LAKEVILLE – As the Freetown-Lakeville school district’s new Director of Student Services, Kelly Steele plans to apply her philosophy of putting students first — day in and day out. 

Steele, who started in her new position on July 1, will be responsible for handling student-related services such as academic support programs, special education programming and counseling.

Steele has already served as a special education administrator for the Assawompset and George R. Austin Intermediate schools for one year.

Prior to that, she served as Assistant Director of Elementary Education for Mansfield Public Schools as a special education administrator for the South Coast Educational Collaborative. 

The philosophy that guides her work comes from a piece of advice she received from a former mentor who taught her, “if you always put students first, you’re doing the right thing,” she said. 

In this new role, her top priorities will be to get to know all the schools in the district better by building relationships with students and staff and developing an “understanding of how things are currently working,” she said. 

“Once I have a better grasp on that, that will help me see where we need to go,” she added.  

Building a sense of unity across schools in the district so that her work can be “cohesive” will be one of her first action items, Steele said. 

Working in the Freetown-Lakeville School District has been a hope of hers ever since she worked indirectly with Freetown-Lakeville schools as an administrator for the South Coast Educational Collaborative, she said.

South Coast Educational Collaborative is a program that works with students who need more academic support than the schools they’re in can offer, she explained. The Collaborative rents out classrooms in several towns along the South Coast to work with local students. 

As an employee for the Collaborative, her work included creating classrooms in Freetown-Lakeville schools and offering professional development programs to district staff, she said. She noted the inclusivity of Freetown-Lakeville personnel made a mark on her. 

“The district was welcoming and warm and included those students with special needs into their district,” she added. “That had a huge impact on me.” 

“They were just so responsive, engaged and committed,” she said of those who worked in the district. 

“They left a strong impression that if there were ever an opportunity for professional growth within this district, I would very much be interested in being a part of that,” she added.

Steele plans to put her “students first” philosophy in practice when a student qualifies for special education halfway through the year, for example. 

In these circumstances, she advocates for taking an individual approach and seeing what will be the least disruptive path forward for the student, she said.

“I approach every child and every situation individually and try to make [a] determination based on that student and their needs,” Steele added.

Though the job will present no shortage of challenges, “seeing students flourish” when they get the support they need makes it all worth it, said Steele.

That, she said, “is the ultimate reason why I want to take on this role.” 

In her new position, Steele plans to build upon all the district is already doing to support its students and “be a vehicle to continue moving forward” in the right direction, she said. 

Specifically, she wants to take social-emotional learning programs to the next level, she noted.

These programs help give teachers the tools they need to ensure student’s social and emotional needs are met so they can learn better in the classroom, according to Steele.