In this months Superintendent Sandbox (published in the Yellowstone County News) from Lockwood School’s Superintendent Tobin Novasio was attributed to one of Lockwood’s biggest advocates, Don Reed, who passed away this last August.
Read his full article below.
Fitting Tribute to a Lockwood Advocate
Back in August, both Lockwood Schools and our community in whole lost a dear friend and strong advocate with the passing of Don Reed.
Don was a lifelong educator, spending the majority of his career working with severely disabled students in School District 2, where he also coached football, wrestling and track. After his “retirement” from teaching he focused his seemingly endless energies into making Lockwood a better community, especially for our youth. Mr. Reed was involved in many projects that were near and dear to him, representing Lockwood on the County Planning Board, the County Health Board, and was the Chairman of the Lockwood Steering Committee for over six years. In this latter role, he helped spearhead the 2012 comprehensive community assessment by the Montana Economic Development Association which has helped guide our community’s development over the past five years and beyond.
I first had the opportunity to meet Don when I was hired as the Superintendent here in the spring of 2012. Mr. Reed was a passionate and dedicated trustee on our school board, a role he filled until his health started to get the best of him and he resigned because he felt he could no longer fulfill his duties at the level our students deserved.
During the approximately five years I worked with Don as a member of our school board, he had as much of an impact on me personally as any trustee I have had the opportunity to work with. Don was a passionate supporter of our kids! He was always an advocate for Lockwood students when he felt they were not afforded the same opportunities. It was from him that I first became aware of the need for Lockwood to have a high school of our own. Don traveled to Helena many times to testify in front of the legislature, working hard to give our community the opportunity to have our voices heard. I truly wish that he had lived to see the results of the expansion vote earlier this month, as we never would have reached this point without him. Mr. Reed’s coaching experience and continued volunteerism gave him a front row seat to see the positive impact extra curricular activities can have on students; he was a key proponent in expanding our district’s offerings including bringing back the football program. Don was always the voice for our special needs students and strongly supported career, vocational and technical education opportunities. During his time on our board, Mr. Reed also represented our community on the Montana School Boards Association’s K-12 Vision Group, championing these same causes at the state level.
At Don’s memorial service I was approached by several of his friends, an informal group that met regularly for coffee. This group wanted to do something with the school to pay tribute to their dear friend and began taking donations in Don’s name after his passing. I am proud to announce our school board has now created the Don Reed Memorial Humanitarian Fund. This fund has been seeded with the donations his friends collected with the sole purpose of continuing Don’s life’s work of supporting all students. It will be used to assist children in need – no matter what that need may be. All donations to this fund are tax deductible and will pay tribute to Don and his ongoing legacy, a fitting tribute to a great man that was passionately dedicated to the children of Lockwood. Thank you Don for everything you did for our community and our children.
If you would like more information or would like to donate to the Don Reed Memorial please contact Lockwood Schools at 252-6022 x.4 or email me at novasiot@lockwoodschool.org. Go Lions!