Episode 4: Shasta County Superintendent of Schools Mike Freeman

In this episode of Inspire Shasta, we sit down with Mike Freeman, the 27th Superintendent of Schools for Shasta County, to explore his vision for education, community, and family support in Northern California.

Mike shares his commitment to advocating for rural schools, the importance of fostering strong community relationships, and the unique challenges faced by Shasta County. From navigating statewide legislation to championing the specific needs of local students, Mike emphasizes the power of collaboration and a shared responsibility to create a thriving future for children.

Mike discusses investing in the future, and why building a strong foundation now impacts generations to come. He also emphasizes the importance of raising resilient, capable children who will one day lead the community.

Join us as we discuss how every small effort contributes to a bigger impact in the lives of Shasta County’s children, families, educators, and community partners.

Transcript

Welcome to Inspire Shasta, where we hope to inspire change through personal narratives. Join us while we dive into impactful stories that showcase the resilience of youth and the tireless dedication of allies and advocates.  This podcast is a space where personal experiences shape a collective narrative,  fostering empathy, understanding, and a call to action for positive change in our community.

Welcome to Inspire Shasta.  Welcome, Jenn. Thank you, Maggie. Today we have an incredible guest, Superintendent Mike Freeman. Mike embodies the spirit of education, leadership, and the community. He has worn many hats, from Spanish teacher to elementary school principal, and is now a driving force here at SCOE. 

Mike believes in the power of connection, whether it's through sharing a meal with his family, catching up with former students who are now making waves in the world, or building relationships with his staff over, with over 700 tacos.  Mike is a Red Bluff High School grad, a first generation Chico State alum, and someone who truly understands the needs of students and educators alike.

He is a leader, a dreamer, and a storyteller, and his journey is one you won't want to miss. So without further ado, let's give Mike a warm welcome.  Wow.  700 tacos. That's my takeaway, right? Yeah, you had me at a, uh, a Spanish teacher. Those are some, those are some fun days.  An incredible guest. I feel the pressure. 

Well, to start this off, we'll throw you a softball one. So our first signature question is we always like to take people back to school. So if you could return to any grade in school for a day, which grade would it be and why?  Okay, you said I'm a storyteller. So here we go, right? Uh, a while back educator appreciation was happening and it was during COVID and we were doing some trainings and.

Um, I, I asked who's your why, to a room, room full of administrators, who's your why, and I shared a screenshot of my fifth grade class, Mr. John Purdy, Bidwell, shout out to Bidwell Bulldogs and rub love, um, and, uh, I, every day that week I posted on my social media something about a teacher that I appreciated,  and the words that I shared about Mr. Purdy landed with some, uh, some of his family.  And, uh, somebody reached out to me and said, um, Mr. Purdy, uh, isn't doing well.  And can you reach out to his daughter? I think this would mean a lot.  So I reached out, I went to school with his daughter, right? So we were, we were friends. I reached out and, uh, turns out he was, he was fighting for his life.

He later, uh, he later passed away and the family said, could you share what you said?  At his virtual celebration of life.  Wow. Yeah, of course, I would love to represent the hundreds, if not thousands of students that Mr. Purdy taught and, uh, and share a few words from a student's perspective at his celebration of life.

So, um, I did that. And when you asked me that question, I immediately go to fifth grade, Mr. John Purdy,  uh, Bidwell Elementary, and I would love, uh,  I'd love to hear him read Summer of the Monkeys one more time, right? Like the way he read out loud lit a fire in me, a love of reading, a love of literacy, a love of stories.

And, uh, he was a, he was an amazing person.  Um, fifth grade was a,  kind of a wild time in, in the world. I remember I'm sitting in his,  uh, I'm sitting in his class and some bad news. Uh, I think it was the, uh, maybe the, uh, the challenger explosion.  And the way he, uh, handled that with grace, he was at my desk when somebody brought him a note,  uh, indicating that that had happened.

And so,  yeah, just a lot of, a lot of lessons, um, a lot of le just a little bit about me. Um, father figures are kind of, uh, few and far between in my life. And  so the idea, uh, also just of what a, a family man looks like.  What a man of faith looks like. What a, what a great teacher looks like. Uh, I even was obsessed with Clark's footwear for a while because Mr. Purdy wore Clark's , so fifth grade Mr. Purdy's class, without a doubt. Wow. What an amazing story. Yeah, it's my takeaway from that was like the fact that you got to share that and he was able, that resonated with his family while he was still alive. I think a lot of times, educators. They never get to hear the impact they're making, um,  and and not necessarily like you need to hear it, but what a gift that you were able to give him that to give back to him.

Yeah. And I think that's the, the, the, the world's kind of wild right now, but there's so many ways to throw things out. And when you throw things out, something good can come of the summit. As long as we're throwing out good things, right? We throw good things out and, and people, people grab them and run with them and they give you opportunities that.

Um, you know, I pinch myself, if you would have told the fifth grade Mike Freeman that you would later be sharing words at his, at his funeral, like, that's, that's, that's an honor. Yeah.  What a, yeah, such an honor.  Not a lot of people get that opportunity to be able to share that, especially in those times.

And that was during COVID, you said, so there's a lot of other things going on in the world as well. So the fact that your story got connected back to his family, um, during such a challenging time. And you said through social media, which is, you know, that's a, a positive way to connect. There, there are a few things and, and I don't think fifth grade Mike Freeman wanted to be a teacher,  right.

Um, I think that as you, as you explore what it is you want to do, and you think about the influence that teachers had in your life, it's like, well, that would be kind of cool.  And I'm humbled if somebody out there, right? Had an experience in my classroom or in a, in a school where I worked, where maybe just maybe they had that same experience and, and can share things when I'm done.

That's kind of cool. And what footwear should they invest? Clark's. This episode is brought to you by Clark's footwear. 

So Jen and I have had the privilege of working under our previous superintendent, Judy Flores,  during a time of great achievements. However, we are not content in simply maintaining status quo. We want to honor the history of this organization and its past leaders, recognizing that we stand on their shoulders.

Building on that foundation, we're committed to pushing the boundaries for Shasta County students, families, and districts. How is Superintendent Freeman going to put his stamp on this work moving forward? I love that idea of standing on the shoulders of people that have gone before, right? Like, anybody that knows Judy and knows Mike knows that there are, there are some polar differences,  uh, in styles.

Um, not in passion, not in heart. Judy, uh, Judy led. Uh, with an incredible heart, and, uh, I am honored to take the baton, right, take that torch from her, uh, in my office, there's a, there's a quote, and I think people that work with me are pretty sick of hearing about this quote, but I'm gonna share it, right, it's called the Stone Cutter, and it says, When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stone cutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times, without as much as a crack showing in it, yet at the hundred and first blow, it'll split in two.

And I know it was not that last blow that did it, but all that had gone before. And I think of, I think of Judy, I think of Tom, I think of Charlie, I think of like, the people that we see in the halls here at our Magnolia building. And, and how they attacked literacy. And how they attacked keeping kids safe.

And how they attacked district support and, you know, and, and, and championing public education and helping, uh, helping teachers in the classroom. And so I feel the honor of being the 27th. Superintendent of Shasta County, I feel the, uh, the responsibility that comes with that to do something with it, right, to, to, to crack that rock.

And I think of, uh,  I think Judy's a giver and on her way out, she actually went through a process. We looked at several, uh, several things that we have done in the time that she led, uh, that gave us, um, dramatic impact. And she distilled that work down to a blueprint. And we have that blueprint, and we openly share and talk about that blueprint.

We call it a Blueprint for Impact. And it is a recipe for doing work that is going to make a difference. And so I am trying to take that blueprint, and I'm trying to apply it to some of the dynamic craze, like, we've got some complex challenges.  I'm not going to I'm not going to say that, you know, teaching kids and supporting districts is easy work, but we're not about easy work.

We are about impact. We are about making a difference. And I just love the fact that, you know, we have that blueprint. And occasionally I'll catch up with Judy, have some lunch and  I bring my list and she she shares some wisdom from her experience. So I remember when that blueprint was being developed.

And, um, I think my favorite part of it is hear the problem, learn the problem, um, because if you, there's a lot of things we hear that we can't unhear, um, and then we have to learn. We have to learn how we can change it, right? What we need to do in order to make an impact in the, in a better way. And I love the intentionality, right?

Like in order to hear of a problem, you need to have psychological safety. You need to have a space, you need to have time in your calendar. If you're running from place to place, which. I do, I, I don't know how Judy just ca just like calmly walked everywhere.  , I am running, I'm, I'm always late. Uh, I'm working on that.

But I think that being intentional about the space that we're in, being intentional about the culture that we're creating so that people can feel safe to say, Hey, Houston, we have a problem. I  love that. I love what you said, hearing things we can't un here, right? We've all been in spaces where it's like, whoa. 

What did that person just share from their experience? I can't unhear that. What am I going to do about it? And a long time ago, I mean, Judy shared, Judy was a, Judy was a phenomenal leader, always reading, always learning, always sharing those things that she learned. And one time she shared an Adam Grant podcast, and in that Adam Grant podcast, it talks about a recipe for change.

And we can overthink change. I will always remember, and I've shared this before too, I We change when we hear something or see something that makes us feel something that makes us do something  And so here at the chas county office of education What can we do to create space where people can hear something or see something maybe a podcast episode, right?

And then okay, what are you going to do about the thing that that made you feel?  If that made you feel like oh my goodness I can't believe that students are having that experience or families are needing those neat like what is it? And I think when we do that change happens And those are, those are all lessons that we, that we have a rich, we have a rich culture and a rich history and tradition of some exceptional leadership in Shasta County.

And I'm honored to,  to try that. Right. I'm not, I'm not stepping into her shoes. Her shoes are up on the shelf. Hall of Fame. Great. Uh, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm rocking my Clarks and we're doing our thing.  And you've been a superintendent for six months.  June  13th. So the board appointed in February and we, I was basically Judy's shadow from February to June and then June 13th was my first day.

So we've been doing it for a little bit.  So kind of speaking of the superintendent perspective, I feel like there are varying levels of understanding of what county offices do and how they operate. And so coming from being a district superintendent to now a county office superintendent, what are the significant differences?

Between the two roles and how does it look differently to be a district superintendent and a county office superintendent? Shout out to all of my all of my friends that do the hard hard work of district superintendency, right? That is a that is a challenging thing Uh, it it's different from the board Board responsibilities and board relationships with superintendents.

Um, it's different with I think the the striking difference is the students Uh, we have student programs. It is one of many things we do here at Shasta County Office of Education. Shout out to Carrie Webb and her team for our student programs. But that's Excel, that's Independent Study, and that's our Juvenile Court, uh, Juvenile Court School, right?

And so that's about 130 kids. And so I think when people hear of maybe policies that are happening, or things that County Office is considering, we're considering those things. Yeah, if it relates to students, we're doing it in the context of, 130 kids. There are 26, 000 kids in Shasta County schools. 37, 000 if we're counting the littles, right?

We're in the little kid business as well. So superintendents have the responsibility for, uh, for the students in their programs. They have the relationships with their boards. I meet monthly with the superintendents in Shasta County and we have an open, uh, We have an open conversation if we're having conversations and they don't think that their board is going to be able to support the thing We're talking about then they just openly say, you know what i'm gonna have to work with my board.

So that's times 24 districts, right 24 superintendents working with 24 boards Yeah, that's a that's a unique thing where we have a shared governance with our board where our board has uh  Limited responsibilities compared to what a district's board would look like right the district's responsibilities would be to Hire the superintendent.

Well, Shasta County Office of Education superintendent's an elected position. So Um in the event of an appointment, yes, they're involved in that Um, but it's about budget approval in Shasta County Office of Education's budget. It's about, maybe there's a situation that happened in a district and requires an ex, an appeal, right?

Maybe there's an expulsion that's, that, that needs to be appealed to be heard by the County Board. So, the responsibilities, I think, would be, um, we're partners, it's the same game. It's just the, the scope is a little different. But then, uh,  I think, I feel the responsibility to advocate on behalf of Shasta County.

We are one of 58. And so we have, we have opportunities to be in statewide settings where we can talk about the challenges that we are experiencing here in Shasta County. A lot of times legislation comes out of Sacramento that is not working for rural schools. And we have the opportunity to advocate in those spaces to say, so it's almost like a bridge, right?

I have communication and relationships with the districts and charters in Shasta County. I also have relationships with the 58 counties in a state so that I can be able to advocate and champion for the unique needs of Shasta County.  Yeah, and you talk about the relationships and the partnerships, right?

Like, that is such an important part of the work we, that is the work we do. Um, and so what,  how are you approaching those sports and services, um, for the districts in Shasta County and what sets our county office apart from the other 58 county offices across the state in that work?  Well, I, I love where I live. 

And there's something about, uh, the rural space that we're in. Um, I would love to have the resources that some of our, our more urban areas, uh, have. But, um, one of the things that, uh, sets us apart in, in our rural nature, uh,  we have to help one another.  we have incredible relationships with each other.

There's a collaborative, if you were to sit in a, in a superintendent's meeting, there's, there's, there's inside jokes, right? There's relationships, there's, uh, there's the ability to understand where people are coming from, and work together to, uh, to rally around, to rally around needs. You know, as a district superintendent, uh, I went, you know, we all went through a car fire and, uh, when your phone pings with your friends that are superintendents saying, what do you need? 

We've had districts that have experienced really difficult things, maybe the loss of a student. And when those things happen, their phones ping with other superintendents. And I don't think that happens in Orange County, right? I don't think that happens in other parts of the state. So I think the thing that sets us apart is that.

That rural flavor. And we can look at it as a limit, but I, I choose not to, right? Like, we have the opportunity to, to step into these, to step into these relationships. You know, I think that we all maybe are tempted to look at the grass being greener somewhere else. This grass is pretty green. This grass, it's pretty, it's an amazing place to be, um, because of the relationships.

Now, can we be better? Yeah. Right, you know, I have dreams of collective impact. I have dreams of some of the things that, uh, maybe right now, uh, aren't happening. But um, I think that the ground,  the conditions are, are ideal for, for collaboration here. Where maybe in other places it's not. No offense to the other 58 counties, but I'll choose Shasta.

And those relationships and connections, I would imagine, is what gets.  superintendents through those difficult times, right? If they felt like they were on an island doing it by themselves and couldn't ping their fellow friend, fellow superintendent, fellow community member, um, they probably would have a more challenging time navigating  challenges, for lack of better.

I was at a community engagement initiative statewide meeting and we had a team from Shasta County And we were, uh, looking at the, the power of a, of community, community engagement, true community engagement, not involvement, right? Engagement, not doing things to people, but doing things with people, right?

And I think, uh, we, we stepped away from, from the meeting and somebody in my group came up and said, cause I think one of the, one of the presenters shared that the average tenure of superintendents is like around two years.  Right. And so she was struck by that. So she pulls me aside and said, why is that?

And, uh, I, the answer that came to my mind was cause they're doing it alone.  You drive by a school Saturday and you see a one car, that one car is an administrator and they're grinding  and that grind is not sustainable. And so I think that there's power in that, the ability to, to engage and to partner. 

But I think sometimes it is a lonely place.  It is a lonely leader. The loneliness of leadership is a reality sometimes. And I think that, um, there's, there's a paradigm shift that I think, uh, the recent hardships that we've gone through have taught us a little bit about that, about the importance of engagement and partnerships.

But, uh, trying to do it alone, you're gonna, you're gonna make it maybe one or two years, right? And I think too, the interesting thing is it's not about people or not.  Um, and, and, and bouncing from that position because Johnny can't read.  It'd be kind of cool if  that was the case, but it's because of relationships, right?

It's because, it's because of, uh, it's because of communication and all kinds of things factor into it. It is a very difficult job to be a district superintendent. And again, I tip my hat to the incredible school leaders, charter leaders as well, right? So superintendents and charter leaders. We are doing phenomenal work here in Shasta County.

It is difficult work. It is thankless work sometimes. Um, you know, your teachers walk away at Christmas with a wagon full of gifts, and the superintendent, you know, sometimes just heads to the car with a Starbucks card or something.  Oh, that's good.  Okay, so focusing on kind of the green grass community aspect, um, we just went through a website redesign, and one of the things that you were really passionate about was adding community partners on to the website as like a banner.

Um, can you talk about the importance of the role of community partners in education and how you see community partners being able to benefit students and families and aid academic outcomes?  Yeah, so I'm a novice chess player, right? And so sometimes I'm chasing the king with my one player.  I'm not ever going to be able to, to, to checkmate in that situation.

But if I had two or three players, and I can hit from different angles. I think that sometimes we're chasing things like literacy. We're chasing things like prevention. And we might have all the heart in the world, but in our one angle, our one  resource, our one lane,  it's always going to be elusive. But the second that I can also talk to parents, the second that I can also talk to older kids, that I can have industry and commerce, like, help us as a community when we do that, Like I think that we are able to achieve so so much more and I think that we're all connected right like this world 2024 well, don't get me started on like the disconnect right but like we should be more connected than ever We have the resources.

We have the availability to make those connections  and I think that  There's a great I'm gonna I'm gonna butcher this quote and I don't have the name so maybe we can fact check it later But this idea if you've come to if you've come to help me you're wasting your time. If you come and you see that your liberation is bound, is, is bound with mine,  then we can work together. 

And that's, that's a, that's a Native American activist. And, and like, just that thinking of like, being bound together. Like, your happiness is bound to my happiness. And  my community is only as safe as,  as that. Everyone's kid, right? And the idea, too, that like a lot of times, one of the things that I love about where I live is that folks stick around.

And so we have this, we have this  obligation to invest now because they're going to be here. They're going to be teaching my kids. They're going to, right, they're going to be doing those things. And so, I love this, I love this thought, right?  It comes from Eric Liu, he's CEO of Citizen University, and I've shared this before in a lot of different settings, so I apologize if people have heard me say this before, but I love it.

As much as the United States is a place that lives on a narrative of rugged individualism, rugged individualism never got a barn raised, never got a field cleared, never got a schoolhouse built, and everybody who's grown up in small town America, in a rural part of the country, in a conservative district or state, knows that the mythology of the lone cowboy figuring it all out by himself is just that.

It's pure myth. That the only good things that have happened have happened because people came together in a way where they took responsibility for each other and with each other. Love that, right? Like, I, taking responsibility for each other. I grew up in a time when I played until it was dark.  I grew up in a time where maybe if I screwed up and did something, somebody was talking to my mom.

Yeah. Right? And this idea of the community raising children is something that we're losing. And I'm not gonna be like, let's go back to 1950s when it was a different time. Like, this is the time, but we still have the sense of community that we can nourish through our partnerships. Yeah. To be able to say, look, I'm not, I'm not doing this alone.

I'm not in this by myself. And I think standing on the shoulders of all those that have gone before, are they. and they wouldn't try to do it by themselves, either, right? It's about how can we work with our service organizations? How can we work with our county partners? How can we work with our, uh, service providers, right?

There's a lot of people doing amazing things. It's just a matter of, instead of a hundred arrows going in a hundred different directions, what if they all went in one direction? Yeah. Towards kids would be great. That would be cool. Well, and it's in, it's, the work has to be in partnership. In partnership with districts and partnerships with community partners in partnership with families and partnership with students because like you said when you mentioned the superintendents and the two year span of that job, if you're doing it alone, you're going to burn out and your impact is going to be less significant.

Um, and so I, I really, as somebody who works for SCOE appreciate the fact that we look at things as in partnership with others, um, not that we are here in this silo doing things on our own. We have to do it together because it's for our community. When I, I, I invite anybody and every, I think partnership partners also hold us, hold people accountable, hold each other accountable.

If there are things that we are not doing right.  Like I got no ego here, right? I got some thick skin. You can come at me and say, hey, you want to be better? Cause I think it's interesting, right? Schools, I think a lot of times students feel like school happens to them. They don't hear their voice. They don't see their ideas represented.

I, I, I a hundred percent understand the challenge with getting student voice, but that student voice matters. And that's the kind of school we're trying to build. But a lot of times we'll go doing it without.  Including the student voice or yeah, well, including student voice. And how many times have we been in a meeting when the plan has already been determined and the plan is being handed out?

And it's like, hold on. Are we in the process of developing this plan? No, it's already been cooked up and here it is. Right. I think that that's the, that's the work. Like nobody wants it done to you, right? You want to be, you want it done with not even for right to worst for  That service heart is great, but like with is where the magic happens, right?

Yeah, in partnership. In partnership with, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Um, you mentioned, um, some board initiatives with, uh, literacy and substance use. Um, in 23 24 school year, our board, Shasta County Office of Education's board, adopted literacy and substance use prevention as their key initiatives. Um, how do you envision these initiatives shaping the future of students in Shasta County and making a lasting impact for generations to come? 

Yeah, I love the word impact and I'm kind of addicted to that feeling, right? I love the idea to be able to sit back in one day, hang out as an old man. Some would say I'm already there, right? But as an old man, look back and say, we were, we were here.  Like our finger, like we, we did this together with community partners.

We did this. Remember when kid, remember when reading at grade level was a 50, 50 shot in Shasta County. And how great if we can get to 70, 30, 80, 20, 90, 10, right? And I think that there's, I think that there's power there. Uh, remember when fentanyl was the number one leading cause of death for 18 to 40 year olds in the United States? 

Um, I don't, I can't do anything about the United States. Uh, my mom constantly reminds me that I can only, Right? I cannot save the world. I can only, I can only work on my corner of the world. This is my corner, right? When I was a classroom teacher, my classroom was my corner. The middle school principal, my middle school was my corner.

District superintendent, my district was my corner. And now, I have the dream job of being Shasta County superintendent of schools, and Shasta County is my corner. And so like, how, what are those things that I can do to be able to create a place where, where kids read? Um, you know, we started talking about Mr. Purdy. Mr. Purdy lit a fire because he taught me to read. Actually, it was a Mr. Purdy, a combination of Mr. Purdy and Pizza Hut's Book It program.  You would read five books and you'd get a personal pizza, and I like pizza, so. Uh, but, but I mean, imagine a place, imagine a place. Prisons are built  based on literacy rates.

Hmm.  Yeah, that was a fact that Jenn and I, um, uncovered when we were doing the literacy  podcast last month and it's pretty staggering. Yeah. Yeah. And I've got a couple of kids and I cannot imagine, I cannot imagine, my heart goes out to the folks that are struggling, that, that have kids that have substance use issues, parents that have substance use issues, then the common denominator across so many of our social ills. 

I remember having a conversation with an Anderson City Council who sat on the SARB board for, for a decade, right? And it was like, he did the math and it was like 98 percent of SARB cases that he saw had substance use as a root issue in, in the situation. Right? So like, I think that I'm about trim tabs.

If I can change one thing that changes 10 things, let's help kids make choices. Thanks. In effective ways, right? I think things have been done in the past and maybe they were effective, maybe they weren't effective, but I love the work that's happening. Um, I, I also, I just have this belief that education is a lever.

I believe that you give me footing, you give me a lever, and a fulcrum, and I can move the world.  And I think that what we do every day is, is that work. Is that leverage. What is lever, what are those levers? Levers to me would be  Literacy.  Shout out to Mr. Brown. Levers to me are choices.  Right? You make better choices, you live better lives.

Like, helping people in 3rd grade, 5th grade understand peer pressure, understand  how to, how to deal with things that happen to them. Cause a lot of things happen to us.  You know, and that idea of like, what do you reach for when you're hurting?  Our community has had opportunities to, to, to, well, we've had, I wouldn't say opportunities, we've had challenges that have hurt us.

What are we reaching for? And I know people that are still in that. They're still doing that work.  That's deep work, right? You can't, you can't be superficial and, and, and throw,  no, no offense to the program, right? You can't just throw a program at it. You gotta have program, you gotta have relationships, you gotta have sincerity, you gotta have partnerships, you gotta have sustainability and resources.

So much of our work is grant funded, and the work I get, the word that I get is like, Mike, this is really great and all, but what happens when the grant goes away?  These are all realities, and so it really comes down to priorities. What I love about what the board did, mutual conviction. Like, yeah, we're not all agreeing right now.

We can all agree to keep kids safe from the dangers of fentanyl and other substances, because who knows what's coming, right? Who knows, who knows what we're going to be talking about in a year, but we're talking about principles that aren't just related to that one target, and then literacy. And I've seen those initiatives, Calm troubled waters right in front of us, right?

And so I think that there's power there. There's like, maybe this sense of community can happen as we not necessarily work on compromising, but like, what are we all in on? Yeah. And I would love action behind it. I would love to like, welcome to Shasta County where we, I think that there's something to be said for how we treat our youngest and how we treat our oldest.

I'm not in that oldest business. I'm in the youngest business. And it would be great to live in a County that. Respects and invests and does everything they can to ensure the success of  Yeah,  I think for me with the board initiatives is the action that was put behind it. It wasn't that this is our area of focus.

It was, these are our initiatives. And this is, we're, we're putting our money where our mouth is, right? And we are developing programs, um, that, um,  that can make that impact, right? You, you talked earlier about student voice and including students in, in the decisions and not having the plan and then presenting it to the students.

And, and, um, and I look at the work even with the board, the board initiative and how much  is layered in with students. I mean, I feel like every single part of the substance use board initiative has a student.  Place like a student that we have the student board. We have the youth commission We have so many different things that have layers of students in them.

Yeah, and it's not just what it's the how yeah, right Okay, cool initiative great. That's not a priority or a focus area because the focus area It doesn't necessarily involve the board. This involves the board. The board is reporting on the work that they're doing. And it's incorporating some of those blueprint, blueprint for impact, right?

I just think that it's interesting because I'm, I'm having conversations with two people that I have tremendous respect for. I respect the work that you do. Um, I think of, uh, I think of if, if we could build systems that help homeless youth be successful, wouldn't that catch everyone?  Yeah. Right? Yeah. Yeah.

And it's the systems that are, that. Yeah. Right. If we can build systems with those in mind, I think of the, there's a bowling analogy, right? I'm terrible at the bowling pins. But like, if you, if you hit the seven and the 10, they all go down,  right? If we hit those students that are marginalized, aren't we also catching the kids that's, that's going to go to Stanford, right?

Like we're going to be doing those things. And I think that, I think that there's power in  making sure that we've got focus. We don't have 17 initiatives in Shasta County Office of Education. You catch me in an elevator.  Does Redding have an elevator? Yeah, we have a couple. We have one here. Yeah, there you go.

We have one here. You catch me in an elevator, and I've got two minutes. I'm going to be able to tell you what we're about, right? We're about, we're about keeping kids safe from the dangers of substances, and we're about literacy. And I think that I love the way, I love the way that we're doing it. I love, you just had literacy folks on, and I love that whole science of reading, because to me, there's, that's strategic, right?

Yeah, sure, everyone's talked about literacy. We're, we're actually Making sure that we're aligned with the science of reading and doing it in a way that's going to be effective, so.  Yeah. Yeah. You mentioned, uh, keeping kids safe. Yeah. And I know that school safety is a big  topic for you. Mm hmm. Um, it falls into that things you can and hear category.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um,  and the well being of students in Shasta County is, I think, probably your foundation. Cool. Thanks, Jenn. Um, supporting the academic success, um, begins with ensuring that our students feel safe. Um, and  their safety needs to be both mental and it also needs to be physical. And I believe that you have a school safety position.

Yeah. Safety director. Yeah. Posted last Friday. Yep. That has been, I would imagine, dreamt up, right? Because there's a need. You heard a need. Um, you learned the need and now you're Um, and then, um, moving to doing something about that need. Can you share with your intent behind creating that position and how you envision that role supporting students well being and contributing to their success in school. 

I want to honor everybody that keeps our community safe. I want to honor our first responders. My heart goes out to them. I can't imagine what that. That is like. I have some close friends that, uh, that were guns to work, right? Like I. I honor that. Um, I also, uh, there are situations that keep us up at night working with children.

When we look at trends in, in, across the country, uh, I read a book one time, uh, called uh, How to, How to Deal with Anxiety, right? And Start Living by Dale Carnegie. And there's a chapter and it was about, um, the, the strategy for an anxiety free life is to imagine the worst case scenario and then in quiet times attack it,  be proactive and do the things that you can do to make sure that the worst case scenario does not happen.

I don't want to spend time here talking about the worst case scenarios. It doesn't take an imagination to come up with a list of the worst case scenarios when we're working with kids. What are we doing about it?  And so I think I need a champion. Our districts are working hard to create safe and, safe and effective learning environments.

And that's everything from belonging to, to hardening, hardening facilities. And you might see some fences, and you might see some different check in procedures in offices. All of those things. I want to support them. I also have 400 employees. I have 400 employees that do all kinds of different things, right?

They show up at 5 a. m. in a transportation building.  And what does safety look like for them? I've got shout out to Project Share and After School, right? Like, I've got folks that are across this county doing incredible work, but their safety needs also need attention. And right now, if you called the Shasta County Office of Education and said, I'd like to talk to the person that's in charge of safety,  we don't have it.

They'd be on hold a couple weeks. Yeah, we have people that are doing incredible things. Shout out to Will Barnett, who works with districts. Um, He meets quarterly with school resource officers, right? So, like, there's piece, there's people that are holding these pieces. I need a champion. I need something that has, somebody that has the experience.

I need somebody that eats it, breathes it, sleeps it.  Because I'm a Spanish teacher, right? I, I don't want the worst thing to happen, but, like, what are you doing about it? You, you,  you tell me your priorities, I'm gonna say, show me your budget.  Show me your calendar. If you're not spending time or money on it, it's not a priority.

So I think a lot of folks say safety is a priority. It's about putting your money where your mouth is and saying that 26, kids in Shasta County need the safety support. Now this one person is, uh, is not going to be able to do it all. So there's going to be priorities, right? But it really does come down to listening to the needs of our districts and our charters, listening internally to our own programs.

And then having the ability to have somebody that has that expertise to be able to bridge, right? To be able to talk to our law enforcement community and to be able to translate or communicate what  effective best practices are going to look like. Uh, every day in our schools. And so I'm excited about that opportunity.

I'm excited to explore what that could look like. We've had great conversations with some of our regional partners. Modoc has one. Siskiyou has one. Trinity has one. So it's time for Shasta County Office of Education to step into that space. And I'm about every head nodding when I'm in a room of 24 superintendents and I throw that idea out and everyone's like, yeah, that that's the indicator.

It's like we're, we're on, we're on agenda here.  I'm about head nodding. Yeah. Yeah. So shout out EdJoin school safety director Shasta County Office of Education. Come on down. It's a great shameless plug. It is a great place.  Working on it being the best place, but it's a great place. Yeah.  Um, so shifting gears towards parents and parent support.

Um, can you tell us about your three legged stool? And your model for public education and the role you see parents playing in supporting student success. Yeah, three legged stool. I have a three legged stool. Shout out to Frank Adelman. I don't know if Frank Adelman is going to pick this podcast up, but I had the opportunity to work with Frank Adelman.

He was superintendent at Columbia School when I was principal at Mountain View. And he always talked about, uh, he always talked about family engagement and making sure that we are including families. Uh, there's a Harvard research study that says the single greatest indicator of  the possibility or potential of student success, academic success, social success.

It's not socioeconomic status. It's not the college level of parents. It is the frequency of which the family eats at the table. Wow.  Think about that, right? So I, I'm in the kid business, I'm in the school business, and I've always said, I'm in this business, and when it hits 3, 3. 30, 4 o'clock, I'm not in that business.

Well, when I, when you see that research, we should be about that business. We should be about not overriding. We're not taking away parent rights. We're not overreaching. We're supporting, and how can we strengthen families? The connection. How can we connect with families, and how can we partner with families?

So I have a three legged stool, it's an old milking stool, and I have it in my office as a constant reminder. Right? When I was at the site, it was about, Hey kid, do your job.  I'm going to do my job. Hey, mom, dad, help us out and do your job. We do those things. Amazing things can happen. We try to do, I try to do your job or Hey kid, I'm going to do your job or I'm going to lessen the expectations after you.

It's a mess, right? And I think that we have, we have the ability  to develop those partnerships so that  again, it's not, uh, I have a lane. I would love to stay in my lane. Work with community partners in their lanes, support students so they can do their work, do everything we can to remove obstacles and barriers to support families to be able to do their work.

It is not easy to be a parent. I'm a parent. It's not easy. Never has been. Never will be, right? But I think that the idea is, can we, can we see us as partners?  And I think that there's some opportunities there for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.  And I think it's important to always remember in that partnership that there are so many students that don't have that support at home.

Um, their families might look a little bit different. They might not have that opportunity to sit down at the dinner table every night with their parents. Um, and that could be a multitude of reasons, but making sure there were also,  Addressing that part of it, right? And I think family, I, I say parent, I, I, I could mean grandparent, guardian, right?

Family. Uh, family engagement, it could be, it could be neighbors that you have that are close like family, right? Carrying adults. Yeah. Yeah. Caring adult, like the, kind of the insulating factors that, um, carrying adults provide in life. I,  shout out to single moms, right? I was raised by a single mom. She was my den leader.

She was my baseball coach. She was everything. And I know that she, even to this day, I'm, I'm 49 years old and I don't think she thinks she did enough.  Right. She, she did enough. You know, I think when there's partnerships, there's compensatory strength. There's this, there's this idea that I got you and it'd be way cool.

You know, like  I used to do this, right? We're changing our minds about a lot of things. I used to stand in front of a gym and I used to welcome parents to back to school and I welcome parents to open house. And I would introduce my teachers as the rock stars.  I would say, he, the, let me introduce you to the heroes in the story.

Every story has a hero. Every story, every hero has a helper. Yeah. If I would do it differently now, I would say, parents, grandparents, trusted adults, you are the heroes in this story. Let me introduce you to my teachers who are your guides. Who are your helpers to come alongside and to do the things that you need help doing.

Because no one can do it alone, right? No one can. And this is, it's not designed to be that way. It's not designed to do it alone, right? I think that, um, but I think sometimes,  sometimes we're stuck in old models. Yeah. Parent teacher conferences can look different. Open houses and back to school nights can look different.

So many times it's weird, us talking about how great we are. No offense to, no offense to folks doing it, but we're kind of stuck in some models and it would be kind of cool to turn that on its head a little bit in the name of engaging and establishing partnerships with families.  Sorry, that was a little bit of a soapbox.

I can go a couple hours there, so I'm going to stop.  It's actually funny. I was at a coalition meeting yesterday,  and we were talking about parent engagement, and one of the moms who was there said, Well, you know what? At my childhood, we had Mr. Freeman there. We had such good parent engagement, and I just felt so equipped.

And, you know, she's like saying all the stuff, and she was like, I wonder what his secret sauce was. And it just, You know, it's, it's, it's cool to, you know, know who you are and know how much you care about families and know,  you know, all that sort of stuff. Yeah. I don't, I don't, can I reveal some secret sauce?

Uh, I think, I think we just need to be authentic with people. That felt safety that's created that allows families to feel seen,  um, and, and supported by education. And I love how you talked about that. Flipping the narrative about the, the, the families, the caregivers, the parents, the aunts, the uncles, whoever, the caring adult, the trusted adult, is the hero of the story.

And, and embracing that, and really  doing something about, like, actually walking the walk, right, and talking the talk. But when you're in it, right, it's hard to see. When you're in it, it's like, what did we do last year?  That's what we do. Didn't have a blueprint for impact. Right, and we do that here sometimes.

We do, what did we do last year? Versus like, is there a way that we can,  that we can improve it? I know even like looking at some of our community engaged, community activities that we've had, we're always like, okay, how can we, how can we do this differently? Right, that idea of like, come to school. Maybe it's not come to school.

It's like, go to them. And what does go to them look like? You know, and I think that those are,  Those are interesting. I, I, I've heard it, right? Hey Mike, you talk about community engagement and the development of some of our plans, some of our budgets and getting input and improvement. We have the pizza, we have the translators, or we have the, and nobody comes and it's like, well, at the basketball game, there's like the bleachers full of parents.

Can you just sit down and say, Hey, you started at our school. You're new. How are we doing?  Right. Can you open doors on the pickup? On the drop off and just say, Hey, how are we doing right after an IEP meeting? Can you say, do you have a second? I have a couple of questions for you. And so I think we need to have these surveys.

I think the thought is like quantitative data and that there's a place for that. It's like, I got to have the survey and I got to have the survey with a 50, 75 percent participation rate. Well, if you talk to nine or 10 people and you hear if  you hear a common thread in those nine or 10 conversations, chances are you're getting some, um, Some qualitative data that's going to allow you to make some changes.

So I think that there's just a matter. It's just a process of re rethinking and exploring new ways. I love the qualitative data is my favorite. Um, I feel like in, in almost a lot of the stuff that Jen and I do in the, in the shared and separate work, it's, it's the, the impact of the story, right? It's the list, it's listening to listen.

Not to just ask a question for someone to respond. Yeah, and high performing organizations, and I would love for Shasta County Office of Education to be considered a high performing organization. High performing organizations are obsessed with results. And so there's that combination of quantitative and qualitative.

And I think that we can all get better at both, but hearing that impact. And having the conversation eyeball to eyeball, like, Hey, that thing you met, and it's interesting, right? I remember I went to a second grade, it was career day, and I always made fun of, like, I always kind of joked with my staff that nobody invites the, the school principal. 

The firemen come in, the police, the really cool jobs, and nobody says, Hey, principal, you want to come in and talk about your job? And so one time, shout out to Mrs. Kogel, second grade, she invited me in to talk to her class, and I, so I'm talking to second graders, And I changed my title from, uh, Superintendent Principal to Chief Memory Maker. 

Right? It's that narrative shift. Yeah, and I showed a slide, I showed a slide deck of just pictures of the fun times I've had with these second graders. Right? But teaching math is making memory, right? Like, we're putting things in people's heads. And I think that, uh, I think that sometimes, um, it really is about, um,  What, what experiences am I having with these people that make them feel loved?

Like, how do you know that I love you?  Oh, well, I'm going to dress up like an elf and sit on a frozen roof for  four hours. Yeah. Right. We have pictures of that? Yeah, it might be. It might be. That's such a cool narrative shift for students because they see principal, superintendent as guy in charge, unapproachable, but when you come into a classroom and you say, chief memory maker, and they're able to see those things, it really brings walls down and I think probably also promotes safe feelings and.

Oh, this is a fun place to be at school because I'm around somebody who is kind and approachable and, and the chief memory maker days aren't over, right? Like we're still in that. We're still in that game. Next year is Halloween costume.  Chief memory maker.  I see it now.  You're marked that one. Um, I feel like the, a lot of the stuff that we've talked about today, uh, relationships is the foundation.

Right? Um, and we know, um, with working with you, that you are a devoted family man. Um, and that's to, to your wife, and your children, to your mother, um, to your entire family. Uh, family is probably, uh, what is most important to you in this world. And so, um,  It is clear that you value your home and what the home's impact has in shaping people  who they become, right?

How we become as an adult, how we show up each day. Can you share how being a family man influences your approach to leadership and the decisions you make for our community? Yeah, I have a three by five card. No offense to to Shasta County Office of Education. I have a three by five card that, um, the title is what matters most and there's five things and none of them are here. 

Right? Um,  no, no worldly success can compensate for failure in the home.  Um, I, I, I love the fact that, you know, I think it's important that we identify the roles that we play in life. And. Um, and be clear about those roles in those roles. I'm not a work life balance guy because that's a joke. We spend if we spend 50 60 hours in a place, you can't necessarily talk about balance, but it's about presence.

And it's about like, Are my kids do my kids know that their priority? Um, I had a great conversation with a good friend and it was about, you know, like, instead of I'm I'm up in your business wondering what you're doing with your like, Can I just work on mine? Um, Right? Instead of telling you how to do yours, like, hey, how about I work on, I work on mine, and I think that there's, um, there's perspective there.

Uh, I have two kids that went through public school systems in Shasta County. Um, I have a belief. I've stood in places in front of staff and shared the belief that, uh, I, everything I do is from the belief that every kid is my kid.  So when I look at those 37, 000 kids, what would I do for my kid? My kid doesn't look like your kid, I get that, but if I adopt that and say, I'm going to put policies and practices in place to help every kid be like, every kid have the things that I would want for my kids, and that's really served me well, right?

And those are difficult conversations sometimes. Imagine principal, superintendent, you're looking at discipline.  And you're looking at like, okay, what would you do if that  kid was Abe Freeman,  right? So like, I think that that, um, I think that that provides some, um,  some perspective, but, uh, I love you want to make my day actually calling me a family man was payday, right?

I love the idea that, um, that somebody comes up to me and tells me something good about my kid.  Right. That's a return on investment. Those things do not happen  naturally. They happen intentionally. You have to. You have to be intentional about what you do with your time. You have to be intentional about the words.

You have to be intentional. You cannot outsource  parenting. And I think sometimes if you think about it, we think Schools, you'll teach this. My coach will teach this. Like, you cannot outsource. And so, when I stand where I'm standing as Shasta County Superintendent of Schools, I would just love everybody to know that I'm a parent, and I am not in any way, in any of the actions I'm doing, trying to outsource, or trying to,  trying to grab your responsibilities as a parent, grandparent, guardian, right?

I'm not cared and trusted. Caring and trusted adult in the life of a, of a kid. Um,  and it's, it's a pretty sweet gig now. My kids are older and I, you can start to get a little bit of a feel for the return on investments. Right, as they turn into somewhat decent people. Yeah. That still have, you know, expensive needs.

Yeah.  I feel like they get more expensive as they get older. But it's, it's interesting right now because now at this stage it's about influence.  Right, it's about like, Um,  Maybe, maybe they remember the things I said. Now it's about, like, hopefully I, I wish failure for my kids.  That sounds kind of weird to say, but I wish wilderness for my kids.

I wish, like, uncertainty, and maybe they're lost, and I'd love for them in their lost or frustrated or disappointed state to say, you know what?  I'm gonna do that thing Dad did.  Right? I'm like, yeah, what did, what did dad, right? That's when the lessons are like, Oh, they're in there and I can pull it. Right?

And I think that the amazing thing now is sometimes when I'm low or when I'm down,  they're the ones that are helping me.  Which is an interesting dichotomy. Which is pretty, pretty fantastic. But no effort, no effort is wasted in the raising of children. Um, and I'm not.  I am not at all saying we got this thing down.

I think that there are therapy bills coming in the future because I was a busy school administrator. Yeah. Right. Shout out to Anderson High School Cubs. I was an assistant principal. My wife would bring my kids. They were little. We would have lunch on Wednesday because she knew in She wasn't seeing me until Saturday.

Wow. Right. That was a thing. So, there are some things that, um, you know, but I think that, uh, it's important, it's important to be where you are when you are there. Like you're not on, put the laptop down, put the phone down. It's interesting because we all talk about kids being our number one priority. Would our screen time  say that? 

Right? Think about some of the places where we're spending our time instead of maybe putting that down and having conversations with people that are in the room. Yeah, I love that your three by five card is nothing to do with work because that shows the type of person, the priorities, right? And I think I read something the other day that said, your, your employer will never remember all the times that you stayed late at work, but your children will.

That's, that's sobering, right? Yeah. Because I'm not making light of the job I do. The work we do is hard. But I can also tell you when I talk a little bit about perspective  out there fires in here.  Like when I'm awesome out there, I'm better here. When things aren't right there, it's impossible to be great here. 

Right? It'll ring like a, it'll ring like, you know, artificial, like contrived, like, no, this isn't authentic. Like he's not right. And there's been times where it's not great out there. And it's really hard to be great here when that's happening.  But that's the business we're in, right? Like, we're raising, we're working in the, we're working as a village to raise humans.

Yeah. That are gonna have families. Yeah. That are gonna remember some things. Yeah. And it's all village work. I, I feel like in a lot of the work that, that I do, Um, and even in my own personal life, it's, it does take a village, it takes a village, it takes a community, it takes people coming together that may be on different sides of a street, but being able to meet in the middle with a shared  need, a commonality to be able to make impact. 

We just can't, we can't do anything alone, really.  And we've talked about how administrators can't do anything alone, superintendents can't do anything alone, um, humans really are better when they are surrounded by other humans. We're wired for connection. Yeah. Right? Yeah. I think that, um,  the home is the, is the laboratory.

Right? Like the family, the design of the family is, uh, I think that's an inspired design to,  to, uh, to learn. I, I, I, I would just throw a shout out to anybody that listens that might have young children. Um, I think one of the lessons that I've had is I didn't necessarily let my kids in on the adulting.  I think my wife and I would rally, we'd be in a war room, we'd come up with a solution to the challenge, and we'd come out and be like, let's go to pizza.

Right, we wouldn't necessarily let them in on, like, we got a little situation here. And I'm not saying do that with young children, but as they get older, I think letting them in, this is hard. Thank you. Yeah, because I think now my kids are finding that it's hard and they're calling up and say, well, it wasn't hard for you. 

I was like, well, hold on. I did a poor job of kind of letting you in. Yeah. Sometimes we protect them from too much, um, which,  which is a whole nother topic,  right? I think that sometimes I do have that belief, right? Like, uh, the story goes, guy goes out into the woods, he's going to cut wood, load up the truck.

He gets stuck in the snow. He's like, well, I'm already here. I might as well cut up the wood and he loads this, he loads up the truck and the weight of the wood gets him unstuck.  And I think so many times the very thing I'm carrying while it feels heavy and it's like, man, this is heavy. I don't know about you guys.

A lot of what we're doing right now, everything we're touching feels heavy, but I can just assure you that the load that you're carrying, that weight. is actually developing strength, developing muscles, developing capacity that we just don't realize yet. And so when the challenges, the next challenges come up, we're prepared because  we've carried that, right?

Like, like,  pregnant women aren't immediately blessed with a nine month baby to carry around. It starts small and over time gets stronger, right? And everybody has to get used to that. And you think, how in the world did you do that? Well, you did that because day after day, you were developing the capacity and the strength to do that. 

I don't know what I'm talking about, but you know what I mean? But that thought of like, hey, the very thing that maybe this community is struggling with, I believe that the obstacle is the way. I believe that the very thing that's like, ooh, that's a big, fat, scary challenge over there. Well, on the other side of that, we're better.

We can ignore it. Or we can go get better.  Right? That's a That's a scary, scary way of of viewing things, because there are some scary challenges out there, and up on the other side of that we're better.  And sometimes you're busy battling the gator closest to the boat, but it's hard to see the rest of the river.

Yeah, and I just had this conversation the gator closest to the boat, but we're not this we're not the Shasta County Office of Gators. Right.  somehow we've got to be able to manage the, you know, the whirlwind and the deadlines and the, the due dates and the thing, the next thing. And it's kind of like that microscope telescope analogy that Judy taught me, right?

If I'm always in the microscope, I, I'm, I'm losing the big picture, but if I'm always big picture, I'm not taking care of the day, the day to day. So there's a little bit of a dance there. Yeah.  Just letting that telescope,  It's, you're so, I think you can adopt that in every aspect of life, right? I think you talked about people having young children right now, like you're looking at the microscope because you're in it and sometimes it's really hard to take that shift.

So when you're in it and education and you're a teacher and you're in the classroom and you're, um,  you, you have all these things that are telling you what you need to do and it's so microscopic. It's really important to take that.  Step back and look at the big picture, because if you just focus on all the stuff in the microscope, you lose so much.

Yeah. Well, and shout out to Dr. McKenzie, right? Like, at our last leadership, Dr. McKenzie and Ryan Miller were talking to us a little bit about fierce coaching conversations. And as I'm sitting there, I'm like, Oh, I can apply this to  parenting. So much of what we do, if we're doing it right, applies to other aspects of, of life.

Yeah. Directly from there, one of the questions I used in an evaluation, I was like, Oh, this is way better than something I could have come up with.  Yeah, we, we have an incredible team here at Shasta County Office of Education with people that I have admired for a very long time. Just not being, you know, I'm five years here at Shasta County Office of Education, so I've worked in my different capacities.

I've worked with a lot of folks on our, on our team and a shout out to our team.  We do have a great team. Um,  Talking about, um, older Mike Freeman sitting on his porch and his rocking chair, um, with sawdust everywhere, sawdust, sawdust everywhere. Um,  what is your vision for the future of SCOE when you're no longer here, when you're able to be in your retirement world, um, enjoying your grandchildren, um, and holding Kelly's hand?

What, what is your vision for future SCOE?  Oh wow. Um,  well, I, I hope I touch it every day. Right. I think, uh,  I, I think somewhere we've lost,  uh,  how great it is to be a teacher.  Um, so in, in a world, in a world where I'm  in retired and hanging out, I would love for the profession of education of educator to be where it was. 

And I don't know if that's a COVID pandemic fallout and loss of trust or mistrust or in public education. I just, we need teachers, we need paraprofessionals, we need bus drivers, we need school fiscal accountants, right? And I think, uh,  a life  working in public education has given me so much. And if somebody's thinking about what to do with their life, I would just love for that to be a magnet.

I'd love for For that to, to, to pull some of our best and our brightest. Um, and, and I think right now people are looking at other, other options. And so I would love, I would love for our work to champion public education to take root and for us to get back to a place and be even better. Um, I, I,  I think that, uh, I dream of SADAS.

I dream of collective impact. I dream of a place, it's interesting because in the room there's still elements of competition.  And it's hard to collaborate when we're competing. And I'd love to be in a place where, Welcome to Shasta County, where we are all in. And I come to this meeting because I know this meeting is going to make me better at serving my kids.

And I might have something that's going to help you serve your kids better. And that idea, that collective impact, that shared data. Right? So I'm all in on sharing my data. My data might be good, bad, ugly, but sharing my data is going to help the collective work because schools change, right? A kid goes here for fourth grade and goes here for seventh grade.

And so like that idea that we're all connected versus 24  separate districts.  When I'm in statewide meetings and I say 24 separate districts and they're like, oh you must have like a hundred thousand kids No, 24 separate districts and 26, 000 kids that that's unique here I would love for that spirit of collaboration that I feel amongst our superintendents to grow to a place where  We're we're openly sharing and collaborating more than even more than where we are I think that there's success stories in collaboration and I think  Um, I think there's opportunities for that to, to scale up. 

I couldn't agree more. I feel like there are healthy levels of competition, um, but showing up in a room with, with a collective  goal, um, and letting that competition go and put that aside to be able to continue to have SAWDUS everywhere to continue to, um, grow. Move in a direction that is best for our community instead of looking at it as 24 separate districts and 24 different areas of our community.

It's one community. Um, and how are we making the impact as a unit?  Yeah, one community. Yeah, that  I, I agree. I think competition does. Uh does light a fire, right? I think that there's something about that almost like open market, right? Like we do have we have somewhat open enrollment in Shasta County. So there is there is that element But I think that like that's cool that helped you get better share it with me so I can get better.

Yeah. Yeah  Well, we are going to wrap up our time here and we just like our signature open we have a signature closed So you can either choose to answer one or both of these um, but  The signature closing is what is your hope for the next generation? Or who is someone that has helped you along your journey? 

Oh man. So I've mentioned John Purdy. I've mentioned Frank Adelman throughout Nancy Hickson. Um, there's, there's, there's so many folks that have, uh, that have helped me as a parent, as a teacher. So I'm going to, I'm going to take your first one. Uh, what gives, what is my hope for the next generation? One of the beliefs that I have is that there is no lid.

Um, comes from a science experiment, right? Where they threw, uh, they threw fleas into a  Petri dish, right? I'm working on my science here. Like, they threw fleas into a container and they put a lid on it, and the fleas jumped up and constantly tapped. You could hear the fleas tapping the lid.  And then eventually the tapping stopped.

The fleas had conditioned themselves, it kind of hurt to hit the lid, so they conditioned themselves to jump just below the lid. So the science experiment goes like this, you take the lid off, and the hypothesis is it's going to be pandemonium, and there's going to be fleas everywhere. You take the lid off,  and they don't. 

Interesting. They jump just high enough. They have conditioned themselves to jump just high enough, and they don't realize how free they actually are, how limitless they actually are. And so that's fleas, right? But I don't know why that does something to me, because, um,  I'm a, I'm a, I'm a person. Uh, I'm a person with, with potential.

I'm a person that has put lids on myself.  I've had other people put lids on me. And the realization that there is no lid is a liberating thing. And my hope, uh, my hope for the next generation is that,  um, they would realize and look around and there is no limit.  Uh, anything is possible truly right now. If I'm, if I'm five, six, am I going to play in the NBA?

Chances are no, but there are no limits to what you can do. Um, and, and be, and I think that, uh, a school system that has no lids  would be a, would be a thing that gives me hope. Um, I think that if, if I could have a kid grow up  like me, fall in love with reading, um, be able to chase some dreams and be able to receive the support, be able to feel like they have a sense of belonging that the adults in the room cares for them, um, that regardless of what is happening at home. 

They have the supports that they need, and that's going to look different for every kid. Um, but I think that the bottom line is that they could look up and see no lid.  That, that'd be pretty cool.  Gives me hope. Yeah. I, I love that, and I think that if our kids could feel that way, we'd have a different world. 

Yeah, my kid, uh, my, my son the other day was talking, he said he's at this interesting stage, right, where he's trying to figure out what he wants to do with the rest of his life, and, Um, I don't know if you know this, but this is my dream job.  When I was at the superintendent of, of Grant School, Tom Armelino came and visited me, and he's like, where do you want to be in five years?

I said, I want your job.  Judy came out and visited me and said, what do you want to do in five years? I said, I want, I want to be the county superintendent of schools. And for me, that's not a power thing. That's a denominator thing, right? When I was in the high school, And I was teaching and I'd be loaded up and maybe have 150, 160 kids, maybe up to like 180 kids.

And I felt like, wow, this is fun. And then you go to admin courses and you start to realize, whoa, that vision could be kind of cool at a school level. So then you go to school and now you're 450. And then you go to a district and it's like 600, right? And so then an opportunity comes to be of influence and be able to do some things for 26, 000 or 37, 000 kids. 

Like, that's a big deal. That's a dream and I think, um, dreams, dreams are important and it's important to manifest those things. It's important to like, hey, put it down, sit down and write it down because, uh, I, I think crazy things happen when you put things down on paper and you start to, and you start to attack.

Like I'm not a manifest guy, but like there is that intentionality of like, hey, you, you walk with integrity, the road meets your feet. Right? You step into those spaces and things you're gonna have, you're gonna have some, some cool opportunities. And I think in the end, we, we've always been, I remember Tom Armelino being here talking about every kid, every option. 

And in Shasta County, it's Shasta County Office of Education. We want every kid to have every option. So you want to, you want to get into trades? Fantastic. Right? We, we support those programs that help out with CTE and some of our RP programs and like, not our programs.  Through R. O. P. Right. There are opportunities in Shasta County across this great place for kids to access the things that they want in order to have every option available to them. 

Also, you know, some of the work that we're doing is helping them make choices that aren't closing doors because the reality is you make a choice right now  that could close doors.  And if we can help you understand that that choice is a superpower and keep those doors open. Let's go.  I've always operated from the open door policy.

Yeah. You know,  if you can make decisions to keep doors open, then you have choices. You can create goals. There's no lid. Yeah. Well, we are so grateful to have you today here on Fire I love this project. I love, I love the invite. I've loved the time that we've been able to spend together talking about these cool things.

Yeah. Thank you all for listening. Yeah. Keep going. 

The views and thoughts and opinions shared in this Podcast, where those of the hosts and guests do not necessarily represent the official position of the Shasta County Office of Education. Any content provided by our guests reflects their opinions and is not intended to align with any religious, ethnic group, school, organization, company, individual, or entity.