Joan Buchanan Hill, Head of School, The Lamplighter School
In an interview with Invest:, Joan Buchanan Hill, head of The Lamplighter School, talked about the school’s partnerships with museums, universities and nonprofits, and how they enable the school to teach at a greater depth and reach more students.
What were some of the key achievements and milestones for The Lamplighter School in the past year?
The solar eclipse in April 2024 was an exciting event for the nation, and we had a wonderful showing of scientists on our campus who worked with students and taught them about how the eclipse works. We also participated in activities at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science, and some of our students were featured on the TODAY Show with Al Roker. It was great to see youngsters between 3 and 10 years of age marveling at an event that will only happen in North Texas once in our lifetime.
Another key highlight is all the research and projects that our faculty are involved in. For instance, we have a teacher who is dedicated to supervising a student literary magazine that not only includes what is happening in school but also comic strips, poetry, and short stories. Our curriculum encourages writing so that kids explore various ways of expression through the written word.
What is the strategy of The Lamplighter School to engage its parent community?
We have an active parent education program at our school, where parents learn from all kinds of practitioners. Parents can come to their child’s school and learn about, for instance, developmental milestones in early childhood. In addition, this year we will have Jennifer Breheny Wallace, who wrote “Never Enough: When Achievement Culture Becomes Toxic and What We Can Do About It,” as a speaker. She will talk about modulating expectations for the youngest kids, recognizing that what gets in early gets in deep. This message is particularly important given Lamplighter’s focus on early childhood and elementary education.
How have parents’ and students’ expectations toward The Lamplighter School evolved in the past few years?
An education is more than what is found in a book. It is how one relates to others and expresses oneself, which is among our top goals for students. At Lamplighter, we have a strong social-emotional curriculum that creates an awareness in each child of their strengths. It also teaches them the language to ask for support when they need a few things untangled. That curriculum provides the bedrock for learning. Lacking the ability to collaborate with others or to communicate well makes learning hard regardless of age. We also foster a sense of creativity in our students so that they have ample time to explore their interests and the inside of their minds.
Parental expectations seem to have ticked up during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ensuring that parents are fully supported and that they know that their children are challenged and well supported at school keeps everyone calm and prevents unrealistic expectations.
How does The Lamplighter School’s parents’ association help it enhance its goals?
We have an active parents’ association that is involved in every aspect of the school and supports faculty and staff. For instance, we have a small admissions team, so we have parents who guide prospective parents through the school. It is amazing for parents to be able to talk to someone who has a child the same age as theirs and to ask questions. Moreover, our Faculty Staff Appreciation Committee provides support in many ways to uplift our faculty. It may be snack jars or providing a dinner at the end of a busy day for teachers to create an atmosphere of collaboration.
What initiatives is The Lamplighter School implementing to support underrepresented or disadvantaged populations that need access to education?
Lamplighter has students from 45 different zip codes across the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, and we also offer opportunities and support for students whose families cannot cover the full tuition. That is a big help to those families and creates a community that is diverse in many ways.
Additionally, we have a partnership with the nonprofit United to Learn. Its president and CEO, Abby Williams, has done great work connecting students of the Dallas Independent School District (DISD) with independent schools to create meaningful partnerships between them. Those partnerships have allowed our parents to support our neighborhood schools. We also find ways to invite students from neighborhood schools to come and do things on our campus. That is a mutually beneficial partnership where our students gain as much as theirs do.
What partnerships does The Lamplighter School have in place to improve the education it offers?
We have always had a strong partnership with universities, foundations, and museums. I recently talked with a professor at the Simmons School of Education & Human Development at Southern Methodist University about connecting on research in early mathematics. It is important that schools are connected with universities and have access to their research and to the latest ideas in early childhood and elementary education. As Head of School, one of my responsibilities is to find the best faculty members as well as places for our faculty to receive professional development, participate in research, and strengthen the curriculum.
In terms of museums, we are close partners with the Perot Museum of Nature and Science, which led to two scientists from Carnegie Science in California coming to our school as speakers during eclipse week. Without partnerships like the one with Perot Museum, we would not be able to teach with the depth that we do.
Moreover, the founders of The Lamplighter School believed that gardening and botany were important for early childhood, so we are also partnered with the Dallas Arboretum to amplify lessons and experiences in this area. Several projects have originated in that partnership. For instance, our students can plant tulips there and on campus and monitor their growth. Our teachers also guide the students in sponsoring an annual farmers’ market that allows kids to grow vegetables, harvest them, and sell them to other students and faculty. We see this program as a way to build an understanding of the practical uses of growing vegetables.
How is The Lamplighter School leveraging technology and innovation to enhance student experience?
We have a robust technology program. We are consistently at the edge of what is going on in the area of technology for the youngest students, but we are mindful about the use of that technology. Our students’ access to technology is monitored carefully by teachers. We had a pilot with Google virtual reality glasses in which our students created games. Seeing the games on this platform gives students a different perspective and is more immersive. We also had our fourth-grade class experiment with ChatGPT last year, where the teacher asked students and then ChatGPT for ideas for an opera that they were writing. Once the class had both lists of ideas, students learned that ChatGPT is a useful tool to get ideas quickly, but that teamwork generates better ideas.
Our goal is to take the technology that is available and use it in creative ways that are age appropriate. We know the risk of allowing students to use a device too frequently. While the skills of the future involve technology, it is more important to teach students to be humans with other humans. The skills of collaboration, teamwork, and communication are of the highest value.
What is your outlook for the pre-K and K-12 educational landscapes in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex?
The future is in excellent hands. We recently had high-school students on campus for a class reunion. They were engaging, sensitive, and compelling and showed both depth and a sense of purpose. I think that our Lamplighter students and parents will have countless opportunities ahead, many of which are not yet apparent. Our optimistic outlook is based on having a strong parent education program and offering students the chance to have agency over their learning while building strong, solid, enduring friendships.
