Nancy (Lyght) Antoine grew up in Lutsen. She is the daughter of Willis and Muriel Lyght, and her uncle was the late, great Cook County Sheriff John Lyght. A Cook County High School graduate, Nancy continues her love of education and love for children in Lakeville, Minnesota, where she is an exemplary elementary school principal. Photo courtesy of NAESP
Nancy (Lyght) Antoine is one of three finalists for the Minnesota 2020 National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) National Distinguished Principal award.
The daughter of Willis and Muriel Lyght, Nancy grew up in Lutsen and graduated from Cook County High School in 1982. Following her graduation from Moorhead State, Nancy began a career in education that has lasted 33 years.
“I have taught elementary school, middle school, high school, and vocational school,” said Nancy, noting that most of the teaching she has done has been in the inner city.
However, she noted the last 24 years she has worked in elementary schools.
A past-president of the Minnesota Elementary School Principals’ Association, Nancy is the Bridgewater Elementary School Principal. She has served as a highly distinguished administrator for 12 ½ years in the Northfield Pubic School system.
This is the third time in the past six years that Antoine has been nominated for the Minnesota Elementary School Principal’s Association (MEPSA) National Distinguished Principal. She has also served as the past president of the Minnesota Elementary School Principals Association as well as served on the committee that selects the Minnesota State Teacher of the Year. Antoine was selected by former Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton to serve on the Board of School Administrators, which hears complaints against school administrators from around the state.
“I also serve on the local YMCA board of Directors,” said Nancy. When asked where she gets all of her energy, Nancy, who is married to Doug Antoine, and the mother of two college students, Chris, 22 and Jennifer, 21, who both attend St. Cloud State, replied, “I believe in giving back to my community, giving back to the children, giving back to our state in as many ways as I can.”
Principals are important, said Jon Millerhagen, MESPA executive director.
“Principals are at the heart of what make school communities go. Everything stems from having a great principal: challenging and appropriate curriculum, student achievement and growth, and a great staff that is constantly pushing itself forward with relevant professional development. Principals don’t get nearly enough credit for all they do, and with the NDP award we get a chance to recognize just a few of the principals in our state doing amazing work every day.”
“The three finalists identified for this honor this year are a strong cross-section representing all the amazing work happening in schools around our great state,” he added.
Chris Bjerklie, principal of J.A. Hughes Elementary, Red Lake Falls Schools, and president of MESPA’s Northern Division nominated Antoine. “In speaking with Nancy over the years, it has been easy to see the most important part of her tenure as principal is the relationships she has with students, staff and parents. It is the thing of which she is most proud. She has said she tries to know all 600 of her students by name, and develop relationships with each of them,” Berjklie said.
Among her greatest accomplishments as a principal, Antoine wrote that she is proud of changing the school culture at Bridgewater Elementary. The year after she went to Bridgewater in 2008, they began grade-level data retreats. They brought in substitute teachers and met with each team, including a special education representative, the school social worker, and the district assessment coordinator. They discussed the needs of every student in the grade-level along with their academic and social needs.
As for the current COVID-19 crisis, Nancy said, “Right now I am trying to take care of little things and big things. We have a lot of caring parents and strong community support here, which helps. Currently we are trying to make sure every child has a chrome book, laptop, I-pad; and then make sure they have access to the Internet. The staff here has been tremendous as we work to fulfill the needs of the children during this trying time.
”Win or lose, Nancy said, “It’s a huge honor to be nominated for this award.”
Matthew Hillman, superintendent of Northfield Public Schools wrote, “Mrs. Antoine’s vision is clear: create a school environment that values children and is laser focused on student achievement. She has developed an environment where teachers are committed to excellent instruction and student outcomes. Staff members, through weekly job-embedded professional learning communities, use data to inform their instruction and to personalize learning for every student.”
Cheryl A. Buck, a parent at Bridgewater Elementary wrote, “step foot in Bridgewater Elementary and you can feel that a climate of respect, support and learning is modeled and encouraged from the top down. Nancy is a remarkable principal in all areas of performance and in promoting collaboration and staff/student support every step of the way. She leads the school and communicates in a fashion that clearly illustrates that she places the needs of her students above everything else.”
The National Distinguished Principals (NDP) program was established in 1984 to recognize elementary and middle level principals who set high standards for instruction, student achievement, character, and climate for the students, families, and staffs in their learning communities. The program was based on three fundamental ideas:
• Children’s attitudes towards learning and their perceptions of themselves as lifelong learners are established in the beginning school years.
• The scope and quality of children’s educational experiences are determined primarily by the school principal, who establishes, through the important work of teachers and the support of caring parents, the character of a particular school’s program.
• The dedication and enthusiasm of the outstanding principals who guide children’s early education experiences should be acknowledged to both show appreciation for their work as well as to allow them to serve as models for others in the field.
On May 3, Antoine and the other two finalists will be interviewed and the selection committee will determine the 2020 Minnesota National Distinguished Principal. In addition to Antoine, finalists for the honor are: Bret Domstrand, principal at Lake Marion
Elementary in Lakeville and Tony Steffes, principal at Montrose Elementary School of Innovation in Montrose.
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