001Kitty, Kitty Tustelle. So, she's our first candidate. We're going to give her 20 minutes. I have I have it timed. You will let me know if someone will let me know what 20 minutes is because we're starting on time. Just a little Yes. Yes. Thank you. So, I'm going to go grab her. Um I'm sorry that it was like, "Please everyone sit down." So, thank you to the the PTO. Thank you um thank you to Maria for bringing in the food. Um and thank you all for being here. This is an important part of the principal search. Michelle, are there people Is the door open in case people come late? Great. Um if you could just take a seat here. Um you are being uh livestreamed, so thank you for just saying that because that's
002how we do things here. Um these are the questions and I will be asking them, but this is our community. Uh we have We expect everyone to settle in slowly, but again, that's why we do the livestream. And thanks for being here, everybody. I love the balloons. Well, um Kitty, thank you so much for being here. Um we have 20 minutes to spend with these lovely people. I will be asking you the questions. And um so, your first question and obviously given a brief description again 20 minutes and there's six questions there's five. There are six questions. So please give a brief introduction to yourself but also what excites you about leading an alternative learning school in Burlington in Burlington school district and what drew you to UVM? Okay. Thank you all for being here
003tonight. It's awesome to see you. So I began my career this is my 27th year and I began my career in Burlington. I went to the University of Vermont and I started working at Hunt Middle School and so my entire career has really consisted of being a special ed teacher and principal. I left I left Burlington and moved down to Southern Vermont and I taught at Twin Valley School. And then I moved out to Santa Cruz, California and I was a behavior specialist for the entire Santa Cruz City Schools there were 11 schools and I was the only behavior specialist. So and then I moved back to Burlington and worked at Burlington High School and I inherited a bunch of my kids love which was really awesome. So that was really serendipitous I wasn't expecting
004that. After that I moved to Maine and continued as a behavior specialist, special ed teacher and then I became principal. And I was principal in Maine, moved to Vermont, moved back to Maine and I took a job at an alternative high school where I was head of school and superintendent and and so I have been eyeing coming back to Burlington for a really long time. In fact when I met Lauren today I knew for a job and I I was at the interview job and I've been wanting to come come and the stars have aligned and I this is where I want to be. Um Um, so that's kind of my back my story and um, I when I first worked at the um, alternative high school, it was a project based learning school and
005we were able the course of the time that I was there, we really um, transitioned more into a um, choice based model. So we started reimagining attendance and credits and um, even grading um, and and so it was really it was really transformational time for me. So this is why I'm here cuz it really aligns with my special ed path and my administrative path and and also it's where we began. So it's like I'm going home. Thank you. Um, we have a big commitment to diversity and to being inclusive. So how do you balance compliance requirements with the meeting a trauma informed or relationship centered school culture? Particularly in environments with complex behavioral, mental health, cultural difference and socio-economic needs. What experience do you have with the restorative practices, staff support and building school school
006wide alignment? And I want to remind you that the questions are in front of you if you It's a big long question. So um, um, I think I got the gist of it. So I would say that my background um, in terms of so personally, I have been working on my doctoral dissertation and I chose my research was an autoethnography and I'm really interested in um, auto is self and ethnography is culture. So I'm really really really passionate about people's stories. I like knowing people's stories um, and I really believe in the work that we do that that's really important in the way that we connect with one another. Um, and so what I did is I chronicled kind of my journey from the time I was young through the time I built a this
007alternative cuz we really reimagined the entire school. Interviewing people in my life, parents, students, I mean this is throughout my entire career. People that have known me to look at trends and really really look at some of the things that are actually happening at school. So, for me it's really really important that we meet each other where we are. You know there's story. We know we learn about strength, we learn about how how we hold space for growth. I would say that when we're looking at how to hold space for a trauma informed and restorative practices, for me just even as a behavior specialist all these years, it's really how we can develop a school that feels safe. Psychological safety is was a big part of my research. I really believe in in restorative practice.
008I really believe in taking the time to process and to really look at if we're looking at replacing behaviors, looking at what where we are going, how are we working on this together, how are we evolving. And that goes with all of us, staff, all of us. I believe in this journey of life that the work that we do is we're constantly holding space for one another to become the best versions of each other. And so in this work that we're doing in this school, it would be really understanding where everybody is coming from. And and how do we support the needs to continue and further their education or further as staff members, how do we how do we support do we support inclusion, how do we support all of the all of the requirements
009that we need to do in terms of even mandates, how do we do it well, how do we do it that honors we do it that honors timelines, honors systems, honors individuality, honors creativity, all of that in that balance. So, I would say it is say really starts by understanding one another, understanding our journeys and our stories. And that's where it begins. Thank you. Um If you thought that was long, huh? Too bad for you. Uh that was our first question. This is not our first rodeo. What is your vision for the Eagle Bank community? And how do you see that vision welcome? Please come in and join us. And how do you see that vision aligning with our goal in Burlington School District's continuum of services for students with IEPs and our commitments to
010project-based, proficiency-based learning? In your response, please describe how you would ensure access to deep, meaningful learning experiences for all students, including those with IEPs and 504 plans, particularly with students when students are experiencing barriers to accessing accessing classrooms. Okay, I'm going to do this for a second. It's really hard to read the question, you can imagine. Um I might not be able to answer this. I don't understand 504 plans. I don't understand that. Um We're we're going to let her answer. We're going to let her answer. No, sorry. So, I believe I'm going to start with meaningful learning experiences. I feel that that is our job as educators. So, when I I'll give you an example when I was head of school of this alternative school, I really I I inherited a project-based school. And
011it became really clear that the individual pathways weren't necessarily meeting everybody's needs. And in order to make it super meaningful for everyone, what we did is we started to work with Maine Department of Education, and we wanted to learn we wanted to create different avenues in which to uh obtain credit. Because we wanted it to be super meaningful for the students in the school. And so what we did is we came up with um graduation we need we knew what the graduation requirements we needed to have two credits of math, we needed to have two credits of This is minimum. Two credits of science, for example. Um but how they went about it was completely up to them. So they had a huge elective pool. Now we didn't have What's different about this school versus
012what we were doing is that we were in alignment with Burlington High School. But this was a creative way to start looking at We looked at our attendance. How do we make this meaningful? So if the student, for example, knew that they were going to travel, rather than penalizing them because they're going to be absent, we were able then to create um projects that aligned with their travel so that then they could accumulate credit in the areas in which they were studying. So that created a really meaningful um Yeah, it it aligned with their vision, which was at the time we really were focusing on agency. And and agency and choice was my doctoral research. And so then what we were able to do is kind of reimagine if we're going to be looking at
013credits that a traditional credit of one of one credit is 100 hours, well then we might break it down even more so. And so therefore, what might work for every every single person was able to then drive their pathway. So that they were able to develop the agency and the choice to be able to do things that were aligned with their needs. So, in terms of looking at the first question, first part of this question, how do you see this vision aligning? I would say I'm still new to this community learning today for my first time in this school, what is actually being done, how things are being implemented, trying to figure out what the needs are, and and what the goals are in terms of your transformation. It sounds like you're in a really
014beautiful place right now to continue to evolve as a school. And so, it would be wanting to know what is currently meaningful in this school. What is working really well? And what are the needs in which for you to create in this time of transformation with a new leader coming in, what where do you see this this school going? What is your identity? And you merged here a couple years ago, where do you see that growth? So, that would be my job is coming in, having had all this experience in special education, alternative high schools, reimagination efforts, choice and agency, and coming in to really understand where is the future of this school going, and how can I help align that vision with actuality and implementation. Okay, thank you. Addition Additionally to that, what core
015values do you perceive are most critical to emphasize in order to sustain an equitable, student-centered learning environment that supports both academic growth and the development of the whole child? Well, I would say things that come to mind are I mean, I've already said agency and choice. So, I truly believe in holding space with love. That's really important to me. I researched that. It was one of my research findings. I believe in responsibility. I believe in authenticity. I believe in individuality, creativity, empathy, and these things I mean, if we're if one of the questions that in one of my last interviews a while ago was just what is agency? How do we define who we are as people? And so for me core values are really about self-love and self-worth, like starting there. And where do
016we see ourselves going in the future? And and who are we becoming as students and people and staff? Like what what are where do we see ourselves going? But we need and when I'm looking at agency and I'm looking at motivation and looking at responsibility and looking at all these things that I studied and I researched and I believe in very deeply, it's really having conversations about this. Because these are the I think the tenants core tenants that really really make us who we are. It's it's our whole selves. It's it's knowing all these different aspects of ourselves. And it's okay to articulate our weaknesses. It's okay to learn this about ourselves because it's it's where we learn to grow and evolve as humans. And so for me it's being able to talk to the
017staff and talk to you and talk to the community about what really matters. What does a whole child mean to everybody? It's the way that I see it by looking at it. So it's really honoring how we perceive what whole means. What does it mean to look at a whole a whole person? How do we feel whole? I know that's been that's what I've been working on for a really long time. And how how do we create study in our life? How do we create that? So that's how I Those are all I think core values that people really believe in. Thank you. As a community, we believe in the importance of clear and consistent communication to promote understanding and collaboration. How do you plan to ensure that communication methods and expectations are effectively communicated
018and upheld among all members of our school community? It's a great question. So this is a question actually the staff asked a similar question to this as well. And there's different ways in which we can navigate communication. There's the nuts and bolts, the things that we need to that we need to execute through email, um going up and having conversation. Like I'm coming up to you, having conversation, addressing it, newsletters, meetings. There's so many interface community events. Communication takes on many different forms and many different aspects. So, it's really what you need to get across and how you get across it. You know, a lot of times I love to write. I'm a writer. So, but if I'm going to write if I need to get a point across, it's going to be bam, and
019then this is what this is what we need to do. Um so, it's really for me it's really knowing the audience and what you need to communicate and when. Um and in this job, having done this for so long and been a principal for a really long time, it's about being really efficient, being really consistent, and being really visible, and owning what you say. But also what you say, there's always room for growth, right? Because we're when when we're effectively communicating, we're also at the same time receiving. And so, we're receiving all the time back from the communication which we put forth. So, I think that is really important, too. It's not just about how we communicate, but also how. Thank you. Okay. This is fast. Yeah. We're doing great. 20 minutes. We're doing great,
020actually. Uh last question. What are your vulnerabilities as a leader? What types of students and families do you work the best with? And what types of students and families challenge you? Vulnerability, I would say, um I interviewed a lot of people in my research. It was really humbling to hear. When I was at Burlington High School, I left to move to Maine. And one of my students didn't graduate. I interviewed his sister and she saw me. That was a real vulnerability for me. Like, I chose myself. I chose like to start a family. I learned when I heard so many of these stories, how much I gave, but how much and I I'm very If you want to know about me, I'll tell you. But I I was also very closed in many ways. I
021didn't share my heart as much as I would have thought that I would have. And I would say that I was still working on my own version I said earlier self-love. You know, I I was saying this to Lauren earlier. I had I had a lot of miscarriages. And I'd show up right after they happened and no one knew cuz I didn't tell anyone. So, I think my vulnerability was that I wasn't vulnerable. And that was one of my biggest lessons. And so, now I'm not afraid to be vulnerable. I'm not. I'm just not. And maybe that's because I just turned 50. I think that could be it, right? Um I'm a mother of two boys. I mean, parenting really humbles you so much, but um I would say I work well with people. I
022I wouldn't say that I work better with one over than the other because I don't look at I I feel energy. I feel people. I don't look at people as I don't I work well with you or work don't work well with you. I just enjoy being with people and that's why I think that when I'm looking at autobiography, I mean, I I've read a lot of autobiographies. Like, I love culture. I love knowing where people come from. And I really like holding space. I don't mind having difficult conversations because that means that something's not in alignment. We need to figure this out. And so, typically the people that gravitate, there's an energy behind that gravitation, right? You feel a connection. But if there is a connection that's not in alignment, you need to work
023on why that is. Is that because you're not feeling heard? Is that because you're not feeling safe? When we talked talked about earlier with the question the really long question about trauma-informed Trauma-informed is really because we existed in in in in situations in our life that haven't felt safe. So, are we And so, it's it's being able to hold the space even when it's challenging, even when it's difficult. And again, it's it's it's I I it's if I'm not you know, in this whole 90 days, if I'm not not the right fit, if people don't feel safe in my energy, then separate that. It's as simple as that. Like I'm either going to be your fit or not. And if I'm your fit, then I'm going to cultivate trust, and I'm going to create relationships
024because I believe that the most some of the most challenging experiences in our life are our greatest teachers. You know, not just people, but experiences in our life, the things we experience. I lost I Both my parents are passed. It's made me a better person, you know, in terms of just having experienced that type of loss. It just it's I've become more empathetic. And um And again, I just I feel that way. And if you were to talk to anybody that knew you, I think they would say that Katie will hold space. And uh I really believe I think I wrote this in my write-up, but I really believe in holding space for all people with love. And if you if you approach it with with with that space, then people are going to feel
025safe to share what's on their mind. Thank you so much. How we doing time? 1 minute 8 seconds. 1 minute, guys. Thank Thank much. Uh everyone, I'm going to walk baby out. Um Sorry, I don't mean to say anything more to you, but Thank you. Don't push me, girl. I offered. She doesn't want to stay anymore. Well, that's okay. She can come back. If she wants to stick around, she can come back in. I promise. I already made that deal with her. So, I'm going to walk her out. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. It's great to be here. What's your sign? I'm a Leo. Oh! Makes sense. I love Leo. I love Leo. Well, I didn't lie to you then. I'm a Leo. What's Jesus' sign? Oh, she's an Interesting. Okay. I'm a
026Leo. That's a great sign. I'm a Leo. I'm a Leo. I'm horrible. Oh, of course. I am a Leo as well. Oh, wow. Yeah. That's cool. I'm a Leo. I'm a I'm a Leo. I'm a Leo. Yeah. This is my baby Leo. She is a Leo. You are a Leo as well. I'm a Leo as well. I'm a Leo. He is a Leo. I'm a Leo. I'm a I'm a Leo. I'm a I'm a Leo. I'm a I'm a Leo. I'm a I'm a Leo. I'm a We apologize. I feel like this is deja vu. Like now it's live and you're not on camera, but it's the same setup. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Okay. Hi. Um Hi, Laura. Hello. Um thank you so much for being here. Um as you can see, you are live
027on YouTube. Um we have four people joining us on YouTube, which is exciting. >> Okay. Okay. Hello then on YouTube. Okay. Um we're going to ask you six questions and you're going to 20 minutes? Okay. Just Um the questions I actually uh there's new questions. Oh, you have them. I have them. Okay. So, I don't know how I got them. I think they were emailed to me. Okay. It's just anyone. So, I'm going to be asking the questions and I'm going to give her a quick thumbs up. And so, the first question is what >> And I'm going to give Erica a thumbs up. And so the first question is what excites you about leading an alternative learning school development school district? What draws you to Eagle Bay Academy? So I drove up 4 hours
028from Windsor, Connecticut. I think what excites me is I was an educator in Vermont. This is where I started as an educator. And I also was a student in Vermont. So I went to a one-room schoolhouse in Athens, Vermont. At this point in my career, I mean I've always come to understand my values have really been driven by my experiences in Vermont and what education meant here and then how I experienced education. So when I saw this, I was like, "Oh my god, those are my kids. Like these are these are my kids. Like this is my normal. This So even meeting the students, it was like, oh this is yeah, this is perfect. I love these kids." That I've always been a teacher that have worked with students, diverse students, language learners, diverse backgrounds,
029um poverty, trauma. Like these are our norms of what we have to teach and educate in in urban Connecticut. Like this is our norm. So to do this in this like amazing setting and then too as I was like instead of having 350 or 400 kids, which is our normal, like being able to do this with a smaller cohort of kids where whereas a teacher you really do want to have those relationships and you really do want to know all and you want to have seen every single one before they leave. It's like, "Oh my gosh." So your kids to me are the extraordinary kids. I think often they're mislabeled and there's a lot of assumptions, but to me they were actually the most brilliant and extraordinary kids without being patronizing. Yes, there are struggles
030and yes, there's a different way for them to have to access information, but the goal is really as young adults to get them to understand themselves so that they can coach themselves, and they know what they need to do to navigate a system that isn't necessarily designed for them. I want them to be successful, but that's going to mean something a little different because each of your children is somebody a little different. So, the again, the idea being able to do that in this type of environment and really like let's really vision what this could be versus the limitations of what people assume it is is like incredibly exciting for me. So. Thank you. In the Wellington School District, we have a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. How do you balance compliance requirements with
031meeting external reform relating to student-centric school cultures, particularly in environments with complex behavioral and mental health, cultural differences, and socioeconomic needs? What experience do you have with restorative practices, staff support, and building school-wide alignment? Okay, so when I hear the word compliance, I always think of like conformity of compliance, but um which is kind of the opposite of what we've just been speaking to. I think compliance, when you look at it from a perspective of safety, like usually you're in compliance because you're trying to create equal, consistent safety measures, right? But again, when then you're applying it to this student population, that's where the equity and that's where the responsiveness really needs to like actually come into play. So, there to me is a place for compliance. There's I understand why certain laws exist to
032try and safeguard, but if it gets too rigid, then it can be actually a tool of oppression, and I think that's where you're having to navigate. I already mentioned before my experience first hand as an educator in terms of trauma and a lot of certainly relationship based as I said earlier that I don't know how not to do like whole child and relationship based thing. It's just not something I know how to do. But in terms of actually, you know, seeing the words I got to put my eye balance back in cuz I can't see them anymore. Let me get back to there. Okay, uh restorative practice staff support and building school wide alignment. Okay, so restorative practices I feel like I've and I know you probably hear this all the time like I've been
033doing restorative practice. But again, when you're actually relationship based and you're teaching to the dignity and respect of the child and then teaching them that like relationship and back to you and then understanding legacy. Like I think this is again one of those like cultural things that you have a responsibility to your people whether you realize it or not. This is a little bigger than you. And that's kind of like where I come from with students of like what is your role and you're greater than this and then you have to understand you're the tears of your ancestors. They didn't go through all that for you to act a fool. So like we need to like figure out where you're at and where you're in on this and then who is it you want to
034be remembered for. So to me restorative practice is that self discipline understanding you have a responsibility to other people and your history in order to be your best self and success is the best revenge. So again, to me restorative is how do you give the tools and model that self not to use the huge word efficacy, but literally like self agency. I'm in control. I'm more in control, which is the hardest thing to ask this age group, right? Cuz they're that's just not. So they're learning. To me this is supposed to be the brave space where they learn that. And I always say if kids can't make a mistake in school, there's a limit to the mistake. But if they can't make the mistake in school and actually learn from it and know how to
035do better and be encouraged, then I don't know where they're going to be allowed to ever make mistakes. Cuz as soon as they graduate, that's not going to happen. So, to me, that's a lot of what restorative is is yeah, you made a mistake, but how are you taught the dignity and respect to fix it, be accountable, and then doing the repair. And then truly understanding your power and how you need to wield that whether for good or for bad and how that's going to affect other people. Um I think when it comes to staff and school and building school alignment, um I'm even as a teacher, I was all about staff support. This is something that I love to do because again, I'm a teacher. I don't care if it's an adult or a
036student or who it is. But teaching is active listening and understanding first before you think you have the solution. So, a lot of it even working with adults is again, like watching, learning, listening, identifying strengths, recognizing road maps, and then what is it that they're struggling with and what is it that I can see maybe there's a disconnect between their effort and then what's going on with the student. And then how can I help that? Um and then I think building school wide alignment, so I do have that system's brain. So, I have been a director at a school district with 36 schools and I had to build alignment with 36 schools in a in the second largest urban district in Connecticut. So, I do need that ability where you could scope out, look at
037frameworks, detect patterns in data, do sense making, and then you literally have to audit what's our resource, what's our program, where we falling short, where do I identify barriers, who's doing what, what are their roles, do they have what they need, is the training involved, and where are things falling short. And now let's map this out and then now like make it cohesive. Because I always say work smarter and not harder. So again, often in systems that are established and been there for a while, there's a lot of you just go through the motions and everybody assumes like this is the best thing. But sometimes when you laser out and in a situation like this where you're like, "Wait, let me get a chance to just step back and then like hmm." That's where again,
038like to me that's where some magic can happen. So I see resource, I see really positive intention, I see goodwill, I see staff on fire, I see kids who are really smart. But where is it that things need to be brought together that it's cohesive so all of our efforts we can actually see it pay off and then we can name it and then we can measure it and then we know why we're so tired when we leave this building at 2:30. Right? And then right. So yeah. Thank you. This one's long. >> Okay. What is your vision for Eagle Bay the Eagle Bay community and how do you see that vision aligning with our role in Burlington School District's continuum of services for students with IEPs and our commitments to project-based proficiency-based learning? In
039your response, please describe how you would ensure access to deep meaningful learning experience for all students including those with IEPs and 504 plans, particularly when students are experiencing that barriers to accessing classrooms. So I think the um I think this I think the bone structure is here on this. So to me it's like so the vision for the Eagle Bay community and this kind of goes into like the whole compliance restorative thing, right? So, there's like equality. Mainstream education, everybody's going to get the same thing, and then it's up to them what they do with it. The equity is like, "Y'all are going to get the same thing. We just want to make sure you have the same more outcomes for half of the potential half of the outcomes, okay?" So, to me again, it's
040like there is There needs to be alignment, and and I was actually talking to somebody about this before. And just talking to some of you students, um what I heard from a couple of kids was, "Oh, well, I'm here, but I do want to go back to the high school." So, that clicked in the back of my head, cuz it's like, "Well, this is a great environment that's small and is providing these things, but are we Is the skills being built for them to be back at the high school and back into that environment?" And not only that, but if we think about whether it's trade school or you you can have you can have you can have you can have you can have campuses. So, again, the idea is like, "Well, are we building
041the skills and the know-how in this smaller, more therapeutic, responsive environment that then they can leave and go out into that and then have the maturity and the ability and the skills and the know-how how to navigate that for themselves without us." So, that was the thing that really struck me, and that's where again the alignment is of Well, that's that's great that y'all are doing that traditional high school. We're doing a We're doing the extra league of extraordinary high school over here, okay? But, not solely our kids sure of I also need to make sure you can go right across the road at some point, walk down that hallway, feel good about yourself like you belong, and know how to navigate it. And if Again, if you get into that sticky or that trigger
042or whatever it is, now you know what tools you need inside of yourself or what you need to do to redirect yourself or de-escalate or whatever it is so that you don't have to run out of that building back into this one. If that makes sense. So, to me that is really, really important. And I think ensuring access to deep, meaningful experience, the fact that it is Project GRACE. Again, if I look at and I I don't know if y'all call it the portrait of the graduate. So, that was another thing I noticed because when I look at that, I see common core SEL, restorative practice, like all of these frameworks that are actually buried into that. And then that to me is actually, okay, but this is what we want as outcomes in terms
043of behavior or character or values in our kids. Well, if that's that, then how are we actually doing it? And are we being really intentional that everything is linked? So, whatever we're doing or expecting, we know is going to lead or support one of these outcomes. Oh, and is that transparent and are we clearly communicating that's what we're doing? That's why we're doing certain things or we're going to use a certain strategy cuz it's going to help us get to that. So, I think again, the school and especially the students that I'm used to being an educator and leader for, IEP, 504s, these were protections so they wouldn't automatically get kicked out of school. Cuz y'all know, we all grew up generationally we were like, "Fail." Now, some people are like, "Oh, these kids aren't
044allowed to fail." And it's like, "Well, no, the law is demo- you know, living in a democratic society, they should have access to education." Just because they're not allowed legally and they have these protections, it goes to the And I know my time's up. Okay. Um, are we actually doing this in earnest in order for them to be successful? Are we utilizing these or are But just becoming another barrier as well and can find it. Okay. Finish my thought. What core values do you believe are most critical to emphasize in order to sustain an equitable student-centered learning environment that supports both academic growth and the development of whole child? We have three questions left. Okay. All right, connection, compassion, responsibility. Um I'm a big believer in values and I and I always say that because
045like values you need to like we all need to talk about values, right? We also need to find out what values we have in common, right? What values we want to impart on our kids because to me like you know the world's on fire, right? So again, it's the values that are actually going to allow us to build. The values are going to allow when things go sideways for us to pull together and understand this is who we are. So to me it's connection that goes back into relationship. Without connection you got nothing. Uh compassion, compassion's tricky because it's almost like I think some people like oh you feel sorry and it's like no compassion isn't feeling sorry. Compassion is feeling the emotion of the other. Like that empathy, that okay, I'm going to try
046and understand this and then because the more I understand this the better I'm going to be at helping provide a solution or support for this, okay? And then responsibility. So that's another word that sometimes I feel is overused because adults we have responsibility as well, but responsibility is owning your mess, right? Owning your mess and then actually being part of the clean up. So that to me again it's like I got to model that and show that. Do I have 5 minutes here? Um but that is a value to me as like if you're going to have community and you're going to have connection and you're going to have that all comes with responsibility. Then you have responsibility. As As a community, we believe in the importance of clear and consistent communication to promote understanding
047and collaboration. How do you plan to ensure that communication methods and expectations are effectively communicated and upheld among all members of our school community? So, this was one where I said conversations, transparency, multimodal uh communication. So, I always tell people like, "Listen, I'm an ADHD." Like, you got to have my undivided attention. Do we sustain eye contact? Okay, did we during the conversation? Cuz if we didn't, I had five other thoughts, and I just like, "Yeah, I love you. Don't take it personally, but no." So, I'm definitely a believer of like, you talk clearly, you have those direct conversations, you actively listen. I'm a note-taker for that, by the way. I take notes when people are talking to me. Um But then it's writing it all together, like synthesizing it. All right, so do I
048understand what you're saying, or do I understand what our agreement is? And then writing it down. You got to write it down. And then guess what you have to do? Multimodal. All right, you email it, you post it, you do this, you come back to it. Did you see that? And I didn't you I needed you to read that. Was that right? Because that's what we're doing, right? And then the follow-up and the feedback loop. This is what we agreed, this is what was written down, this is what we're all sharing, this is what we're working off of. Is it working? And then do we need to revisit that? One of the kids um See, I'm wondering what what did that kid ask me? He was like, "Oh, can you make a decision, or are
049you going to You going to say one thing to one person, and another thing to another person?" And I was like, "Oh, like talking out both sides of your mouth? Like, no." Yeah, I was like, "I'm not I don't talk OUT OF BOTH SIDES of my mouth." He did. But and but but again I think that comes with bravery because I think you can already get a little sense of my character. I'm good like taking responsibility of mistakes. Like I'm good. I'm good. I'd rather do it uh than hide behind it. And then two, even you know, as the teacher so it was a work day and you'd be looking at like this is Morgan, isn't it? No, it's not this. Well, how are we going to make this work? Oh, let's try this. Okay,
050let's try that. I don't want to waste everybody's time. So, the ability to stop and then lastly I think being really clear. That kind of goes with the compliance. Sometimes you render to Caesar what is Caesar's, right? There are certain things that even for the kids and my peers and people you have to say, "Listen, this is what we have to do because this is the way the law is written or this is that." This is tricky because I don't want this to harm, but on the other hand there is a level of compliance. Sometimes you've got to be clear about that, too. And it's not popular, but again it's again that everybody understands that. This is the maybe sometimes the limitations in which we're going to have to work. We're a little or around
0511:45 left. What are your vulner- going on with that that word? Vulnerabilities. As a leader I said it before, what types of students and families do you work best with and what types of students and families challenge you? So, I think well that should that tripped me up a little bit. Like what's my vulnerabilities? What does that mean though? Cuz it can be good to be vulnerable. Okay. All right, see I didn't know if this was a positive or negative association. Okay, so that was the first thing. Okay, so let me just go to what types of students and families. Honest intentions and effort to partner. I don't care what your socioeconomic, I don't care if you were up at 4:00 a.m. milking cows. I don't care what you're dressed in. You love your kid,
052you have honest intention, we're going to get to know each other really darn well, okay? And the goal for me is again, sometimes I got to be like literally like, "Okay, guess what? You know, what why are you calling me?" Cuz this just went down. These are my These are my options as an admin and it's not it's pretty limited. This is how far they went. But as a parent, we have a relationship that you trust and understand that I care about your child and I actually want what's best ultimately, not to punish, not to harm them, but again, that if we can be honest and you're honest with me and then you're making that effort to partner, we're golden. We can we can do anything. I think it's hard for me sometimes and you
053know exactly who I'm about to talk about. Sometimes parents there are some parents that I feel that it's like, "Well, that's your job. I did my job." And I think it's really hard because I kind of consider myself a school mom. Like and then and then so again, having that co-partnership and understanding we're all part of this to me is really important and it's hard to try and do this work without that. If that's my word. Please. Thank you. It did. I'm going to have everyone here and I'm going to invite you back in and this way you can meet everybody. So, thank you. Okay. Do you need? I can be the first to come to say hello. I got to change my stuff here actually. Hi.