He’s seen it all: From school budget battles to math reform; from testing mandates to boundary changes. Larry Leebens, the district’s executive director of educational services, has spent more than 25 years with the Eden Prairie School District, and along the way has seen myriad challenges during that time. As he nears retirement, Leebens notes that it’s ironic – he’s leaving during what he sees as the most exciting time in education.

There’s better research, better data, better understanding of equity, “Everything is better today,” he added.

“… and the world is changing.”

Leebens hope for the community is “that they will understand that schools are going to need to significantly change in order to keep up with the changes in society.”

Leebens’ integrity and enthusiasm in the face of change is part of what makes him well-known and respected in the district.

“He always looks forward with optimism,” said School Board Chair Carol Bomben.

Bomben first met Leebens back in 1992 when she was a parent on district committees.

“He’s definitely left a mark on Eden Prairie schools.”

At the time, Bomben worked with Leebens as they implemented new graduation standards.

“His insights into things are just so well grounded.

“Larry is very focused on kids,” she added.

Similar sentiments come from Katy Anderson, a teacher at Cedar Ridge.

“He’s just a real kind, humble soul, that has a passion for education,” she said.Anderson said Leebens is very supportive of teachers and a wonderful listener.She said he has that gift of “making every individual feel valued and special.”

Big moments

Leebens starting teaching in Woodbury in 1974, then ended up in Eden Prairie in 1982 as a first-grade teacher in Cahill. The move was the first of the big changing moments of his career, he said.

“I came to a school district that was really cutting edge,” Leebens said.

Even back in 1982, “Eden Prairie was doing things that no other school district did.”

The next big move came in 1989, when he participated in a program that took suburban teachers to urban schools and vice-versa.

Working at a south Minneapolis school, he learned to appreciate what was happening in urban schools and it was the first time he got a chance to look at leadership, the first time he thought there was something beyond teaching.

“That started a whole string of changes,” he noted.

Leebens became a gifted and talented program teacher, a curriculum coordinator and eventually took a position within the administration. When he moved into work at the administrative level, he saw a whole world he never knew existed, he said: It was a world of budgets, school boards, legislators. That was eye opening, he said.

“To this day it’s still eye opening.”

His most recent change was a focus beyond the district, to the world.

Leebens participated in a visit to China as part of a trip with the Department of Education in 2006, and most recently volunteered with other district staff to help at an orphanage and school in Honduras.

 “Both of those experiences were life changing for me,” he said.

Though he’ll be finishing his work by the end of July, Leebens will remain connected to Eden Prairie schools through continuing work on the Honduras project.

Superintendent Melissa Krull noted that Leebens is very global minded. She said the Spanish immersion school was something Leebens was “instrumental in getting off the ground” as was the implementation of world language programs starting in the elementary schools.

His interest in giving back has always been very prominent, she noted.

She said Leebens really wanted to make sure kids had the opportunity to learn about the world outside of Eden Prairie. Krull first started working with him 15 years ago. She knew from the very beginning that he would bring a great spirit to the job.

You have to love kids to do this work and Leebens has always had that, she noted.

She also noted that he is known to be a great teacher.

“Larry has been a great teacher in this district no matter what job he’s been in.”

Big challenges

At the recent Legacy Awards, Leebens received a Lifetime Achievement award from the Foundation for Eden Prairie Schools. From Leebens’ perspective, his lifetime of work has been a labor of love:

“I just had the greatest gig of 26 years,” Leebens said during the awards.

It’s hard to find a school news story over the last decade that doesn’t mention Leebens – he’s been the go-to guy for any number of new programs.

What he describes as the hardest work that he’s most proud of revolves around work with equity. Acknowledging that there are racial disparities in the district “was a hard thing to come to, and it’s even harder to figure out why they exist, but we’re looking hard at it.”

He’s proud of the world language program the district has started, he said, noting that the fact that every student will have a world language experience and the fact that some get this immersion experience is a gift.

“I think language is a gift to all kids.”

Recalling the math reforms put into place in 2001, Leebens said the district was really trying to help develop a love of math in all students.

Before that math reform, he said, “we had terrible math results in this district.”

Looking at test scores today, he notes, there must have been something that happened in the past eight years where kids got better at math.

“I think that’s a hidden success.”

When Leebens retires, he’ll spend winter with his partner in Mexico, learn Spanish, maybe do some writing and spend time with stepchildren and grandchildren. It will be a change of pace from the very busy lifestyle at the district. A normal week in his job typically involves early morning meetings with teachers and evening meetings with parents. It’s a hands-on job, he said, that involved responding to whatever the organization needed.

 You have to be able to multitask, he said, you have to love working with people, and “You have to love teaching, you just have to.”