Meet the new L.P. Quinn principal: Elizabeth Littlefield

by Rich Rosentreter

There is a new principal at the helm at the L.P. Quinn Elementary School as Elizabeth Littlefield took over the position July 1, replacing Michele Pinard, who held that post since 2017.

Mrs. Littlefield first began working in the Tupper Lake School District in 2009 as a special education teacher, providing services to students in a special class setting, and continued to work in the school district until 2016 when she left for a brief period. She returned in 2019 in a teacher’s position.

The Free Press recently connected with Mrs. Littlefield to discuss her new job as principal, and she said that her initial job at the L.P. Quinn School was a perfect fit.

“Special education was a great path for me because it has allowed me to spend time in every grade level and almost every classroom of our school,” she said, adding the she and several other new hires to the district had a lot on their plate from the get-go.“We had to jump in with both feet! Within a few weeks, we were developing our plan for reopening, which was an enormous task.”

Getting started

Mrs. Littlefield, who grew up outside of Albany and attended SUNY Oswego to earn both her bachelors and masters degrees, said that she first start working in the education field because she targeted that career path early in life – and her introduction to teaching came right at the L.P. Quinn School.

“It sounds cliche, but I always wanted to be a teacher. During my summer breaks in college, I worked as a teaching assistant in an extended school year program through BOCES,” she said. “Once I completed my master’s in childhood special education, I began teaching in the same program, and then landed my first full time job at L.P. Quinn in 2009.”

Although she enjoyed working in the Tupper Lake School District, her career path briefly took her elsewhere. In 2016, she was hired at the Regional Special Education Technical Assistance Support Center.

“In my position as a regional training specialist, I supported many of the component school districts in the three Northern BOCES districts: Franklin-Essex-Hamilton, St. Lawrence Lewis and Clinton-Essex-Warren-Washington,” Mrs. Littlefield said. “I provided training based on special education regulations and best practices. In 2018, I transitioned within the same network to a position as a special education school improvement specialist; I was directly assigned to districts identified through the State Education Department.”

In 2019, the network went through a restructuring and it was then she would find her way back to Tupper.

“I decided it would be best for my family and me to return to the classroom. My time in other school districts allowed me to build my vision as a leader. The experience was undeniably formative, but I missed being at L.P. Quinn,” she said, adding that when the principal job opened up, it was a beckoning she could not pass up.

“When I returned to the classroom last year, my plan was to continue teaching. The decision to apply for this leadership position was something that I spent a lot of time reflecting on. I wanted to make sure that it was the right choice for me, both personally and professionally. It feels like the right time to assume this job, even with the challenge that reopening presents,” Mrs. Littlefield said.

The vision and plan

Now at the helm in the principal’s role, Mrs. Littlefield said she does have a vision and goals for the elementary school.

“My goal has always been to create meaningful and productive learning experiences for all students; it’s been at the center of every decision I’ve made as an educator. This is especially true for the 2020-21 school year,” she said. “It’s my intention to build a school-community partnership that continually seeks improvement and shares ownership of the decision-making process. This partnership would consider the needs of everyone, and there would be an established principle of reciprocity: the school can learn from parents, parents can learn from students, students can learn from the community, and so on.”

This coming school year, Mrs. Littlefield will face the obvious challenges of COVID-19, but she will certainly faced other challenges. She said she will handle whatever is thrown her way as she shared a story that exemplifies her commitment to succeed.

“This year will be a challenge - there’s no doubt about that. Years ago, my co-teacher and I had provided students the task of writing letters of encouragement to one another. They picked names randomly. Most wrote something like ‘good luck’ or ‘you’re smart!’ Some drew pictures or decorated friend’s names in bright patterns. One student’s letter to his classmate has always stuck with me: He had drawn a picture of a mountainside, labeled with obstacles as metaphors for tough situations, sticky mud, slippery ice, big roots, rockslides, and crushing boulders. Next to the picture, he had written ‘I believe in you,’’’ she explained. “My point in sharing that is to communicate that everyone needs someone to tell them that they believe in what they are doing. L.P. Quinn has been through a lot of over the past few years. Changes in administration and staffing have been frequent. There are things that have improved, and there are things that still need work. It’s my intention to assess the needs of our school to get a clear picture of what’s working and what’s not.”

Getting ready for a COVID school year has added a heap of stress onto not just the new principal, but to the school staff as well. As the “leader,” Mrs. Littlefield plans to maintain everyone’s confidence that the school will succeed no matter what.

“As I said earlier, planning for reopening has been an enormous task. Guidance has been evolving throughout the summer. Every decision the administrative team made seemed to spawn ten additional decisions to make,” she said. “At any point in time, a student attending school in-person could become a remote learner. We need to be prepared in the event of full closure. All learners need to be considered as remote learners first. Remote learning needs to be practical and sustainable for classroom teachers, special education teachers, special area teachers, students, and families. Teachers need time to plan, prepare, and execute remote learning opportunities.”

“Aside from safety, communication will remain one of our administrative team’s priorities for the upcoming school year. Things are constantly changing. We will need to work together, as a school, a district and a community.”

This year the school district is in uncharted territory as there are so many unknowns – yet the new principal will be driven to make the community will be proud.

“The anticipation for the first day of school with students is palpable. Our families need to know that their students will be safe when they are in school. Our families need to know that their students will access equitable instruction, wherever they are receiving that instruction,” she said.

Message

Mrs. Littlefield did have a message for parents, students and the community.

“When I went to clean out my classroom at the end of last school year, it was like my co-teacher, teaching assistant and I had entered a time capsule. I took a picture of the date on the board: March 13, 2020. Now here we are, almost six months later,” she said. “Whether your student is participating in-person or remotely, I hope that they share in my enthusiasm for the first day of school. The custodial, maintenance, and office staff have spent endless arranging (and rearranging) our building to welcome students. The teachers were anxiously awaiting the “go-ahead” to re-enter LP Quinn and begin work on their classrooms. We are all looking forward to seeing students again, it almost doesn’t seem real!”

Mrs. Littlefield also shared some personal tidbits so that the community know more about her.

She is married to her husband, Owen, who is a land surveyor with the Department of Environmental Conservation. The couple has two daughters: Eloise (4 years old) and Genevieve (18 months old). She is the daughter-in-law of Kevin and Patti Littlefield of Tupper Lake.

“We also have a golden retriever named Penny. The girls keep us busy! I love to read, practice yoga, listen to podcasts and cook,” she said, adding that she also shares an appreciation for a winter sport that so many Tupper Lakers remember and hope to enjoy once more. “I learned to ski at Big Tupper, when I first moved to Tupper Lake!”