Episode 12: Making It Happen with Mike Freeman

Episode Summary: 

In this episode of Inspire Shasta, Shasta County Superintendent of Schools Mike Freeman returns to the show for Episode 12 to look back on 2024–25 and set the tone for 2025–26. 

Episode snapshot

• New year, new theme: Moving from last year’s Anything Is Possible to this year’s call to action: Make It Happen—a focus on doing the few things that matter most, with urgency and intention. (Shoutout to past guest Carla James’s “do it scared” inspiration.) 
  
  
• Activation moments: Team “All Call” banner where staff wrote what they’ll make happen—and a new “Made It Happen” sticker tradition to celebrate real wins across SCOE. 
  
  
• Four pillars for 2025–26:
  1. Organization-wide culture of excellence
  2. Safe, effective learning environments
  3. Successful programs grounded in data & accountability
  4. Strong partnerships that help people succeed
     These also serve as a filter for priorities: anything is possible, but we can’t do everything. 
• Scoreboard & accountability: Build a scoreboard so teams know when we’re winning—and when to pivot. “Mike Freeman 2.0” asks to be held accountable. 
  
  
• Celebrating partners: Starting board meetings by honoring a community partner—simple, sincere recognition that strengthens collaboration. 
  
  
• Leadership & mentorship: Double-down on developing leaders and normalizing a “winning or learning” mindset. 
  
  

Memorable quotes

• “Give me a scoreboard so we know when we’re winning—and when to improve.” 
  
  
• “We want to be part of people’s success stories.” 
  
  

Listen & share: Subscribe to Inspire Shasta, leave a review, and pass this episode along to a colleague or community partner who’s ready to make it happen.

Transcript

Inspire Shasta Episode 12: Mike Freeman 2.0

Maggie Joyce: [00:00:00] Welcome back to Inspire Shasta. Today we have a return guest, Shasta County Office of Education Superintendent Mike Freeman. Welcome back, Mike. 

Mike Freeman: Thanks, guys. Am I the first return guest? Yeah, 

Maggie Joyce: you are. Yeah. Cool. All right. Yeah, lots of firsts - 2.0, Mike 

Mike Freeman: Freeman 2.0. What episode? Episode number are we? We, uh, 12.

Jenn Cobb: Number 12. 

Maggie Joyce: Nice.

Mike Freeman: I'm excited, I'm excited to be here. 

Maggie Joyce: We are excited to have you. Um, we are looking back on the 24-25 school year as we launch into the 25-26 school year, and we wanted to just jump right in and talk about, um, SCOE's theme last year and what the theme of SCOE is this year. So last year was anything is possible, um, which.

We left because anything is possible. 

Mike Freeman: You all killed it. Right? Shout out to our Shasta County Office of Education team 456 employees strong, and the way that this team responded to that theme was, uh, was inspiring, right? Yeah. I'm here, I'm, I'm on the Inspire Shasta Podcast, but like, there are, there are [00:01:00] remarkable people doing remarkable things.

And then by extension, when we talk about the work that we're doing. The work that we're doing in partnership. Mm-hmm. Right? Like we have had some amazing opportunities to recognize, uh, partner work that just flat out didn't exist. 

Maggie Joyce: Yeah. Yeah. 

Mike Freeman: Right. So when we say anything is possible, when we look at, I'm just looking at two amazing team members and the work that you do outside of this podcast, this is not your only thing that you do, and that work has changed our county.

Has transformed things and maybe even like saved lives or, uh, helped families get through some hard times so that kids can learn. 

Maggie Joyce: And then reflecting back on anything is possible. I think all the time we're like moving forward, we're seeing what, what's next? What do we have in front of us? And just reflecting back on all of the things that became possible last year, I think is a great place to start a new school year.

Mike Freeman: And that's where I've been all summer, right. I've been in this really cool place where we are, any time [00:02:00] I have an opportunity to get together with folks, we're starting with reflecting. Yeah. We're starting with some of the reflections. And some people it might be sick of some of those stories, but man, there are just some, some of those impact stories are, uh, are remarkable and deserve to be told.

I mean, I think so many times we feel the urgency of now and that's a great thing. Mm-hmm. And that is definitely where we are as we think about the 25-26 school year starting. But let's take a second, right. Let's just take a second before we turn the page into a new theme. Let's take a second and look back on what we did make possible.

I think, uh, a whole lot of us in education and, uh, I, I hope other, I hope other people in other fields feel this, but like, we wake up to have impact. Mm. Yeah. We roll out of bed to have impact, uh, not ego. We want to be, we wanna be in a place where we are looking back and saying, we were here. Yeah, we were here.

And the work we did mattered. And, uh, I hope everybody feels that in the work that they do, if [00:03:00] they don't, come to Shasta County Office of Education. Yeah. Right. Because I think that that is, that work that lights up, uh, lights us up, and that's how, that's how we have impact. And so I think it's important.

Every once in a while we need to be better at keeping score and saying, were we here? 

Jenn Cobb: Mm-hmm. 

Mike Freeman: Did what we do make a difference? What we do? We do with taxpayer dollars. Mm-hmm. It better make a difference. Yeah. And we better get really good at being transparent when it's not so that we can improve and do some things.

So I just really love the space that, uh, I've been in. Uh, some of this space has been with you as members of leadership team and the conversations that we've had. But just looking back, um, some of it is huge, right? I mean, we have a, we have a Narcan training story that moves us. Yeah. We have a, a motel program that moves us.

We also have, we also have, uh, you know, millions and billions of dollars in transactions that our business and [00:04:00] payroll friends have. Made happen. Incredible, right? Yeah. So it's across the board, right? I think 350,000 miles driven by our bus driver friends. So when we talk about anything is possible and that impact, yeah, I think that, um, I think that we, we deserve, we deserve to take a break, maybe raise a glass and celebrate some of the cool things that happened. 

Maggie Joyce: Yeah. And those artifacts, right, they're artifacts of our last year and really education here at Shasta County Office of Education across the United States and then in all of our districts within our county is it's service.

It's about service and serving our students and our families, um, and our partners. And so I love that we kind of kicked off this year with celebrating all of those artifacts from last year because it really puts into perspective the change we can collectively make. 

Jenn Cobb: Mm-hmm. 

Maggie Joyce: Um, with that in mind, are there some things that you feel like last year were teachable moments or really big celebrations or anything [00:05:00] that you wanna share with our listening audience about just those highlights that you wanna hit home with?

Mike Freeman: Well, one, one that is, uh, that is front and center and just didn't happen. It just didn't, it wasn't happening here in Shasta County. And it is happening is, uh, as, as a lot of folks know, you've covered this on, on prior episodes, uh, we are all in on literacy. Mm-hmm. And, uh, we are, uh, on the threshold of launching Dolly Parton Imagination Library.

Tell us a 

Maggie Joyce: little bit more about that 

Mike Freeman: in the space that we are recording right now. In the fall, maybe we had an information meeting and we had a representative come talk to us about, uh, Dolly Parton Imagination Library. I didn't even know what that was. Mm-hmm. Uh, Shas County Office of Education board member Laura Manuel, was leading that literacy subcommittee.

Um, learned about it and brought it back. We had a room [00:06:00] full of people that were interested, but it was a dream. Yeah. In the spirit of anything is possible, it was a dream. Dolly Parton Imagination Library looks like this. The Dolly Parton Foundation is all about getting kids zero to five, a free book every month.

Jenn Cobb: Mm-hmm. 

Mike Freeman: So what you need is you need a 501(c)3, you need a partner and you need people to register. Kids, work with families, register kids, process, all of the database. The registration, the name, the address, all of those things. And all of that does require manpower. Mm-hmm. Requires some financial resources.

Uh, and we have been able to continue that conversation from the information meeting in the fall, working with our First 5 Shasta friends, working with our Shasta Public Libraries, friends of the Shasta Public Libraries Foundation. And we are, uh, we're, we're pushing, we're looking for more partners, but we don't wanna wait.

So with First 5 Shasta, our Shasta County Office of Education Board went all [00:07:00] in, put in some funding, and we had a wait list, I think of six or 700 families, and that's happening. So September is like the official launch. Their Champions for Children event with First Five Shasta is going to be kind of the, uh, the megaphone moment where we, uh, we push this out.

So, imagine. We know Shasta County, we know the families in Shasta County. We know that there's a wide variety of access to things across those families. And no matter who you are, if you are here in Shasta County, zero to five, you can be a child waiting at your mailbox for a free book from the Dolly Parton Foundation.

What 

Maggie Joyce: a gift, you know to to So cool. 

Mike Freeman: Instilling the love. It's not gonna solve our literacy problems. Right, right. Giving out free books. We know the research is very clear that that doesn't just do it. You can't just surround kids with books. You've gotta get into the science of reading. But we're doing that on all of those fronts as well.

Right? As your guests have shared. Right. Yeah. So [00:08:00] like I think that this is an important piece to that, but it is about getting kids excited. Yeah. Getting kids to love books, getting kids to look forward to books, having families read with their kids, wearing out those books. Mm-hmm. Having kids. My kids are, I'm gonna get choked up.

My kids are 23 and 21. Right. They're, I'm packing stuff up. Yeah. I'm packing stuff up and I'm deciding what goes in the attic. And guess what? Some of those things we're packing. Childhood books. Yeah, books that they read, books that we read with them. Right. And uh, those are just rich memories. And the idea that our work with literacy is maybe helping some of that happen is definitely something to be excited about looking forward to.

Maggie Joyce: Yeah. And that work creating core memories for kiddos for that excitement of the book coming or maybe the book that comes becomes their favorite childhood book. You know, I just, I just love that my kids still talk about their favorite childhood book. Yeah. And they're 19, 22 and 29. Yeah. You know, and so it is a [00:09:00] core memory that, that this work is fostering.

Yeah. I love, 

Jenn Cobb: and as we talked about on one of the former podcasts, it's. Read, sing, play, right, that are the fundamental building blocks of early childhood. You know, so when they have that coming to their house and they're excited about it and they're having their parents, you know, I just feel like that lends to literacy, it, it lends to building that love of reading and excitement.

Yeah. Ugh. I just love it. 

Mike Freeman: And I think it's adults just looking at that list, we don't do those things enough if play equals dream. Right, right. I think that that imagination playing and singing. And when's the last time you just openly sang 

Jenn Cobb: out? Yeah, in my car. Yeah. And it wasn't pretty 

Maggie Joyce: by myself. Yeah. Yeah.

Mike Freeman: And throw in some dance maybe. 

Maggie Joyce: Yeah. Yeah. It's good. 

Mike Freeman: Yeah. So that's, that's one. But like we can go into all kinds of things, right? I mean, just think of the partners. Some of the partners that we've recognized, um, amazing things are happening with our probation friends, uh, they've got, [00:10:00] I, I saw goats.

Uh, they've got, they've got a farm happening. They've got a brand new space that's going to be, uh, career technical ed shop opportunities. In that space, we service incarcerated youth and in that space they have access to college courses and that didn't exist. 

Maggie Joyce: Yeah. Tri Mountain Academy students. 

Mike Freeman: Tri Mountain Academy.

Right. So it's, it's so many things across the board. Um, and we're not done. Right. I mean, I think as we do think about 25, 26 and the road ahead of, uh, we've got some work. But there's that, there's that space between the real and the ideal, and that's where we. That's where we live. That's what we're obsessed about.

Right? We can't ignore that there's a gap. That's what we are in trying to, trying to close that up. 

Maggie Joyce: Yeah. The one of the things that I really appreciated this year, um, that I think was new and in vain of that anything is possible is that partnership celebration. Um, and so we have, [00:11:00] uh, changed the way we celebrate our partners in a more public space, um, at our board meetings.

Mm-hmm. So, and I. I have was fortunate to be a part of a couple of those, and I think our partners really appreciate it. I also think it's important for our community to know how much we are in service of partnering with agencies in Shasta County. 

Mike Freeman: Right. We can't do it alone. And that's exactly how we start every board meeting.

Right. Acknowledging that the work that we do has impact, but we cannot do it alone. Dignity Health. Yeah. Right. Like just some of the things that we've been able to do have changed Shasta County schools. Mm-hmm. Right. And in partnership with our district partners, in partnership with our community partners.

And we are constantly seeking. More partners. Yeah. Right. Because as an, I think when we look at that blueprint for impact, when we look at like, who, where's the problem? Who's doing amazing work in that problem? How can we partner? How can we draft? And then, and then how can we [00:12:00] intentionally celebrate? We wanna recognize what we wanna see more of.

And I think starting our board meetings right off the bat with like, Hey, partner, get over here. We've got a, it's not a bougie certificate or plaque or anything. It's, it's a, it's, you know. But it's something just to say we see you. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you so much. And I think that goes a 

Maggie Joyce: long way.

It means so much, right? Because we are all so in the work all the time, and like we talked about, celebrating, celebrating our partners in that space. 

Mike Freeman: Yeah. And, and what we do is hard, right? What every, what everyone's carrying, just being human today in our families, in our homes, those kinds of things. And it's hard.

And I think, um, it's just important that we, uh, that sense of community is how we're going to, to, to make this place the, the, the place that. That we wanna live, right? Yeah. Where we, where we want our, our children to live. And I think that, um, Shasta County's an incredible place with some really, really incredible people.

One of the things that I'm excited about, [00:13:00] uh, just a little preview, working with our communications department, I want to get better at telling cool stories of like cool people doing cool things. Mm-hmm. I have this opportunity every once in a while to bump into these amazing people doing amazing things.

It's like, how can I throw a spotlight on it? Not even, they're not wearing my badge, right? They're not necessarily Shasta County Office of Education staff members. Just like how can we tell those? How can we tell those stories? And then how can we, how can we partner 

Maggie Joyce: and putting more positive stories out there, right, because there's so much positive work going on.

So much. Yeah, 

Mike Freeman: so much. Yeah. 

Maggie Joyce: So we're beginning a new school year 25-26. Crazy to say that 25, 20. Feels like the time goes by too quickly. Yeah. But we had anything is possible last year. And so do you wanna talk a little bit about this year's theme? 

Mike Freeman: Yeah. And can I tell the backstory a little bit? So, uh, so folks are gonna see SCOE shirts, they're gonna see some things, and I just, I would just love to, uh, actually, um, share a little bit of the inspiration behind it.

[00:14:00] You had a guess last year, Carla James, that I'm still talking about. Yeah. Uh, she was a powerful voice and she said, uh, she said, do it scared. And, uh, I, I think I, I, I, I took that and I loved, uh, I loved the simplicity of it. Um, we're not doing things scared. That's not the theme, but like the idea of, uh, anything is possible.

Sometimes I got pushback or almost like they threw it out there and it's like, well, you know, anything is possible. And it's like, hold it. With focus, anything is possible. I think it can be misconstrued to be like, well, everything is possible. Yeah, we can't do everything right, but we can do, we can do some things with some, with some focus.

And so I really wanted to strip this next year down to, to some basics, uh, kind of in the spirit of that, do it scared with Carla like so, um. 25, 26. I do feel some urgency to get some things done. Mm-hmm. So the theme for the, the school [00:15:00] year for Shasta County Office of Education, uh, is going to be, make it happen.

We've, we've got, uh, I think we've all got an idea. We've all got a bucket list as we start the school year of like, what is the thing that I wanna make happen? Mm-hmm. And, uh, I want to be that type of leader. I wanna work in an organization where we're unencumbered, where we're empowered, where we see something that needs to change.

And by golly, we're going to do something about it. Right. Feel something. It makes you do something. Mm-hmm. And I saw like, how can we short circuit that a little bit and how can we, from a theme perspective, just the rallying and the energy that comes from everybody pointing in that direction. I just love the idea that right now, 456 employees are putting on t-shirts on a Friday and you know, and going out and thinking with that lens, looking at the world, what can I make happen?

Maggie Joyce: Yeah. 

Mike Freeman: That's powerful. 

Jenn Cobb: Yeah. 

Maggie Joyce: I, I, [00:16:00] uh, we wrote down what we can make happen this year at All Call. 

Mike Freeman: Yeah. When you come in and there's a, there's a banner. It's like, put it down on paper. Right? 

Maggie Joyce: Yeah. And, um, that it, it felt a little overwhelming because you have to really focus in on like, what is that that you wanna make happen?

'cause you could pick anything, right? And, but we wanna do it with intention. But then you looked at the wall and you saw what everybody wrote and it was really inspiring. Mm-hmm. 

Mike Freeman: One, then two. So playing off of that banner. We've actually, from the communications team, developed stickers to say, made it happen.

Right. So kind of this is inspired by like, when I go to Mod Pizza and I see stickers all over the place, I kind of dig that like sticker slap. Yeah. Yeah. And also I'm a huge college football fan, and when a player makes an amazing play in college football, they actually get a sticker on their helmet. And so I kind of, I was inspired by that.

And I think that, uh, what the exciting part about the 25, 26 school year is gonna be internally as we do make those things happen. And this isn't like open a door for somebody, right? You're making something happen. [00:17:00] Yeah. And when you do that, we're intentionally celebrating that. Mm-hmm. Like, I'm coming into your space and I'm going to give you a sticker for your water bottle or your laptop that says, made it happen.

And maybe you have 30 of those by the end of the year. Mm-hmm. But outside of my office, in the Magnolia SCOE building, we could have 300 stickers acknowledging what people have done. So, yes, you wrote it down. Cool. You did the thing. But I mean, I, I'll just tell you real quick. So this is, I mean, we're, we haven't even started the school year.

Mm-hmm. And just yesterday, three people came to me and say, Hey, I got something for your wall. Right. We had a district that was scrambling with some, uh, curriculum sufficiency, and we had a team member reach out to a district that had surplus. Mm. And bridged the, the gap and made the surplus happen. Wow. In the other district that that was That's cool.

That was having some needs that a true partnership, right? Yeah. And our districts 

Maggie Joyce: supporting each other. 

Mike Freeman: I got a [00:18:00] picture of a, some of our transportation folks, um, burning some midnight oil with some last minute scheduling changes. Hmm. And making that happen in service of districts. Yesterday, uh, I was hanging out with 13 people from our region that are brand new to the school data world.

And so they felt our team that supports the school data world CALPADS kind of super fun, exciting acronym, but our calpads support team realized there's 13 people out there that are starting new positions and they put together a bootcamp. 

Maggie Joyce: Wow, that's awesome. Right. So like, 

Mike Freeman: just everywhere. Ideally this is an opportunity for us to celebrate the amazing things that are happening.

You all know that I'm obsessed with this idea of sawdust. Mm-hmm. If we're coming to work and we're grinding and we're sawing, and by golly we should see, we should see evidence of that. We should see artifacts of that. Yeah. Sawdust everywhere. Yeah. And so this idea, this, this idea of, of the sticker and the made it [00:19:00] happen will help us, uh, keep track of some of those artifacts.

And it's a natural stress reliever, right? When we know that what we do on a daily has impact and makes a difference for somebody else, we naturally feel reduction in stress. 

Maggie Joyce: Yeah. And sometimes for some of us, it's hard, it's hard to see that. Right. And so to even have a sticker to look at, to remind yourself what you did, um, and, and who you helped, or what you were in partnership with somebody in is great.

Yeah. And I 

Mike Freeman: think that that's why that's the secret behind the banner. That's the secret behind the t-shirt, right? Like, these are things that ideally are gonna come off the wall that we're gonna live. So the school year's a marathon. Yeah, it's a marathon. It's a grind. It's got its peaks, it's got its valleys.

Uh, and I think that just that unifying force of motivation to be able to say, you know what? I work at a place that is, I'm expected to come here and make stuff happen. Kinda cool. Yeah. 

Maggie Joyce: Do you have any, uh. [00:20:00] Thought on make it happen. Oh 

Mike Freeman: man, I got this. Google Keep that is if you want, in this mad club, I can share you, I can share my Google Keep as a collaboration.

Um, I, I do have some things, uh, I'm obsessed with the idea of keeping score. I think we play the game differently when we keep score. Mm-hmm. I would love to be able to walk, walk into my house at the end of the day and my wife can just look at me and say, did you win today? And some days. I don't know, you know, and it would just be great to say, am I winning?

Hey team, are we winning? And, and in my mind, when I think of Shasta County, 37,000 kids, including, you know, our littles, is attendance going up? Is suspension going down? Is math going up? Is reading going up? Is graduation going up? We should be able to keep score. Yeah. And, uh, and, and some of those are summative measures.

And I don't wanna get into like all the jargon. But I mean, let's keep [00:21:00] this thing simple and can we have something that I can put up there as a scoreboard to say, team, we're winning. Or even better, Hey team, that thing that we're doing that's not working and we need to pivot and we need to improve.

So gimme a scoreboard. Let's make a scoreboard happen. Countywide, scoreboard, internal, external. I think it would be awesome to start our leadership team space. I think it'd be awesome for me to go to Rotary, for me to be invited to some of the places that I'm invited to, to be able to say, Hey, I can assure you that in working with our community partners in our, in our districts, in Shasta County, we are winning.

We are, we are turning the tide on some of these things that just ought not to be. 

Maggie Joyce: Yeah. 

Mike Freeman: So, yeah. Make it happen. Scoreboard. 

Maggie Joyce: Jen's thought a lot about it. What a scoreboard looks like for prevention, haven't you. I have, I have. And I've 

Jenn Cobb: even like looked on Amazon because as a former college athlete, I'm just like, how are we gonna do this?

What, you know, like, anyway. And when people say, we're just playing a game for fun, it's like, no, we're. Always keeping 

Mike Freeman: score. You play the game [00:22:00] differently when you keep score. Yeah. And that's, and that's not, I mean, that's, that's Covey, that's four disciplines of execution. Right. But when we talk about make it happen, that is execution.

What, what are those things that can help us make those things happen? Mm-hmm. And that keeping scores and an important piece. Yeah. I think accountability. I've had some conversations with people internally just close to me. It's like, hold me accountable. Yeah. Like Mike Freeman 2.0 needs to be held accountable.

Right. When we talk a lot, did we do the thing that we said we were going to do? Right? Imagine every meeting that you, that you have with me in this space where it's like the first item is, did we do the thing we said we were going to do? Yeah. And if we 

Maggie Joyce: weren't able to accomplish it, why and where did we need to go?

And let's get into it. Right? It 

Mike Freeman: doesn't have to be funny farm. We don't have to make stuff up. Like we can be authentic, we can be transparent, but like we're, we're gonna be accountable. 

Jenn Cobb: Yeah. That's really good. 

Mike Freeman: Powerful principle. 

Maggie Joyce: I feel like, um, the other day I heard you say that we need to be reminded [00:23:00] that we need to be taught.

Jenn Cobb: Hmm. 

Maggie Joyce: And I think that landed, I think sometimes we, like, once you become an adult, sometimes it's hard to remember that we, we do need to be taught and 

Mike Freeman: Yeah. And isn't that an ironic thing is the county Office of Education that we're having that conversation as educators, right? Right. Mm-hmm. Yeah. But I think even in the spirit of like learning sometimes is going.

Deeper in the thing versus going and acquiring a new thing. Mm-hmm. And I think so many times in leadership, I think in some of the spaces we're tempted to like chase the shiny new thing. Mm-hmm. Right? Or flavor of the month. Right. And I think it's just really important, like, hey, can we actually go, can we actually go deeper in the thing and just be reminded of, and, and that can sound boring.

One of the things that I'm rethinking in my life is that greatness is actually kind of boring. It's true. You know, there's the relentless focus and it's like, man, can you mix it up? No, I can't mix it up. 'cause if I mix it up, I'm gonna take my eye off of the thing and [00:24:00] I need you finishing my sentences. I need you to know what I'm gonna talk to you about, because that is.

That is the, that is the thing. But I mean, I think that that's, that's so true in life, right? Every once in a while, life will present you with situations like, oh, I knew that. 

Maggie Joyce: Mm-hmm. 

Mike Freeman: Where did I drift? How did I drift away from that thing that I knew? 

Maggie Joyce: And how do I get back 

Mike Freeman: and how do I, how do I get back?

How can we be reminded and what are the things that we can have in our, what are those? I have, I have my Rocky Heron. Wristband from way back. Right? Yeah. But, but I think that that idea is I choose my future. Mm-hmm. I put this on as just a reminder of like, yeah, those are the things that I remember when I put this on.

I remember feeling what I felt in Rocky's presence. Right. Yeah. Right. And so like, what are those things that we can remember and pull back? Like, 'cause there's a buzz saw out there, there's a whirlwind, right? Yeah. There's a reason why we don't do the things that we wanna do because. Life happens. Mm-hmm.

Right. But I think if we can, if we can be [00:25:00] intentional about reminding ourselves more than we are actually teaching ourselves. Yeah. I think that that's, that's, that's a great place. 

Maggie Joyce: I think diving deeper gets you closer to the problem, right? When you're always looking for the next shiny thing and you're not really getting into.

Okay, we've, we've chosen to adopt this, or this is what, these are our core values or our nine principles. What does that mean? What does it actually mean? Besides the words, how do we dive deeper and really feel like it is a part of Shasta County Office of Education or the district that you work at or the place of employment that you're at.

I think it, uh, connects you more to the work. Um, and I think that that's really, really important. So I appreciate the diving deeper 

Mike Freeman: one. I think too, just for you, you mentioned athletics and sports. Mm-hmm. My son had an opportunity. He's a hooper, and my son had an opportunity to go to a D-1 basketball practice this summer.

I bet that was wild. And it looked, it was wild. It was an amazing experience. His takeaway was it was high school, just [00:26:00] sharper. Like there weren't new drills. Yeah. There was no wasted motion. There was no wasted minutes. Yes. It was, it was station to station. You had support every step of the way, but it was the same.

Mm-hmm. Drills that he's been, he's facing, been doing his whole life. Yeah. Right. You think, oh, college and pros, they have this deeper bag of tricks. No, they're just really, really, really good. Yeah. At the same tricks that everyone has. 

Jenn Cobb: Yeah. I was thinking when you said greatness is boring. I was thinking of like Steph Curry.

Everybody loves Steph Curry highlights, everybody loves hearing the answer. Go bang, bang, you know, and all of those things. But how many people would actually watch the hundreds and thousands of hours that he is put into shooting those threes? And you know, that's the part of greatness that's boring and goes unseen, but.

See 'em on the court. You know, all those, I, that's what 

Maggie Joyce: separates good from great. Yes. That dedication, the practice. Yeah. That, yes. And 

Mike Freeman: there's so much of that happening in our schools. Right. Like I, I've learned, one of the things that I've learned too [00:27:00] is like when someone is really great at it, it will appear effortless.

Yeah. And that is counterintuitive, right? Because you look at somebody doing that great thing and it's like, well, how hard can that be? That looks easy. Yes. Because they're doing it at that level. That is so great. If you watch a teacher, a like teacher born to teach. Mm-hmm. They look like, oh yeah, I can do that.

Right? But everything is intentional and everything is in its place and there's no wasted minute. Right? I mean, same things. So true. Same great thing, same principles of greatness are happening across our, across our schools. 

Jenn Cobb: Yeah. 

Mike Freeman: And I think as leaders, right, we, we are going to be dedicating more time to like, what does that honing that leadership craft look like?

I've had conversations with people like. Mentorship is, is front and center in my brain. Yep. Right. I got the, I got this new and novel challenge, and it's like I can go to ChatGPT or I can go to like somebody that can provide [00:28:00] me that mentorship support to be able to really drive me to, to improve.

Maggie Joyce: And I think that that mentorship is equally important for our youth as well as our adults. Mm-hmm. 

Mike Freeman: Yeah. There's just, and I remember being in principal's office and a kid might be making some choices, right? And so you're having the conversation with them and you'll, I, I, I would start at like saying it kind of sounds like a lecture, but it was like, Hey, success is often easier when you listen to somebody who's a little further down the path. 

Jenn Cobb: Yeah.

Mike Freeman: And a little further down the path and they say, Hey, watch out for this thing. It's because. They've, they learned. They've learned it, right? Yeah. They, they've learned it. It's interesting what, uh, what we're learning. Uh, I mean I, I, I think that's a great way to start any meeting, right? Like, we're either, we are either winning or learning, and that comes from that, like that 12, 12-year-old chess grand master champion, right?

But like the idea [00:29:00] is, uh, what are we, what are we learning when things aren't going well? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Um, I can tell you, I've, uh, looking back on, on the 24, 25 school year, there have been times where it's just straight up hard. Mm-hmm. There's some challenges I think about some, some of our school friends now, and there's some things that are, that they're going through that are, that are difficult.

But, um, I think that there's power in that struggle, right? I think there's a, there's a great quote. It's a poem actually, and it, uh, it goes a little something like this. Um, I walked a mile with pleasure. She chatted all the way, but left me none the wiser for all she had to say. I walked a mile with sorrow and there words said she, but oh, the things I learned from her when sorrow walked with me.

And that's, I'm reminded of the times that somebody's been there for me through hard times. I hope that as a county office, people feel that support. Um, I remember being a district superintendent during Carr [00:30:00] Fire, and Judy was the first person to call me, right? Judy Flores, former County superintendent.

So I think that I take that. I take that responsibility very seriously that when things are going great, great, we'll be there. We can be your partner, but when things are down and you are struggling, that, what does that look like? And how can we, how can we learn from those experiences? Right. We all, uh, we all love winning.

I don't know if I've actually ever learned anything from trophies, right? That's true. From winning. Yeah. It's the other end of that. It can be difficult and in 25, 26, we just don't know. Yeah. Yeah. We don't know what's coming. Um, we know that we're only going to get through it together, but uh, we also know that there's gonna be some hard times and those hard times are gonna, are gonna teach us.

Jenn Cobb: Yeah. 

Maggie Joyce: And walking alongside people when they're experiencing hard times is more valuable than anything you could ever say. Just meeting them where they're at and walking alongside 'em. Mm-hmm. And hearing, you know, what they're really going [00:31:00] through. And so I think that that is woven into everything that I've experienced at Shasta County Office of Education.

And a lot of what we hear with the people we've actually had on Inspire Shasta podcast and you know, our school counselors and our teachers and our liaisons, um, and our community partners about how they really are doing that, we're all doing that. And that is what's most appreciated. 

Mike Freeman: Yeah, and I think, uh, I think of the students that we serve in our student programs and I think of those families and those situations are difficult and challenging at times.

But I think, uh, can I. Can I quote the last Yeah. Yes. The 

Maggie Joyce: graduate 

Mike Freeman: at the graduation. Yes. Last year we had an excerpt from a student graduate and he said this, we don't know everything, but we know this. We're ready now. We're enough now. So here's to us, to the journey ahead, to the memories made and to never giving up who we are right here, right now.

[00:32:00] I'm gonna throw that out there. That's, uh, student Jacob Marshall. And that was last year's, uh, graduation speech, little excerpt, and I thought. That's a perfect, that's a perfect spirit to enter into the 25, 26 school year. 

Jenn Cobb: Yeah. 

Maggie Joyce: We are enough now. That's the part that stuck with me. Yeah. Because I think we all need to look in the mirror and say that.

Yeah, no, and I think that there's a, why is we on his ears that deficit 

Mike Freeman: mindset, right? Like, what am I like, oh, I need this, I need this. Like, what if we're enough right now? 

Jenn Cobb: Yeah. Mm-hmm. 

Mike Freeman: That, and then that that goes to the empowering. Yeah. That goes to the like, let's make stuff happen. You don't need to go get that thing to make something happen.

Like what can we do right now? Just some of the, I appreciate who I work with, I appreciate what I do and some of the, uh, some of the learning that I'm also going through this year is just like the rethinking that locus of control. You know, I think a lot of times I'll be like, well, I can't do that because, well, it's like those, those are, those are well disguised excuses.

Yeah. And if you [00:33:00] actually strip that down and look at what is it that you can't control, we can control of a lot of things. Yeah. About how we show up a lot of things about the impact that our work has. So I think that, that that's an empowering in that, in the spirit of making it happen. 

Maggie Joyce: Yeah. We know change is gonna occur.

Right. Um, we've even had a lot of change in our districts this year. Yeah. We've had how many new superintendents? Seven. Yeah. Right. Yeah. 

Mike Freeman: Yeah. Seven new superintendents. 

Maggie Joyce: Yeah. I mean, that's huge. 

Mike Freeman: So seven new superintendents and we've had the opportunity, Shasta County Office of Education, uh, hosted 'em.

And the energy is just so great. I mean, they have hopes and they have dreams and, and they wanna partner, right? Like, Hey, how can county office, how can we partner? How can we, how can you help me make these dreams and, and, and, and ideas and goals that they have for their districts come true. Lot of, lot of energy, a lot of excitement, obviously.

We are [00:34:00] grateful for any and all that have gone before us. Yeah, we're grateful for the contributions of those superintendents that have moved on to other things. Um, exciting to, to work with the new ones. 

Maggie Joyce: Yeah. I wonder if we've ever had that many. 

Mike Freeman: Uh, yeah, I think it feels, it feels a little high. It feels a little more than than usual, right?

Yeah. And I was new guy last year, right? So I think that there's some energy, I think that there's some energy coming when somebody comes. And the cool thing about, uh, this. I don't know if you say class or batch or, uh, all due respect to my, my superintendents, my new superintendents, and we're extremely grateful for them in their positions.

Some of them come from outside of county. Mm-hmm. And so they're bringing different perspectives. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And they're bringing different, uh, you know, little bit of different life experiences. And I think that that's, that's only going to help kids in Shasta County. Right. I think I, I try to make connections across the state with our 58 counties.

Uh. [00:35:00] Statewide. But it's, I think it's kind of cool for people to come from, uh, come from Fresno, come from, uh, Mount Shasta, and as they're, as they're doing these things, I think it's, I think it's gonna be fun to watch. 

Maggie Joyce: Yeah. I'm excited about it. 

Mike Freeman: I, I wanna, I wanna, from the, from the rooftops, I just wanna proclaim, Shasta County's a great place to raise kids.

Yeah. Jasta County schools, districts, charters, privates, uh, this is a, this is a tremendous place. To raise a family. Uh, I think that one of the things that we have to, our benefit is we do in our rural nature mm-hmm. We do look after each other. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Uh, people can speed dial and call up and it's like, I got a situation and there, there there's gonna get, there're gonna be some help.

Yeah. Right. And that's cool. And it's, you know, it's friendly, friendly competition as well. Yeah. And that's always, that's always good. That always helps. That always helps us improve. 

Jenn Cobb: Yeah. 

Maggie Joyce: It's those power, the power of those moments. Right. 

Mike Freeman: Ooh. Yeah. Can we talk about moments for a second? 

Maggie Joyce: [00:36:00] Let's talk about it.

Mike Freeman: Yeah. So, uh, Shasta County Office of Education, we have this really cool program where we, uh, we are always trying to look for the next generation of leaders. And so we have an aspiring, uh, leaders program. It's a book study. And this year we are looking at The Power of Moments written by, uh, the Heath brothers.

And that's got me thinking about all kinds of things, right? Uh, as we think about. I mentioned the school year being a marathon. Where does, where in the school year does that teacher voice become like the Charlie Brown teacher? Yeah. And so as teachers in our school systems, what can we do along the way on, along the course of that marathon to mix it up a little bit?

Yeah. To break the script, right? To introduce some novelty to design or be the architect of, of moments. I think if we had all the time in the world, I would love that idea of like what moments matter to you and as you think about your life. Yeah. And [00:37:00] what moments matter as you think about your own school experience.

And chances are you can come up with a recipe and that's what the Heath brothers have done with this book. They've come up with a recipe for like enhancing moments so that they're more powerful. And so I'm looking forward to taking the teachings from that book, applying it to my own personal and professional life, and helping, uh, helping others at Shasta County Office of Education, be those architects for moments.

I think that I, that that's, that's gonna be, that's gonna be super exciting. 

Jenn Cobb: I love that. 

Maggie Joyce: The question, right, like, how often do you ever get asked that? Like what are the moments and how that could be a playbook? 

Mike Freeman: Yeah. Our lives turn on tiny hinges. And those hinges are called moments. 

Maggie Joyce: Yeah. 

Mike Freeman: And moments matter, you know, and I think naturally we have times in our lives where we're susceptible to, to moments.

Right. Transitions. You move to a place, uh, somebody right now is getting [00:38:00] ready to, you know, start a school year at a new school. Yeah. Yeah. And I don't know about your childhood friends, but a lot of, a lot of our childhood friends were like. We were a new kid in school and somebody was nice to us. Yeah, right.

I, I really appreciate, uh, can, uh, our, our communications team has tried to be a little bit proactive with helping with messaging of like, what, what strategies can we put in place for a successful start to the school year? Yeah. And, uh, one of those was like, Hey, just can we be kind and reach out to somebody who might be might be new. Right. And so I think that, uh, we have these, we have these seasons in our life where, um, I, I think we, the, the stage is set for moments good, bad, or ugly because moments are powerful on the other side of that Right. As well. Right. So yeah, I think we can all look back and say, that was a terrible moment.

And even get into like. Specifics around that. Right. So I think that harnessing that power of moments, [00:39:00] um, I, I, I think I have the opportunity. Um, sometimes I have the opportunity to, we've got some amazing events. Yeah. Right. And as you think about, uh, think about some of the things that we do, uh, where we we're recognizing students that achieve against crazy. Yeah. Insurmountable odds. Yeah. And I think I need to be better at realizing the moment that I'm in and grab the lesson that is there. Right. We talk about Rocky and like we have these, we have these really cool spaces that we are trying to craft to change the lives of kids and Yeah, they, they'll change our lives too if we're open to the, if we're open to the power of that moment.

Jenn Cobb: So true. 

Maggie Joyce: Yeah. I can think of some things from last year, those moments that were life changing, thought provoking, you know, especially when it comes to our students and the things that they experience and the fact that they are willing to share, um, and getting that youth voice out there is really, really important.

Mike Freeman: Yeah. As you, as I hear you say that, [00:40:00] I'm thinking of a time when, uh, I was hanging out with my friend, Mr. Brown. Mr. Brown and Yeah. Mr. Brown. And he, uh. He does this thing with kids, uh, it's hard being me. 

Jenn Cobb: Hmm. 

Mike Freeman: And the kids will share why it's hard and like I'm, I'm several years removed from those conversations and I remember, I remember how it felt.

Yeah. I remember those moments. Right. With those, those kids are that voice. Yeah. Voice is an important part of that moment. Like, how can we make sure that our student voice is heard? And, uh, I think this podcast is about hearing things you can't unhear. Mm-hmm. Right. Inspiring Shasta, giving voice to other people, changing that narrative.

And, and, uh, I, well, I commend you guys, uh, this, this has been a fantastic ride. Um, and I'm grateful for the guests that you've brought in. Mm-hmm. And, uh. I [00:41:00] think that anything that we can do to amplify that voice, to help people have moments that maybe rethink things. Mm-hmm. We can all rethink things, right?

Mm-hmm. Throw questions on things you had periods on, like, oh, I know that should be true. Actually. Let, let's ask a question. Yeah, yeah. Let's get curious. 

Jenn Cobb: I look back on last year's guests, and I'm, I'm thinking we had some solid people and then in our planning meeting I'm thinking about the people that we're gonna have, and I'm.

Even more excited than last year to just bring more people on for this. 

Mike Freeman: When you don't know, you don't know where it goes. Yeah, yeah. You record it, you put it out there, it's out there and it's in people's ears. And then those folks go and they live their lives and they do their thing. And if we can help people understand, maybe, you know, empathy, like what other people might be going through, right?

Hey, you think you might know this situation, then you hear a narrative and it changes the way you, you experience that. You know, I think, I think that's, that's community building in a, in a, in a really cool way. 

Jenn Cobb: Yeah. Yeah. Speaking of building, [00:42:00] uh, in All Call and leadership, you talked about the four pillars that you're gonna be building on for this new school year.

Can you tell us a little bit more about those? 

Mike Freeman: Yeah, so I, uh, I'm so proud to be a representative of the Shasta County Office of Education, but that does come with some pressure. Every once in a while you're in these places and someone will be like, ah, county office. What do you guys do? Right. Shasta County.

Great question. Shasta County Office of Education, what do you do? What, you know, you got 450 employees, a bit of everything. Employee. That's a lot. Sometimes it's like, what don't we 

Jenn Cobb: do? Yeah, there's, 

Mike Freeman: there, there are a lot of answers to that. And, and two, my team, my SCOE team our my family. And you know, you don't ever wanna sell anybody short or leave somebody out, right?

Yeah. Like I can tell you right now, Catherine Thompson wants me talking about math. 

Jenn Cobb: Yeah. 

Mike Freeman: Right. So, yes, literacy. And she's about like, I want, I wanna change math in Shasta County. So everywhere I go, I'm trying to put math out there as well. Yeah. And so. When that question comes [00:43:00] up, I would struggle, like, how do I answer that?

And so over the, over the last year, year and a little bit, uh, I've been, I've been thinking about what it is we are building. Mm. And I, I use the analogy when I'm talking to my team, like if we are putting together a jigsaw puzzle, we all need to have a clear understanding of the picture on the box. Yeah.

Right. Or it's a lot harder or trouble. Harder is gonna happen. Harder. Yeah. Yeah. Troubles. We're gonna get in trouble if people aren't necessarily clear on what it is we're building. And so in an effort to help with the messaging in an effort for my own. Filtering, right? Mm-hmm. Because when you are good at things and Shasta County Office of Education, we have some people doing amazing work, and that does lead to more opportunities.

Yeah. Phone rings. You get an email, Hey, this grant, hey that. Yeah. And so I think that it, it's good too to have a, a little bit of a filter, like, what is it we're doing? What are those things that are important? So, right. So for us, the, for me, the pillars have really helped me answer that question. So when I think about what it is the County Office of Education is building, uh, we are [00:44:00] an organization-wide culture of excellence.

Hmm. And so obviously when I'm talking to folks internally, that's one thing when I'm talking to folks externally, that's, that's, that's another thing. But like we are striving to be excellent. We have people participating in, uh, in that improvement science, right? Looking at problems of practice. And so we can get into each of those things, but when I really think about it, pillar number one is an organization-wide culture of excellence across the board.

Um, when we think about who it is we serve. We think about students and really that comes down to, at its core, whether it's Maslow, whatever you want to call it, but just that safe and effective learning environment, right? So we are about that. Safe. We are about that. Student safety. Yeah. And making sure that, um, that, that those needs are met because those needs are paramount and it's really difficult to get into some of those. I know you've had Kelly Rizzie on the show. Yeah. Yeah. So she's [00:45:00] my brain expert. I'm not, but like, you need 

Maggie Joyce: to feel safe in order to learn. Right? Right. And so you cannot access learning, have to go together.

Mike Freeman: Yes. Uh, and two I mentioned earlier, we are, uh, what we do. We have grants, we have taxpayer dollars and all of those things. We need to be accountable for those, and so we need to make sure that that third pillar is successful programs. Yeah. Right. That's where it comes down to the obsession over data. Yeah.

And making sure that what we are doing is, is actually having an impact on some of those, those student outcomes that matter. Mm-hmm. Um, that matter. College, career, life. Right. Yeah. Um, and then the, the fourth one, uh, rounds out with some of the things that we've already talked about. When we look at community partnerships, we want, we want people feeling supported.

Mm-hmm. Internally, we want our people feeling supported externally. We want our, we wanna be valuable partners. We want to be part of people's success stories. Yeah. Right. I [00:46:00] love when I hear, oh man, Mike, without your people, that thing wouldn't have happened. Like, tell me more. Right? Yeah. Love, I love those things.

So, so that's the, that's the extended version. But a lot of times I don't have a whole lot of time, so I'm just about excellence. I'm about safety, I'm about successful and I'm about partners. Mm-hmm. Right. So those are the things, and those do help me. Run a little bit of a filter. So when opportunities come up and someone's like, Hey Mike, can we do that?

It's like we can do anything. 

Jenn Cobb: Mm-hmm. 

Mike Freeman: Right. Anything is possible. Can't do everything. 

Jenn Cobb: Yeah. 

Mike Freeman: So where are those, where are those priorities and how can you help me understand that the work you're doing is lining up with one of those? Yeah. With one of those pillars. Yeah. 

Maggie Joyce: I'm excited to dive deeper into those pillars and really see like as an employee of Shasta County Office of Ed, like how that works even in our own departments.

You know, what does that look like? Mm-hmm. Because it looks like something to you. Right. But then diving deeper and saying, all right, team, what does this look like for the work that [00:47:00] we do every day? And then how can we share that with you, um, and the rest of the community? 

Mike Freeman: Yeah. 'cause I, I, I want to be chief storyteller.

Yeah. Yeah. Right. When I go to the places I go to, I would love to be able to say, oh, lemme tell you a cool story. Like, you know what? I totally get that challenge, but we are making progress there. Or, you know, what? We're not making progress there, we're struggling there. We're kind of stuck.

How can you help us with that? Like, I think it really comes down to like, I don't need, I don't need everybody to think like me. Please don't think like me. Yeah. Right. I want diversity of thought. I want diversity of background. I want diversity of opinions. I want all of those things.

But we, I wanna be heading in the same direction. Yeah. I wanna be, I want to be doing, I want to be building things together. Yeah. And that analogy that I know people are sick of, but it's that stone cutter. Mm-hmm. And I think last time I was on, I shared that quote, but just that idea of like one of the, one of these days, if we keep hitting the same spot with relentless focus and determination.

Yeah. Kids are gonna read. Yeah. Kids are gonna feel safe. Right? We're [00:48:00] going to have the partnerships that we need to, to have the community that we want. Right. So the, as long as there is that focus, uh, I think that the, and the, I think the pillars honestly help us with that focus. I think one of the shifts, one of the learnings that I've had just in reflection was.

I think last year I was big on like, I wanna do work that old me is gonna be proud of. Right. Well, I had an experience at graduation last year where I was talking to an incoming kindergartner and, uh, I'm getting, you know, I'm, I'm 50 years old, retirement's way out there, not even thinking about it, but it's out there.

And so when you're talking to a kindergartner, it's like, wait, your, your timeline and my timeline might match up. Mm-hmm. So let's make a pinky promise. Right. Like. You walk across the stage and maybe I, I I exit and go play golf or do whatever. Yeah. Retire whatever you're gonna do. I don't know.

I don't know. But I think that that shifted something in my mind from doing work that old me is gonna be proud of [00:49:00] is doing work that that young man is going to need. 

Jenn Cobb: Yeah. 

Mike Freeman: And I feel kindergarten going into our K 12 continuum here in Shasta County. How can we as a county office support our district partners so that that boy, mm-hmm.

When he crosses that stage has every access to every option that he could ever dream of. 

Jenn Cobb: Yeah. 

Mike Freeman: I think that that lights a fire in me a little bit. A little bit more than just me being selfish and wanting to be proud, hanging out in someone's backyard, barbecue, talking about the things we did. Right. Yeah.

I think it'd be great. I love running into former students. Yeah. And I love having conversation and I remember saying. I remember saying in a graduation speech a long time ago that when I run into you, it won't be, it won't be your career, it won't be what are you doing and how much money you're making.

I'm gonna ask about your family. Mm. And I just love that idea of like working, [00:50:00] doing everything we can to make amazing things happen this school year so that those kids can go have every option. Right. I think that's the old Reach Higher Shasta. Reach Higher Shasta. Every, every student, every option. And, uh, our schools are doing a tremendous job at that.

There are obstacles. Yes. Can we be better? Absolutely we can. And Shasta County Office of Education would love to be a part of that better. 

Maggie Joyce: It really is about the kiddos, right? I mean, the work that we do is about the kids today. And the kids of the future, 

Mike Freeman: when we talked about having reminders, right? So on that Friday t-shirt, on the right hand sleeve, we have 37,000 period.

Mm-hmm. And that's just a little, a little reminder, right? Mm-hmm. Just a little. When, when we, when we think about the work we are doing that our why is that. And I think that honestly, as a community, yes there are challenges, but in the spaces that we are in, we have seen it. We've all seen it. When that kid is put at the center of that [00:51:00] table.

Yeah. The outcome is different. 

Jenn Cobb: Yeah. Yeah. 

Mike Freeman: When we come in with different agendas and we come in with like, that's where things start breaking down. When we say front and center, what does this kid need right now? Yeah. Then all of those other things kind of, so Right. Drop off. Yeah. And that's when great work happens.

Jenn Cobb: Yeah. 

Maggie Joyce: Love it. This has got me amped up just like last week did with our All Call. 

Mike Freeman: Yeah. It's good. 

Can I just, I don't know if I've ever shared this quote with you, but like, I didn't want to leave this podcast space without sharing this, this thought with you.

It comes from Margaret Wheatley and she says, this human conversation is the most ancient and easiest way to cultivate the conditions for change, personal change, community and organizational change, planetary change. If we can sit together and talk about what's important to us, we begin to come alive. We share what we see, what we feel, and we listen to what others see [00:52:00] and feel.

And that's this. That's the space that you have carved out. Yeah. For conversations. And I think that when we're thinking about how do we change the world, honestly, can we pull up a chair? 

Jenn Cobb: Yeah. 

Mike Freeman: Can we pull up a chair? Knee, a knee eye to eye and have a conversation and the very conversation that we're avoiding is probably that leadership opportunity.

Yeah. Right. It's that thing like, oh, I don't know if I have the relationship. I don't know if I then, then lean in. Yep. It seems it's counterintuitive again, but like go to that hard. Mm-hmm. On the other side of that, we are better, but what if, what if the changes that we actually are seeking in our community can be

Harvested or found simply by holding space for conversation. I got a core belief that the best answer is a simple one. I kind love that. 

Maggie Joyce: And it's such a simple, right? It feels hard mm-hmm. To to get there sometimes. Mm-hmm. But it's, once you're there, it's. It's [00:53:00] amazing what happens in those spaces 

Mike Freeman: and you know that I, that this isn't rocket science.

And you know that out in our community, we have amazing examples of this. Yes. Yeah. We have people that live this every day. Yeah. And every once in a while we stumble into them and we're reminded of like, oh, maybe it is that easy. Maybe we can just hold conversation about the things that matter most. 

Maggie Joyce: Yep.

Conversations can heal us, conversations can change us. Um, and conversations make us, right? 

Mike Freeman: Yeah, and I will just throw this out there because I mean, this goes to all over the world, right? So like if there's anybody that listens to this and thinks I need to have a conversation with Mike Freeman, maybe I've done something, maybe I haven't done something, I would invite, right?

mFreeman@shastacoe.org, shoot me an email. I would invite that conversation because that's how we're going to make things. That's how we're gonna make things happen. 

Jenn Cobb: Yeah. Which I just feel like is leading with such humility. You know what I mean? Like it's opening space. It's a little scary. Yeah, it's a little scary.[00:54:00] 

But it's, it's, I love how you do that and for that. Well, I think 

Mike Freeman: if we talked about keeping score, I would love to be in a place where that is zero. Yeah. Grudges, zero. Mistakes? All kinds of mistakes. Yeah. But like we've, we've shared in our conversations, uh. We're not necessarily about being right. We are about getting it right.

Mm. And we will acknowledge that we are not perfect. And if there's opportunities for us to get it right, by all means that that door's open. 

Maggie Joyce: Yeah. Yeah. Well, I'm excited. Hopefully 

Mike Freeman: I don't get 600 emails from, as a result of this podcast, letting 

Jenn Cobb: people, but then that means we have 600 listeners, so yes. Hey.

Alright. 

Mike Freeman: That's a, that's a good, good way to look at it. 

Maggie Joyce: Send it out to all the folks that you know. I think that this is a great starting point to launch the school year, and we're just happy that we were able to get this time with you and, and share. Where we've been, uh, the Shasta County Office of Education and our community partners, um, and [00:55:00] where we'd like to go, um, this school year and beyond.

Mm-hmm. 

Mike Freeman: Yeah. And the invitation is come with us. Yeah. Come with us. Come with us. Or like, let, let us, let us come with you. Right. Like that idea of like, we don't want to go anywhere. We don't wanna go anywhere alone. Mm-hmm. And if we can draw close and we can listen for those needs, I work with an incredible team of people that are scouring.

Looking for ways to make the world a better place. Yeah. And committed to making it happen this year. 

Maggie Joyce: Well, thanks again for being here. 

Mike Freeman: Yeah, thanks for having me.