Johnny Kurt
Lewis Central Middle School Band Director
October 01, 2005
Johnny Kurt is middle school co-director of bands at Lewis Central Middle School in Council Bluffs, Iowa. He attended Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa and graduated from the University of Nebraska-Omaha with honors with a Bachelor of Music degree where he was the winner of the University of Nebraska Concerto Competition and the recipient of the Dean's Award from the College of Fine Arts. He attended Baylor University with a graduate teaching fellowship in saxophone performance and graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a Master of Education degree in educational administration. Mr. Kurt's professional credentials include endorsements in the states of Nebraska and Iowa as a master educator in the areas of instrumental and vocal music grades K-12, talented and gifted grades K-12 and professional secondary school administrator and teacher evaluator. Mr. Kurt completed a Graduate Certificate in Instruction in Urban Schools in August, 2008 and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Education degree at the University of Nebraska.
Mr. Kurt began his tenure with the Lewis Central Community School District in 1995 as the elementary band instructor where he taught fifth grade band. When the school district transitioned to a sixth grade beginning band program the following year, Mr. Kurt's position grew to include that portion of the program and directing the award-winning eighth grade jazz band at the middle school. At the same time, Mr. Kurt also became assistant director of bands at Lewis Central High School, where he assisted in the direction of the marching band and jazz orchestra, as well as teaching lessons and coordinating honor bands and all-state auditions and solos and ensembles. He implemented and directed a second jazz ensemble which became a distinguished group in its own right.
During his tenure at Lewis Central High School, the instrumental music program enjoyed success in all the facets of a strong band program. The marching, jazz and concert bands earned numerous and consistent division I, "superior" ratings and typically placed in the top ranks among its peers in the southwest Iowa district, throughout the state and in the region. Under his direction, Lewis Central High School sent a school- and southwest Iowa district-record number of students to the Southwest Iowa District High School Honor Bands. Another program highlight during his time at the high school was the band's invitation to and performance at the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, Texas.
Mr. Kurt has served as the Southwest Iowa District High School Honor Bands Chairperson, was the southwest Iowa district representative on the Iowa Bandmasters Association State Research and Development Board, where he co-authored and published several articles in the professional journal The Iowa Bandmaster and edited the Southwest Iowa Bandmaster's Association Membership Directory, which catalogues information on nearly 100 schools and band directors from the southwest Iowa district. He also co-authored the LC instrumental music curriculum and a successful proposal to the Lewis Central Community School District which implemented a fourth, full-time instrumental music instructor.
Presently, Mr. Kurt team-teaches the middle school instrumental music program with Pam Ryan. The program consists of the sixth grade beginning band, seventh grade band, seventh grade beginning jazz band, eighth grade band, eighth grade jazz band and the combined seventh and eighth grade marching band. The program emphasizes concert band and chamber music development to provide the foundation for a solid instrumental music program. Lewis Central Middle School typically sends record numbers of students to the Southwest Iowa District Middle School Honor Bands and the Iowa Bandmasters Association All-Iowa Eighth Grade Honor Band
While teaching at Lewis Central, Mr. Kurt has taken on various school leadership roles. He completed Dr. Jerry Valentine's Instructional Practice Inventory Training in 2007, and, along with the middle school leadership team, attended the Educational Service Unit #3's "Assessing and Advancing: Our Progress on the Professional Learning Community Journey" Conference presented by nationally-recognized educational leaders Dr. Rick DuFour and Becky DuFour and the Omaha Public Schools and Midwest Equity Assistance Center's "Best Practices Summit: Strategies to Promote Student Success" and has presented to the middle school faculty "Using the Iowa Teaching Standards in Career Development and Professional Assessment." He has served on various committees including the middle school "Wall of Fame," committee, the district talented and gifted education committee, the district safety committee, the Lewis Central Education Association Executive Board and the Iowa Department of Education-Lewis Central School Improvement Committee. He also co-produced "Smart Girls Seminar," a workshop for gifted and talented girls from throughout southwest Iowa and the Omaha/Council Bluffs metro area with LCMS teacher Pat Thomas and Area Education Agency 13's Gifted Education Consultant Carma McLaren.
Mr. Kurt was selected to participate in the Belin-Blank International Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development Teacher Fellowship Program in Gifted Education at the University of Iowa and attended the Belin-Blank Advanced Leadership Institute. He has been an instructor at Creighton University's Ad Astra and Arete Summer Programs in Gifted Education. Mr. Kurt has attended the International Association for Jazz Education's Teacher Training Institute at the American Jazz Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, is a multiple-year listee in "Who's Who Among America's Teachers" and is listed in the Marquis Who's Who Publications Board's "Who's Who in American Education." He has been honored to be a multiple-year nominee for the Lewis Central Middle School Teacher of the Year Award as well as receiving the middle school's "Above and Beyond" Award in 2006. He is a member of Kappa Delta Pi, Omicron Delta Kappa and Phi Delta Kappa and is an approved and active adjudicator for the Iowa High School Music Association and the Nebraska School Activities Association judging instrumental music competitions throughout both states. Mr. Kurt currently plays oboe with OrchestraOmaha.
