Equity-Centered Approaches in Parent Engagement with Arnie Ayala

Arnie Ayala, principal of Mariposa Elementary, discussed his journey in education, emphasizing family and community engagement. He highlighted his role in implementing the Family Leadership Institute (FLI), which transformed 122 parents in his former district and continues in his current role. Ayala shared personal stories, including his own transformation and the impact of FLI on parents' lives, such as improved communication and emotional healing. He also described initiatives like college trips and workshops to empower parents and foster a culture of higher education. Ayala stressed the importance of ongoing parent engagement and personal growth for educators.

Transcript

 Arnie “Arnulfo” Ayala

SPEAKERS

Arnie "Arnulfo" Ayala, Joanna Marrufo

Joanna Marrufo  00:08

Welcome to Beyond Academics, connecting classroom and community, the podcast where we dive deep into the world of community schools and explore how they're transforming education for students, families and communities, we are hearing from educators and community members who are at the forefront of creating change and meeting the needs of the community, be it basic needs, healthcare, social services, support or social emotional learning. I'm Joanna Marrufo, your host. I'm an integrated supports outreach specialists with San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools. And in this episode, we're thrilled to welcome Arnie Ayala, principal of Mariposa elementary from the Ontario Montclair School District. Arnie Ayala is an educational administrator with 28 years of experience working in elementary, middle and high school education, and is now serving as the principal at Mariposa elementary located in Ontario. He's a leading expert in promoting family and community engagement and empowering equitable practices, and has been a featured speaker and trainer for the National Family Leadership Institute. He has also been a speaker at the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools 2024 Family and Community Engagement Summit. On today's episode, we will dive into his role as a transformative leader and how Arnie has had the courage to be vulnerable in his leadership role. We will also showcase how he's not only initiated a successful and unique platform for parents to get involved in their child's education, but also has helped families heal, be resilient and thrive in the school community. Thank you so much for being here.

Arnie "Arnulfo" Ayala  01:55

Thank you, Joanna. I'm excited to be here, and thank you for the invitation.

Joanna Marrufo  01:58

I want the audience to really get to know you and hear more about your experiences and how it's really shaped your expertise. I know you've have years, a lot of years in education, serving in many roles like and so I want to just dive into that. So tell us a little bit of what brought you into education. Tell us about yourself,

Arnie "Arnulfo" Ayala  02:21

very good. My family and I immigrated to the United States back in 1976 and I was lucky to have Mrs. Murphy as my kindergarten and first grade teacher. So I had her for two consecutive school years, and I knew at that early age exactly what I wanted to do in my life. I wanted to be just like her. Because Mrs. Murphy was more than just a teacher. She was an advocate for all of the newcomers that were bussed in from the barrio, from downtown Placentia to an upper middle class school near the city of Yorba Linda in Orange County. So that was she helped me discovered my why, and it wasn't until in my early college years that I began to I found a passion and a love for history. So I put both of them together, and I guess one can say that I'm living the American dream, because this is what I wanted to do. And when I came into education, I came in as a high school history teacher. I did that for nine years. Enjoyed it. I recall my first year, my goal was to make every kid a history major, because what is there not to love about history? Right? History is just great gossip. And who doesn't live like good gossip, right? So then I came to a stage in my career that I've really felt that I could broaden my sphere of influence, and that's when I became I looked, I looked into administration, because I really wanted my sphere of influence to expand beyond the four walls of my classroom. I've had a unique journey in those 28 years. For the record, elementary school was never in my radar. I was called to be an elementary principal, and I say unique, because this is my fourth year as an elementary principal. I was a high I'm a former high school principal, and I did that for six years and a middle school principal for three years. So I've had experiences at all three levels. So I've discovered that Elementary is the best kept secret. And I'm just enjoying the work that I do, and it's just an honor for me to serve the amazing community in Ontario, Montclair, 

Joanna Marrufo  04:47

That's amazing. Thank you so much. You have so much experience from all you know, all the years in education being an inspiration, really. Can you share a little bit about how you're engaging families? Engaging your parents with the projects that you're doing here in Ontario, sure.

Arnie "Arnulfo" Ayala  05:06

So one of the things that I share with my staff and my students, and when I present, when I see the students that I serve, I see myself. When I see their parents, I see my own parents, and it's, it's been part of my why. So the work that I do, I share with others, it's, it's personal to me. It's personal to me because of that. So I truly believe that parent engagement and community engagement is, is one of the is one of the three important partners that we need to ensure that all of our students are successful, that they experience their own unique success, and that we provide equitable opportunities for all students to experience just that 

Joanna Marrufo  05:57

wonderful I know We spoke a little bit about the Family Leadership Institute and just this amazing initiative that you're like the champion for, and have really spread it around across the county. So I'm just curious if you can share a little bit more about that specific initiative.

Arnie "Arnulfo" Ayala  06:16

So at my former district, I was part of a second cohort that went to the Family Leadership Institute. I didn't get I didn't ask to go. I was just told that I was going to this. But then when I looked at the flyer and saw that it was in Vegas, I thought, well, how bad can it be, right? So, so there I went, along with some other colleagues and parents, and that was about 10 years ago. I share with people that I was completely transformed as an educator, as a son and as a father, and I remember driving on the way home, it's about a four and a half hour drive, you know, I kept thinking, Okay, I just received a gift. It would not be right for me and selfish of me if I kept this to myself and did not share with others. So I got back to the site. At the time, I was a principal of high school, and I called for the meeting, a meeting of the participants that went in Cohort Two and Cohort one, and my message to them was, basically, I'm going to do this work with or without you. But I had already planted seeds with some of my colleagues who were administrators at my feeder elementary schools and middle school and I said, Hey, let's do this, if we can just find a 10 committed parents, because the Family Leadership Institute is comprised of 10 lessons, so it's not a one shot deal, and That's why it's an institute, because it's ongoing. It doesn't have an end, because we we keep growing as educators, and we keep refining so So yes, we there was four of us, and we said, Okay, 10 each. That's a solid group of parents. 40. We got 10 parents to commit. I'm very type A, so I kind of took the lead on this because I wanted to do it my way. To be quite honest with you, I decided I told my team, my colleagues, that I wanted to go first because I wanted to set the tone, because I was about to bear my soul and speak my truth and give it depth. And I know that if I did it, more likely they would be able to do it because I didn't want to do this at a surface level, they agreed, okay, you can go first. I was also very intentional. I told them that I wanted to do my lessons in Spanish. And there was a reason for that, because it was Arnulfo Ayala, my birth that's my birth name, the boy inside that needed the healing. It wasn't Arnie Ayala. You know, one of my biggest regrets in this life is that when I became a US citizen, I put on that form that, you know, what name I wanted to take on, and it just, it just became that throughout the years, and I have no social emotional connection with the name Arnie. It's much like a student ID number, the person that you are listening to and that you met previously in our meeting. Now it's Arnulfo. I share that as one of my testimonials because it was my mother that gave me that name, and when she passed, I wanted to give her honor. Honor her by looking into changing my name back to my birth name, because that's who I am inside. But I learned that it takes an act of God, if you're not a naturalized born citizen, to change your first name. But anyways, I wanted to share that with you as a testimony as well. We started with 40 parents going back with the first cohort, and the heavy lifting are in lessons one and two. That's where participants and the presenters have an opportunity to speak their truth, to share their story, because we all have a story. The. Word got out in the district and more parents wanted to participate, because now they were asking, and we decided, let's wait till the heavy lifting is done, because we had already established and created a safe place where the participants were beginning to heal themselves and speak their truth. So we opened it up, and then we outgrew the physical space. So I found I was able to book a district building, and then we, I think we grew another 20 to 25, it was an amazing journey, and then it got to a point that there was more parents that wanted to participate, and we outgrew that building. And I asked our I asked my former assistant superintendent, hey, can you get me a bigger a bigger room, bigger facility, because we got a bigger crowd now. So fast forward. We ended up graduating 122 parents and the community I used to, I used to serve, I've continued the work in my current district. As a matter of fact, just yesterday, I started a cohort, a deep pack and delac parents that have embarked in this journey. My first lesson was yesterday, and it was powerful. The testimonials that that I heard were just were just amazing, and one of the things that I shared with him is, you know, the reason it was important for me to do this as a site principal and not get somebody from the outside, is because I want to give you the opportunity to get to know who I am. And underneath this shirt and tie is just the guy trying to do the best that he can with what he's got. It was a two year journey. It was a long commitment, but it was powerful, because I was able to establish these very unique, genuine, transparent relationships with these parent leaders, because they knew me at a whole different level. I knew them at a whole different level. And the big takeaway in this, one of the many big takeaways in this journey, is that they realize that I'm just like them, and they are just like me, and they have experienced some of the same traumas that I experienced as a child, and they haven't had time to heal the to heal those wounds. So the big thing is, as educators, how can we be the best versions of ourselves if we do not invest in ourselves, make time for ourselves to heal and let go some of the baggage that we've been carrying around for so many years? And in one of the lessons, I talk about forgiveness, it's not an easy thing to do for some of us, and it was not an easy thing for me to do, but it was the Family Leadership Institute that got me to a point about two weeks before my dad passed, to have my last reel and probably longest conversations that I had with him. He was non verbal, but he was still there. You know, I could still feel the grip in his hand, his strength in his hand. It was a tough, tough conversation, and I truly believe that it was my transformation, my experience with the Fli, that got me, that gave me the courage to have this conversation and to summarize it, it was really two points. Number one, I asked him to forgive me, to forgive me if I ever fell short of the expectations that he had for me as a son. But the bulk of it, I forgave him. I forgave him, and that was not easy, because I had to share with him, recant with him, the experiences that he gave me, and I spoke to him about his manner of the way he disciplined me and my brothers, but see, my dad was the best version of himself, so I don't blame them. I don't blame him. He knew what he knew. He didn't know what he didn't know. His method of disciplining him, disciplining his boys as and correcting us, was not, in my opinion, an effective way, because it just caused anger, it caused resentment, it caused animosity, it caused me to distance myself, because I never truly fail that I had a social emotional connection with my father. I had it with my mother. I had it with my siblings, but we just didn't have that. I didn't have that with my dad, and that was one of the major reasons that's how it's transformed me. How am I supposed to lead a school of 3000 students where the parents have entrusted. Our children, to me and to my faculty, if I haven't really been intentional and really spent time to deal with my wounds, my trauma, so I can be the best version for them every single Monday morning, Tuesday morning, Wednesday morning and so on. That that's the big takeaway, and that's, that's just one testimonial. I did get permission from one of my participants to share his testimonial. He was a father, and 25 years ago, he his mother passed. He felt that his father found a companion a little bit too soon, the family was not done grieving, and it came down to a conversation with him, who he was, the oldest, and his father. And his father told him, Well, either you accept her, or you're on your own. He says, I'm on my own, and I'm taking my three sisters with me. So the family was separated, and because of his transformation, fast forward, 25 years later, he comes to me to share with me that he's finally made peace with himself and with his father, and that he plans to reunite the family. He brought him to my school site, and I got to meet him, and he told them in front of me, it was because of this man, my transformation, that you are here. But it wasn't I thought it wasn't so much me, but it was just the gift, right? And for the very first time, his daughter was a senior, she was going to graduate in a couple months, and for the very first time, the student met her grandfather, and it was because of his transformation. How do you how do you put a price on that? How do you put a price on that? And what's amazing about the FLi is that, Joanna, you can teach it. Anyone can teach it, because we all have our story. We all if we want to speak our truth and share it, that's what it's about. You're not up there teaching algebra physics. No, it's just life and it's therapeutic, you know, because we're able to work on ourselves emotionally and really transform ourselves. And that's why I'm a true believer. I'm not only servant leadership, but transformational leadership. The journey was amazing because the relationships that I have established with all of the parents that have graduated from the flies that I've implemented, we're at a whole new, different level because of just that.

Joanna Marrufo  17:50

I'm like, just in awe of how, like, deep the work you're doing with these parents, right? Because it goes beyond like, helping your child, you know, it's actually like, look in the mirror and see like, hey, like, how can you be the best version of yourself so that you can heal those family wounds, doing the work, you know, and it's such a stigmatized thing thinking about mental health or asking for help. So I'm just like, curious, like, creating that safe space. What were some of those challenges that you faced or or was it really easy for people to open up regarding that

Arnie "Arnulfo" Ayala  18:27

great question? You know, post pandemic, we provide SEL for kids and for staff for teachers, right? But oftentimes, I've learned that we forget about a very important group, which is the parents. So the students are kind of living like in two worlds, and they're getting conflicts because there's different environments. Not every parent is ready for this. And I'll give you an example the first cohort that I graduated at my current site, a gentleman in lesson two, we talk about forgiveness, right? And and he walked out very abruptly, so I asked my assistant principal, will you go see make sure he's okay? Because you could feel the tense in the air in the classroom and the parent center, and come to find out, he told my assistant, I'm not ready for this one. I'll be back next week, but I'm just not ready for this one. I followed up with him, and he began to share his story and speak His truth. He basically told me, I know Mr. Ayala, I have to do this, but I'm just not ready for this. I said, That's okay. Some people, some participants may not be ready. The first, Fli, second, Fli, third, Fli, I've been to several and everyone is different. Everyone I pair, I peel, you know, a layer. But as it proceeds, parent, the parents are more willing. To to share. But again, it's really important to be clear that this is a safe place, and whatever happens in the Fli stays in the Fli. Because really it's, it's a group therapy, in other words. So I really emphasize that as for example, yesterday, as a participant, began to get emotional. You know, I went over single mom, she talked about her struggles. She broke down. I put my hand on her shoulder, and I asked the other participants, we're with her, right? So it's that support group, right? That that the Fli creates for each other, but again, not everyone will be ready and not everyone will share. But that's okay, because when you read the room, you can tell they're engaged. Something's going on in them. And I'm just, I'm just really excited that I started another cohort, and I'm glad to share my experience with the Fli in hopes that there's others that would be that would take on this journey. If they're not going to do it for others, let's do it for ourselves, so we can be the best versions of ourselves.

Joanna Marrufo  21:19

That's amazing. What are some of the impacts that the students receive? I you know, the long term, you know, impacts with not just education, but like, just healing the family and creating kind of, like that culture at home, you know, where people feel like they're able to talk about their feeling.

Arnie "Arnulfo" Ayala  21:41

Yes, I'll give you an example. Second cohort, a husband and wife participated. This was during graduation, and I asked them, Okay, is there any thoughts on on your experience? You know, it was our last day we're gonna get getting ready to graduate them. And the gentleman stood up and that you stand. He was sitting next to his wife in Spanish. He says, you know, Mr. Ayala, the lesson that was most impactful for me was when we talked about the eight styles of communication and communicating with love. I no longer yell at my wife. I no longer yell at my son. I talk to them. I speak to them. I talk to them with love. And his wife is sitting right next to him. So here, here's, here's a husband being vulnerable, saying this to his wife. You know, because in our culture, unfortunately, we're taught, some of us are taught, whatever happens in the home stays in the home, right? But here, here he is sharing this. I don't speak with my wife in that manner anymore. He always made time to come and pick up his son from school. He was a fifth grader. So you know, every morning, you know I'm out there in the front, I greet him. He greets me. I noticed that his behavior began to change. Mom began to drop him off, and he picked him up. I didn't ask, but I noticed that little thing, and the manner in which he received his son after school completely changed. You know, post Fli or in during the Fli of his journey, he would come in and embrace him and put his arm around him, and I can see him walk about a block down the street until I could no longer see him talking to him and showing that affection. It wasn't like that before. It wasn't like that before the relationship with his son and his and his experience and transformation really changed the manner in the way he interacted and treated his son, because, you know, unfortunately, you know, in my culture, for some of us, guys don't do that. Dads don't do that, right? That's usually mom, right, being okay with that. I mean, that's just an example of how he was transformed as a father, it's those bonds, it's those transformations that allow students to have parents that can show that affection and that can that parents can say, I'm sorry, and that's also known in my culture as well. Parents aren't supposed to apologize, especially dads, no, but it's okay, and that's one of the points in one of the lessons, it's okay to say I'm sorry. It's okay to tell your child you know what I will do better. It's Okay To Own your mistakes, because I'll tell you as a father, there's been times that I need to discipline my children, but not in the manner that I described earlier for the record, the way my father disciplined me. I didn't say the right words, and they just didn't come out as I wish they would have come out. So now my son is going to bed upset. I'm going to bed upset. I go to work. And with that, with that feeling that I have to make. I have to fix this. I have to make men's with this, because it's just, it's not it's not over. So the only thing that I can think of is Hurry up four o'clock so I can go home and see my son and have a conversation with him and say I'm sorry, and say I'm going to do better and admit my faults and have a real conversation with them, and that's okay, and that's okay, because if we don't do that, then you know, they're gonna start holding things. We're giving them badge baggage, unnecessary baggage. And it's very common in my culture that we have the sense that you know, not, you know, I don't subscribe to that notion that, you know, men don't cry. And then in our culture, oftentimes I hear about these generational crosses that we pass on to our kids to and then it just continues that cycle, and it's unhealthy, because if you know, my crosses are not for my son to carry, my crosses are my crosses, and I got to deal with them. So it's those types of personal things and refinements that the Fli provides for the participants so they can so the family can be whole. And that was the, his big takeaway, communicate with love, you know, the the example that I gave you earlier, that's, that's, that's amazing, you know? That's amazing, 

Joanna Marrufo  26:24

Yeah, this empowerment of families like healing, but also like setting their  communication styles up for success, right? Their kids can be open to sharing with their needs, you know, because it's a safe space at home. 

Arnie "Arnulfo" Ayala  26:37

So, so the heavy lifting, most of what I've shared so far, is early in in the curriculum. And I say curriculum, because it does come with a binder, okay, but you got to breathe, live into it. Life into it. Being an educator, for 28 years, I probably have accumulated a whole garage full of binders, and they just sit there, right? But what are you going to do with it, right? So anyways, a little bit on that. The latter lessons, one of the lessons encourages the leads or the presenters to take parents to a college trip. And I did just that. We took the cohort at my former district. We took them to Cal State, San Bernardino, and for many of these parents, it was the first time that actually set foot on a college campus. That was amazing. We got a tour of the facility. We had a counselor to talk about admissions. Lo and behold, one of the presenters from the Cal State, the counselors. He was a product of my former district, and that made it extra special for them, because the parents could see, okay, he's one of us, right? He's one of us. So that was very powerful. So the Fli is also about not only empowering them, but also giving them a glimpse of what this complicated system we call public education is because I've learned that now Every parent knows how to navigate this complicated system. They don't know what questions to ask you they don't know what's available. That experience was, was awesome. And I told them to pack a lunch, and we ate at the comments. And that was, you know, these are all adults, but, you know, just looking at them, they're like little kids, you know, right? They were just having a blast. It's that also. So there's academic pieces to it as well. There's also a lesson on valuing literacy that that was awesome, because a part of that lesson, I provide journals to the participants, and I talk to them about, you know, how journaling can be powerful. Everything that I just shared with you. Now, it'd be awesome if I would have taken the time to put it in a journal, right in writing, and leave it for my children, right? Maybe that'll be my next thing. So it the valuing literacy. I remember in that lesson years ago, when I was a classroom teacher, had honor and privilege to meet a Holocaust survivor, survivor, David Faber, and he gave me a copy of his of his book, of his memoir. I It's in English. Again, the participants in that cohort, the majority, 90% of them, were only Spanish speaking. And I read excerpts from his book, and his experience during the Holocaust and his family experience, you know. And I was, of course, emphasizing the exclamation marks the questions, you know. And they truly enjoyed that. I would probably say a lot of them did not know what I was saying. But again, it was to demonstrate the importance of reading to your children journaling. Because really, that's what David Faber did. He that was his journal, that was his book. And the culminating activity for that lesson, we went to the Holocaust Museum in LA that was amazing. So it took me a little bit a little bit of extra work, because I had to find someone that spoke Spanish. And lucky enough, I did. She was a Holocaust survivor. I believe she was from Argentina, so the parents immediately made a connection with her. And. And began to ask a lot of questions. That was an amazing experience for them as well. So it's not not only SEL but it's all it also has academic pieces. And like you said, Joanna, that word, empowering them, showing them. And of course, you know, because I've of my experience, I also included specific examples about how the school system works, and it's giving them that too, because that's important. That's important as well. 

Joanna Marrufo  30:36

Yeah, those seeds that you're planting, even though you're an elementary school district are going to help flourish and grow so that by the time their kids are in high school, that's like, kind of like, the expectation, right for their families. I think that's so beautiful and important. Because in my family, it's like, sometimes we see it's hard for the families to let go of your child, right? And like, it's it was really stressful for my parents, for me to go up to school in the Bay Area, and my sister too, but it was only because my older sister paved the way for me. But I think it's important. And I'm just like curious to also know, like, those families that you, because it sounds like you've had multiple cohorts and you've seen people graduate, like, how those families, like have really embraced College, I'm sure.

Arnie "Arnulfo" Ayala  31:24

Yes, I'll share something similar. One of one of the participants from the first cohort, her daughter, got a full ride scholarship to private university on the East Coast, and she was really struggling with that because, I mean, she had two boys, and that was the only girl you know, and that was not easy for mom and dad to let their daughter, you know, go across country. I remember her telling me, you know, my experience has with the FLI has really given me the reassurance that it's okay we can let go, because they need to experience their life as well, right? And I'm sorry, Joanna, there was a second part to your question that I forgot. 

Joanna Marrufo  32:09

I think it was more like the you help prepare the parents so that by the time they're in high school, they're ready, you know. They they're not so scared and nervous, you know, but you know, for the next step, I guess mostly, it was mostly about like, the cultural shift, and like seeing, like building that, that culture of like, embracing higher education and not seeing it as, like a, you know, something to fear, because they don't know what the unknown, right? Because it's their first, you know, their first generation. There's a lot of, you know, in other cultures or families, it's like, Oh, of course, like, that's what we've been building, this whole, you know, education for but for us, it's like, it's an unknown.

Arnie "Arnulfo" Ayala  32:50

The Fli is just one journey. My top three site initiatives as a site leader, one of them has always been parent engagement. As a matter of fact, I had a, I have a I had, I have a designated and had a designated place for a parent center at all three sites. You know, in my current district, 33 schools at my school is the only one that has a designated parent center for the district's Parent Education Center. So it's not just the Fli, it's bringing in other things, providing other types of workshops to equip parents with those tools that they're going to need. And one of the things that I've seen is that the parents that have participated in the Fli were the same parents coming to every workshop that was provided. Of course, I would survey them and ask them, what what topics, what can I bring to you that? So they kept coming. They kept coming because, as I mentioned earlier, this is an institute. This is, it has no end, right? It's, it's ongoing. So I would bring other types of workshops that would equip, equip them, and give them those tools so they can have a better understanding of how it works. Another piece, another thing that I do is I take the parents, prior to my quarterly coffee with the principal, I take them to visit classrooms so they can see instruction, because my message to them is, don't believe everything you hear out you know, in the neighborhood, in the supermarkets. Come in here for yourselves. Come and see for yourselves. I call them learning walks. So this is what we're going to look at when we visit the classrooms today. My current site is a leader in me school. So it's all about leadership at my school, with parents and with kids, right? For example, the essential question for the day or the learning objective, this is what it is, and this is what you're going to see in every classroom, and this is what it means, so they can have an understanding of what the instructional program looks like in the classroom. I think it's important for us to be transparent and leave the doors open. Plans for leave the doors open for the parents. They get a glimpse of our instructional program. I've taught them what our brand is, what it what the Leader in Me. Brand is, right, is really inspiring and empowering kids. And we believe that everyone is a leader, including classified staff, certificated everyone. It's all about leadership, because that's that's what we're doing. And through that lens, we're teaching them those soft skills, The Seven Habits of effective people is we teach. We're teaching those to the kids because those are the skills that it's going to help them beyond Mariposa, beyond Middle School, beyond high school, and in life. And it's those same skills that we teach the parents as well. So I remember my former district, I started the annual, my first annual when I was at the middle school, take your parents to school day. So it was a day where the kids had the opportunity to invite their parents and shadow them during the school day. And I've asked the teachers, they're very gracious, you know, to do a lesson, but the lesson has to be inclusive of the parents, including the PE teachers. Okay, you got parents coming. I don't want them sitting on the benches. I want them, I want them to do what is expected of the kids. In that experience, I got amazing feedback, you know, some of the ahas that I got, oh, Mr. Ayala, I didn't realize the math was so difficult, and by the way, the way my kid is learning it now, that's not the way I learned it. I said exactly, exactly. That's why we do this. And that became an annual event. So I move over to the high school, right? We started the annual take your parents to school day, and then I got feedback. Oh, that's a middle school thing. He's bringing out his middle school ideas. I believe, the first one we had, we had over 120 parents and then other kids, because we did a soft opening, you know, just with a group of parents, other parents and other kids. Well, how come we were not invited? Our parents were invited. Wait till next year, and we continued that event, you know, at a high school, and I got some of the same feedback from the parents, because they had an opportunity to get a glimpse of our instructional program. Granted that the day was a little different because of the parent component, right? But they got to see what it what it looks like, and I think that's important as well, so they can have that. I can only think of the Spanish word conocimiento, that knowledge of what's the school looks like and the system looks like, right? It's not just the Fli, it's it's many things, because once you empower them, you leave them hungry. And if we're not providing anything, now they're looking at you like, what's next? Mr. Ayala, what's next? It's ongoing. So yeah, I the different themes and different workshops that I provide in my current site are one after the other, one after the other. It's things that I've come across, but it's also opportunities that have come my way. So for example, I'm a board I'm a board member of CALSA, the IE CALSA Chapter California Association of Latino Superintendents and Administrators. Through my network of CALSA and through the summer institute, I'm able to bring back best practices. So it's very important for me as a leader, to stay current and relevant, and I know that unless I invest in myself, I shouldn't expect others to invest in me. And it's through that type of work, also that I'm able to bring workshops to the school. A secret agent from the Homeland Security came to see me on the matter. Somehow we got on the subject of parent engagement. I think she saw something in my office, and she has like, Tell me about that, and come to find out through that conversation, she does parent workshops, and I shared it with the with the I'm going to share it at my next coffee with the principal. And I thought, awesome. This is perfect. Because, you know what? I don't know much about this. The stuff that they are looking into is real stuff, stuff that happens in the internet. That's just a recent example, but again, it goes to illustrate that it's ongoing. So yeah, 

Joanna Marrufo  39:18

How can schools, the folks that are listening at home, like, How can schools or school administrators learn more about the Institute and when is the next one? And how? What advice would you give for the first time folks listening?

Arnie "Arnulfo" Ayala  39:33

I'm an email away for my colleagues out there. I'd be more than welcome to share more and best practices. I have coached a few local districts and their implementation. Then the next one that's upcoming, it's the National Conference.  it's in January. And there's usually two during a school year. There's one in the summer, typically it's in Vegas. The other one, it see, it's, it's in January, February. Late winter, it's a three day conference. For those that are listening, that are thinking, considering or looking into possibly going, I would recommend that you bring different people, and by people, I mean, we've got to make sure we give everyone a chair at the table. Give parents, you know, classified certificated. You know, administrators just different people with different positions, because it's good for everyone. One of the rules that that we have in the Fli titles stay at the door. It's not about titles in here, and it's it going back to creating a safe place for everyone so that that one's upcoming in January,

Joanna Marrufo  40:40

wonderful. And we'll have all that information on our show notes. I'm so excited for our county and even the region, to learn more about how they can effectively engage and heal and support not only the parents, but the whole system, right the community, building that resilience. Because when one child is effective, and one family is effective, you can affect everyone. So thank you so much for joining today and being a part of this initiative of creating that courageous leadership and empathetic leadership. So thank you well. Thank

Arnie "Arnulfo" Ayala  41:14

 Well. Thank you, Joanna, it was a pleasure, and I want to thank you for giving me an opportunity to speak my truth, share my story, in hopes that it may move some of the listeners to make time for this for themselves and to equip themselves, because the same thing that I want for the kids that I serve is the same thing that Their parents want for them so they can be successful and they can be the best versions of themselves. So thank you. I appreciate the invitation.

Joanna Marrufo  41:48

Thank you for joining us at Beyond Academics, connecting classroom and community, where we dive deep into the stories from people who are making a difference in school. They are the change makers who bring community schools to life by making an impact for families and children by meeting their needs. Don't forget to connect with us on social media accounts. You can find us on X at SI_RTAC Instagram @SBCSS_IEBRANCH, at our website, CCSPPSIRTAC.ORG  tune in for more episodes.