You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘District Administrator’ category.
Rosemary (Santos) Aguilar is Director of Curriculum and Staff Development.
I think that we are fortunate to be in a partnership with Ball right now, because they have helped us go through the budget crisis. Our district, as we know it, has been — I do not want to say destroyed — but pretty much decimated in the sense that it is going through some difficult changes.
At this point, we are in the process of rebuilding, and part of that rebuilding is creating a strong foundation on which to build. I think that this year Ball has been very instrumental in helping us build that new foundation by helping us see new ways of working, new ways of thinking, new ways of designing.
The new way we are working is more organic. We are more relaxed. We are more concerned now with the content and the quality of the conversations, and we have allowed ourselves the time to think, to share, to question; whereas in the past, that was not really the practice.
We do not know what next year is going to look like. We have some ideas, but they are changing every week. Part of what we have had to deal with is the uncertainty and being okay with the fact that we do not know. I personally have not been told what my role for next year will be. However, it is okay, because I know I am going to be part of the new Rowland. Therefore, whatever role I end up in, I feel that it is going to be a place in which I will be able to continue to grow and develop as a professional.
We all respond to change differently. The fear in change is not knowing or not having the information or the knowledge about the change. The fear is based on the unknown. I think that is the piece. That is the bloodline that Ball is giving us, because they are constantly talking to us about the change process, about how it is chaotic and it is uncertain. Therefore, instead of just experiencing all the confusion, the chaos, the uncertainty, and not having anyone, Ball staff is telling us, “It’s okay. This is what happens. You are going to feel this way. These reactions are normal.”
If it were not for the Ball staff, I do not know that I would be able to say what I’m saying. I don’t know that I would be as hopeful. You know how when somebody is not doing well and cannot take care of himself or herself that they actually need somebody else to help them through those hard times? That is how I see Ball for us.
The next two years are going to be important because they are going to create the foundation of the new Rowland. I see Ball playing a very important and critical role as our partners in this process. Our critical friends – that is what they are – critical friends.
I am very hopeful for our district, because we have to go through this. We don’t have a choice, but we’re in good hands with the Ball Foundation.
Word cloud created at wordle.net.
Rob Arias is the Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources.
The work with Ball has made me more cognizant of the idea of having more people involved in discussions and decisions regarding what we do on a daily basis. I think I’ve been trying to encourage that more. Personally, I feel like I’ve always been pretty collaborative in the way I do my work, but I think I recognize now that it’s not just a matter of having a collaborative leadership approach. You might have that, but in order to make that real, you almost have to make a conscious effort to get more people involved. I’ve always known this, but I think it has become clearer that a lot of people don’t have access to information that could be helpful.
For instance, there have been times this year during some open public meetings where questions were being asked about delicate and difficult matters regarding layoffs. Some of the questions didn’t have to be answered, and I had a choice there, personally. I could have done the administrative two-step and shuffled my way through those questions without answering them. But I thought it would be better for me to be very upfront about the challenges that the district was facing – to try to be as clear and transparent as possible.
Now, was my choice to do that a result of the work that we did through the Ball Foundation and our strategic plan? You know, it’s hard to say exactly. But I think it did have some impact. I think you have to practice those behaviors of being clear and transparent, and I think I’ve been practicing them because of the work I did with strategy eight. And I think as you begin to practice that, it becomes part of a fabric of what you do.
So, the impact of me being open, transparent, and just laying it out there for folks was very positive. I don’t think anybody was crazy about my answer or said, “Way to go!”, but I think it settled that particular audience. They could accept the reality that we had to deal with because they understood it. I also think the fact that I didn’t have to answer any more questions about the subject once I spoke about it in a very open way was evidence that the approach was the appropriate one.
Word cloud created at wordle.net.
Sue Brewer is the former Assistant Superintendent of the Elementary Division; currently she is a consultant with the Ball Foundation.
For me, our second trip to Chicago was pivotal. I felt that there was an energy and a real commitment to change by a broad group of people that was so exciting. At the first Chicago meeting, we were all in square one taking baby steps. We were defining our roles and talking about how we would work together. In fact, I think we left that first summer with more questions like, “How is this going to work?” Whereas, after the second Chicago meeting that happened the following summer, we actually had a commitment to change and an action plan. We had a group of twenty-five people who collectively said they want to be part of this change and will help to lead this change.
We took the same people who went to the first Chicago meeting to the second meeting, and we also added some new folks. As we were planning the second Chicago trip, I was worried about how we would bring this new group of people together. The original group had really bonded. We had done some excellent thinking together, and now we were bringing in another fifteen people. It turned out to be so successful; it was just thrilling to watch.
One of the funniest things happened the first night we were there. I thought we should do some kind of team building, so I asked Sue Cook who drove her motor home to Chicago if we could have a cocktail party in her RV that first night. There turned out to be a huge storm with a tornado warning that night (Sue didn’t mention the tornado warning in this interview, but I remember her talking about it in another meeting). It was pouring rain, 95 degrees with 100 percent humidity; people were running out to the motor home. You have to picture this really big RV with twenty people crammed into it and lightning and thunder all around. We couldn’t move. But you know what? It began the process of getting to know each other. We laughed so hard. It was like the beginning of this group coming together.
The next morning we went to the meeting with lots of excitement. The Ball team had done an excellent job of designing activities in which we discussed where we had been and where we are right now, along with a lot of reflection about where we wanted to go from here and how we might want to work differently. I happened to be in the group with our new teachers, and just to see their eyes and watch them start to participate – they said to me, “This is so powerful. Do you think this is something we could do?” and it was like the door opened. I said, “Absolutely. Let’s talk about it.”
That spirit of “let’s be part of this change” was so strong in the whole group. You could feel the electricity. You could feel people saying, “I want to be part of this. I want to do things differently. I want to take this back to my school and share this.” It was at this point that we decided we wanted to work differently with each other and we wanted to work differently as a district. It was one of those soul experiences where you say, “This is what it should look like.”
It was almost like a catharsis in that we were leaving behind some old ways of doing things and we were opening new doors that would lead us into a much more collaborative and more creative way of working together – you could feel it. Everyone in the room could feel the electricity, could feel the commitment. That’s when I really knew that this was going to significantly impact every aspect of our work and that we would feel this impact in every classroom. After that second Chicago summer, we knew we were going to make a difference.
Word cloud created at wordle.net.
Chris Ericson is Assistant Superintendent of Schools.
The district’s partnership with the Ball Foundation has really had an impact not only on the district, but also on me personally. On a district level, working with Stephanie Pace Marshall has helped us to appreciate this district as a living, dynamic system. She has made us aware of the process of transformation and the power of story. Story helps us translate our vision from something abstract to what it will look like when realized. It also helps us to honor our past and appreciate what we do not want to lose.
Our focus is on transforming teaching and learning but we have broadened that concept in that we are transforming the system as a whole. We’re creating how we are “going to be” in that system, how we’re going to evolve, and how we’re going to work. We have a frame of reference for how we’ve operated in the past and how we are now living into a new reality.
How we talk to each other has been impacted. We talk about the work that we’re doing, but just as importantly is how we work and interact with each other, including the relationships that we’re forming. We’ve all come to value process to a greater degree. That was an “aha” for me – I knew as a district that we’ve always valued process and relationships, but we are now more conscious of being genuinely more inclusive.
Our Ball partnership work has made us better thinkers. In the past, when we’ve talked about work, it has often been from ground level. But one thing Stephanie talked to us about was taking different perspectives, from the 50,000 foot level down to the ground. To really make a difference for students, we have to be able to strike a balance. While we need to address what’s in front of us every day, we also need to be able to take a more comprehensive, in depth approach to transforming teaching and learning. This concept has really impacted how we approach major initiatives including the strategic plan and the redesign work. We try to take that higher, broader perspective, and yet, appreciate the rigor and complexity of our work. It takes us away somewhat from being mired in the mundane. There are those days where you feel like all you’re doing is putting out fires, but the partnership is elevating.
On a personal level, this work has helped me to be more patient and more reflective. I’ve always valued relationships, process and true collaboration. But now I try to use my time differently. I am outcome-driven, and while I know the value of giving time toward goals, I didn’t always spend my time aligned to my values. I gave what I thought I should or could give, and then I’d move on. Now I am more reflective about how my time is aligning to what I value as important rather than urgent.
I’m also trying to be more cognizant of distributing leadership. Sometimes it’s hard for me to delegate. And yet, I’ve started to see that with an investment of time with people – maybe by putting more time into the beginning of a project or spending more time on mutual reflection – that we’re all in a better place to continue the work and do what we need to do. It’s really made me appreciate how we can sometimes impact the work that we think is so important by letting go and sharing responsibility.
In my meetings, I’ve also tried very hard to eliminate strictly informational kinds of items. I try to create open space to work more on instruction and learning issues to have greater impact on student achievement.
Our partners from the Ball Foundation have been, in every sense of the word, true partners. They are critical friends who raise our sense of self-efficacy and professionalism. They share with us specific information and expertise, but their questions are what are most impactful to helping us move our work forward. They challenge us. There will be a tremendous void once the formal partnership comes to an end but I feel confident that the culture of the district has been impacted for the better related to both what our work is and how we work together.
Word cloud created at wordle.net.
Beth Hodges was a BTSA (Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment) Induction Co-Director when she told this story. She is currently the coordinator of the FRC-First 5 grant.
The activity that was the most transformational for me was when I had the opportunity to interview teachers at other schools. The Ball Foundation was helping the district begin the process of creating a strategic plan by conducting interviews, site visits, and surveys in order to find out what was most important to the people in the district. I had the opportunity to interview four teachers in the district, and the experience transformed my whole understanding of who we are as Rowland Unified.
At the time, I was an elementary teacher and the teachers I interviewed were high school teachers. Three of the four teachers were former Rowland Unified students. One of them had actually been a student at the school where I was currently teaching. They had all come up through the Rowland system and had chosen to become teachers in the district.
In every single interview, there was that same common thread of wanting to do what’s best for the students. Even though what we taught was so very different, we were all very similar in what we wanted out of our profession and the outcomes that we wanted for our students. I realized that this was the foundation of the district. The whole experience really, really touched me, and I can’t underscore enough how amazing it was to have three of the four teachers be former Rowland students.
My current work involves working with new k-12 teachers in the credential program, and I’ve found that the interview experience has affected my work with these teachers. I always keep in the back of my mind that even though this is a first grade teacher and this is an 11th grade AP teacher, they are very similar. They may express things differently, but they really do want what’s best for their students. That came out loud and clear in those interviews. The whole process gave me a better perspective and full picture of the population of teachers that I’m working with.
Word cloud created at wordle.net.
