know, so we wedo offer things like the
International Baccalaureateprogram too, for those that
really want to push themselvesthat in that way. So again,
(12:46):
that's that doesn't happenwithout a lot of community
support and understanding thatit takes additional funds to run
those kind of programs, right?
TD Flenaugh (12:58):
So yeah, so that makes me think, as well as about
what your ultimate goal is as aleader, and, you know, maybe
like, what are your five yeargoals as a leader of Portage
schools?
Mark Bielang (13:13):
Well, I'm, I'm kind of towards the end of my
career as a superintendent, fiveyears from now, I hope to be,
you know, retired and doing somethings that I haven't been able
to do. But you know, our primarygoal here has been to create the
(13:34):
best possible environment forstudent success. You
TD Flenaugh (13:44):
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Mark Bielang (14:28):
And you know so our kind of, our strategic
commitments that we call them,are primarily focused on our
students, but we also realizethat they need to be in a
culture that supports them. Soas I look at what I'd like to
see happen down the road is forthat culture to continue to
(14:50):
grow, so that we can be as bestpositioned as possible to
support all of our students, nomatter what they want. Them to
the table when they come throughour doors is that we can create
an environment that supportsthem so that they can be
successful, to reach theirpotential and and that's hard
(15:11):
work, because there is no end tothat work. That's that's ongoing
work, just, you know, if youthink there's an end to building
culture, then you've got apretty short sighted view of
what has to happen, and cultureis hard to change. There's so
much, I wouldn't even call itresistance. There's so much
(15:35):
pressure to maintain what isbecause people are afraid of
change or unwilling to change orscared of change. I don't know
how to frame that exactly, butchange is difficult, and culture
requires change. Changingculture requires people to
change as well. So I just I hopethat some of the practices that
(15:58):
we've begun to institute in ourdistrict continue to grow and
and become hardwired so thatthey happen all the time
automatically. Can you
TD Flenaugh (16:11):
tell us a little bit more about some of those
practices that you have, thatyou are cultivating and that you
hope continue,
Mark Bielang (16:19):
the one of the Sure, the one of the one of the
things that we really becomegood at is the is rounding all
of our leaders round on otherpeople. So using myself for an
example, outside of theevaluation process, I meet with
(16:43):
members of my executive team sothat there are, there are nine
people on that team. I meet withthem. It's a quick, informal way
of touching base with folks tofind out what's going well in
their day. They're, you know, aset series of questions that
take no more than five or 10minutes, what's going well? Are
(17:03):
you getting the resources thatyou need? What can we do to
improve and is there anyone whohas supported you that you'd
like me to recognize? So thatgives us a chance to recognize
employees who have, havecontributed, contributed to
someone else's success. Sorounding has been an effective
(17:25):
process. I also round withschool board members, so twice a
year, I meet individually witheach board member and ask
similar questions that gives mea sense of where they're headed
outside of the boardroom, wherewe're not having that discussion
in a public way. And then theimportant part of that is
(17:49):
closing that loop. So once Icompleted my rounding with
administrators, we sit downtogether and I report out this
is what I heard from you, and itgives everyone a chance to hear
what everyone else is saying,not individually by name, but I
look for themes and threads thatI can share with them that you
(18:09):
know, that raises some issuesthat we've been you know,
further need to to do. And I dothe same thing with the school
board. Well, means as a board,it's usually part of my
evaluation process where we dothat and it gives them a lot of
good feedback, it gives me a lotof input and feedback as well.
So that's the that practice ofrounding our principals do that
(18:31):
with their teachers. They cantake a group of other employees,
paraprofessionals, our supportstaff, custodians, maintenance,
food service, staff. So it's notjust limited to, you know,
direct reports, but but anybodyin the organization that you
want to get feedback from theother the other practice that
(18:55):
that we've reallyinstitutionalized is surveys. We
survey our students, we surveyour parents, and we survey our
employees, so we get ongoingfeedback from those groups as to
their perceptions about whatwe're doing. So same thing holds
(19:16):
true. There. We get theinformation and what, what many
people, what many schools don'tdo is is report back what they
heard. So for example, withstudents, I get a report after
the after students take thesurvey, and I happen to have a I
(19:37):
formed a student advisory boardthat meets with me on a monthly
basis, and at a high level, I'llshare results with them and and
then we focus on, on the on thetop one or two things that we're
doing well, and we get feedbackfrom from I'll use students as
an example. You know, what arewe doing that we need to keep
(19:58):
doing? That gives us, gives usthese. Is these results in these
categories, and then where,where we scored lower. It's the
same sort of thing. What? Whatcan we do? What would what would
cause us to get a higher scorein these areas? What would we
need to do and get that samefeedback? So it gives me a sense
(20:19):
of the types of things we needto work on. It allows me connect
with our students to know what'son their mind, and and then we
develop action plans from thatand and then that cycle
continues to go. So it's likethat plan, do Study, Act cycle,
(20:39):
but we're making sure that welet people know what we're
doing, so that next time theytake the survey, they're
reminded of what we've done toimprove on what we said we're
going to do. And that's built. Isaid it at the at the district
level, but each building levelleader gets information for
their building from theirparents, from their staff and
(21:00):
from their students, and that'swhere the really the work takes
place. So those are a couplethings. I know that was a little
long, but
TD Flenaugh (21:08):
no, it was excellent, very thorough, and it
really sounds like you have alot that you can share with
other leaders around thecountry. Unfortunately, I'm
gonna have to pause for amoment. I can't.
Mark Bielang (21:27):
You're gonna edit this in. Very sorry. No problem.
No problem. Okay, um,
TD Flenaugh (21:39):
all right, so my question, my last question is,
I'm like, what message do youhave for parents as they're
guiding and helping their kidslearn and grow? What message do
you have for them that theycould do or that will really be
helpful in giving them the anadvantage?
Mark Bielang (22:00):
Well, that is, that is a huge question, because
it you know, as kids change asthey're going through an
educational system. You know, Ithink the better you know your
kids, The and are able to toshare that information with
their teachers, so that teachersto help teachers build that
(22:28):
relationship with kids. Thatrelationship piece in my mind is
so important, you know, I just Ilook at when my three kids were
growing going through schools,and I've used them as an example
when I think of the term rigor,relevance and relationships, I
had three kids, each one of themwas tied to one of those
(22:48):
characteristics. Our oldest wasall about rigor. Throw her as
much as she could get, you know,and she would handle it, and she
that was, that was how, how shewas able to thrive was is
teachers who recognize that ourour middle daughter, was all
about relationships. If youcouldn't connect with her in a
(23:12):
personal way, she wasn't able toto produce what she you know,
and reach her potential. Andthen our youngest, our son, was
about relevance. If he didn'tunderstand what he was doing,
why he was doing it, he wouldn'tput the effort for it to do
that. So so I think parentsunderstanding their children's
(23:35):
kind of their learning style, orwhere they really thrive, and
being able to work with withstaff members on on helping
support that aspect of it, or atleast recognizing that I found
to be very helpful. One of thethings I wish I would have done,
in retrospect, was kind of forcethem into certain opportunities
(24:00):
that that would help themdevelop skills that would help
them later on, and that was, youknow, things like forensics or
debate or or areas wherethey're, where they're they're
up in front of of their peers orthe public to perform, because
those are skills that developconfidence and allow you to to
(24:23):
flourish outside of theclassroom in the future. So
those are just a couple thingsthat come to my mind, initially,
excellent.
TD Flenaugh (24:32):
I think you have so many gems, you know, to offer
parents. You are a parent. Youare a, you know, a leader,
you've been a teacher. So somany different aspects of your
experience are, I feel like arevery helpful for our audience as
they are trying to navigate, youknow, the educational system for
(24:53):
their child and what works bestfor them. And it really
resonates with me as well,because. Because as I talk to
parents, I really talk to themabout, of course, math skills,
reading, writing, but I alsoreally stress the speaking and
listening, because that means somuch when people have to go on
interviews or when they'rearticulating themselves and
(25:15):
working together with peoplethat Miss missing aspect, could
really be a make it or break itfor kids, so you recognize that
you said the same thing. Sothank you so much for meeting
with us. So you I don't know,like if there's a way you know
(25:38):
if parents want to reach out toyou, or if they want to find
you, or they want to see yourspeeches or your meetings, where
can they find you?
Mark Bielang (25:47):
Sure our we just updated our website. I think it
went, went live last Friday. Sothere may still be a bugs, a few
bugs in there, but we can befound at Portage. PS, dot, O R
G, that supported P O, R T, A,G, E, P, S, dot O R G, and
(26:08):
that's our website, and peoplecan learn a lot more about us
there. Great.
TD Flenaugh (26:14):
Thank you so much for your time, and I really
appreciate you following up andvery excited that you know I got
to talk with you and just hearsome of your wisdom and from all
your experience. So I will be incontact with you. We're going to
(26:40):
place this on it'll be onSpotify, and I Heart Radio
wherever you can get podcast,pretty much. And also we will
put it on our Youtube as well.
So thank you so much. Mr. BLang, and have a great day.
Mark Bielang (27:00):
Well, thank you.
Thanks for the opportunity. Itwas fun to do this. It's, you
know, you don't always get achance to talk about, you know,
your own personal journey andwhere you've been and where you
still want to go. And so thanksfor this opportunity. I hope
there's a morsel or two thatpeople will be who will help by
this. Great thanks. Thank you somuch.
TD Flenaugh (27:22):
Thanks.
Bye. Thanks again for supportingthe falling for learning
podcast. New Episodes go liveevery Saturday at 5pm you can
watch us on youtube.com atfalling for learning or listen
on all major podcast platformssuch as Apple, Google, Audible,
(27:45):
Spotify and much more. For moreresources, visit falling in love
with learning.com we reallyappreciate you. Have a wonderful
week.
Welcome after 120 episodes of the falling for
learning podcast, we are goingto give you a few throwback
episodes every now and then, andthis episode is from my first
interview of the falling forlearning podcast with a
superintendent named Markbelang. And he is from the
(00:28):
Michigan schools, asuperintendent of one of those
school systems. He brings in alot of insight and wisdom about
how to get kids on track forlearning and how to make sure
that they're on track forsuccess, and he is representing
his journey as a person whostarted in the trades, as a
(00:49):
person who was inspired by ateacher and as a parent, in
addition to his journey and hiscareer as an educator. So I hope
that you sit back and relax andenjoy. Hi. Thank you so much for
joining the falling for learningpodcast. We have this podcast to
help parents and caregivers withhaving the resources, strategies
(01:12):
and tools needed to make surethat their children are on track
for learning and to stay ontrack for success. Thank you so
much for joining us on thefalling for learning podcast.
The podcast is for parents toreally help them to understand
tips and strategies andinformation that they need to
(01:33):
make sure that their studentsare achieving at high levels, K
through 12, right, and what theyneed to do on their side to make
sure that they're setting theirchild up for success. So I'll
let you kind of introduceyourself and tell us about
yourself.
Mark Bielang (01:53):
Sure. My name is Mark Bielang I'm currently
serving as superintendent ofPortage public schools. We're a
district of just under 9000students, located in Portage,
Michigan, which is in thesouthwest corner of the state of
Michigan. Our community is itwe're a suburban community is
(02:17):
just south of Kalamazoo, mostlya typical of many suburban
communities, high percentage ofwhite students. We have some
minority students in ourdemographics are changing. We
our families speak over 50different languages in our
(02:38):
community, so we're trying tomeet their needs as well, but
that's a little bit about thedistrict myself. I'm been in
this business for quite sometime, and I started out as a
industrial arts teacher. Itaught middle school shop, and
then moved into the high schoollevel, where I taught
(02:59):
construction trades. Ourstudents built homes out on the
on a job site. And then fromthere, I decided that I really
wanted to pursue administration,so an opportunity arose where I
became an assistant principal ofthe High School. Later moved
into a high school principalshift in two different schools,
(03:22):
and finally took asuperintendency in a smaller
school district of about 2000students, where I served in that
capacity for 18 years, and I'mcurrently in starting my 11th
year as superintendent ofschools in Portage, Michigan.
(03:43):
Wow, that's all I got for youthere. We've got more questions,
TD Flenaugh (03:47):
of course. Thank you so much. So it sounds like
you've been in education forquite a while, and so we're glad
to hear and kind of lean in onsome of that expertise that
you've had for so many differentroles within education. So what
brought you into education,like, what was the reason that
(04:08):
you decided to pursue thiscareer?
Mark Bielang (04:12):
It was all because of a teacher I had in high
school. There was a obviously,my interest has always been
around woodworking, and that gotme into the construction trades,
that got me into industrialeducation. But I had a teacher
in high school who took a realinterest in my abilities. He saw
(04:34):
something in me that othersdidn't see, and he was the
guiding force that they becamepassionate around not only the
content, but in making sure,wanting to help others
understand woodworking. In thisparticular case, the same level
of I did so as I did so. Thiswas a gentleman that that
(04:56):
believed in me, gave meopportunities, both in the
classroom. Room and outside ofschool to help him on some
projects that he was working on,and that's what really ignited
my passion for getting aneducation. I knew what I wanted
to do from day one going intocollege.
TD Flenaugh (05:14):
Wow, that's really fascinating. So that one
educator really made adifference in your life as far
as helping you to choose a path.
And and I it would really standsout to me from that is that a
lot of educators are, you know,very academic, and they really,
you know, focus in on that part,but you came in from a trade
(05:36):
aspect, I think. And so I thinkthat is interesting. And how do
you all, how do you in theschool district where you serve?
How do you all foster that sonot just maybe an academic, but
also those trades as well, andmaybe even business as far as
students and their career path?
Mark Bielang (06:01):
Yeah, I've been a big proponent of career and
technical education, obviouslycoming from that background.
Back then we called itvocational education. Now we
call it CTE, career technicaleducation. We're very fortunate
in our area to have a verystrong program and partnerships
(06:21):
with the nine other schooldistricts that belong in our
county. We're organized around acounty based system, so the nine
schools have combined efforts,and we call currently, it's been
called education for employment,where different schools will
offer different programs, andour students are bused back and
(06:41):
forth or drive to other schoolsto get programs that we may not
offer our community, our largercommunity, the TD, Kalamazoo
County community, has supporteda millage to support career and
technical education, and we hada an anonymous source who gifted
(07:04):
us $100 million plus the landbuild a CTE center. Wow, that
construction has just started,but we're pulling together many
of the programs that the localshad into a central site into a
beautiful facility, and so ourstudents will have access to
(07:24):
programs like never before. Andwe're hoping that by eliminating
kind of that, you know, thatcompetitive nature that exists
between students and schools,some kind of some some students
from going to another schoolbecause they're a competitor in
athletics, you know, in thearts. So having a neutral site
(07:48):
we we believe, will increaseenrollment in those areas and
provide state of the arttechnology that they'll be able
to operate there in.
TD Flenaugh (08:00):
Okay, that's really fascinating. So you are saying
that that money is for all nineof those school nine of those
counties, or something like, isthat, right?
Mark Bielang (08:11):
It's nine different school districts, but
we belong to a service agency,and so the kind of the vehicle
that's receiving those funds isthe the ESE, the educational
service agencies, they'reresponsible for constructing a
facility and coordinating theprograms that will be held at
(08:32):
that site.
TD Flenaugh (08:35):
Okay, that's really great to hear. You know, pulling
of resources, people workingtogether, and all of it's for
the, you know, promotion ofstudents and making sure
students have what they need,right, and not just thinking
about the academic aspects. I'vedefinitely been guilty of that
as a teacher that you know,started off on a really academic
(08:59):
it is really not alwaysrecognizing the importance of
the vocational or careertechnical and education, and
then also the business aspect ofof what students can do to
contribute to the economy andour society. So I'm glad that
you all are bringing thattogether, and that definitely
sounds like something thatpeople around the United States
(09:22):
can take notice of and maybeduplicate different type of
programs like that for you. Sothat's really good.
Mark Bielang (09:30):
Yeah, not, you know, not every student is
destined to go to college. Andyou know, preparing students for
whatever they believe their nextphase of life will be is so
important to us, and thatdoesn't preclude the fact that
students who go through a CTEprogram can't go on to college.
Many do. I mean, I did. I was inin vocational programming,
(09:54):
industrial education in highschool, but knew I wanted to be
a teacher. But. That was mycontent area. So I think kids
need to find their own passionand dabble in different things.
You know this, it doesn't juststart in high school. This, this
Career Technical Center. We'realready starting programming for
(10:15):
seventh and eighth graders,exposing them to different
careers where beyond just whattheir family might be involved
in. And so many of our studentsdon't see those those trades and
those activities going on, sothey don't even understand what
the possibilities are. Soexposing those our youngest
children to our younger than, Iwould say, youngest, but our
(10:37):
younger children to to what'spossible is so important to us
as well.
TD Flenaugh (10:43):
Absolutely, I'm really glad that you have this
aspect that is really thrivingand being nurtured in your
school district and thesurrounding districts that you
work with. Yeah, I just thinkthat's one of the missing links,
right? We forget. Some of usforget students who aren't on
(11:05):
the academic path. And I thinkthere was a time, depending on
the school district or the area,that when they tracked kids you
know, like, maybe you know,someone's for trade or someone's
for academic, that maybe at theend that I wouldn't have the
skills, like, if I chose thetrade, I wouldn't have the
(11:27):
skills depending on my my otherclasses didn't prepare me to be
able to go to college, but Ithink now most of the districts
have it normalized. Wherethere's all the classes pretty
much will prepare you. Ofcourse, there's advanced level,
but even the basic level or theregular classes still are going
to be able to prepare you forcollege. And I don't think that
(11:49):
was the case always. And sosometimes people don't really
notice that, because before youput were put on a track and you
didn't have a college levelcourses that you need it. So
Mark Bielang (12:02):
we're very fortunate our our community and
I speak, according specifically,has been very supportive of of
education in general. I mean,they've been very generous with
with with providing us with newfacilities. We're in the middle
of a building project now. We'rereplacing five of our oldest
elementary schools. We'vealready built new middle
(12:24):
schools, and that's all thesupport our students. We want to
make sure that our students arein the best possible places they
can be. And you know, so we wedo offer things like the
International Baccalaureateprogram too, for those that
really want to push themselvesthat in that way. So again,
(12:46):
that's that doesn't happenwithout a lot of community
support and understanding thatit takes additional funds to run
those kind of programs, right?
TD Flenaugh (12:58):
So yeah, so that makes me think, as well as about
what your ultimate goal is as aleader, and, you know, maybe
like, what are your five yeargoals as a leader of Portage
schools?
Mark Bielang (13:13):
Well, I'm, I'm kind of towards the end of my
career as a superintendent, fiveyears from now, I hope to be,
you know, retired and doing somethings that I haven't been able
to do. But you know, our primarygoal here has been to create the
(13:34):
best possible environment forstudent success. You
TD Flenaugh (13:44):
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(14:10):
of writing Hoot and into lovingto write. Get your book set
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Mark Bielang (14:28):
And you know so our kind of, our strategic
commitments that we call them,are primarily focused on our
students, but we also realizethat they need to be in a
culture that supports them. Soas I look at what I'd like to
see happen down the road is forthat culture to continue to
(14:50):
grow, so that we can be as bestpositioned as possible to
support all of our students, nomatter what they want. Them to
the table when they come throughour doors is that we can create
an environment that supportsthem so that they can be
successful, to reach theirpotential and and that's hard
(15:11):
work, because there is no end tothat work. That's that's ongoing
work, just, you know, if youthink there's an end to building
culture, then you've got apretty short sighted view of
what has to happen, and cultureis hard to change. There's so
much, I wouldn't even call itresistance. There's so much
(15:35):
pressure to maintain what isbecause people are afraid of
change or unwilling to change orscared of change. I don't know
how to frame that exactly, butchange is difficult, and culture
requires change. Changingculture requires people to
change as well. So I just I hopethat some of the practices that
(15:58):
we've begun to institute in ourdistrict continue to grow and
and become hardwired so thatthey happen all the time
automatically. Can you
TD Flenaugh (16:11):
tell us a little bit more about some of those
practices that you have, thatyou are cultivating and that you
hope continue,
Mark Bielang (16:19):
the one of the Sure, the one of the one of the
things that we really becomegood at is the is rounding all
of our leaders round on otherpeople. So using myself for an
example, outside of theevaluation process, I meet with
(16:43):
members of my executive team sothat there are, there are nine
people on that team. I meet withthem. It's a quick, informal way
of touching base with folks tofind out what's going well in
their day. They're, you know, aset series of questions that
take no more than five or 10minutes, what's going well? Are
(17:03):
you getting the resources thatyou need? What can we do to
improve and is there anyone whohas supported you that you'd
like me to recognize? So thatgives us a chance to recognize
employees who have, havecontributed, contributed to
someone else's success. Sorounding has been an effective
(17:25):
process. I also round withschool board members, so twice a
year, I meet individually witheach board member and ask
similar questions that gives mea sense of where they're headed
outside of the boardroom, wherewe're not having that discussion
in a public way. And then theimportant part of that is
(17:49):
closing that loop. So once Icompleted my rounding with
administrators, we sit downtogether and I report out this
is what I heard from you, and itgives everyone a chance to hear
what everyone else is saying,not individually by name, but I
look for themes and threads thatI can share with them that you
(18:09):
know, that raises some issuesthat we've been you know,
further need to to do. And I dothe same thing with the school
board. Well, means as a board,it's usually part of my
evaluation process where we dothat and it gives them a lot of
good feedback, it gives me a lotof input and feedback as well.
So that's the that practice ofrounding our principals do that
(18:31):
with their teachers. They cantake a group of other employees,
paraprofessionals, our supportstaff, custodians, maintenance,
food service, staff. So it's notjust limited to, you know,
direct reports, but but anybodyin the organization that you
want to get feedback from theother the other practice that
(18:55):
that we've reallyinstitutionalized is surveys. We
survey our students, we surveyour parents, and we survey our
employees, so we get ongoingfeedback from those groups as to
their perceptions about whatwe're doing. So same thing holds
(19:16):
true. There. We get theinformation and what, what many
people, what many schools don'tdo is is report back what they
heard. So for example, withstudents, I get a report after
the after students take thesurvey, and I happen to have a I
(19:37):
formed a student advisory boardthat meets with me on a monthly
basis, and at a high level, I'llshare results with them and and
then we focus on, on the on thetop one or two things that we're
doing well, and we get feedbackfrom from I'll use students as
an example. You know, what arewe doing that we need to keep
(19:58):
doing? That gives us, gives usthese. Is these results in these
categories, and then where,where we scored lower. It's the
same sort of thing. What? Whatcan we do? What would what would
cause us to get a higher scorein these areas? What would we
need to do and get that samefeedback? So it gives me a sense
(20:19):
of the types of things we needto work on. It allows me connect
with our students to know what'son their mind, and and then we
develop action plans from thatand and then that cycle
continues to go. So it's likethat plan, do Study, Act cycle,
(20:39):
but we're making sure that welet people know what we're
doing, so that next time theytake the survey, they're
reminded of what we've done toimprove on what we said we're
going to do. And that's built. Isaid it at the at the district
level, but each building levelleader gets information for
their building from theirparents, from their staff and
(21:00):
from their students, and that'swhere the really the work takes
place. So those are a couplethings. I know that was a little
long, but
TD Flenaugh (21:08):
no, it was excellent, very thorough, and it
really sounds like you have alot that you can share with
other leaders around thecountry. Unfortunately, I'm
gonna have to pause for amoment. I can't.
Mark Bielang (21:27):
You're gonna edit this in. Very sorry. No problem.
No problem. Okay, um,
TD Flenaugh (21:39):
all right, so my question, my last question is,
I'm like, what message do youhave for parents as they're
guiding and helping their kidslearn and grow? What message do
you have for them that theycould do or that will really be
helpful in giving them the anadvantage?
Mark Bielang (22:00):
Well, that is, that is a huge question, because
it you know, as kids change asthey're going through an
educational system. You know, Ithink the better you know your
kids, The and are able to toshare that information with
their teachers, so that teachersto help teachers build that
(22:28):
relationship with kids. Thatrelationship piece in my mind is
so important, you know, I just Ilook at when my three kids were
growing going through schools,and I've used them as an example
when I think of the term rigor,relevance and relationships, I
had three kids, each one of themwas tied to one of those
(22:48):
characteristics. Our oldest wasall about rigor. Throw her as
much as she could get, you know,and she would handle it, and she
that was, that was how, how shewas able to thrive was is
teachers who recognize that ourour middle daughter, was all
about relationships. If youcouldn't connect with her in a
(23:12):
personal way, she wasn't able toto produce what she you know,
and reach her potential. Andthen our youngest, our son, was
about relevance. If he didn'tunderstand what he was doing,
why he was doing it, he wouldn'tput the effort for it to do
that. So so I think parentsunderstanding their children's
(23:35):
kind of their learning style, orwhere they really thrive, and
being able to work with withstaff members on on helping
support that aspect of it, or atleast recognizing that I found
to be very helpful. One of thethings I wish I would have done,
in retrospect, was kind of forcethem into certain opportunities
(24:00):
that that would help themdevelop skills that would help
them later on, and that was, youknow, things like forensics or
debate or or areas wherethey're, where they're they're
up in front of of their peers orthe public to perform, because
those are skills that developconfidence and allow you to to
(24:23):
flourish outside of theclassroom in the future. So
those are just a couple thingsthat come to my mind, initially,
excellent.
TD Flenaugh (24:32):
I think you have so many gems, you know, to offer
parents. You are a parent. Youare a, you know, a leader,
you've been a teacher. So somany different aspects of your
experience are, I feel like arevery helpful for our audience as
they are trying to navigate, youknow, the educational system for
(24:53):
their child and what works bestfor them. And it really
resonates with me as well,because. Because as I talk to
parents, I really talk to themabout, of course, math skills,
reading, writing, but I alsoreally stress the speaking and
listening, because that means somuch when people have to go on
interviews or when they'rearticulating themselves and
(25:15):
working together with peoplethat Miss missing aspect, could
really be a make it or break itfor kids, so you recognize that
you said the same thing. Sothank you so much for meeting
with us. So you I don't know,like if there's a way you know
(25:38):
if parents want to reach out toyou, or if they want to find
you, or they want to see yourspeeches or your meetings, where
can they find you?
Mark Bielang (25:47):
Sure our we just updated our website. I think it
went, went live last Friday. Sothere may still be a bugs, a few
bugs in there, but we can befound at Portage. PS, dot, O R
G, that supported P O, R T, A,G, E, P, S, dot O R G, and
(26:08):
that's our website, and peoplecan learn a lot more about us
there. Great.
TD Flenaugh (26:14):
Thank you so much for your time, and I really
appreciate you following up andvery excited that you know I got
to talk with you and just hearsome of your wisdom and from all
your experience. So I will be incontact with you. We're going to
(26:40):
place this on it'll be onSpotify, and I Heart Radio
wherever you can get podcast,pretty much. And also we will
put it on our Youtube as well.
So thank you so much. Mr. BLang, and have a great day.
Mark Bielang (27:00):
Well, thank you.
Thanks for the opportunity. Itwas fun to do this. It's, you
know, you don't always get achance to talk about, you know,
your own personal journey andwhere you've been and where you
still want to go. And so thanksfor this opportunity. I hope
there's a morsel or two thatpeople will be who will help by
this. Great thanks. Thank you somuch.
TD Flenaugh (27:22):
Thanks.
Bye. Thanks again for supportingthe falling for learning
podcast. New Episodes go liveevery Saturday at 5pm you can
watch us on youtube.com atfalling for learning or listen
on all major podcast platformssuch as Apple, Google, Audible,
(27:45):
Spotify and much more. For moreresources, visit falling in love
with learning.com we reallyappreciate you. Have a wonderful
week.
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