Curriculum director looks forward to new year

Since joining the Whitefish School District as Director of Curriculum in 2016, Ryder Delaloye has been at the forefront of a number of innovative programs implemented by the district — including the Center for Sustainability and Entrepreneurship, personalized student projects and entrepreneurial programs like Junior Achievement.

With two children in the district, Delaloye also uses his diverse array of experiences, like living in India and Thailand, to try and mold well-rounded students in Whitefish.

Delaloye studied education and economics as an undergraduate at Northern Arizona University, where he also earned his master’s degree in political science and geography. He received his doctorate in curriculum and instruction from the University of Montana in 2017. Prior to coming to Whitefish, Delaloye was a Civic Education Coordinator at the Office of Public Instruction and has taught in Missoula, Jackson Hole, Thailand and India.

Delaloye recently sat down with the Pilot to talk about his summer and what his priorities are heading into the 2018-19 school year.

How has your summer been?

My summer was amazing. [My wife] Naomi is completing her Spanish credential, and this year she needed an immersion experience, so we thought, ‘Let’s try Mexico.’

We were down near the border of Guatemala and the southern states of Oaxaca and Chiapas — it’s so rich, culturally, with incredible topography and diversity.

It was my first foray traveling with young children. They can’t just schlep it with a backpack. We did overnight bus trips and things — we were definitely real with it, but it was a more modulated approach. It was just an awesome experience.

How’s it feel to be back then? Excited for the school year?

It feels good. There’s a lot spinning.

This is now my third year, so I feel a greater sense of confidence.

The Center for Sustainability and Entrepreneurship is built, so that’s exciting. We also have social/emotional learning programming that is occurring and being woven into Muldown and the middle school, and the high school is taking some exploratory steps in that direction too, so that feels really great.

Then our continued process with Multiple Tiered Systems of Support, figuring out, ‘OK, how do we derive meaningful data, how do we respond to that data and meet the needs of all students?’

There’s a lot going on, but we’re moving in the right direction.

So how would you explain your responsibilities as Director of Curriculum?

In the past, I would come in and I would just implement something or do a program, execute it — I just did.

Here, I don’t do. I build some structures, I connect with people, I support them, I help them, I provide a lot of the framework — but they do it.

My role is that of a support mechanism. I help to foster and encourage structures that can be relied on, I follow up, I facilitate conversations, and I hopefully empower and enable things to be accomplished. My role has really shifted from executing to providing support, facilitation and leadership to accomplish the goals of the district.

Where in your place in the district do you feel like you bring the most value?

Where I bring value, honestly, is probably just in enduring commitment and passion. There’s an energy and a positivity that I try to exude on a regular basis, and a certain perseverance. I draw from within, I’m a high-energy person, so to be able to come into a situation, to be able to take on challenges or opportunities and be able to have a mind that’s receptive to that I think is important.

And how is the district preparing students for the changing world we live in?

I’m proud of our district on that front. Communities of 7,000 people don’t typically have what we have regarding programming initiatives. And also human capital — we have an incredible array of strong educators and administrators.

I’m proud of the deeper learning initiatives that we have — the cultivation of a growth mindset, critical thinking, collaboration and communication — those fundamental skills that people need to be successful.

Notice I never once stated high test scores. That will come as a result and byproduct of cultivating these different qualities, but even with that said, what is a test score and how does that define you? Your accomplishments are a measure of the contributions you offer others, the work ethic you apply, how you’ve disciplined yourself to accomplish certain tasks — it’s not some number you scored on an exam at some point in some arbitrary class.

Now that the CSE is constructed, what are some big priorities or projects for you in the future?

We’ve done a lot of new things recently. It’s time to dig into the things that we’ve done and really nurture those. So the CSE — it’s one thing to build the building, it’s another to have it be functioning at a high level. That’s a three to five-year process, and it’s hard for me to say that because I want it tomorrow, but we have to be patient.

And Muldown, right? We’re building a new school. That’s real, that is a big deal. It’s a small school district, and it’s essentially a third of our district, so that building over the next two years is going to be pretty amazing. I think that will take up a lot of bandwidth — though I personally don’t have much of a role in that process, because I’m curriculum. Nevertheless, when it does come time for instructional practice and how do we use that space, that’ll be exciting.