About Dr. Kate Sievers
Dr. Kate Sievers is the Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction, Technology, and Grants at Jersey Community Unit School District 100. With 17 years of experience in administration and 12 years as a middle and high school teacher, she has dedicated her career to improving education and supporting students, educators, and families.
Dr. Sievers is passionate about building strong relationships within schools because she believes connections between people are essential for a positive learning environment. In today’s world, where social media and societal pressures can create division, she strives to bring people together instead of pushing them apart. She works to create a school culture that values respect, collaboration, and innovation, ensuring that every student and teacher feels supported and empowered to succeed.
Kate takes the time to listen to teachers and administrators, valuing their input as she makes decisions that always prioritize the needs of students. She is deeply passionate about curriculum and goes above and beyond to find high-quality resources at all levels that enhance learning and help students achieve and show progress. Additionally, she actively writes grants to secure funding that benefits students, ensuring they receive extra support and enrichment opportunities.
Understanding the importance of social-emotional learning (SEL), Kate ensures that all employees have the SEL resources they need while also ensuring students have the necessary support. Through her leadership, she continues to improve education by integrating technology, enhancing curriculum, and securing vital resources. Her commitment to education is driven by a desire to make schools places where everyone feels valued, supported, and inspired to learn and grow.
Connect with Dr. Kate Sievers: Email | Linkedin
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Resources Mentioned
Jersey Community Unit School District 100
The Transcript
**Please note that all of our transcriptions come from rev.com and are 80% accurate. We’re grateful for the robots that make this possible and realize that it’s not a perfect process.
Sam Demma
Welcome back to another episode of the High Performing Educator podcast. This is your host, Sam Demma. And today we are joined by Dr. Kate Sievers.
Dr. Kate Sievers
Good morning.
Sam Demma
How are you?
Dr. Kate Sievers
I’m well, I’m well.
Sam Demma
Dr. Kate brings 29 years of educational expertise to her role as administrative superintendent of curriculum and instruction, technology and grants at the Jersey Community Unit School District 100. Combining 17 years of administration with 12 years of classroom teaching experience, she champions relationship building as the foundation for effective learning environments. Her leadership philosophy centers on bringing people together in an
Sam Demma
increasingly divided world, actively listening to stakeholders while prioritizing student needs through curriculum development, grant writing, and comprehensive social emotional support systems for both students and staff. Dr. Kate, thank you so much for coming on the show here this morning.
Dr. Kate Sievers
You’re welcome. I’m glad to be here. Glad to join this morning.
Sam Demma
How did you get involved in, in education?
Dr. Kate Sievers
For me, Sam, it was, um, through coaching. I, my husband and I coached, uh, some elementary basketball teams for a while. And, um, as we grew, we went from elementary to high school and found that our time with the kids, and we didn’t have kids at the time, we were just newly married,
Dr. Kate Sievers
and found that we really enjoyed being with the kids and the families. And so through that love, I got to know the superintendent through the school district that we’re recoached. And I was in the banking industry at the time
Dr. Kate Sievers
and my job was getting located an hour away from our home. And so through that, I’m like, okay, maybe this is a change for me that maybe something else in my life needs to be happening. And so the superintendent approached me and said, hey, would you be interested in doing a long-term sub
Dr. Kate Sievers
for us if that becomes available? And so knowing that my job was changing and I was gonna be unemployed for a little bit and I said, yeah, possibly. So I did that long-term sub and I fell off and I said, yeah, possibly. So I did that long term sub and I fell off and I’ve never looked back. And so since then, 19, that was in 1994, I went back to school
Dr. Kate Sievers
and got my elementary and high school, high school, but it’s two different, way different elementary technology and high school business and taught high school business a little bit. And then I ended up with a K-8 computer position. And that’s when we didn’t even have internet then. And so that was a computer, which you don’t even know. So it was fun. So that’s kind of how I rolled into education. And it’s just been a great, great journey for me.
Sam Demma
Tell me more about coaching basketball. Where did that originate or where did that passion start from?
Dr. Kate Sievers
My husband and I both have been coaches for a long time. He’s been a softball coach for a long time. And when the basketball, I, my love of basketball, we both played basketball in high school. And basketball is kind of my go-to sport. A lot of people have a go-to something. Basketball is my go-to sport.
Dr. Kate Sievers
And loved it in elementary high school. We had some pretty good girls teams at the time that I was on. And just loved being part of the team, part of the culture. And not just for me, but that’s where I’ve learned, you know, I got to know still best friends today. And some great people that mentors and coaches who help make me who I am. And so knowing that that’s, you have such an impact
Dr. Kate Sievers
on a person through that coaching style and what you do as a coach really kind of brought me to that wanting to be a coach and wanting to be a mentor for the students and kids. And so that’s kind of where we both went, he and I. And so since then we coached high school basketball girls for, I want to say eight years, and then stopped to have our family.
Dr. Kate Sievers
We had already had one child and had another one on the way, and it was really becoming difficult. It’s just hard to manage a young family and do all of the running. And so we put a halt on that.
Dr. Kate Sievers
And then he came back years later as a softball coach, just within the last 10 years. And I’ve coached some state level softball teams in our area. So it’s been fun.
Sam Demma
I noticed when you joined the interview today on Zoom, right beside your name said mentor in brackets. Are you still mentoring people in different capacities to this day? And if so, what does that look like for you?
Dr. Kate Sievers
I am. So through the Illinois Principal Association, I am a principal mentor. The expertise, I’ve been a high school principal, I’ve been an assistant principal, I’ve been a superintendent of a smaller school district, and I’m in a larger school district now. And I felt that that expertise, being a new principal, there’s a lot of things that you don’t know, you don’t know.
Dr. Kate Sievers
You just don’t know what you don’t know. And so a friend of mine was being, she was a mentor and I believe still is a mentor. And she’s like, hey, I think you’d be great in this position, you know, this is what we do. And so through her, I was able to become a mentor
Dr. Kate Sievers
through the Illinois Principal Association and have done that. This is my second year and it has been very fulfilling for me. So I hope the people that I’m mentoring are getting just as much out of it as I am,
Dr. Kate Sievers
because again, it is just a way to give back and help those just starting out, just fresh out of the gate. And you don’t, you know, education’s hard and I feel it is becoming harder and harder each year to be an educator. Society just doesn’t have the respect for education that it had before, which makes me sad. And so trying to get some of that respect back and at the same time keeping some really good people in some positions of where they can really impact kids and staff.
Dr. Kate Sievers
And you want to keep those really good people in those positions to bring that and get that respect back to education again.
Sam Demma
When you think of all the questions from principals that you mentor through the Illinois Principal Association, are there any that come up so often among different principals that a principal listening to this might be struggling with themselves? And if so, what are those questions and what are some of the things you typically would share?
Dr. Kate Sievers
I’ve only been a mentor the last two years and what’s happened in education as teacher turnover is high right now. And when I was hired in as a teacher 29 years ago, you had, and I’m not exaggerating, you had in a smaller school district, we had at least 30 applicants for a position. And now we’re lucky to get two really highly qualified
Dr. Kate Sievers
applicants for a position in our area, region. And that’s different, you know, regionally it’s different, you know, urban versus rural and we’re considered rural. And so the questions I get mainly recently has been, how do I keep my teachers? How do we keep them to want to stay here, to be at our school? Because sometimes if you’re in a rural area, the urban areas pay a little bit more
Dr. Kate Sievers
and have a little bit more benefits and whatnot to offer. And so how do we keep them there? And I’m gonna go back to what I tell everybody, relationships, everything goes back to, all roads leads back to relationships, whether it’s personal, professional, wherever. If they feel valued and are respected where they
Dr. Kate Sievers
work and want to go there every day, they’re going to think twice about maybe going to another school district or changing professions because I’ve had some teachers who have left. Unfortunately, went to larger corporations because they can work from home, you know, and that society has changed that and what that looks like from many years ago. And so being able to retain our teachers and keep them there because once you get a teacher in the door, you know, you can train them, you know, and it takes a lot with the training and to get them to show the different
Dr. Kate Sievers
curriculums and the platforms that we use. So you want to keep those teachers. And at the same time, though, you want to grow them as professionals. And so if you’re valuing them and you’re respecting them and you’re developing those appropriate relationships with them professionally and helping them grow, why would they wanna leave? So that’s what I have heard over and over and over again.
Dr. Kate Sievers
So we’re hoping to combat that through this relationship building and we’re trying really hard, our best, especially here at Jersey 100 to do that.
Sam Demma
When I visited the school, I felt like the staff were so engaged and involved and welcoming. I had multiple conversations with teachers as well. So whatever the work that you are all doing, I think it’s definitely having an impact
Sam Demma
on how guests feel received in the school building. So keep it up.
Dr. Kate Sievers
That’s awesome. That’s awesome. And it’s just not me. I mean, you have to have a team of people willing to… One person can’t do it. And so, you know, people to build that team of people to say, Hey, we’re committed to, you know, we want the best of the best here at Jersey 100. So what does that look like? How do we do that? And I have a really good team to work with. So I love coming to school and I love working with them. So hopefully that can continue for a while.
Sam Demma
It sounds like you really enjoy serving and supporting along with a team of people. It sounds like that was a similarity when you were coaching in basketball and teaching and now mentoring. Do you think there are some similarities between coaching
Sam Demma
young people and teaching young people? And if so, what are some of those things?
Dr. Kate Sievers
I do. And sometimes coaching and mentoring are one in the same. I don’t know that you can use them to replace one another, but when you’re talking about young kids and you’re talking about young teachers, everybody wants boundaries, okay? And I feel sometimes our society has just kind of left
Dr. Kate Sievers
boundaries off to the wayside. And when I mean boundaries, I’m not talking strict boundaries, but that’s where you earn that respect. And this is what I need you to do as a player. And this is what I need you to do as a teacher.
Dr. Kate Sievers
And as long as they have that relationship with you and they want to perform for you, whether you’re a coach or whether you’re a principal, it comes down to those relationships over and over and over. And I feel that if they continue to want to perform for you whatever position they’re in, whether they’re a coach, whether a player, whether a teacher,
Dr. Kate Sievers
you’re gonna get the best of what you can out of that person. And that’s what you want. That’s what they want. They want to do their best. Nobody wants to do poorly.
Dr. Kate Sievers
They want to do their best. And so trying to pull that best out of them and what that looks like and them seeing the fruition once they do that and show their best and do their best and what that looks like for them, that’s awesome to see that light pop on when that does happen. And the great feeling that they get because you just relish in them feeling good about themselves and what they’ve done.
Sam Demma
And whether it’s mentoring, coaching, or any age, you mentioned that it really all comes back to relationships. When you think about building relationships, let’s say it’s a classroom teacher listening to this conversation and they want to build a better relationship with their students. What do you think are some of the things they could do to build a better relationship with their own students?
Dr. Kate Sievers
I think they just have to get to know them. And I’m going to use you and your friend. You knew your friend like tacos, right? You knew what to cheer them up and he and his wife or partner. And so I feel that if I’m a teacher and I really want to make the most impact and get to know my kids on a relationship level, I really just need to get to know them. I need to know
Dr. Kate Sievers
anything and everything about them that they’re willing to share. And again, on that professional level and those kids that come in with, a lot of our kids are walking in the door with some trauma, Sam, and I know you know that. And how can we help them make their time at school the best possible for them to be there
Dr. Kate Sievers
and to really help and grow them as an individual, not just as a student, I’m talking about as a rounded individual. And then walk out the door with a smile on their face and trying to help them the best we can. But you’re not going to get that unless you really understand who that kid is. Whether you’ve got 10 kids in your class or you’ve got 30 kids in your class.
Dr. Kate Sievers
Does it take time? Does it take effort? Absolutely, it does. And a lot of intentionality. And so through that, I feel that teachers are going to have, they’re going to be able to get as much as they can out of that student and really help that student grow. Again, not just academically, but you know, all in all aspects of their life. Because if you’re making them feel and you’re building them up, not just academically, but in other aspects of their life, they’re going to want to do well and continue to do well, especially when they’re at school or when they’re with you. And so as much as that impact, that relationship impact,
Dr. Kate Sievers
I just don’t know that we could ever put a number on it. I don’t think we can ever put. And I know people have, they’ve done studies on this way, more smart people than me, but it’s just really hard to see unless you’re in that classroom,
Dr. Kate Sievers
how much time and effort it really takes to get to know a child.
Sam Demma
I think about the educators, coaches, caring adults in my life who’ve made a significant impact. And it’s what you’re saying. It’s really the people who got to know me so well on a personal and professional, well more so a professional level, but with some personal details about who I was and what I cared about. And I had a teacher who would teach a lesson and knew the students
Sam Demma
in the class so well that after he finished the lesson, he would point to a couple of us and say, Hey Sam, because you’re passionate about sports, this lesson for you means this. And Olivia, I know you love movies. So for you, the context of this lesson is this. And it was like light bulbs are just going off in kids heads all day long. Um, as a result of that extra step, you know?
Dr. Kate Sievers
Absolutely. Yeah, yeah. And so for any young teachers coming in, wanting to know how to do that, I think there’s just some great books out there. And I’m not gonna say any or do any plugs off of this at this point in time,
Dr. Kate Sievers
but there are a lot of resources out there for you to really understand kids and trauma and what they’re bringing to your classroom. And I feel as a new teacher and coming into just a different time in our lives, understanding those resources and if kids come up
Dr. Kate Sievers
with a certain trauma, what kind of resources you can help them with and it doesn’t have you know it’s a private conversation between you that you know that student and hey I know this is going on in your life and I can maybe help you with these resources or and just they might make might not take advantage of it but just knowing that you cared enough to help them or offer some help to them goes a long way too.
Dr. Kate Sievers
I feel sometimes we just get too busy and with our, you know, trying to get everything done in our classrooms and whatnot, and we leave that relationship on the side. And I feel that that is just not the best thing for kids.
Sam Demma
You mentioned not giving any plugs, though I will ask, are there any resources or people or things that have been foundational in how you think about education and building relationships? There, I will just say, through our regional office here, in Illinois, we have regional
Dr. Kate Sievers
offices that provide professional development. And you know, it’s speakers like yourself, I’m going to say you’re like yourself, Sam, who come and we’ve listened to and we’ve heard stories and they bring so many ideas to us to say, okay, this is what happened to me, this is my personal story and this is how they helped me. And as educators, we hear that and we’re like, oh, and the light bulb goes on, I can maybe do that for somebody. I feel when we have, when we listen to others and their stories, your personal stories, because a lot of it,
Dr. Kate Sievers
I’m being very honest with you, Sam, are through personal stories. When they share those with us, and they give us real life examples of how somebody helped them or how they were able to get out of a trauma traumatic situation and move on to get through, push through that. That only helps us as educators to give us more tools in our toolbox to say, okay, so this helped Sam Demmer, this helped this, this one. And, and we can say, you know, Henry or whoever, um, this is, this is something that I think would help you, you know, in, in taking those again, having more tools in our toolbox to be able to help those kids
Dr. Kate Sievers
that, um, that do walk in with a little bit of luggage in their backpack. So to say,
Sam Demma
Yeah, I love it. Thank you for sharing and taking the time to speak about your own journey into education, some of the connections to coaching and mentorship, your role with the Illinois Principal Association, talking about some of the challenges with teacher turnover and how the district is trying to address those and the importance of relationships.
Sam Demma
I’m curious, what are you most excited about in education right now as we wrap up the conversation?
Dr. Kate Sievers
With me in education, education just looks a little bit different than what, and I’ll say looking in, you think education looks the same as what it did 50 years ago, 100 years ago. I feel when you walk in our doors, even though we’re still segmented in classrooms, our learning is happening in a way more different structure, at least here at Jersey 100.
Dr. Kate Sievers
You know, we have more hands-on, more STEM classes, more. And I feel that I had a younger brother who loved to work with his hands and mess with motors and do all kinds of, if it was outside, he was outside and didn’t like the workbook, the textbook and all the you know, the regular. And I look at all
Dr. Kate Sievers
of the STEM and the maker spaces and the automotive and the, and the woodworking and the construction that we’re able to offer. And for him, he would have just flourished in that type of environment. And so I feel schools are getting more and more like that. Of course, we have to have our academics, our math,
Dr. Kate Sievers
and our reading, but we’re able then to interweave some of these other types of learning into our educational arena to where these kids come in excited. And I’m looking at some of our high school kids right now who are, I’m going to say,
Dr. Kate Sievers
my trade kids who are going to be your welders and your automotive people and some of your engineers, but they are, they are just flourishing in our, I’ll call it our career technical education wing. And without that, I feel that they, like my younger brother, were like, just like school was hard, I didn that they, like my younger brother,
Dr. Kate Sievers
would like, just like school was hard. I didn’t want to go to school. You know, that’s not something that they enjoyed at all, or he enjoyed at all. And I see these kids coming into school, not missing school and wanting to really, really do well.
Dr. Kate Sievers
And so I feel that in education now, especially here at Jersey 100, we’re able to really reach those kids and to get those kids a more foundation. So when they walk out in high school, they know what they want to do by the time they graduate.
Dr. Kate Sievers
And so for me here at Jersey 100, I’m like super pumped about that because I will say 98% of my kids, and we’re striving for 100% of our kids, walk out the door at high school knowing what they’re gonna do.
Dr. Kate Sievers
And so, and before five or six years ago, that wasn’t the case.
Sam Demma
That’s amazing testimony to the work that everyone’s doing in the system. It’s so great to hear about it. I look forward to continuing to stay in touch and follow the journey. And thank you again, Dr. Kate,
Sam Demma
for taking the time to come on the show here today. It’s been a real pleasure having a conversation with you.
Dr. Kate Sievers
You’re welcome, Sam. Thanks for having me.
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