Tommie Barfield Earns Lighthouse School Certification

Tommie Barfield Elementary (TBE), Marco Island’s highly regarded grade school, has earned Lighthouse School certification. Announced recently, the designation is a significant benchmark in the Leader in Me process in which the school has been involved since 2019. Only 600 schools around the world have earned Lighthouse certification. The certification is evidence that TBE has produced outstanding results in school and student outcomes. It is also because of the extraordinary impact that TBE has on staff, students, parents, and the greater community.

“We became a Leader in Me school four years ago,” said Alyssa Ledbetter, principal of TBE. “Once we became a Leader in Me school, we really started getting some good systems in place, our Lighthouse team. We have an adult Lighthouse team and we have a student Lighthouse team, and our adult lighthouse team started having that conversation about becoming a Lighthouse School. There are just a few schools in Collier County that are Lighthouse Schools, and we felt like the systems that we had in place put us at a point where we could really start thinking about that."

Ledbetter has a huge compliance binder that she uses to navigate the process, which has development components for students, teachers, families, and the community.

“We did a lot of staff development,” Ledbetter said. "We visited other elementary schools in Collier County that are Leader in Me schools to kind of get our staff to understand a little bit more about it. We have continuous professional learning for our teachers.”

They also have a Leader in Me coach who helps guide them through the process.

"We have a Leader in Me coach,” Ledbetter said. "Coach Allen has become just a great member of our school community.”

TBE has assembled Lighthouse teams for both adults and students.

“The adult Lighthouse team meets and we spend a lot of time on the Lighthouse rubric,” Ledbetter said. "Leader in Me helps very much in the process of preparing you for that. Essentially the rubric kind of outlines different Leader in Me standards under leadership culture and academics, and then you provide evidence for it. Our team and our staff, for the past two years that I've been here as principal, worked on a Lighthouse evidence binder.”

The staff at TBE developed a 160-slide PowerPoint that proves, through pictures and text, that each of the standards outlined in the Lighthouse School program are being met.  

"I felt that we were very close,” Ledbetter said. “Last year, we underwent our first Leadership Day at the end of the school year. So once I saw our Leadership Day last May and got that feedback from our community members and all of those stakeholders that came and visited us that day, I knew that was the affirmation of knowing that this year was going to be the year that we were ready to go towards becoming a Lighthouse School.  

Ledbetter decided that her school was ready to be put to the test this year.

“This year, we've really kind of honed in on that evidence binder,” Ledbetter said, "working collaboratively to ensure that it was done and that we were ready to submit it and see if we were going to get that status or not.”

Ledbetter got great buy-in from TBE students, staff, and community leaders alike. Everyone was excited about the process.

“We spent some time this year kind of trying to explain to the students what being a Lighthouse School is,” Ledbetter said. “They understand it. They were very excited the day that the reviewers came. This is their school. They own it. Whether it’s the data that we have, the environment that we have, the culture, they make that up and they're very proud of it."

Ledbetter and her team carefully crafted their presentation for the reviewers.

“The actual lighthouse certification day,” Ledbetter said, "we had two reviewers come and they looked at each piece of the binder, walked the halls, went and visited classrooms, met with our adult Lighthouse team, with myself, with our student Lighthouse team. It was a very busy day. We kind of tried to jam in all of the wonderful things that happen every day here to share with our reviewers. And then after that, we waited about ten days or so to get that final report.”

The final report gave Ledbetter the news that she was hoping for: TBE was named a Lighthouse School. 

“We got that report,” Ledbetter said. "I held on to it for just a couple of days, secretly. Myself and our administration team here kind of held it as a secret and then announced it to our staff. That specific day was very special.”

Ledbetter even brought in former TBE principal Katie Maya for the occasion. 

"We actually had Mrs. Maya here,” Ledbetter beamed, “our previous principal. I felt like we couldn't celebrate this accomplishment without her. She helped us get it started. It was just a really special moment that the staff got to celebrate, and then we went and did a school-wide celebration with the kids and announced it to them. We kind of threw a whole school assembly. The student Lighthouse team announced to the school that we had become a Lighthouse School. It was so very special."

So where does TBE go from here?

"We're looking forward to just enjoying being a Lighthouse School, continuing all of our leadership roles, responsibilities, our clubs, Leadership Day, all of those great things. One of the things that we would like to move forward with next year is something we started this year. We did a parent night that was focused on the Leader in Me Seven Habits, but we really want to continue bringing our parents in and getting them educated in the Seven Habits and the language just so that when the kids go home, they're experiencing it at home as well. So we're really trying to increase that connection from home to school next year.”

The bottom line is that Tommie Barfield Elementary is developing well-rounded individuals. 

“We've always had great kids,” Ledbetter said. "We've always had kids who are academically successful. But those kids are leaving with not just that academic success, they're leaving with so much more. They're leaving with so many more experiences that will just make them become the whole person. We’re building the whole person and thinking of their future, jobs, and just the ability to talk to people and be personable. We have full assemblies now that are completely kid-run. We don't have to do anything. They run the whole thing. Watching kids get up on stage in public, speak in front of 500 people. Public speaking is one of the most feared things in our society. So to give as many kids exposure to that and make them feel comfortable about that is only going to help them be successful in the future."