001All right. So, we're back in order, back in session. Uh, for our next candidate, please welcome Dr. Jody Manard, the assistant superintendent, Hollston Public Schools. How are you? >> Very well, thank you. >> All right. Thanks. Uh, so we have a list of questions we can go around the table, different people will ask them. Um, I'd like to start off asking you if you'd just like to give some kind of an opening statement or you have any words to say. >> Perfect. Um I truly believe that I am a very strong candidate for your district and let me explain why. Um I have a unique perspective that I have been a principal K through 12 plus. So I have that um understanding of what principles go through every day and what they need. I also
002have a strong understanding of the curriculum. I currently am the assistant superintendent for curriculum instruction in Hollist public schools. I've been there five years. curriculum is one of my many hats that I wear. Um I have a very strong understanding of that too going through lots of different curriculum reviews as well as mapping um understanding by design curriculum maps on our website. Um another thing I wanted to bring out that I would be able to bring a lot of knowledge and support to this district from my contacts that I have statewide. I'm involved in a lot of different statewide organizations. I did have some of them meet with the chair and the vice chair when they came out uh via Zoom to show what I can bring to the table. Um also my dissertation for
003my doctorate from University of Hartford was all about how public schools can partner with outside agencies and industries and businesses to bring um knowledge and expertise to school districts. So, I have a lot of experience in recruiting businesses, people to bring PD and help into public schools for no cost. Um, I'm also very comfortable in looking at what the community needs. I have given you an entry plan. Um, and it's all about listen. It's not about what Joanie Manard wants. It what's it's what I see the district wants. I had a lot of questions in my past interviews about what I could bring um career and college career college and career readiness wise. I have brought two innovation pathways to Gil Monagu when I was a secondary principal and I am working with the current
004secondary principal for um Hollist and bringing those in also. So those are just a few things as well as I have a business background. Um and so that kind of brings a different spin to the table. Very good at building relationships and also I have been on both sides of the table as a teacher, as a union rep for contract negotiations, on this side of the table as an assistant superintendent. I've been on both sides of the table um for um budget. I'm go to every budget subcommittee meeting with Fincom from Hollist there as well as every policy meeting. So those are just a few of the skills that I could bring to this job. >> Thank you. Be start. >> Please share what in your view the needs of the district are. What has
005been fixed? What remains and how your strengths Thank you for leading the district through that. >> So um what I am saying came up from researching the district, watching school committ committee meetings and also my visit to the district. So let me take a drink and then I'll get to that. Depends on the stakeholder. I see there's different needs from different stakeholders and that's common in every district, right? But as a superintendent, I would need to meet all of those. I see one that goes across all um people that I talked to so far is relationship building and really working with others. That is one of my strengths and um I hope that that was clear. When the vice chair and the chair came out to Hollist, I had them visit 27 people um 10
006different groups of people that I work very closely with. And it shows how I collaborate with others, build teams, and really build um people that enjoy working with me and want to work with me. And and that's my relationship building. Um I think that also another um item that came clear was concern for budget from the school committee. I'm very strong in that. I've had to um run my own budgets in Hollist. I am responsible. Take away the um payroll which I know is the bulk of our budget. The rest of that basically I'm responsible for. I'm responsible for all entitlement grants other than special ed. I have brought in competitive grants. Um I'm very much aware of how to cut a budget. Um I've done that collaboratively when I was a principal in Petersam.
007it really went to the staff and we were able to meet our needs in a way that they were comfortable with too. I heard another um need for the district was curriculum. That is my passion. That is my jam. That is my sweet spot. Um I'm very comfortable with that inside and out. I came into Hollist where Hollist was very behind in curriculum reviews. We are currently doing three right now. We are doing elementary um excuse me, elementary, ELA, science at all levels, and our multil- language learners, um, which our population has drastically gone up in Hollist. So, I'm very comfortable with having a lot of balls up in the air, working with a lot of different people. Um, I saw communication as a critical need from a lot of different people telling me. Also,
008um, I'm a very transparent leader. I like to communicate in a lot of different ways. Um I use some more newsletter which is a um not to insult anybody. It's a visual platform you can embed videos and uh pictures in and we do three ginormous ones. Ginormous because you keep on scrolling down teaching on learning um that my staff and I work on but I also am part of the district newsletters. If I'd be superintendent I'd have superintendent roundts on a regular basis. I did that as a principal. I went out into the community where it's needed. When I was in Gil Monagu, I didn't realize how many people did not have cars. So, I went downtown and went to them. So, in Petersham, I knew like the Lions Club I went to. I would
009rely on all of you to help me where I should go. I think it's really important to be proactive and build those relationships and um build that trust with the community and others um and be very transparent about the budgetary process all along. It's one of the most important things in curriculum all along. So it's not a surprise to anybody and really be forthront and talk about it in a lot of different ways. Those are just some of the things I heard. So, budget, curriculum, um, communication. Uh, so I just gave you some of those answers. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Not more. >> Please discuss your regional school experience, including what strategies you've used in your past experience for dealing with multiple towns with different interests and resources. >> So, I was
010looking at that. I've been in regional school districts more than I have not. So I started as a teacher at Wusa Regional School District. I then went to Spencer East Brookfield Regional School District. Um from there I went to Medway which is not but then I was um in Petersham which is part of a superintendency um uh union not union superintendency yes isn't it called superintendency I'm sorry organization I can't think right now. Um, so it's Marhar Orange and Petersham. Even though Petersham was its own district, we fed into them and had to work with them. Gil Monagu Regional School District where I was secondary principal and Hollison which is a um single school district. I realized the importance of every community by having those experiences. Every community has different needs. It's really important as
011a superintendent or anybody working in regional school district realizes that you need to meet all those different needs. you listen need to listen to all the stakeholders and really um meet them where they're at. That means just like students, just like teachers, you might not be be giving the same thing to the same to to um the different communities, different communities might need different things. You need to differentiate it for the community. I think that you also I would need to be very cognizant of having those relationships with the town managers, police, fire, fin etc. Um meeting with them and building those partnerships very strongly and having regular communication with them again to be proactive um so everybody's on the same page and know what's going on. I think it's really just kind of again
012um being very conscientious of meeting everybody's needs, doing that in a thoughtful way. And in order to do that, I would need to build relationships with all those people so they know that, you know, they can trust me and they can believe me and they can work with me. Um >> thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Lisa, please. What has been your experience in building and managing relationships with stakeholders like parents, families and communities, particularly those with negative views or a negative approach? So like how do you build and maintain trust? >> So I think that's a critical part of my job all the roles I have been in and let me very briefly tell you about the different ones. For me now in my role, it's more about having community forums when we are
013doing some things that are a little bit controversial. Let me explain what I mean by that. 8th grade math in Holl is a hot topic and there's people on all sorts of different sides. So, we have had forums and surveys and all of that in my role. That's very appropriate. Um, there are people that hold very strong beliefs on both sides. So, it's listening to all of those, right? And telling them all the steps that we're doing. Um, let me tell you how I built it in when I was a principal is that I had those regular um lines of communication so they knew that I was always being open, right? So, it was some more newsletters and principal chats. I would also do that um as superintendent here. I think something you didn't ask
014about but is very critical is also students. I think as a superintendent you need to have regular and have superintendent roundtables with students hearing their concerns with staff hearing their concerns and the most important thing is not only listening but then taking some of their ideas and putting them into action and if I didn't put some in action fully explaining why I didn't and being transparent about it. Um I I'll give you an example of some negative views that I had. Um when I was in Gil Monagu, it was um [clears throat] uh during heightened political uh stances going on. And I had some parents who were proud boy parents and very vocal about proud being Proud Boys. and um they disagreed with how we were disciplining their children and I had to have very
015honest conversations with them. This is nothing political. It's about this is a school community. These are beliefs in a school community. These are the expectations in the school school committee the our school community and they will never change. And this is why we have these beliefs. And I talked about school beliefs. I talked about district beliefs. I said, 'If that disagrees with your beliefs, you know, I'm sorry, but ours are never going to change. So, anytime your child does something that disrespects that, there are consequences for that. Um, so I'm not hard I'm not afraid to have the hard conversations. I think how I build and maintain trust is in a lot of different ways is having these open forums. It's people seeing that I listen to them, take their suggestions, tell them why I
016can't do some of them. It's also people seeing me. Excuse me, I'm really dry. At the festivals in town, at the sporting events, at the musical events, I'm usually around with a pad probably like around this size taking notes so I don't forget, you know. And I don't mean that, you know, as offensive, but I know like as more people come up to you, you don't remember everything. Um, and I will contact those people back and say what I did about it. Um, I think it was very telling when I it was already announced I was going to Holliston and um a grandmother in Gilmani came up to me and um a grandmother of a basketball player and said, "I just want you to know a lot of people didn't realize, but I saw you
017at every game and I know I want you to appreciate that." I think that's really important to be seen and give people the opportunity to come up and talk to you and give their opinions. good, bad, ugly, whatever. Um, right. And listening to those. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Megan, please. >> Please give an example of how you've used networks and relationships to advocate to solve problems in your current district. >> Well, that is um some of the questions I had in my last interview kind of alluded me to some, you know, the questions that you give me tell me as much about what you want, you know, as when I am telling you things, right? So that's telling me what what you want and what you're concerned about. Some of the questions
018that I had in that original interview were about what I could bring to the table and about what relationships I had. So I was very cognizant of really kind of thinking outside the box, which I love to do and you will always see me do. Um is thinking about how to show the chair and the vice chair some things that other people might not see about me. So I did um two Zoom calls for them. Juana was with my old superintendent in Gil Managu. I was hoping to have my other old superintendent. Unfortunately, her brother-in-law had just passed away so she could not join. But it was all about how I met Gilmanu's needs. It wasn't what Joanie Manard wanted, right? And so we went out and um collaboratively did, you know, innovation pathways together.
019I was went out to businesses, recruited them um to be internship spots for us. Um we had two innovation pathways. One was um healthcare and social assistance, the second one advanced manufacturing. And I got businesses to actually agree to hire some students after graduation if they did well. Um so I think it's really working with stakeholders and what I did showing that. But a better group that I thought I brought in was a statewide organizational group. And I gave you the itinerary for when they came out. And one of the Zoom groups was with four of my colleagues that I'm humbled and honored to be friends with that have taught me a lot. Um, and they are people, two of them, um, two of them lead the Athena superintendent's job alike. Um, one of those
020people was also one of my adviserss for my dissertation. Um, you can see from there I listed all of their job titles. They have so many statewide. Um, I also brought in the assistant superintendent from ACT and Boxboro um, who runs the Except Job alike as the as well as the assistant superintendent from Hopington. Um, I am in so many groups with them with statewide organizations. They truly are just some examples of people that I can just pick up the phone and call and say, "Hey, I am going through this in my district. Do you have any suggestions?" Um, I have been lucky enough to build that type of relationship all across the state. Um, the Athena jobike has really exposed me to a lot. Um, it's been very interesting. I mean, we were going
021through contract negotiations with some of my good friends who were going through cont contract negotiations on the Northshore. And if you guys paid attention to that, that got really ugly and um hot and we talked a lot about, you know, what things I could bring to the table where I was so we would not get to that place. So, I have those types of conversations on a regular basis. um and we go out for dinner, you know, for um just to talk a lot and and that's what makes a difference. My role and a superintendent's role is a very lonely job and you need to build that network of people that you can rely on that you know keep it confidential but are a wealth a wealth a wealth of help that can say you
022know I experienced that this is what I did or hey I have a friend who went from this go to that. Um I'm very active in um statewide organizations. Also the superintendence um conference in the summertime. The first time I went I was like thinking to myself, are you kidding me? Because people were sharing with me their worst examples of what happened. And it's like wow. Okay. And this is like showing, you know, this is a mistake I made. Don't make it. And like I I rely on those people all the time. Um, I'm also lucky enough to be a very active participant in the Tri County Superintendent Round Table, which a couple of those members that spoke to them were, but it's always um getting ideas from them, just picking up the phone, um,
023being very comfortable enough that there's no in Tri County, there's no boundaries between assistant soups and soups, and really having those honest conversations. um and really getting a lot of information like our last one we had a lawyer come and talk to us about a lot hot topics going on right now and guidance she had for all of us. So I definitely put myself in positions that I can gain the knowledge and use it and bring it back to um my current district but I would love to do that for Berlin Boilston and bring it back and use it to help grow the district and improve the district. So tell us a little bit about your experience with collective bargaining. >> Okay. So my first two experiences were very ugly. Uh when I was in
024Spencer's Brookfield, I was union rep back then. It was Knox Trail. It was a junior high. It's changed. I don't even know what it is anymore because it's changed a couple times, but it's only seventh and eighth grade. I was one of the reps for contract negotiations. It had a good arbitration both times. It was very ugly. Um it was a very good learning experience to see that side. Um I now have been on it this side. Um there were three of us. Um the superintendent, myself, and the retired assistant superintendent for uh for finance and operations because we haven't had to renegotiate it. Um and then our lawyer and two school committee members. I'm very cognizant as a superintendent um in Holliston our roles and assistant soups were that we were advisory members only.
025So their expectation was and I know from my friends every one of their experiences has been different. Um on the northshore they had a very active role and they were talking quite a bit and Hollis was not and we would go behind closed doors our side and then they would ask us for guidance and ask us a lot of questions. I'm open to everything. I always ask at the beginning what is your expectation of me in this role u just because it's always different in every district. Um same as Spencer Springfield. I was on the other side, but it was very much told that no, we want you to be quiet until you we get behind closed doors and then you say your peace. So, um it was a very long drawn out um all
026three process all three times I was involved. Um I'm used to that. I don't know any different. Um, and it's it's very interesting going back and forth the proposals that come up. Um, and I know just how thoughtful and conscientious you need to be as you propose those and bring them back to the other side. Um I do want to say though I have also just so you know I sit regularly in joint management meetings um currently um and that's to help bring up things before it gets to collective bargaining. You know we do talk about things before that and I also did that as a principal. I also met regularly with the union to kind of um find out what their needs are, meet their needs, kind of make sure that I had a
027pulse on it and make sure it did not rise to any kind of grievance type procedure. >> Jess, >> what's your experience with advocacy and grant writing for additional support in the district? >> Grant writing, I'm all over it. So we were lucky enough I worked I always worked collaboratively with the team that's going to impact. So I worked with two humanities curriculum coordinators one for our lower school K through two and one for our upper elementary 3 through 5 and we successfully wrote a Prism 2 grant for 200 over $224,000. Huge huge huge win for Hollist. Yes, I know. Huge win. Um there's a lot of um uh there's a lot of mandates is a strong word. I can't think of another word right now. There's a lot of requirements that come along with
028that which is not a problem. Some of those are going to the implement um the desi implement uh trainings which I was going to regularly all the time. We had one today again. Um, I'm very used to writing other grants. We wrote a competitive grant twice successfully for genocide grants. I've worked with a high school principal successfully writing innovation pathways grants, project lead the way grants. Those are all competitive grants. Um, sadly, when I was still a principal in Gil Monu, there were no innovation pathways grants. So, it's awesome that now that has changed um because we were trying to really dig deep and see how we could fund that in Gil Managu. um very much um in line with advocacy about what we need to do. Let me give you an example by that
029with that. So I participate regularly in all curriculum reviews. I'm very lucky um to have a curriculum staff underneath me and I fully realize that you know that's unusual and a little bit different. Please realize that you know I was a principal in Peter Sam. I had no assistant principal. you I'm very used to having no support right in Gilmanu I had a little bit more support but I'm very much used to having to do things on my own but um we uh I'm sorry I don't remember what I was just saying right now um lost my train of thought but um really looking at what we need in the district and working with others to try to figure out what we need in the district um and to advocate for that um I definitely
030am that out of the box thinker that I want you guys to realize that I look for very creative ways to fund things. Like I said, you know, my dissertation is all about working with colleges. is, you know, I would really like to build a pipeline with local colleges around here for not only bringing subs in here for student teachers in here for uh connecting with knowledge and bringing PD in here from colleges. I work regularly with right now Fitchburg State College and other colleges to provide specialized PD for our teachers. I'm a fierce advocate. If people say that we need this, I will find a way to get that. And um I'm not afraid to call out. I was lucky enough to be part of um I'm dating myself, but I was on the
031STEM governor's council when Deval Patrick was governor. And one of the things you will find that um I'm very respectful, but I will push back. I said, I don't understand. We're supposed to be a state that is so far ahead of the curve with biotechnology and STEM and all sorts of things. They said, "But yet you have not built a system that that has identified businesses that are interested in partnering with schools so that schools can reach out to them. I on my own have always had to do that and reach out and find that on my own." And I'm very comfortable with that, but a lot of people in my role aren't. So please realize that I have no problem. I don't know if it's part of my personality, part of my sales background.
032I will just look for you're gonna hear very unusual solutions to um problems or budgetary needs that might come up. >> How have you had to balance the budget while maintaining integrity of education in your past experiences and how will you do that here? >> Let me give you a great example. When I was in Peter Sam um they were definitely old school. I had 99 lines in my budget and I had to have this big old binder and I had to keep um details and copies of invoices for every line and any at any time people are able to come in and look at that budget book. We had a really tough year that I was kind of grappling with. I don't know how we're going to get through this. I need you to
033appreciate that Petersham at the time only had one class per grade. There were 125 students in the entire district. okay in the school. So really mean and lean bu budget-wise, right? You don't have a lot to play with. So I was kind of struggling with what the heck do we do? I know that at that time I could not touch any of the five specials. Those were some of those can't do for the district community members. We had a STEM special, we had a PE, we had performing arts, we had um I can't think right now. Um chorus and band. I'm sorry I'm forgetting the fifth one right now. Um, but we had five specials that I knew I couldn't touch. So, I'm like, "All right." So, I said to the principles, I said, "Let's
034forego a faculty meeting. I mean, the principles, I'm sorry, the staff, we're going to forego a staff meeting and we are going to have it just as a brainstorm session. What we can do, how we can cut the budget before this faculty meeting. I'm leaving the budget book out here so you guys can look at any point in time and question me about everything. Just don't take the book out of the office. Right? So, we really had very thoughtful conversations and they came up with items that I never thought of. Not only did, you know, by by collaborating with them, they came up with ideas I didn't think of, but they also came up with ideas that they had already bought into that I knew was I didn't have to do a hard sell because
035they were already on board. they own them. They came up with them, right? That's a much easier, better thing to do. Um I think that um I've given you a lot of different examples of how I think creatively um in other ways. Gil Monagu, we did not have the funds. I told you innovation pathways, there were no grants at that time. So I'm like, okay, how the heck are we going to do this? I'm going to have to wear lots of different hats here and I'm going to have to be the one um along with the one counselor that we had is kind of going out there and pounding a pavement to get internships. We didn't have where I'm at now. Um I forget her title right now, but she's like internship uh coordinator or
036something like that. We had nobody like that, right? So, I just roll my sleeves up and do what needs to be done, but I look at all sorts of of different ways to save it. Um, let me give you another example. When I was in Petersham, um, we knew that we did not have the funds to bring in interventionists and we knew that our literacy scores needed to go up drastically. And so together again, all the teachers got together with me. We collaboratively made a fluid K through2 literacy block that took the commitment by every single teacher in that school because it's so small because by doing that you've locked the specials you know like that the specials could not happen for K1 or two during a certain time. So that locked everybody. Um that
037raised our scores drastically. We didn't have to do any budgetary thing. We didn't bring any other outside resources in. We came up with that collaboratively. So, it's really looking at very creative ways of using the resources you have and thinking differently about those resources. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> So, how do you imagine creating partnerships with other educational entities to create additional pathways for students and what's been your experience with this work? Yeah, and I think I've talked a lot about that already, but um to kind of expand on that, you know, I would definitely want to partner when I was in Gilmanu, I partnered with um Greenfield Community College. I would like to do partnerships with that, you know, for the um the high schoolers as well as like I told you,
038bringing other support in subs and um building a pipeline for teachers. I know recruiting teachers is another hard thing. Um I think that building partnerships with the various uh both towns organizations right really FinCom police fire building those partnerships making sure I'm building their trust making sure I'm sharing information with them being transparent with them and communicating on a regular basis. Um I think that you know I really you know I can't say without listen learning and leading from people in the district like my entry plan what the best pathway for Berlin Boilston is is it innovation pathways is it project lead the way is it more internships what is it whatever you know I determine that to be after listening to all sorts of different people because remember it's not about what I want
039it's about what the community needs then I would work on doing that. Um, also building partnerships with um, you know, different, you know, STEM is such a forefront there. I'm part of the STEM network still and there are so many opportunities that you can bring in from students from just being part of those networks. I think another thing is getting students to showcase what's done here. It's really hard for, you know, it's easier for people to say no to me than it is for a student. So, really getting students to tell the stories of what's happening here or what they want to happen here to really kind of pull on the heartstrings of people that you're trying to partner with to bring those people in. But then also, if you bring those people in is
040communicating back and inviting them in to show them what they've helped build and what they've helped change. So, I think it's partnering with so many different people. I've given you college examples. I've given you business examples, industry examples, um, working with other organizations within the state such as, uh, Berlin Boilson's part of the Worcester County Superintendent Round Table. You know, I'd be in all of those types of things and be able to bring a lot of things back. But um I think it's really listening like I did in uh Gilmanu to what they needed. I'll give you another example. Petersham, it was very important for the students to have. They really wanted a STEM school. So we changed it into a STEM school. We also made a free of charge other than um one organization
041after school enrichment, STEM enrichment that they wanted and we brought in and I also dipped my toes back in and taught some of those classes just to have fun and teach again. But those are just some of the ways that I brought partnership in. >> Thank you, Beth. >> You're welcome. regarding special education and best serving all students. How do you balance fiscal responsibility while also ensuring students have the best services? >> So, I am lucky enough to work very closely with our uh director of student services. Something I have learned from her and we have an interim right now. The past one uh moved on to a different district, but we had a lot of conversations about really thinking outside the box to bring more funds in. So things that I would want to
042look at which we have found in Hollist is that how we have written things for Medicare and Medicaid. We have brought a lot more funds into Hollist than we ever did before by hundreds of thousands of dollars because of how things were written in the past or not written in the past. That's a way that I would um you know very quickly we could change that. And um I have talked to the the student services uh coordinator, their secretaries like I would be very happy to talk to somebody to to kind of get them on board with that. Um I also think that you need to be very responsible about the grant funds that you get, you know, the 240 grant and uh really looking into that. I think that you need to look holistically
043how the district is uh using funds. Let me explain what I mean. So in Hollist, we have a high percentage of students on IEPs and 504s. Berlin Boilston is even higher than Hollist. I would want to take a look at that and see what is driving those costs. I do know from talking to people there are a lot of oneto ones in Berlin Boilston. I would want to look at how have people been given one-to-one pairs. What are the qualifications? Is there a checklist? How are the special ed IEP meetings and 504 meetings being run? You know, is there training being needed? Um, I think there's also working closely with CPAC and very involved parents and really kind of doing informational nights. I was talking about math forms earlier. We want to do like a
044lot of informational nights about what it means um to have an IEP or 504. You know, the the IEPs have changed recently. You know, it's a whole new IEP, and you really need to let parents know about what that looks like, what the qualifications are, what an IEP meeting looks like, what the expectations I of an IEP meeting are. Um that's not meaning at all to take away anybody's true needs. That's just to make sure that we are identifying what a student truly needs. In Hollist, we are realizing that, you know, we need to do a better job of um strengthening our tier one instruction. That is the focus of our professional development because that causes more people to potentially be identified for those IEP 504 potential meetings, right? So there's all sorts of ways
045to look at that. I know in Hollist we realize we have a lot of work to do in strengthening that. I'd also want to look at Berlin Boilston's district curriculum accommodation plan. I was talking about that with some of the principles on my visit here and we talked about um how it did need to be strengthened and needs to be really friendly for teachers. Those are accommodations that any teacher can give at any time. And a lot of teachers, no matter what district you're in, don't realize they can do that. They think those are only 504 IEP accommodations, right? So, it'd be educating people about that. It'd also be educating the community about a district curriculum accommodation plan and what are all the accommodations that any student can get at any point in time. Lisa,
046>> how do you go about balancing parents rights, students rights, and district educational priorities? >> So, I think um in every role I've had, I've been lucky enough to be in a district that we've had a district um strategic plan. Okay. And I know Berlin Boilson's in the process of that. That is kind of the northstar for the district. That is the basis of all decisions you make. So as long as you keep going back to that this is why I'm saying this is this decision because of this part of the strategic plan and all these people were part of the strategic plan in Hollist. And I was lucky enough my first year there, this is my fifth year there. I was part of the strategic plan. We had a town manager involved very purposely
047because we wanted him to agree of what we wanted to do because of budgetary reasons and we were going to get ourselves in, you know, a tight budgetary need that we could figure it out together what our values were. We had the select board chair, we had two school committee members, we had students, we had parents, administrators, etc. Right? But I think using that as your northstar and backing up these are our beliefs all along. I think that um let me look back at this. Um and I you know that that's the basis of all financial um responsibility. Let me explain what I mean by that. So I'm in charge of all professional development for the district too. We have my first year um I was lucky enough lucky to be in charge of two
048desi audits at the same time and I had to you know run both of those and one of our audits was a curriculum audit and one of the findings were that we were not uh we did not have a district template for professional development. So I made a district pro uh professional development template and we have for every um session that we have it it lists the strategic initiative from our strategic plan. It also lists the uh Jessie has high quality PD standards and we list the standards what Desi has identified too right so that that guides everything we do so financially it's the same thing you know I have to go back it might not be written down but I should have it right there and as a superintendent we are making this decision
049as a district and this goes goes towards this part of the strategic plan, right? We are backing that up. So, it's always your northstar, your compass, your guiding light. >> Jess, please. >> How do you plan to retain students who are looking for different or more advanced challenges? What can you offer to students to get them to stay? >> Yes. So, okay, I'm only laughing because I walked into Gil Monagu and we have um there was a tech school down the road, less than three miles. At that point, we were losing more than half our eighth grade students to the tech school. So, I'm like, okay, I need to stop the bleed. How do I stop the bleed? So, I'm like, well, figure I need to figure out first of all, what's the issue? Why
050are they leaving? So, I called families and students who left. Some of them would not talk to me. The ones that did were very communive about why they left. They didn't feel like there was anything for them there. They didn't think the program of studies was strong enough. They didn't think that, you know, we were offering any job or career readiness type skills for them at all. Okay. So, that's what I found out. How the heck are we going to do that with a budget I had in Gil Monagu, which was not big. So I'm like, okay, let's start looking and seeing what we could do for that. Innovation pathways had just come about and I thought maybe this is what we need. The superintendent and I um put our heads together and we decided
051that that was probably the best the best um way to look at this because at that time there were a lot of students in the district who were attending college, but there were a lot of students who were not. So they needed those skills to have right away to get jobs right away. So we worked with Mass Higher out of Franklin County where Gil Managu's in and the first pathway we brought in was the number one job need in Franklin County at that time which is healthcare and social assistance. The second one we brought in was advanced manufacturing at that time was the second greatest need for employment in Franklin County. Um Gilman youth students there are a lot that stay in that community. So that was really driving our need that we knew that
052we needed to supply them with skills that they could take and remain in Franklin County. Um I think that you know I looked at other ways of um I met regularly with the the president of Greenfield Community College and talked about strengthening those partnerships. We had seniors are able to leave campus and attend Greenville Community College and take college level classes and come back. You know, that was the other need that was being met. Another need looking on the other end, you know, in um innovation pathways, you have to strengthen your AP offerings and we also needed to strengthen them because we heard from people that's another reason why they were leaving. So we added more rigor to our curriculum and when I was there we were able to collaboratively come up with the strongest
053program of studies um that have been done in a while that was able to come about with some hard choices. So it was talking to students meeting with them asking them what they wanted. it was only offering some classes every other year, communicating that clearly out to parents and students beforehand so they could plan their academic journey. Um, you know, those are just very collabor uh very thoughtful out ofthe- box ways of solving problems in smaller school districts and I think you know Berlin Boilston you would have to do the same same thing. your hands are tied with staff with you know number of district with um you know wanting to balance out you don't want a class with three students in it but you want to have all the offerings so they can get
054the best opportunities out there so it's really thinking differently um those are just some of the ways >> you're welcome >> what is your vision for the next part of your career >> what would this look like in five and in 10 years. >> So, I am ready for the superintendent job. I'm ready to be here. I purposely made decisions all along the way. Um, my pathway, you know, coming from the business world, I understand um the experiences you need to have and the credibility you need to gain. So my dad was an assistant superintendent in a county in Ohio and I kind of knew his trajectory and I knew to be taken seriously and respected I needed to do the jobs along the way. So I have taught um for 11 years you know
055and then I went on and I was a STEM curriculum coach which is a whole different animal. that quasi administrative person that did not evaluate but I really had to build those relationships and work with teachers to build their skills and go in and coach them. Right? And then from there I became a elementary school principal. I realized that my weakness was literacy. I put myself in every opportunity that I could to be trained with our staff when it came to literacy because I knew that was my weak point. Um, I will always admit my weak points, but I will do something to overcome that, right? I will put myself in a position to learn. Um, so I was a principal K through six and I knew that to be taken seriously as a superintendent
056and a leader that I needed to also be a secondary principal. So then in Gilmanu, it's an interesting district because it's 6 through 12. They share a lot of different uh a lot of the same um facilities such as here, but they have two very distinct, very different needs, and I needed to honor that. So, um we had weekly student meetings with a high school and twice a week meetings with a middle school um to build that community and that relationship. Um, but I knew before I got into the role I am in to be taken seriously to work with teachers, to do curriculum reviews, to have some credibility, I needed to go through all of those levels, right? Um, and I that brings a wealth of information to the table. Um, right now I
057would love and be honored to get this position as superintendent in Berlin Boilston and I would like truly to end my career here. Um, you know, I'm closer to the end of my career than I am to the beginning. Um, and I truly love smaller communities. I know I would fit in very well here. Um, I would be honored to be here, but this is where I would like to end up and leave and end my career. >> You're welcome. >> Thank you. >> How do you plan to balance the demands of being superintendent in a district with a small central office? >> I know it probably didn't seem like it. They came out and they're like, "It seems like you have a lot of resources right in Hollist." And we we do, but we
058don't. I am so used to in all my roles wearing so many different hats. I've had to I've lived that. I've practiced that. You know, in my role now, you know, um I'm in charge of all the um multil- language learners for the district. I'm in charge of all the homeschool for the district. I'm in charge of all the entitlement grants. I'm in charge of all the new teacher induction, the new staff orientation, all professional development, all the curriculum. It goes on and on and on. I am so used to that. In bigger school districts, my role does not do that. When I was principal, I wore so many different hats, too. I was when I was in Petersham, I had to do all the state reports. We didn't have any data person. Orange did
059and Marhart did, but they did not do ours. So, I was having to do all those. I am so used to that. I am excited to have done that because that has forced me to learn not only my job but so many other jobs and really collaborate with people just to get the job done right there. Um you're a small staff you you band together and just say okay let's roll up our sleeves and figure out how we can do it. It's also me jumping in and being part of that too. It's not me saying oh you guys all have to do this. Okay how can I be a part of this? How can I add to this? Right? Um, I think it's really important. I think it was very telling for when they came
060out. Um, part of the thing that I know everybody had to communicate. I'm very much a collaborator. I'm very much a team player. I am not a dictator in any way, shape, or form. I never will be. I realize that's going to end very poorly for everybody. Um, you know, I'm very much about getting buy in, getting people to move the needle, tapping into people's passions, empowering them, making them excited, and and doing things that you would never believe you could do. Let me give you an example. So, I'm lucky enough to have this curriculum staff. They have never run a lot of the curriculum reviews. I'm there for all the meetings I can be, but we work to collaboratively together to come up with the agenda. They run the meetings. I let them showcase
061their talents. When they come before school committee, you know, a part of a leader is building other leaders, right? And empowering them and tapping into their passions, tapping into their skill sets. you know, just like students, you know, you you scaffold and you support them, but you push them to get out a little bit out of their comfort zone. And it's amazing what people uh can do together. But I'm very much used to having a small staff. Um I like that. I excel in that. That's one of the reasons why I applied here. That's, you know, this size district is my sweet spot for many reasons. And it's also one that I can truly get to know everybody and build relationships with the staff and students, right? That really excites me. Um, I don't know
062if that's my sales coming back at me or what, but yeah. >> Uh, thank you, Nick. Uh, last but not least, why us? Why? >> And I think I've said a lot of different reasons, but you know, a lot of things are that I truly believe where you guys are going. I am really excited about some of the the places I know that you want to go are things that I excel and have experienced like college and career readiness. Figuring out what the students need, what they they need to get there, right? I know that curriculum is a big one. That's my jam. That's my sweet spot. Um you I'd love collaboratively to work with others in the district in figuring that out. it it really is the size of the district um and what
063your current needs are are really matching what my expertise and experience has been in. So, it's really kind of matching up very well. Um and it's, you know, a a very um kind community and I want to be part of that. >> All right. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Any final thoughts? Any final comments you want to make to us? >> No, I you know just take a look at you know I did make an entry plan for all of you. Um the basic tagline is listen, learn and lead. You know I would take some time really getting and interviewing people about what they feel the strengths the weaknesses the opportunities and the threats are for Berlin Boilston and then how we can use the strategic plan along with an entry plan and kind
064of move the work forward. I just please remember what I can bring to the table which I think a lot of other people can't. You know the experience I have not only teaching but have been a principal K through 12 along with my central administrative experience and my regional school district experience. >> So thank you. >> Excellent. Well, thank you very much for coming in. >> Thank you very much that day and excellent. Thank you. >> Okay. You're welcome. >> Uh we'll take another small recess. And this