The Groundbreaking Plan to Stop Teachers From Being Priced Out of Their Own Communities

In part one of my S5E31 @schoolutionspodcast conversation, Dr. Fabi Bagula, Superintendent of San Diego Unified School District, discusses her authentic approach to leadership and its impact on education. She shares insights into critical teacher retention issues and the innovative, affordable housing solutions her team is implementing in San Diego, California. Fabi's commitment to equity and school improvement strategies is evident as she addresses the challenges and triumphs of leading with an open heart.

Fabi also speaks to why she refuses to call it an "achievement gap" (it's a support gap) and how she's avoided hardening in response to public criticism. This episode is essential listening for school administrators, instructional leaders, new teachers, teacher mentors, instructional coaches, families, and anyone invested in school improvement and education transformation.

Some Episode Mentions:
➡️Otto Scharmer, author of Presencing
➡️Marshall Elementary School
➡️Yale Broad Leadership Fellowship
➡️Monday 02/26 & Tuesday 02/27 board meetings, when they chose the final proposals for more information

📌 Part 2 drops Friday, where Fabi illuminates what emancipatory leadership looks and feels like in practice

📑 CHAPTERS
0:00 Introduction — Dr. Fabi Bagula, First Latina Superintendent of San Diego Unified
1:45 The researcher Fabi is leaning on: Otto Scharmer's Presencing
3:00 How they met 26 years ago at Marshall Elementary
4:30 Schools belong to the communities they serve
5:50 Stepping into unsteady terrain: building trust as a new superintendent
7:00 Why honest, hard conversations move schools AND people
8:00 The weight of carrying everyone's 10-year-old problems
9:30 Laying off 69 while creating 86, and why no one heard the good news
10:40 "Don't armor up" - the hardest part of leading with an open heart
12:30 The affordable housing crisis for San Diego educators
13:45 How the district turned 5 vacant properties into 30 developer bids
16:00 $4 billion in long-term revenue with zero taxpayer dollars
17:45 Why educators living in the communities they teach matters
19:00 Whole child AND whole adult education
20:30 Lightning Round: school culture, the support gap, and what teachers need to know
22:00 Teaser for Part 2

🎧 New episodes every Monday & Friday with bite-sized Wednesday reel bonus content.
📧 Connect with me if you’d like a thought partner to help you cultivate curious learners who advocate for what they believe in.
🎵 Music: Benjamin Wahl

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When coaches, teachers, administrators, and families work hand in hand, it fosters a school atmosphere where everyone is inspired and every student is fully engaged in their learning journey.

Transcript

Olivia: [00:00:00] What does it look like when the leader of one of California's largest school districts shows up without armor? In this episode, Dr. Fabi Bagula, the first Latina superintendent of San Diego Unified, gets real about the cost and the courage of leading with an open heart, why she refuses to call it an achievement gap, and the groundbreaking affordable housing initiative that is rewriting what it means to invest in educators.

This is Schoolutions, the podcast that extends education beyond the classroom. A show that isn't just theory but practical try-it-tomorrow approaches for educators and caregivers to ensure every student finds their spark and receives the support they need to thrive. 

Welcome to Schoolutions. I am Olivia Wahl, and I am so [00:01:00] happy and humbled at the same time to have my friend and colleague back on the podcast today, Dr. Fabi Bagula is the first Latina Superintendent of the San Diego Unified School District, California's second largest where she leads 95,000 students and 15,000 employees with a fierce commitment to equity, fiscal accountability, and whole-child education.

Fabi is a bicultural San Diego native, first-generation college graduate, former teacher turned Yale Broad Leadership fellow. She is redefining what bold school leadership looks like from balancing billion-dollar budgets to building affordable housing for teachers and educators who make the schools run. Fabi - I am so excited to be in conversation with you. Your schedule is jam packed and I am grateful for this nugget of time that I get to spend with you. [00:02:00] Thank you. 

Fabi: Of course. Anything for you, my friend.  

Olivia: Thank you. Um, I want to start off with research or a researcher that you're leaning on, especially when it comes to this affordable housing initiative for your teachers.

Fabi: So, I'm not leaning on a researcher for, um, specifically for housing. Uh, but I am really enjoying Otto Scharmer's new book Presencing. Um, because one of the things that he espouses is that we cannot solve the problems that have, um, hurt us for so many years with old solutions. Like we keep looking to something that has worked and tried to replicate.

And so he pushes us to think very differently, um, from a place of like possibility. Um, and then also given the chrono system that we're in right now, um, geopolitically, um, he also says we need islands of coherence. Um, and so who is on your island of coherence that's gonna help you make a difference? And so I really appreciate, um, him as a researcher.

Olivia: Oh, thank you for sharing that. I can't wait. I have to get the [00:03:00] book. Uh, I haven't read that. I want to go to your childhood and all of the moments that make you the spectacular human you are and I'm lucky to know. We met 26 years ago. I still remember meeting you for the first time. Um, I had just, it was entering San Diego Unified as a teacher, and you, I, I made eye contact with you and you became my person as a teacher at Marshall Elementary. And you've lived many different roles in that district. Um, but what has that experience taught you or shaped to who school is for? Who school serves? 

Fabi: So I'm actually gonna add something else because of something that you said that was just said to me about a week ago. So when I met you, you had just started your teaching career, I believe, like you were right in the beginning.

Olivia: Yeah. 

Fabi: And I remember being told, um, that I'm now an OG teacher [00:04:00] at Marshall, and there was so much teacher attrition at that school that I was like, I barely know what I'm doing. What are you, what are you talking about? Like what, then I'm supposed to like partner up with a new teacher. Um, so that. That same, that thing just kind of happened about a week ago.

I was told that I am now an OG superintendent, and I was like, no, no, no, no, no. What are you talking about? And they said, no, look, uh, San Francisco got hired after you. Fresno got hired after you Long Beach is about to retire. Oakland got hired after you. When I was thinking about my large Urbans in California, I thought, holy cow.

Olivia: Yeah. 

Fabi: Yes, I am. 

Olivia: Who do you believe that schools are meant to serve? Especially knowing that you lived right on the border, you grew up San Diego-Tijuana, and you have always kind of navigated that literal and figurative border. 

Fabi: Yes. Um, one of the things that I know is that schools really do belong to the community that they, that they live in. And that's actually something that I will hold to this very day. [00:05:00] Um, including when we think about curriculum or even like representation of students. I always think about like, where are you, like geographically? Like who is the community that you serve and who represents you? Um, like at Marshall, um, elementary school that we shared, we had a lot of Somali students.

Olivia: Yes. 

Fabi: We had to learn about their culture. We had to, you know, make sure that we understood and we were building that bridge of understanding with them. So I really think it belongs to the community that it serves. Um, and my hope is that any educator that's in that community sees that as a value. Um, and that wants to contribute to that and become that bridge, um, for them.

Olivia: Yeah. I also, you took the role in August of 2024 of superintendency. Yes? 

Fabi: Yes. I have was interim for one year and then, um, appointed. 

Olivia: So. Yeah, I, I remember I, I saw a news clip with you saying it felt like unsteady terrain. And something you are magnificent is just a skillset, so talented - [00:06:00] it's establishing trust in a truly authentic way while I would say leading with courageous leadership. So how do you do that when you step into a role that is as big as your role is now? 

Fabi: So thank you for that question because I've actually been wrestling with that concept. Um, I consider myself and I espouse and I teach and I read all about courageous leadership and transparency and authenticity and honesty. And I really believe when you work with this many people, because this is really a, I mean this education's a people-centric world, that it's best to have honest interactions. It's, it serves a purpose and, and it serves a greater purpose. Um, so I, I've navigated in that way and I always have, and usually, um, ha it has served, I think it's refreshing more than anything. 

Um, hard conversations can be a little bit uncomfortable because you're actually talking about the [00:07:00] thing that no one wants to talk about. Um, but ultimately it's actually something that I think has not only moved schools, but has moved people, has moved academic achievement, has moved relationships.

And, and that's actually why I'm able to establish trust is because I'm actually saying the honest part. Um, the part that I've been wrestling with lately is how hard it is to be there consistently with this big of a role. Um, because one of the things, and I, I actually wanna write about this, Olivia, I, I have a, a journal that I keep all the topics that I'm gonna write about when this job's over, 'cause I don't have time right now.

Um, how do I hold that space consistently enough to make a difference? And there's two things that are currently happening that I'm watching for. One of them is because people know they can tell me the thing, they tell me the thing that has hurt them for four years, five years, six years, seven years, ten years with the same amount of [00:08:00] pain. Right? Because they're recalling either a systemic rule or an interaction or something that happened to them and they're, they're saying it with that same hurt. And I, I, I love the trust that they now hold with me. Um, but it, it ends up being like, I, I can't solve a ten-year-old problem in a couple of weeks.

Olivia: No. 

Fabi: So, so that's actually the thing too that I, that I feel like I need to communicate like. You, you have my commitment towards, towards, um, solving this with transparency, with honesty, with love. But a 10-year-old problem will take both of us working on it for a sustained amount of time. And it's happening everywhere. So everywhere I go, um, people feel comfortable to tell me their problem. And so, because I'm very much present in that interaction. Um, I feel like my to-do list is so long, um, because I'm, I'm trying to improve that. So that's, that's one, one thing that I'm seeing that, okay, so when you lead in this way, you get all the problems.

And so that's, and [00:09:00] so what I have to figure out is how to empower the mutual responsibility we have to solve it. The other thing, and this is the part that I even called my professor from my graduate school and I said, hey, if you're gonna teach this to future leaders, this is something that we have to discuss: sustaining that is a lot. 

Olivia: Yeah. 

Fabi: And so I have to, um, I, I Is it okay to story tell one, one thing that just happened to me. 

Olivia: Please! Yeah.

Fabi: So, um, I've been holding onto an interaction because again, I'm trying to do this with, with as much honesty and transparency as possible with the, the way the budget is and the way that there's certain rules in California, um, I had to recommend for layoffs. Um, and it's, I'm trying not to, I mean, especially not in this economy, but I had to have this meeting. And so what I chose to do because of the timeline was, well, it is going to impact 69 employees, so 69 will receive pink slips, but I'm trying to create 86 new positions that could potentially be, um, something that actually is a [00:10:00] promotion.

So I was trying to show like, yes, this is bad news, but look at this. Like, I'm trying to do this. It's just a weird timeline because of the system and the structure that I'm in. And so I put that out there because I don't wanna worry people and I want to show them that I can. Um, but there was so much anger, of course, because this is bad news, that no one was catching on to the 86.

And at the end of everyone being so upset, I, I did have one leader come up to me and say, Hey, thank you for putting up that chart. I immediately knew we were gonna be okay. And in my mind I thought, well, why not say that? Like you are responsible for a group of people that are really worried. I understand being upset and you still have to show up and fight.

But in that moment it could have been pivoted to I'm gonna hold you accountable to those 86 jobs. And there wasn't there. It was just the same rhetoric. And so all I kept thinking about, and, and my prayer for myself was, don't, don't harden, don't [00:11:00] armor up, because, um, I took about 90 minutes of critique and I'm, I'm, the job comes with a critique. That's not what I'm concerned about. What I'm concerned about is that folks chose to ignore that piece of information, um, about that they were going to be okay. And so what I don't wanna cause is change in myself to not share that information because it doesn't matter or they don't understand.

And I'm just gonna show up in armor. And not do that. And so that's actually what I'm concerned about. That leading with that type of transparency and honesty is really hard to sustain. And it's so much easier to show up with a closed heart and with just numbers and facts. And so, um, between everyone's telling me their thing and I have to, um, still hold it with compassion. Um, leading in that way is really difficult and I'm hoping that, um, to add that layer of understanding to all sorts of leadership studies, like it's really beautiful. All those Brene Brown books are [00:12:00] really beautiful and it's really hard to do all the time. 

Olivia: So just like your grappling with not becoming hardened, I ask the same of our teachers. If, if they have the opportunity to have leadership that is open and really does want to listen, open their hearts to that too. Right. Um, something, the, the initial reason I, I text you and bother you all the time, but I reached out with a hard ask and that hard ask was because teachers are being priced out of housing and their communities in San Diego.

And I saw an article and I was like, yes, Fabi, this is amazing. And so you are putting together an initiative for affordable housing for your teachers and employees, and it is amazing. And so I'd love for you to speak to that a little bit more. And when it became the moment of you realizing this is not a housing or a real estate problem, this is a [00:13:00] school culture problem.

Fabi: So I'm really proud of, of this. Um, and there's two separate avenues, one that you don't even know about that I will actually discuss now. 

Olivia: I'm excited. 

Fabi: Um, but, but I, but some things have ha have happened. San Diego is a beautiful city. 

Olivia: Yeah. 

Fabi: Um, as you know, like tourists love coming here. I love living here. It's, it's an absolute privilege. But we shouldn't be paying the sunshine tax to live here. 

Olivia: Mm-mmm.

Fabi: And what we're doing, what's happening is, um, we try to keep up with inflation. We try to keep up with cost of living. I, I believe that our teachers are well paid here at the school district have great benefits, but it's hard to attract and retain teachers that, you know, want to buy a home and establish themselves, um, and their families as well here. And so, and I'm gonna say for teachers and all educators, I'm talking about our janitors, our cafeteria workers, our paraprofessionals.

Olivia: Thank you.

Fabi: Um, like it's everybody here should be able to afford a city that they're serving. And that's not what's happening. It's very expensive. And so, um, so a couple of things happened. Um, [00:14:00] this district office sits in a very nice part of San Diego, a very touristy rich part, but that's also in the middle of transport, public transport. Well, a few years ago we purchased, um, an old headquarters of Jack In the Box because this, uh, central office needs remodeling. And they thought, well, no, let's just move and, and get a new building. But that new building is now going to house five buildings. So we have five different district buildings where operations is over here. Cafeterias like facilities, like those kinds of things are kind of spread out and all of us get to go into this new building that's gonna be open um, summer of 27 is what I've been told.

Olivia: Okay. 

Fabi: What do we do with these properties? There's five properties. Nobody, um, wants an empty, abandoned property. That is not a good look for anybody. Now, this, uh, district has been in a budget deficit for many years, um, including when we were, I believe actually we were teachers at the time. 

Olivia: Yeah. 

Fabi: Um, there was property that was sold, um, in San Diego one time for one time use of funds. Right. So we could easily take this parcel and say, let's [00:15:00] sell. Let's have the money from the real estate sale and then that go into our budget. But we would, we didn't wanna do that because that solved one a one year, a one year solution for a very expensive, um, part of real estate. I'm like, I actually still mourn the, the parcel that I'm talking about, Olivia, when you and I were teachers, because they sold the Mission Beach one, the one that was right across from the beach. Um, like that…anyway, I digress. 

So what we decided to do was what if, um, because what if. We were to take our properties and say to developers, would you develop housing for our educators? Um, re we retain the land, we put no taxpayer money, so we're not using any of our funds. You developers come in, demolish, build, give us proposals for affordable housing that would benefit our employees, which are, we're the highest employer in San Diego County. So, would um, give back to our city. And then I, I, I'm the one I [00:16:00] added. Um, please make sure there's a daycare, uh, for them. And then if we're gonna use labor unions, um, to build, I want to make sure to have, um, apprenticeships for our students that wanna go into the trade fields. 

Olivia: It's crazy good. 

Fabi: So we just thought like, what if we did that well, um, five properties with that call, we got over 30 bids. And so once we saw that, we're like, okay, we're gonna be able to do this. So there was a committee that was put together, um, from labor presidents, labor unions, um, that started studying this. Of course, everything was vetted via legal. We wanted to make sure we were, we were fully in, in our own legal parameters.Um, and the bids came back and I was like, wow. We single handedly tripled, um, employee housing for the state of California. 

And so we are going to be building these units. Um, they're still working through the legalities of making sure everything is affordable, but we identified the five, um, developers. Our board voted on it, and we're moving forward and I'm, I am super excited to see, um, that, that outcome and [00:17:00] over this property alone, um, the developer that was selected to do this project, um, for the next 99 years, we'll produce $4 billion of revenue back to the district. So this is again, a support to our city, a support to our educators. It's not a one-time use fund to close a budget deficit. It's a long-term, a budgetary decision that also gives back to our community. So I am, um, super jazzed about, about that. 

Olivia: Yeah, that's incredible. That's incredible. Um, I cannot say enough about the idea of long-term vision as well and giving back in a sustainable way. It, it goes right back to the thread, Fabi of commitment is sustainable and that that's who you are.

And you're living it. You're living it. Um, I also, I, I think it's important to just share with listeners who may be caregivers or outside of the school system. [00:18:00] Why is it really important for educators to live within the communities that they're teaching? 

Fabi: That is a beautiful question. Um, it's important for them to understand. Um, I, one of the things I did when I was a principal is many of us were driving into the community and then leaving. And so I remember actually getting a school bus and doing a little tour like, we're gonna tour the neighborhood. Now, it was before school started, so I wanna say about two days before school started.

So we had also had, um, welcome back flyers that we were gonna post all in the apartments, but I wanted them to see, like, this is the, this is the free clinic the kids come to. This is the grocery store. And I wanted them to notice it's, there's a food desert here, so you don't criticize the snacks that the children bring. Um, there is no park. 

So I wanted them to see, uh, the, the community they chose to serve and they were driving to every single day. Um, they needed to understand how people lived and also, [00:19:00] uh, provide the dignity, um, necessary for a human being to live in that neighborhood. And it was really, we went into the apartment buildings that we knew most of our addresses came from, and the kids would see us in the, and they were like, it was like paparazzi.

It was really cute. The teachers felt really special. We all wore our t-shirts, you know, um, to remind them to come to school on time. But I wanted them to understand, like, you need to understand, um, where our children are coming from and you need to understand it with an assets-based lens. Um, because children are, uh, I mean, I was asked this today. I'm like, I, I grew up poor, but I know I was poor. 

Olivia: Yeah. 

Fabi: Like I, I thought my, my life was rich. And so they need to be able to see that and offer that kind of support. And that's why it's so important that level of understanding and compassion um, for, again, uh, the business we chose. 

Olivia: Yes. 

Fabi: Um, I think it's, it's important. And so, um, offering that, and then also I wanna say, um, easing the minds of, of the continued increase of cost of living. Um, I want, I want to not only attract, uh, really great [00:20:00] teachers, but retain them. Um, and I want them to see that there's a long-term future here for them and that we would even help even with housing. So we want them to see that there's a real investment in our educators and we know that they matter, um, in how they continue to support our students. 

Olivia: Yeah, it's that parallel too, because you believe in whole-child education, but you also believe in whole-adult education, um, and just the, the world and the family and, and everyone in the system. And that's everything. Um, we're gonna wrap part one with a lightning round. Here we go. Your gut response to these questions is welcome. Uh, a school is only as strong as… 

Fabi: …it's culture. 

Olivia: Hardest phone call as a superintendent, you had to make, let's say just this week.

Fabi: Um, there's a statewide strike action, and I decided to close down the schools.[00:21:00] 

Olivia: What would you want teachers to know before their first day in a classroom?

Fabi: That they have so much power and responsibility about choosing to be compassionate to students. 

Olivia: What would you fix if you had unlimited funds right away? 

Fabi: Um, uh, the support gap. I know we call it an achievement gap. That's not what it is. It's a support gap. 

Olivia: What book or resource would you want in every teacher mentor's hands? 

Fabi: I'm gonna say Presencing one more time. 

Olivia: Yeah. 

Fabi: I love Otto Scharmer, and we don't, um, we don't think about the future and the way he's describing. 

Olivia: I love it. Thanks, Fabi. I can't wait for part two. That's a wrap on part one. Fabi reminds us that leading with honesty and love is not soft. It is the hardest and most necessary [00:22:00] work there is. In part two Fabi walks us through the nuts and bolts of San Diego Unified's revolutionary affordable housing initiative. No taxpayer dollars, 30 developer bids 4 billion in projected long-term revenue and a vision that puts educators and families at the center of a thriving city. You're not going to wanna miss it. See you Friday.