Board of Education Special Meeting: April 6, 2021

001okay good evening and i'll repeat it it is april 6 2021 it is 6 pm and i will call this special meeting of the pooter school district board of education to order and tonight we will be uh getting public presentations from our three finalist candidates for superintendents in order that will be jonathan cooper heather sanchez and then brian kingsley and i just want to start off by verifying are there any board members that would like to change the agenda tonight okay seeing none at this point we will just wait and tesla should show up with okay so we're pretty good timing we got jonathan up to bat okay welcome go right on ahead and the the floor is yours you just need to push the button to unmute yourself there you go and we will

002let you launch into and you know the the questions we asked and you have a pres presentation prepared i believe yes we did decide to go ahead and leave masks on thank you i'm gonna while we're waiting i'm just gonna double check would it feel better if we allowed our candidate to remove his mask i think it's pretty darn safe okay i think it's nice for the community if you just go ahead and do that we'll leave ours on because it's some you know it is important for the community to see that but we'd like you to be and i do uh promote wearing a mask and wear a mask everywhere i am and i have been uh fully vaccinated so thank you for the opportunity and i'm sorry i did not press a button

003here so do you need me to make remarks again or i'm going to go ahead and give you the full time so if you want to go ahead and start from now that would be that would make a lot of sense let's get the community comments out there okay well thank you so much again for allowing me and i'll go ahead and begin with the presentation um so go ahead and advance to the the next slide if you would if that's okay great all right so i i start with just introducing my family one of the questions you asked is just a little bit about our story and so i'll keep that brief but it is important for the community to understand that as a superintendent and coming out of my third year as a

004superintendent at mason city schools i'm really i understand the value of family and having a support system this is a 24 7 role and it's a person who is coming in to support and serve your entire community so to to introduce my family very briefly we have four kiddos so we have henry wyatt miles and tessa so three boys and a girl who is in charge of the world and so and i miss them dearly as we've been out here for a few days and they're texting and checking in on us and giving us updates on their activities but um you know as i as i share a story i share really really briefly that my my parents were teachers my mom taught elementary education my dad taught high school i watched them as i

005was growing up serve in that capacity and do what they loved and just passionate and purposeful about the work that they had and so as i watched that growing up it inspired me to want to find that for myself whether that was teaching or something else i did try to run away from teaching for a while and i was an art major and then i realized that my gifts really fell into education and my passion and my love was there my whole family is a part of the education experience and that's all we talk about so we live it's it's not a job for us but it's a calling and so being a superintendent has really been the the ultimate uh blessing in that whole process one of the questions you ask is why come

006to the pooter school district why interest here and it's a question that we have been wrestling with my wife and i quite a bit because um like i've shared with you all as a board very openly and for others that have been a part of this is i serve in a wonderful community i have a wonderful board i have wonderful people that i serve i have great relationships and i love the people of mason city schools and it's just been it's been one of the greatest things i've ever been able to do and so when i ask that question i have to work through that and i start to answer it's the people and so to look at the porter school district and look at the potential of the new relationships the new challenges moving

007from a district of ten thousand five hundred students to thirty 000 it's it's the next natural step in in our professional journey so and i look at that and i look at all the things that you have to offer here and some of the things that i heard in the data and the feedback is that desire to have community building and bringing people back together and to move in the same direction and so so that's something that i i see the need and the desire here and i hear that in the conversations i had today and yesterday and so it's something that i feel like i i bring to the table as a superintendent with experience in doing just that and bringing a community together and and getting people excited about a compelling vision in

008the future and something we want to rally around together what excites me about this is it's not only just meeting the people but it's the instructional leadership aspect of the district there is a i i talked with some of the administrators throughout today and and also this evening and just heard that desire to have that instructional leadership component and that's something that i have um that i love it's part of my core and who i am and and it's what we get to do uh with our students and then um the question about right fit and how do you know you're the right fit well um i think that's part of this process is finding out if if i'm the right fit for the pooter school system and as if that's the right fit for

009the cooper family and for jonathan and his next uh journey as a superintendent so so that that that piece right there the way i look at that is there's a need in this school district and when i hear those and i read through the data and the feedback and the desire for advocacy at the state level the desire to bring a community together to desire to have partnerships in your community that really capitalize on the the talent and the resources that are right around you here in the footer school system that's something that excites me it's something that i know that i do well in my current role as superintendent is something that i think i could come and offer as a leader here to work with a school board that's serious about their school

010district is is very compelling to me and interesting it's something i've loved about where i am and something that i always want to seek out there are several school districts across the country that are interesting this is the only one that i am looking at because of some of the components that you have to offer and some of the challenges that you've already stated as needs in your school district so when i ask is it the right fit i do believe that there is um the right fit of professional values and personal values in this community that i would love to see continue to align i'll go on go ahead into the next slide if we could i want to walk you through my presentation and i like to have themes because it helps people

011to have something to anchor to or to connect to or to remind because there's a lot of information that you've been gathering you'll continue to gather throughout the evening and so um just in in terms of alignment i've tried to incorporate some of uh your own um as you you'll probably recognize some of the things that you've already done in terms of the way you've branded some of your presentations but also the karen's so a karen is something important as you all know if you hike and backpack and uh something that when we've hiked and backpacked we understand that the purpose of a karen is to help you find that direction it's the the way finding peace it helps you know you're still on the right path and so as i go through tonight i'm

012going to address or highlight four karen's along the way and this this would be something that we would look at together as we look at the first hundred days so to speak and what would that look like together as we lead the pooter school system and you know i've been a superintendent long enough to know i'm going to say the first 100 days but let's be realistic it's whatever time it takes to do that well and so that might have to extend beyond that so i'll go through what i have for you but just understand that there's a realistic side of that as well and you all know that as as you're moving people through the change process all right so let's move on to our next slide so karen one connect so let me

013focus and walk you through this and i oftentimes will refer to each of these as a part of the compass so if we're in the north realm of the compass at this point in time and looking for direction the first thing i would do is focus on connection and the connection would look similar to this it would be connecting with people first it's a people first approach working with your staff leadership teams meeting with student leadership teams you know ptos ptas boosters foundation members meeting with as many folks as possible and using that time very purposefully so that the connection is authentic and also we're gaining information in that process they're getting information about myself and the experiences that i bring the talents that i bring but i'm also gaining information about the history here

014and what has made puter a great place why do people want to move to this area to be a part of your school system so it's really honoring the work that has been here and making that connection it's also making site visits and getting out there and being present and being visible so that students and staff and administrators community members are seeing me out as part of that process so it's the site visits it's learning um and all these notes are included in the presentation under the notes i think they will be also released to the public so someone wants to see every note that i'm going through it's also the idea of connecting with the learning environment understanding the culture and climate of each building looking for inclusivity and what does that look like

015in each building and trying to make some assessments coming in with fresh eyes is such a valuable gift that someone brings to a school district so i will have those fresh eyes for a moment and then you know how that goes you start to move into and become part of the district so bringing that fresh perspective and sharing that with our public sharing that with the board it's the not only the site visits and looking at that but it's the community partnerships it's beginning to bring community coalitions together so bringing in the colorado state it's bringing in the non-profits it's understanding who are your influencers out there whether it's the city the chambers a large business and small businesses and bringing those together systematically so we can begin thinking through what are the potential opportunities

016that we could have as a community to move forward and finally in this connection phase it's the board of education it's understanding each other it's working as a team it's setting expectations for myself as a superintendent and a leader of the school district and as well as how we're working together as a board so that would include interviews entry interviews where i would interview and get to know all of you at a deeper level get to know why you are in your role what is it that makes you excited about the work here at pooter school districts it's having those open conversations as a team together it's then moving and having that the middle of the year a check-in how am i doing am i doing the things that you're hoping to are you hearing

017from the community in a way that's positive are we moving in the direction and making the progress that you're hoping for and hoping to see and then it's having an end of the year close out reflection together and those are one-on-one conversations to understand that we would obviously have ongoing monthly uh touch bases but these are more formalized and in time for us together to get to know each other and into that work so that's part of the connection phase or karen one as i would say so making sure that the connections are happening next slide our second slide our karen two would be what i call a community-sourced model so in in my leadership one of the things that i love the most is to bring as many voices to the table to honor

018voice and it's honoring everyone's voice as much as possible so that people feel like they are a part of the process that they're heard their story matters it's not a perfect process but it is one that brings representation and it brings people to the table so that they can be heard and so the community conversations would be one of the strategies that would be a part of that so community conversations are when i'm out working with people this is structured conversation it's similar to crowdsourcing but it's more specific to your community so you're asking questions that are just around your community drawing those ideas out and then finding themes in my first year as superintendent at mason city schools i conducted over 100 of those community conversations where i was out and that's how we

019started to build the themes that we had in our district i would see very similar opportunities here so that people can really share their ideas their voice and those are brought forward and we can we can begin to bring those together it's also uh the community source for the data collection well you've already started that process in the interview process because you've asked your community what do you want what are you looking for what are the needs what are the strengths so i've looked through that data already i've tried to incorporate that into some of the things that i'll talk about here in just a moment so it's not losing that opportunity but it's capitalized on and then building upon that so even bringing themes to those community conversations where you're talking and saying here's

020what we hear you talking about it's uh whether it's inclusivity if that's something that's a topic come to this community conversation let's talk more about that so i can understand what that means for everybody because that means different things in different communities it's the idea of bringing people so that they know that they're a part of the process that's what the whole community sourcing and community data collection is and then looking at the data and what are the projections for the district what things whether it's your academic data whether it's equity gap data whether it's projections for your enrollment and how does that influence the direction of the district and then the final phase here is just the analyzing the the current data that you already have so it's looking back and saying okay if

021these are the patterns that you've been working with what's worked what doesn't work what are the things that you would like to see differently and starting to move forward on those we'll move to the next slide so our next slide is addressing karen three so karen iii is a focus on co-creating so you have connection you're working on connecting with people you have the second piece is that community sourcing so you're bringing voices to the table getting diverse perspectives and then you get to this phase of the process or this karen in the process and you begin to say okay if we're if we have the information here now how do we continue to co-create a future that is desirable for our district essentially how do you make this a place that everyone wants to

022be a part of and that everyone feels like they had a voice in that process and so this co-creation would be co-creating some guide a guide that would actually we would refer to often a guide that would capture our values it would capture the vision it would capture some of the different pieces that people want to make sure are part of that this is who we are as a school district this is what we are all about and referring to that often so you're now creating a common conversation in your school district which starts to build culture and when you have culture in your school district and culture in your community that begins to use a common language common references you can work through hard things together it brings people together and it gives them

023something to be energized about and so there would be an actual product that's something that's that's put together over those hundred days or however long that takes to do that well and that wouldn't just be myself doing that that would be a team of people leaders bringing that together and we would also create in this stage a guiding coalition and the guiding coalition would be representation there would be internal people part of that which would be students student voice staff families administrators and others that would be a part of the internal process you'd also have external people a part of the guiding coalition which would be your business partners your chamber your non-profits health care and anyone that's a stakeholder in this school district that should be a part of a process of moving forward

024and their role would be not only to help finalize this product this piece that you're actually going to be referring to that you can live by a guide and something that will be evolving over time but it's also a group that's holding you accountable to that it's it's a group that's reaching back and i know you have a a community board as well that gives input so there might be structures in place that we can already capitalize in and repurpose some of those uses for so it wouldn't be necessarily creating all new it would be capitalized in the things you have and then where those gaps might be building new opportunities for people to be a part of that and those would address your long-term and your short-term goals as well and make sure that

025the culture communication is clear with everyone and then the final one and we'll go ahead and go to the next slide is the communication piece and so as you're looking at a district this size communication is so important in actually any district of any size communication is an essential piece of the fabric that builds trust when you hear people in any school district any organization saying there's a lack of trust or there's this breakdown between us and them a lot of times that comes back to communication and so building the systematic communication that builds trust over time is so important for this school district specifically i was in listening to a group tonight and now you could tell that was one of the things that is going to be so important to bring people together

026in this school district into in any trust that might be maybe not there that's where you start to build that very clearly through that and i'm sure that's our their efforts have already been there but this is a piece that would need to be in place if if if we're going to be successful in ins and continuing to bring people along so they feel part of it so as you look at communication specifically it's established that clear and transparent communication cadence so a cadence is very intentional you're looking at your entire year and you're saying let's map out the year and what are the pieces that we need to be communicating on on a regular basis it's a proactive approach to that it's not necessarily always reactive once people get into that reactive approach it's

027very difficult to build the trust but uh it's proactive it's saying what are the things that people need to hear about before they even have questions in working together on that and if you have the pulse of your community and they're a part of that conversation then that communication cadence becomes very natural over time and it builds trust over time and people start to see the um see in here the spirit in which the community is going about their business and so that they really feel that that trust is growing it's ongoing weekly updates to the board for myself and and here's the progress here's what's going on in the district so that you're hearing from me on a regular basis or phone calls on any anytime but just making sure that you have that

028open communication at all times and and giving you that constant cadence of communication and then it's um monthly progress updates to the community on how we're doing on that making sure that they understand as a part of these this process that we're going through in this hundred days where are we in that how's it going what things need to be and feedback loops that are built into that it's ongoing social media updates it's making sure people are seeing snapshots and social media and bringing awareness through that and and raising the positive so people are seeing the positives that are happening throughout that process um it's also making sure that we're in conversation with our state and government entities and making sure that we're on the same page in that communication process so that everyone is

029knowing what's going on and if they see an opportunity that there is an invitation to to be a part of that that process and then um as we communicate this it's it's launching that vision script for the community so people can start to build into that and share that with each other a vision script is essentially that language around the vision what's our shared vision and how do we how do we build that together and and when you give people that language it's something for them to talk about and get excited and they start to not just buy in but they begin to believe in where you're going as a district and and where that could be and they start to see themselves as part of the vision script as they go forward and it's

030creating systems to not only share the vision script but to celebrate to make sure you're recognizing staff and recognizing community members that are part of that people that are actually living out the vision that you hope to see or the values that you've communicated as a district and when you see that you celebrate them you raise those and so that when people see those examples they begin to say that's who we are and that's what we're about and it inspires others as we've gone through this pandemic i'm sure everyone has seen the school district is the heart and soul of a community it brings people together so to have a story around that that everyone is building and co-creating begins to capitalize on the power of community we'll go ahead and go to the next

031slide and staying true to my theme so we have cairns all along the way and those give us way direction and and it helps us to know that we're on the right path there are some base camp things that need to be addressed more immediately and so as i was looking through your data and listening to the questions that were asked in a community conversation when you're when you're hosting these interviews and you listen closely to the questions it tells you a lot and so as i look through some of the pieces that i heard were more immediate needs i looked and i could see these these are some of the themes so the covet impact well sure that's that's impacted so many people but it's assessing the financial impact of that it's understanding what

032that's going to look like for the long term how does that impact our five to ten year plan so that we're always thinking far into the future about how that's going to impact our finances it's reviewing the return to learn the readiness plan and understanding that not everyone's in the same place it's great to see everyone back into your buildings like being back today and walking through your buildings and seeing your students it gives me lots of energy it gets me excited to see that and i heard people say they're just so appreciative to be back together well there's still a lot of work in that process and so and there's a lot of um time and space that needs to be created for people as they transition back even to next year and so

033that's something that we would want to make sure that we're thinking about that it's also the uh the social and emotional needs of not just the students but for of the staff as i've led as a superintendent through some of the hardest times in our history i have heard very clearly as i've sat with staff members in my own district about the concern they have over themselves and their colleagues of their mental health and so it's really putting an emphasis on making sure that we and i know that you've all started that work and done amazing work here with your students but it's continuing that momentum and making sure that's a priority so that would be a base camp we need to get to we don't need 100 days to figure that out we need

034to continue that work and get right to it it's the dei work or diversity equity inclusion work it's understanding what that means in your community more deeply and making sure that we're starting to come up with a plan it's putting a team together to really analyze and understand what exactly is going on in terms of the data where are we seeing the gaps what's working what's not working so it's having a team look at that so that would be these are more immediate things that we would put into place or to build upon what you already have in place and again it's a communication cadence building trust to communication and transparency and allowing people to understand exactly where we are all the way all the way through so they feel a part of the story

035and then i would say authentic community engagement and it's that idea where you're starting to work with community and going down those community conversations and asking the three questions that should be asked anytime you're coming out of a moment like we just had over this last year it's not wasting that moment it's saying okay so what have we learned what have we learned in this moment about ourselves as people as humans what have we learned about ourselves as a community and how do we move forward so it's what should we stop what do we start and what do we continue what are things that we need to know and it's asking those three questions and going through and beginning to build those themes out so that we really understand where the community is because i

036mean let's face it this was a hard year but there's so many good things that we also discovered during this year so it's not been a waste and we need to capitalize on that and and continue to move forward and launch from that space and then finally one of the things that you will you will get right away as a listening leader someone who listens uh one of the things that i have learned along the way in my superintendency is the more that i listen the more that i learn the more that i just give space for people to speak and share it builds that relationship it builds that connection it builds understanding it builds empathy for me as a leader you know i served in many positions along the way teacher principal district level

037director and as i sat in the superintendency seat what i realized is it's not just one division you look at it's not just one group it's not just your building it's our whole community and you have to understand that your role in that is so um critical to not just the direction but also just the connection that people feel to your school district the support that you receive from others and so that's something you would receive right away as a listening leader and i would come in and that would be something i would do i know my time is close so i'm going to go ahead and close i think i have three minutes um it's okay so we'll move to the last slide and you're welcome to a couple more okay just trying to

038pace myself out so i'm sorry if i'm moving very quickly and i didn't ask if there was an interpreter so i should have slowed down a little bit before heading into that no worries um so i'll close with this um some common questions i've been asked along the way and so i just want to address those proactively how do you go from a district of 10 500 to 30 000 you know why would you want to move your family across the country these are all the good questions that i've been asked all day long from wonderful leaders and people throughout this process and so here this is a picture of my daughter so i have four kids this is tessa this is when we were hiking one day and she goes dad take this picture

039it's like my my power pose and uh and i love that and one of the things i tell my daughter all of the time is every night i talk with her dream big and dreaming big means you take risk it means you're humble along the way you learn and she said dad well what if i can't do this you know and i said well tess what if i can't do this we have to take those risks we have to step forward when you see an opportunity to possibly align your personal values and your professional values at a level that this potential opportunity could could allow us to do as a family you step forward into that and you take the risk and you believe in the people that you will be received by it's not

040just about you as a leader it's not just about and this is how i talk to my kids and i talk to tess because i think she'll be a wonderful leader um probably the president at some point in time but just the idea that you trust the people you build teams you build relationships you lean on those that have done the good work and you begin to move forward together and your role in that is to bring energy bring enthusiasm bring vision bring creativity innovation and those are things that i bring and those are things i'm excited about bringing to the teams you already have in place you have phenomenal staff already in place i met with your your union leadership and heard how they work together in some of the spirit of collaboration and

041that's one you have all the components there and what i bring to it is building the community inspiration energy and continuing to encourage people to do the best work they've ever done because it matters for our kids in the end so that is what i have for you tonight i appreciate your time i appreciate the community's uh support and uh their patience in this process and i really wish you all the best you deserve uh the best and what a great place and thanks for your hospitality jonathan uh thank you for we said this behind closed doors but i think for the community we do thank you very much for joining us uh coming out to fort collins it's a real privilege to have had you and we look forward to the deliberation we'll be

042doing tomorrow night because we've gotten three fantastic people you do you have three great people and i wish everyone the best in the process but it's uh it's been an honor to meet you so thank you very much likewise thank you all all right and just so everybody knows we're not really going to ask questions at this point we'll yeah okay have a good evening i'm sorry we didn't get to meet your wife again so okay so with that we'll just so everybody knows what's going on i think we'll we'll break for a few minutes while we wait for the next candidate to walk across from the itc so welcome and i'll say your name for everybody so heather sanchez welcome and we decided as a board that we would like you to feel free

043to remove your mask we will all leave hours on but we wish the community would be able to get to see you so as long as you're comfortable so there you go and from there i turn it over to you thank you for joining us and your the floor is yours all right thank you for having me good evening ladies and gentlemen of the board it's a really pleasure to be here with you this evening and to our viewing community it's a real honor to be here with you i can't see you but i know you're out there so it's a real honor to be here with you all this evening just to talk a little bit more about myself and so that you can have a better understanding of how i might enter into

044the district and then to address some questions from the board so before i get started my presentation is up but before i get started i have to do some quick thank yous for today i had i had a wonderful time visiting a number of the schools obviously i couldn't get to all of them but visiting a number of them so i have to give a special shout out to kevin lewis for driving me around and keeping me on time he was on point he got me where i needed to be so thank you to kevin and then some of the students so at bolt middle school a thank you to the leadership team and to a special shout out to olivia and jayden for letting me know that they wanted their next superintendent to really

045encourage student voice and they also wanted to know what my thoughts were about snow days they asked me a couple of times about that at shepherdson the leadership team at shepherdson and audrey who was a fifth grader who spoke about her experiences with project-based learning in a way that was really eloquent and compelling and then the entire fossil ridge high school staff for touring us around the school and i'm getting right down to business with some serious questions that they had for me and then to liberty common elementary for taking the time to tour me through the school and explain their curricular approach and why they're so passionate about it working for them and then of course to tessa who has organized all of this and so i don't i mean i can barely keep

046track of my own schedule i don't know how she's keeping track of everybody so i just wanted to open with a few notes of gratitude and then i'll go ahead and begin with so before i jump into my slides which is an entry plan just a little bit about why i'm interested in this position i have spoken to it at the community forum and the staff forum but just also wanted to address it for any any members out there this evening that haven't heard me mention it i'm hitting the highlights that aren't in my resume or in my linkedin profile so after 23 plus years in cape pre-k through 12 public education what really compels me is meeting the needs of all students that really is my fire in my belly always has been always

047will be i really do believe that access to an opportunity to a high quality public education is a right and a moral imperative i think we do an excellent job of serving most students and i think we in all districts including pooter underserved some students historically and so i'm driven about achieving excellence for all students and also especially for students who are historically underserved and so that's what drives me and i'm a servant leader i'm about service and i am compelled by student-centered decisions so that's why i'm interested in this position what excites me about it and peter in addition to having potentially the opportunity to return to the community with my family this district is well situated already has a lot of great things going on but is really situated to take a leap

048to truly the next level in really closing some opportunity gaps lots of excellent successes in the district lots of really dedicated talented staff a community that is willing and wanting to partner all of the puzzle pieces in place and and an opportunity to pull those together to continually improve on some of the excellence that's already here and so why am i a fit for the position i do think that i am a compassionate collaborative courageous leader that is relentless in the pursuit of doing what's best for kids and so i feel like that would make me a good fit for this district and it would be my deepest honor to be selected as your next superintendent so on that note i'll go ahead and go into my entry plan and so this is for the

049fall semester so just a reminder that it's a short throw period of time but i really want to start with some of the centering pieces about the the action items that you're going to see in the entry plan so next slide please all right so i'm starting with framing the opportunity of practice some some people refer to this as the problem of practice i refer to it as the opportunity of practice there is a fair amount of text on the slide so i won't read it to you but what i will share is essentially that this is a district with a long and storied celebration of academic excellence of innovation of some really creative things happening and within each of the communities that comprise the pooter school district some really distinct and celebratory personalities within

050the communities and within the schools that's all a tremendous celebration for the district the opportunity of practice comes when you look at the outcomes over time for the district overall the district performs above state average and performs quite well but then within that you have some disparate outcomes particularly for communities that have historically been underserved so by that i mean our black students our latinx students our students receiving specially designed instruction or students with disabilities are low-income students so the opportunity for the district for us is to maintain the excellence that we have in place and to really lean in to how to best meet the needs to close the opportunity gaps for our students so that's going to frame the entry plan steps that you'll see in the coming slides next next slide please

051so a theory of action usually is a forty thousand foot view but it helps frame the opportunity of practice so the theory of action as i see it for the pooter school district is that if we i will go ahead and read this one out loud if we as a district and community can effectively come together to improve sense of belonging and equity driven systems of academic and social emotional supports for all students then each and every student in the pooter school district will thrive and be prepared for whatever their dreams hold post graduation so that's the framing of the specific steps in the theory of action okay next step next slide please so i also will center the steps in the purpose in the why this is one of my favorite quotes um for

052maya angelou i sh i know that she wrote it with regard to being an author but i think it's very appropriate relative to center of belonging and that quote is there is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside of you so each of us has a story inside of us each one of our students has a story inside of us i have a story inside of myself and when i think about sense of belonging and dignity what i mean is are our students able to tell their story or how many of our students are bearing an old an untold story so that is the center that is the north star of the entry plan that that we'll see in the coming slides all right next slide please so the elements that comprise an

053effective system and that i think really would be and i know the first thing i want to say is i know that these are not not in place in the pooter school district because i know that there's elements of all of this currently in place in the district what i'm envisioning here and what i'm going to describe to you in some more detail in the coming slides is the way that this all works together so this slide is referring to alignment up and down the system vertical alignment and horizontal alignment through the unified improvement plan or our key improvement strategies you'll see the biggest cog on the slide is equity inclusion and belonging so that includes social emotional well-being that includes racial equity that includes students receiving special education services all that that implies that

054is the foundation of the house that is the foundation of everything that we do as educators the sense of belonging and equity and access and opportunity for our students so you'll see that's the biggest cog that leads right into standards-based instruction and culturally responsive teaching and learning strategies i think that without that the foundation then then we can do all the work we want with standards-based instruction and culturally responsive teaching and learning we're not going to get the results that we want for kids so starting with equity equity and inclusion and belonging then looping directly into standards-based instruction and then also culturally responsive teaching and learning and then threading throughout that effective multi-tiered systems of support so the visual here is one of cogs that work together and are like a continuous cycle another another

055visual could be the legs of a stool but i really do believe that these are three primary and necessary components to propel a system forward so to that end next slide please so there are four goals that i'm going to hit the highlights for for my entry plan the first one is gaining a deep understanding of the strengths and the opportunities of the district to accelerate the learning of all students there's a fair amount that i do know there's a fair amount i do not know so first order of business is to gain a deep and contextualized understanding of the baseline of the what is in the district what the current performance is both formally and informally and what the current challenges are both formally and informally second goal is strengthening family and community engagement

056and enhancing communication it is very clear to me that there's a lot of feedback from the community and the staff around partnerships in particular with community and parent partnerships i'll talk about that also in related to just improving family engagement that's a key component of cultural belonging and sense of belonging for our families our third goal is actively promoting a district of col a district culture of equity inclusion and belonging that as i mentioned previously is is a necessary component if we're to effectively meet the needs of all of the students that we serve in our district and the fourth goal actively promoting a culture of creative risk taking and innovation we we definitely want to promote creativity and risk taking in a healthy and safe way so that we can continue to innovate and

057how we're serving students that is something that this district has been quite successful with in the past and we definitely want to continue to build on that success all right next slide please some of the specific steps so you'll see here i've put a little legend down at the bottom so in terms of implementation science and reporting to the school board and to the community the check mark just means it's complete the little green the little blue arrow means it's on track and the little clock means it's not yet started so that's to help hold me accountable and to make it really clear to the community and to the school board whether or not where we are with our process and these are some specific action steps aligned by each goal so relative to the

058first goal you can see there are some items there looking at reviewing all of the critical documents in the district including budgets there's a number of things there achievement data policies and procedures and spending transition time with the interim superintendent to understand key pieces that i need to be aware of and then along with that is meeting with every building principal one-on-one every department administrator one-to-one meeting with board members individually as a group meeting with key strategic partners to include ptsa community groups employee groups and conducting a listening tour small group at all of the around across the district in all of the all of the buildings to better understand the anecdotal perspective of what's taking place in the district right now and then of course attending events key district at key district gatherings and

059meetings visibility is a key component of a superintendent's entry plan so those are some specific steps related to goal one next slide please so goal 2 centers around strengthening family community engagement and enhancing communication so you can see some specific strategies there this the legend is the same for all of them again down at the bottom establishing or refining superintendent advisory councils and representation that has representation from community leaders principals educators students and classified staff i know there are some advisory groups already in place so it's both about understanding which groups are in place how effectively are they functioning and which advisory groups do we not yet have but should have conducting a deep review of family engagement and communication departments and refining two-way communication and input strategies with our families is the next item

060on the on the entry plan and then what i've done here is i've gone ahead and bolded some of the same strategies that are that i'll pull out to talk more specifically about community engagement and partnering specifically with community groups and community agencies so that's why you see three of those there in bold so meeting with local leaders employee groups student groups and legislators and joining local civic organizations is a key component of a willingness to partner and better understand the needs of both the district and serving students and that that organization and how we can best partner to meet student needs develop and implement a plan for direct outreach to families especially for those who have been historically underserved or who we don't frequently hear from and then conducting community and staff communications needs

061assessment and then meeting with key community partner groups to develop and refine common goals and align specific strategic efforts so when it comes to partnering with local agencies and community groups and partners the i think the most important part is having time to come together around a common vision and goal and then action planning for the next steps okay next slide please goal three actively promoting a district culture of equity inclusion and belonging this one is work that the district has begun to do and in in my opinion is going to need to continue to heavily lean in in toward in service of students so to that end some of the things in the first semester that i would be wanting to look at is either establishing or refining a district equity and inclusion advisory

062council i know that some buildings do have equity advisory groups and others don't and at the district level i didn't i couldn't tell as far as i can tell right now if there's a district one i didn't see evidence of that so if there's not i would really want to look into establishing that if there is and i just couldn't tell from my from my research that is something i'd want to look at the effectiveness of it and how we might refine it conducting an equity and inclusion list listening sessions across the dish the district in small group is a very important and necessary component and then with leadership teams reviewing and refining unified improvement plans strategies that are specific to equity and inclusion efforts i did see the presence of some of those in

063some of the plans not necessarily in all of the plans so that's something that is really going going to be an important part moving forward of unified improvement planning and then developing a deep understanding of current culturally responsive pedagogical practices that are in place again i know there are elements of it in place but not something at this point that i that popped clearly to me around professional learning for culturally responsive teaching and learning and practices in place so i'd want to learn a little more deeply what is in place and how to expand on those so that's the third goal and then the fourth actively promoting a culture of creative risk taking and innovation this is something we really need to not lose sight of and need to continue to promote because it's where

064some of the most creative ideas come from so gathering information to fully understand the innovative practices in place district-wide some of them i am aware of others i probably am not fully aware of and so would need to become so conducting staff and community needs assessment around how to best prioritize key areas of innovation and interest in the district that includes family and community as well as staff around what are the high areas of interest around innovation and see if there's some convergence around those and then last but not least something called an innovation lab think tank it has been my experience that providing an opportunity for groups to come together and think creatively about innovative strategies that best meet the need of their local community is something that has been effective where people can

065collaborate with one another and so that's the fourth goal then i'll close with those and then pause for questions so next slide please so a little bit about progress monitoring and feedback loops any sort of initiative work or entry plan is only as effective as how we are assessing it and reflecting on it and so you saw the legend underneath the slides around just a really quick and easy way to to be clear about the effectiveness of what has or has not happened in terms of implementation some other key things include department project map updates so from central office departments school unified improvement plan updates district level mtss data review cycles to see the outcomes that we're currently getting the effectiveness of those and if we're if we're making progress with closing gaps staff and

066community structured and informal feedback loops both structured and informal and of course with you the board our reporting relationship and our communication cycles so that you are fully aware of the progress that we are making towards my entry plan goals next slide please all right and then just closing with when we think about coming back to to my why and to my purpose as an incoming superintendent and really as an educator and even more so as a human being this is another one of my quotes from paulo cuelo from the alchemist who's one of my favorite authors and it just says no matter what he does every person on earth plays a central role in the history of the world and normally he doesn't know it so we'll close with that just to emphasize um

067you know i would love i would be deeply honored to be your next superintendent coming in it is a really important decision but whomever it is i can't overemphasize the importance of every person in the in this system and the role that we all play and ultimately serving students so that's the entry plan piece and then i'll just tease out again circling back to the community partnership piece really the importance of with our community partners leaning into the conversation and looking at establishing some common strategic efforts that are in alignment with the district efforts i think is the a really big part of the process and then of course visibility and all of this visibility is key presence is key compassion is key and deep listening is key so that's a just a snapshot of

068what the first semester might look like so i'll pause there and take additional or questions that you may have for me do board members have questions at this point or we weren't really doing many questions okay great yeah i mean we're happy to just kind of transition back to you if you'd like okay okay so i think what i want to make the make the board aware of and the community aware of is coming in if i'm selected as your next superintendent i will be coming in in service with compassion and courage and dedication and a really clear set of outline steps that only go so far and honestly i was asked to go into the first semester and i really wouldn't want to go much beyond that because a big part of that entry

069is relationship building and deep understanding so the most important part of the process is successful entrance and and deep understanding and building off of the strengths that are in the district while actively leaning into the conversations about the opportunities that we have before us around meeting the needs of truly every student in the district and that comes through partnership with the community with the board with each school each individual leader each school staff and so that's an iterative process in terms of progress monitoring what you could expect and what the community can expect is regular at least quarterly updates of where the implementation pieces are in place and regular feedback loops some of those via survey some of them informal some of them formal and a heavy presence in the community and a willingness to

070lean in and support all of our students so and with that that's the that's the highlights of the entry piece and so i think that's probably a fair amount of information and everybody's had a very long day already so i will pause there and just thank you for your time and to everybody watching this evening thank you as well heather thank you very much for presenting again tonight it's true it has been a long day we've we've given you a whirlwind of this district we've spent time with you and we really really appreciate you coming to fort collins and sharing that time with us so it's been yeah it's been an honor for the board as well so fantastic that it is your cube yeah thank you so much okay so once again we'll take

071a break and allow our third and final candidate to join us so welcome brian thank you for joining us and i'm going to say your name fully for the community so welcome brian kingsley our third and final candidate for the evening and we really look forward to having you present to the public tonight and yes please do remove your mask as we keep ours on okay all right and the floor is yours so uh first and foremost i just want to say thank you for this incredible opportunity uh it's no question that you have a very difficult decision that's ahead of you but to be a part of this competitive process for this prestigious district is one of the greatest career honors for me and for my family and i just wanted to start off

072by saying thank you the second thing that i'd like to share with you is that i'm a package deal my wife marilyn and two boys are the most important thing in my life and i'm so grateful that they're here uh in fort collins joining with us because this is this is a family decision you know that this role in being a part of your great school system requires a family investment like no other and they have made great sacrifices that i'm deeply grateful for to allow me to do this work and if given the opportunity my wife and i would not just seek to be integrated into this community as leaders and educators but also neighbors and parents of a psd school-age student in the year ahead and we think that's incredibly significant as we've

073had an opportunity to take a look at this school system to understand the quality of life that this entire community brings to our family it was it was a firm throughout the course of today visiting schools i had an opportunity to be escorted by mr murphy who works in our maintenance department who's a third generation farmer uh who you know is giving back to this community as a result of just what he he learned from his family and as i had an opportunity to listen and watch you uh it's incredibly consistent that all of you show up putting humanity first and that's what reminds me of where i grew up i grew up in scranton pennsylvania in a community where my parents my sisters taught us to make an impact and my grandfather uh you

074know he was a person that was very significant in my life and i'd like to just say briefly a small story about him when i was younger he had shared with me that he took me my very first high school football game and it was just the two of us and it was a rare occasion because i'm one of 26 of his grandchildren and we all competed for his time and energy and attention and i didn't watch much football that night because i couldn't take my eyes off my grandfather and he was you know he had power and it was all rooted in his ability to offer mentorship if you laughs and respect no matter who you were as long as you were willing to give that in return and my grandfather was the head

075custodian of west grant in high school and i always thought he was the principal his charisma wasn't reserved just for family paired with hard work and my grandmother it's how he learned to navigate the world and he taught all of us that the first door to a great opportunity is a great public education and what matters most in this world is people not how large your family is or how large your district is but how we treat each other how we care for each other listen to each other and that's why i got into public education to make sure knowing that it changed the trajectory of my life i wanted to give that same opportunity to all of the kids that i served if not better today i am the chief academic officer for charlotte

076mecklenburg schools in north carolina that is the 18th largest school system in america and i am personally responsible for a budget valued at over a quarter of a billion dollars responsible for improving all things instruction for 175 schools with over 8 000 teachers and 149 000 students now over the past three years in charlotte as well as across two even larger school systems in fort lauderdale florida and in raleigh north carolina i've had the opportunity over my career to lead large scale change efforts that have all resulted in improved student achievement more equitable instruction increased graduation rates innovative practices that have brought community and higher education partners together to benefit engagement opportunities for our students and i've learned to become a really good fiscal steward knowing that the heart of an educator paired with the

077habits of a strategist in the mindset of a businessman is really what i think will allow me to hit the ground running here what makes this community special is that you have all of the conditions and all of the talent that's necessary not just to be the greatest district in northern colorado not even just the greatest district in colorado but i believe the highest performing district in this country it's going to require a team effort it's going to require a governance team of eight but i do believe that my track record of success and my willingness to bring the community together in partnership with staff to honor student voice teacher voice in this work to be innovative but also to solve real-world problems that exist in our community today that need to be addressed and

078i'm really grateful for this opportunity and i look forward to spending a little bit more time with you this evening telling you in more specific terms around what that can look like and getting a chance to speak a little bit more so thank you for having me very good and uh just because you slowed down it was like you were waiting for us to ask you the next question i'll tell you what take it away we're anxious to hear how you'll start out in the district call it the first 100 days thank you so before you i believe you have a print copy it's a comprehensive robust 27-page entry plan that is a call to action to bring our entire community community together from our students our staff us as a board and a governance

079team but also our business and community partners who are vibrant our philanthropies our advocacy groups and our very strong higher education partners to build a plan forward that benefits this district and makes our district ends come to life i think that's incredibly important i also want to lead by saying that this is a draft this is my best thinking based upon what i know to be true about this system but i am going to continue to lead always as a learner first and i have a lot of listening to do and as a governance team of eight my goal is not to drop a 27-page paper in front of you and say this is what we're going to do if given the opportunity and you approve it but to iterate against it based upon your

080eyes your lens your understanding of this community and community needs as well as various other community partners that are incredibly important to engage with we can go to the next slide please as i've had an opportunity to speak and listen to many of you today you reiterated over and over that the purpose of a strong high quality public education system is to ensure that all students reach their full potential i share in that belief system deep in my heart and in my soul that it is really dependent upon us coming together as a community to make sure that we're giving every opportunity possible for our children to access their very best selves that's not just what happens in the classroom it's getting children to understand the world to understand themselves to make meaning of things

081so they can see themselves with pride and when they look in having opportunity in the mirror but that starts with listening and learning and that's the spirit in which i share this plan with you today would you mind please moving to the next slide so as we have an opportunity to think about our approach moving forward you may want to orient yourself to page 12 specifically because the plan has to have very very specific goals that require us to partner together to ensure that we are going to first and foremost prioritize and ensure that there's an efficient and effective and seamless transition of power in in the school system to make sure that all of the great things that are currently happening continue to happen and we are incredibly responsive to all of our staff

082in students needs especially while dealing with this crisis that we're all grappling with as a community um and as a society i think that starts with leading by listening and honoring the successes there are this is a very very solid good strong district and i want to acknowledge that over and over again my family's willingness to move across the country to be a part of this community and be a part of the school system as a result of building off the strengths that are already here but also to be able to push it to consider that there may be an opportunity in partnership with people not to people but with people to take it to a whole other level and that's incredibly exciting it's one of the reasons why we're here we also know that

083we're functioning in a different time where student needs teacher needs our needs are different than what they would have been maybe 15 months ago and we're going to need to be incredibly responsive to that dynamic to build any plans built on and strengthened and coupled with the lived experiences of the people in this community and that's going to require to elevate their voice and their platform give them a platform that allows us to be responsive and build tactics and strategies that are truly responsive to what we know that their need is not what we think that their need is and lastly i'll share with you is that this 100-day entry plan sounds great but it can't stop there right it needs to not just help us get connected really mean you're already deeply connected but

084to help ensure that we stay connected beyond those hundred days to con continue to make progress uh and move our district to another level together and i just want to emphasize that and stress that over and over again if you can move to the next slide i'd appreciate it thank you so key specific action steps that i would intend on taking if you were to approve this particular strategy and plan moving forward is start by deeply listening to all the stakeholders in our community both internally and externally getting into every single one of our schools to make sure that i have a deep understanding not just based upon what i've read and what i know to be true based upon the data that exists regarding the pooder school district but i'm validating that and affirming

085that in questioning that in partnership with people based upon what they're experiencing today knowing that that may be very different 15 months ago may be very different three months from now it also allows me to learn about our data learn about our policies learn about our lived experiences to build in partnership with our team our school-based leaders our district leaders and most importantly with you as a governance team of eight some suggested next steps that we can begin to think about as a foundation for a strategic plan it allows me to share my leadership story it allows me to share my truth with the people in this community to begin to build a bridge of partnership but knowing that net needs to also allow me in partnership with this district to build really significant protocols

086and strategies that we'll talk about i'm sure at some point today around how best to engage our families and engage our partners in a thoughtful way that their capabilities and their capacities and desires are really matched with our student needs to to push innovation and service in our community and our districts and i think beginning then after about 100 days you'll have an opportunity to understand how our team is thinking about the precipice of the foundation of a strategic plan but please note you won't have to wait 100 days for updates you know the deliverables are as important as the goals and the strategy i would want you to be engaged as many if not all of the ongoing collaborative efforts that are a part of this particular suggested plan it would come with a

087comprehensive report of its findings and our celebrations it would also as i shared with you be the foundation of a strategic plan and it would also lead us to having an opportunity to fully address all staff and families of our community in a system through a state of psd address that will really kind of codify what's going really really well and what do we you know in transparency what are some of the things that we're struggling with that we really need to come together and work rapidly together to solve if you can move the next slide please so to go a little bit deeper on that particular strategy this is just one opportunity to kind of look at the engagement aspect of the plan as i shared with you there are very there are many

088many components but really making sure as your next superintendent that i'm really diversifying my time and my experiences with the broad set of stakeholders that make up this community and the school district and really what makes it strong today that starts with our families including our students really understanding where they're coming from also all of the aspects that i shared with you earlier are various advocacy groups our business groups our strong higher ed partners and i would obviously want to do that in collaboration with you you know this community deeply well you understand where the influencers are you also know where the areas of our most marginalized aspects and underrepresented groups in this community that i and the team need to strategically target to elevate their voice to ensure that they are a part of

089this plan as well and that includes a visit to every single one of our schools i'm going to need to get a very brand new pair of brand new pair of sneakers and wear them out but we can do it i'm convinced on that and you showed me that today by getting me out into a lot of aspects of the community and just i really really appreciated that and enjoyed it and that also includes central office the various departments that make this district great you know we have to serve as a support to schools that's incredibly important so understanding their realities what their challenges and strengths are to build a better tomorrow for our schools i think can really help paint a picture of what needs to happen moving forward there are various questions that

090i have lined up as potential questions that i would engage and ask i listed three particular examples in the spirit of what we know people are dealing with we know that you as a board have prioritized mental health supports in our district understanding how that's playing out in the real lived experiences of our families and our community is something that i'm very interested in as well as the academic supports you're building robust summer programming which is great we also know that we're not going to be able to intervene our way out of this scenario in terms of the unfinished instruction that our students have experienced over the last year so we'll need to be incredibly thoughtful not just around the strategy but also the additional use of federal stimulus dollars that we know uh will

091not be there forever now and we're going to need to be really building a purposeful plan that is responsive to children's needs as well as teacher needs next slide please reading i apologize first and foremost i would want to make sure that as i think of these six lanes as priority areas not necessarily of the district but on my onboarding as your next superintendent to make sure that as we're building a pathway forward we're thinking about how we're organized to do the work that we're asking we're thinking about how we're strategizing around particular student and district need and we think about what is needed to make sure that we're elevating all of the various voices in the system and as i shared with you throughout this interview process you know victory does live and belong

092in the school but winning and losing happens in this board room and it really will be dependent upon how we function as a team which is the reason why i prioritized us as a governance team and a team of eight uh as mission number one and getting a chance to build better and stronger relationships with all of you getting a chance to know you to better understand district priorities as we build a pathway forward will be something incredibly important to bring out into the community as we're engaging people as a unit and not necessarily just singularly as as your next superintendent as i shared with you earlier i think really being intentional around building a multi-year approach in response to the pandemic is going to be incredibly important that we're agile that we're responsive but

093we're also being very strategic about services as well as the dollars that we know that we will have available to us in short order i also think that it you know we're in agreement around the importance of student achievement being an incredible priority in the system um and that's not absent of what their needs are to be healthy and happy and joyful and so really pairing those things together and not looking at them as separate entities i think is really really important to understand as we're breathing life into children through our teachers through our principles through our families that we're really making sure that we're taking care of all aspects of children not just prioritizing one over the other i think it's incredibly important for me to learn and listen to see how we're organized

094to carry the work forward what's beautiful about the district ends that you have put together and set forth is that they're greatly ambitious and they should be that's incredibly appropriate but making sure that we are aligned and organized to do what we're asking people to do uh is going to need you know my immediate attention uh to make sure i'm seeing how we're being responsive to schools and functioning as a school district instead of a district of schools and that includes you know the operations and the communications and human resources and finance you know these things really shouldn't be looked at in six separate silos there are interdependencies across all of them and it requires us to have an equity lens on how we think about all of this work moving forward as well if

095you can please move to the next slide please so if you had an opportunity to orient yourself to page 22 that's one particular example that outlines really specific actions or objectives and actions and get a sense of what my expected goals are for myself as well as for our respective team i think this can help build transparency in the system around how we're paying and special you know our time our energy and attention i think that level of clarity would provide great sense of relief to our district team in terms of how they can on ramp themselves into a successful transition that would be incredibly important of building a transition team and working with current interim superintendent lambert as a top rep priority to make sure that these actions can come to life so people

096can begin moving forward on day one and not day 30 or day 60 and day 90. so i think that's just really important and you can see how that transcends across all six of the respective focus areas next slide please now as i shared with you i'm giving you just in service of the time that we have together this evening a very high level overview this is going to require a much deeper read and a deeper opportunity to engage in this but if i leave you with nothing else i think what's really important across all aspects of those 27 pages that are in front of you are three equity centered commitments and core values that i believe are true to myself as a person as an educator and as a leader and what i believe

097to be true by you uh in terms of the system which is one another one of the other reasons amongst many others that my family and myself are very interested in this opportunity and that starts with a call for visionary district leadership i don't believe that your charge for that resides just with the chair of the superintendency i believe every role has purpose and every role can be a leader and leadership needs to be a core strategy in our work and i believe that if together we prioritize visionary district leadership then we have an opportunity to ensure access to high quality public education as being every student's fundamental right i believe that you believe that and that you committed to that and you are living and breathing that through your actions not just your words

098um which is highly highly commendable i also believe that as a system we need to make sure it's now more than ever uh that we need to effectively allocate our time our energy our most prized resources our people our money alone around the singular goal of student achievement and improving student well-being so i think that's incredibly important and not just doing that a year at a time but looking at that multi-years out i know we heard and talked a little bit today about a 10-year vision um i think that is incredibly visionary but i also know that things you know with our budget scenario in this community uh we believe that you know things will probably change two to three years out so we're going to have some thoughtful conversation regarding the development of a

099strategic plan in terms of what's appropriate to build that but i look forward to having that conversation with all of you and i also believe that what's really important and this is obviously called out in your work too that doing this through inclusive practices to make sure that you know as we're bleeding in positions of power and authority that we're doing so in service of the people that we serve and elevating their voice is going to be mission critical not just for myself as your next superintendent but for everybody that's a part of this school system and so that's a core value that you will see present itself over and over again as a through line throughout this proposed entry plan next slide please to you know just reiterate things that i know that are

100already important to you and important to this district but leadership matters but you know being you know building a culture where everybody can experience that leadership and it becomes a machine where other people are beginning to breathe think it feel it experience it become it is really really important and that's that's all children that's all staff members that's all members of the community and it's going to be really important that we are service driven organization first and foremost each and every day families of 30 000 most prized possessions send their children through our doors it's the very best children they got and we're going to serve every one of them well and i look forward to the opportunity potentially to be the next superintendent that partners with our schools and our district leaders to do

101just that i do think that it's important as your next superintendent that i lead by example that i model vulnerability that i build trust that i focus not just on execution but on learning and not just for children but for our adults to realize that in order to actually execute our district ends and execute a strategic plan it's going to require all of us to think uh differently about ourselves and how we show up in the work but also about the work itself and that's going to require i think exemplary leadership and doing that in an inclusive way that elevates all voices and i think again as i shared with you and you actually have shared with me through the principles of community that are a part of the school system which i honor and

102and think that they are incredible i think going above and beyond that as i talked to as many of our team members today i think you know my trust isn't going to be earned with you in one evening um it's not going to be earned with you in just two weeks it's going to be earned over time through me showing up in a way that is reliable in a way that you believe that i am showing in developing a culture of care with you in this governance team but also the people that you would charge me to serve in this community um that i'm doing it in ways that are sincere that i'm backing up with i say and i say what i mean and i'm doing it in a way uh that is allowing

103me to show with the people in this in this building as well as in our in our schools that we're incredibly competent we may not have all of the answers but we're willing to find them out to provide a better service for the people that are coming to our doors every day and i think that matters next slide please and and lastly you know all of this that i've shared with you tonight is in service of meeting you know the needs of children in our classrooms that is where victory happens and instructional excellence matters your district has already outlined a call to action for culturally responsive pedagogy culturally responsive content thinking about the role of professional development i believe and we've talked a little bit about this through this uh incredible process that we have

104to stay focused on the intersection around who we are as people how we show up the role our race our bias our power plays into the classroom into our leadership and match that and pair that with how we think about our knowledge of standards our knowledge of content and the knowledge and the brilliance of the children that we serve i think all of those things together are incredibly important to have conditions and learning strategies built around our systems so we can truly meet the needs of kids but see them as assets in the work knowing that not all of them are thriving right now while many of them are we also have students that are struggling in our community and it's going to be incredibly important that we know them deeply that we see their

105brilliance but we also see ourselves to figure out ways that we can partner with their families and with them to build a better tomorrow last slide please i share this with all of you that you know in my experience as an educator i still have the heart of an educator and i always will but justice is in the details the details matter that's the reason why you're looking at a 27-page report with a lot of information not because i want to overwhelm you or the community but without my insights on all of those particular action steps i would be doing a disservice to you and our governance team a disservice to the community and the people who are a part of this great school system if i didn't want to roll up my sleeves and

106get in the trenches with them that doesn't mean that i want to do their jobs but i want us to understand the expectations are great our children who are in third grade will never most likely get a chance to be in third grade again they get one shot we get one shot of getting this right and the justice in those details it you know it requires us to be our very best i know that's why i got into public education i know that's why you got into the roles that you are in to be a servant leader in this community and it was affirmed to me today across all of the teachers and the principles that i've met as well as the district leaders that those that heart and that mindset to do what's right

107by all people in this community lies here i just believe we can work together in significant ways to take it to another level and that's why i'm here and i'm excited to partner with you so thank you for allowing me to present my entry plan with you this evening brian thank you for uh sharing that with us and um unless you have closing statements that's really what we wanted for the evenings so i just ask if you have any other thoughts you want to present i i just want to reiterate that you know public education changed the trajectory of my life and the only reason that i want to be a part of this great school system is to pay that same opportunity forward for every psd student and their family and give them a

108better opportunity a series of opportunities that's going to require us to convene our community and our district stakeholders it's going to require us as a team as well as myself to model empathetic leadership but it's going to also require precision like leadership around our various taxpayer dollars the assets and the resources we have to make sure that we map them to the students who need them most i have a track record of success in doing that in multiple districts i've been working my entire career for this opportunity i believe i can hit the ground running and i'm just incredibly grateful for your time your willingness to see me as a finalist and i just really really excited about the opportunity moving forward so thank you to all of you fantastic yeah thank you for joining

109us today and thank you for bringing your entire family here to northern colorado yeah we're really really pleased to have had you included in this process so all right have a wonderful time here in footer school district good night okay yeah okay so uh that is it that is what we had on the agenda this evening so with that at 7 44 pm i'm going to adjourn the meeting you