Fostering Futures℠
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Fostering Futures℠
Episode 9 - From Paraeducator to Superintendent: Leading a School District in the Mountains
In this candid and uplifting conversation, host Athena Cordero sits down with Manny Marquez, Superintendent of Bear Valley Unified School District, to explore what servant leadership looks like in a close-knit mountain community. From his start as a paraeducator to 25 years of growing alongside the district he loves, Manny shares how sincerity, accessibility, and emotional intelligence shape every decision he makes. He pulls back the curtain on a superintendent’s day-to-day—being on campuses, taking parent calls on the spot, and navigating “surprise” responsibilities like facilities, contracts, and construction. Manny also recounts the district’s coordinated response during wildfires—daily cross-department briefings, rapid family outreach (especially for EL families), and turning school nutrition into a community lifeline. Looking forward, he highlights Bear Valley’s pride points and priorities: a long-awaited stadium, expanding CTE and arts, and ambitious dual-enrollment cohorts helping students earn real college credit early. Woven through it all are stories of alumni returning to serve, the district motto—Educate, Inspire, Prepare—and why “inspire” is the word that matters most.
🔑 Highlights & Takeaways
- From Paraeducator to Superintendent: Manny’s 25-year journey in Bear Valley—and why he’d still “teach in a heartbeat.”
- Leadership Philosophy: Be sincere, be honest, be yourself. People (and kids) can spot a performance.
- Small-District Reality: A superintendent who’s hands-on, highly visible, and reachable—even nights and weekends.
- Emotional Intelligence Matters: Reading the room, listening first, and keeping people at the center of every decision.
- A Day in the Life: Greeting every staff member, taking real-time calls, solving problems as they arise, and staying present on school sites.
- The “Unplanned” Parts of the Job: Facilities, construction, contracts, and other non-instructional curveballs.
- Crisis as Community Work: During wildfires, daily leadership “war room” meetings with transportation, M&O, nutrition, principals, and unions to keep everyone aligned.
- Serving Families Quickly: EL parent liaison outreach uncovered immediate needs; child nutrition mobilized to fill meal gaps when school closed.
- People First: “Students first” means people first—seeing the teacher–student partnership and the human context behind every classroom.
- Educate, Inspire, Prepare: Why inspire fuels everything—motivation precedes achievement.
- Growing Our Own: Pride in alumni returning as educators and counselors; hiring “from within” strengthens culture.
- College Starts Here: Dual-enrollment cohorts (some freshmen with 9–18 units) widen access for a rural community and build momentum toward AA/transfer.
- Balanced Ambition: Push opportunity while protecting the joy of high school—clubs, arts, athletics, and belonging.
- Advice to Aspiring Admins: Love the work, be a servant leader, and measure success by how well others thrive.
- Fuel & Family: A 4 a.m. routine, close bonds with staff, and time with his grandson keep Manny grounded.
- What Worked for Him as a Kid: Adults who saw potential he couldn’t see yet—and told him so.
Thanks for listening! Follow us on Facebook and Instagram | www.cahelp.org | podcast@cahelp.org
00:00:45 Athena Cordero
Okay, everyone.
00:00:46 Athena Cordero
So I'm here today with our superintendent of Bear Valley Unified School District, Manny Marquez.
00:00:52 Athena Cordero
Did I say Marquez?
00:00:53 Manny Marquez
You said it perfectly.
00:00:54 Athena Cordero
Oh, nice.
00:00:54 Athena Cordero
Marquez.
00:00:56 Athena Cordero
And you've been superintendent with Bear Valley Unified for two years now.
00:01:00 Manny Marquez
Yes, going into my second year, made it through my first.
00:01:02 Athena Cordero
Okay.
00:01:02 Manny Marquez
Very exciting.
00:01:03 Athena Cordero
Congratulations.
00:01:03 Manny Marquez
Thank you.
00:01:04 Athena Cordero
You're welcome.
00:01:06 Athena Cordero
So I do want to get a little bit more from you, though.
00:01:08 Athena Cordero
You've been superintendent for almost two years, but how long have you worked within Bear Valley Unified?
00:01:13 Manny Marquez
I've been with Bear Valley.
00:01:15 Manny Marquez
This is about, I believe this is my 25th year this year.
00:01:17 Manny Marquez
I've been with Bear Valley for quite some time.
00:01:19 Manny Marquez
I started as an instructional aide in the classroom at one of the elementary schools, North Shore Elementary, which
00:01:26 Manny Marquez
there's a debt to be paid for this district.
00:01:29 Manny Marquez
I love this district.
00:01:31 Manny Marquez
It's been something special.
00:01:32 Manny Marquez
It trained me as a teacher, took care of me, took care of my family.
00:01:35 Manny Marquez
So kind of worked my way and just kind of get talked into things along the way and do things out of duty and love for that district.
00:01:42 Manny Marquez
But if you ask me to go back and be a teacher, I do it in a hot second.
00:01:45 Manny Marquez
That's the best job ever.
00:01:46 Manny Marquez
I love my job, but teaching is always at your heart.
00:01:50 Athena Cordero
So do you feel like at some point, maybe second career, you'll go back and teach a class or?
00:01:55 Manny Marquez
Maybe.
00:01:56 Manny Marquez
You know, I never say, you know, you never say never to anything.
00:01:59 Manny Marquez
I've loved everything I've ever done in education.
00:02:02 Manny Marquez
You know, when you go into this thing, all the teachers go and do it with the same thing, going, oh, I never want to be a principal, I never want to be an administrator, never want to do that.
00:02:10 Manny Marquez
life just kind of leads you and you kind of see what happens along the way and you feel a, I do it out of duty and responsibility and love for it.
00:02:19 Manny Marquez
I went into each adventure, whether it was principle or new teaching or whatever it was with the.
00:02:25 Manny Marquez
the idea that I've always loved everything I've ever done.
00:02:28 Manny Marquez
And Bear Valley has always taken care of me and I feel like it's my responsibility to take care of Bear Valley.
00:02:33 Athena Cordero
That's awesome.
00:02:34 Athena Cordero
So I have to ask though, you started as a paraeducator, you said?
00:02:38 Manny Marquez
Yes.
00:02:39 Athena Cordero
Did you know when you got the job as a paraeducator that you wanted to go into education or did that?
00:02:44 Manny Marquez
Yes, that's a great question.
00:02:46 Manny Marquez
Yes, I did know I wanted to go to education.
00:02:47 Manny Marquez
You know, we had lived down, I said down the hill in the alley area when we moved up here with my wife and my children.
00:02:52 Manny Marquez
And the agreement was my wife went to school first, and I went to school when we moved back to Big Bear.
00:02:58 Manny Marquez
When we moved to Big Bear, I started school.
00:03:01 Manny Marquez
I did not have, we moved up there.
00:03:02 Manny Marquez
I was about 20 years old, did not have one college credit.
00:03:06 Manny Marquez
So I was starting from scratch with kids with babies in the house, and it was an adventure to say the least.
00:03:12 Athena Cordero
I bet.
00:03:13 Manny Marquez
But I knew I wanted to be a teacher.
00:03:15 Manny Marquez
I absolutely knew that.
00:03:16 Manny Marquez
I just had to get through it, and having that job at North Shore, you know, being a paraeducator there taught me the world.
00:03:22 Manny Marquez
And those people taught me everything.
00:03:24 Athena Cordero
So, I mean, 25 years is something special.
00:03:29 Athena Cordero
And I have to ask, with being in a district, Bear Valley Unified is not a huge district.
00:03:34 Manny Marquez
Nope.
00:03:35 Athena Cordero
And so working within the district for that amount of time and now being superintendent, how do you think, or how would you describe your leadership style?
00:03:45 Manny Marquez
I would say I've always been the, I guess, the reluctant leader, meaning I've just kind of, I've,
00:03:51 Manny Marquez
found that people see something in me that I didn't, and I've just kind of trusted those people along the way.
00:03:56 Manny Marquez
And with that, I find that sincerity goes a long way.
00:04:01 Manny Marquez
And to be sincere and to be honest, I find that to be the best way to lead.
00:04:07 Manny Marquez
People will always see right through everything.
00:04:09 Manny Marquez
When you try to be something you're not, it's going to come off as a hustle.
00:04:13 Manny Marquez
Kids see it, teachers see it, parents see it.
00:04:15 Manny Marquez
As long as you can be sincere and be exactly who you are the entire time, that's how I feel like what works for me.
00:04:21 Athena Cordero
I can't agree more, especially when it comes to kids.
00:04:25 Athena Cordero
I know adults, we can call each other out on things, but kids, I don't think we give them enough credit for what they notice and what they can read on adults.
00:04:34 Athena Cordero
So I completely agree with you.
00:04:35 Athena Cordero
What do you think, just in sharing that with me, now I'm wondering,
00:04:41 Athena Cordero
What do you think maybe someone might misunderstand about the superintendent role?
00:04:48 Manny Marquez
It's hard to say because in Bear Valley, we're so small.
00:04:52 Manny Marquez
It is very different as far as the superintendent role compared to other districts.
00:04:56 Athena Cordero
Okay.
00:04:56 Manny Marquez
You know, sometimes when I talk to other superintendents from larger, much larger districts than mine, you know, mine is only, we're only at about 2160 right now, 2,160, so it's much smaller, obviously, than your other district.
00:05:07 Manny Marquez
So you
00:05:08 Manny Marquez
are probably with my particular position as superintendent of Bear Valley, you're probably much more hands-on and in the mix than your average superintendent position.
00:05:21 Manny Marquez
But I think the surprising thing is a lot of the politics that come with it, you really want to be an instructional leader.
00:05:27 Manny Marquez
You want to be able to support and coach.
00:05:29 Manny Marquez
And yes, that's a big part of it, but it's always the politics of it.
00:05:33 Manny Marquez
And especially small town managing everyone and making sure you're hearing all the voices.
00:05:38 Manny Marquez
And I think that's probably one of the most important things I'd find is your emotional intelligence going into this.
00:05:46 Manny Marquez
is vitally important to understand people and to genuinely enjoy people.
00:05:52 Manny Marquez
I have, a teacher friend of mine, I was walking through the halls one day and she says, she was at the North Shore at the school I was at before and she goes, okay, she says, how do you do it?
00:06:01 Manny Marquez
And I said, do what?
00:06:02 Manny Marquez
She says, walk through like, you're just skipping through the park, like nothing's wrong.
00:06:08 Manny Marquez
She goes, and I know you have the weight of the world on your shoulders sometimes.
00:06:11 Manny Marquez
She goes, how do you do it?
00:06:12 Manny Marquez
And I said,
00:06:13 Manny Marquez
I genuinely love what I do, and I genuinely love people, even on their most challenging days.
00:06:21 Manny Marquez
I love people, and I love the interactions, even if when it's a challenging interaction or somebody's upset, a parent, teacher, whatever it might be.
00:06:29 Manny Marquez
I love those moments.
00:06:31 Manny Marquez
Those are the moments I look forward to.
00:06:32 Manny Marquez
Those are the moments that make me better, that make me, force me to sit back and listen more.
00:06:37 Manny Marquez
So I enjoy all the challenges that come with it, and I think that's how you
00:06:42 Manny Marquez
survive in this position and how you enjoy this position.
00:06:45 Athena Cordero
It sounds like, and I've had the pleasure of talking to a few educators and it sounds like there is no typical day, you know, for you all, but if you could give us an idea, you know, of what a day in the life, like what does that actually look like for you coming in the morning and then leaving at the end of the day?
00:07:06 Athena Cordero
How does that start for you?
00:07:08 Athena Cordero
Walk us through it.
00:07:09 Manny Marquez
Oh my goodness.
00:07:09 Manny Marquez
It's, you know, for me,
00:07:12 Manny Marquez
the whole piece of the sanity and everything else.
00:07:14 Manny Marquez
I have a certain routine that I do at home to keep me sane during the day.
00:07:17 Manny Marquez
But going in and making sure I greet every person.
00:07:21 Manny Marquez
My office isn't obviously, but we're smaller, so not very big.
00:07:24 Manny Marquez
Making sure I see every person, making sure I acknowledge every person and check in on everybody is really important to me.
00:07:31 Manny Marquez
But, you know, my previous, my superintendent that was my mentor, Dr.
00:07:36 Manny Marquez
Suzuki, she had said, this is a lot like principal.
00:07:39 Manny Marquez
You come in and you sit down and you
00:07:42 Manny Marquez
The day is going to plan itself for the most part.
00:07:44 Manny Marquez
You have a schedule.
00:07:45 Manny Marquez
You will always have a schedule.
00:07:46 Manny Marquez
And trust me, my schedule, it gets pretty packed in sometimes.
00:07:50 Manny Marquez
And last year I was doing, before we had our current executive director, I was doing HR as well.
00:07:55 Manny Marquez
And so it was really kind of kept us all, kept me pretty busy.
00:07:58 Manny Marquez
But it really, the day plans itself for you for the most part.
00:08:01 Manny Marquez
The calls come in and I leave nobody waiting.
00:08:04 Manny Marquez
I'm not one to say make an appointment.
00:08:07 Manny Marquez
If somebody comes in, if there's a parent that needs to be talked to me right now, they're going to talk to me right now.
00:08:12 Manny Marquez
If there's a phone call that comes in, I'm going to take that phone call right now.
00:08:16 Manny Marquez
There is never, is nothing is ever good coming from letting somebody fester, get more upset.
00:08:21 Athena Cordero
Right.
00:08:21 Manny Marquez
Or even when it's good things, I want to hear about it now.
00:08:25 Manny Marquez
You know, if there's somebody that wants to visit or talk or whatever it might be, community members,
00:08:30 Manny Marquez
Whatever it is, I'll say, okay, I need to stop.
00:08:33 Manny Marquez
And my secretary is wonderful.
00:08:34 Manny Marquez
My executive assistant, she is wonderful and she knows darn well.
00:08:37 Manny Marquez
She's going to interrupt every meeting I have to say, this person's here.
00:08:40 Manny Marquez
Would you like to speak with them?
00:08:41 Manny Marquez
And yeah, I'm going to stop what I'm doing for a minute.
00:08:43 Manny Marquez
So the day really is dependent on the moment sometimes.
00:08:48 Manny Marquez
You know, we have a schedule and whether it's meeting with union president, whether it's, you know, meeting with the executive directors, cabinet meetings, being on sites.
00:08:55 Manny Marquez
I try to make it to sites at least, you know, two to three times a week, being on a site with the
00:09:00 Manny Marquez
with my principals, which that's one of the fun parts of my job.
00:09:04 Manny Marquez
In a lot of districts, it might be an assistant soup that oversees the principals where in with our district being so small, it's directly under me.
00:09:13 Manny Marquez
So I actually enjoy that part of my job where I'm constantly in direct contact with every single principal.
00:09:18 Manny Marquez
I love that.
00:09:19 Athena Cordero
That's nice.
00:09:20 Manny Marquez
They can find me anytime on a Sunday.
00:09:22 Manny Marquez
And that's one of the reasons what I love about Bear Valley is
00:09:26 Manny Marquez
I remember even as a principal, as a teacher, I could find my superintendent, my principal on a weekend, on a Saturday morning.
00:09:31 Manny Marquez
On a Sunday night, they were going to answer.
00:09:33 Manny Marquez
And I've always tried to emulate that as well.
00:09:35 Manny Marquez
They're making sure you're always available.
00:09:37 Manny Marquez
My principals can call me, like I said, anytime.
00:09:40 Manny Marquez
We're on the phone sometimes till 9 o'clock at night, whatever's happening.
00:09:44 Manny Marquez
And they know they can find me anytime.
00:09:45 Manny Marquez
That's probably one of the things I enjoy the most.
00:09:47 Athena Cordero
That's awesome.
00:09:48 Athena Cordero
I can imagine that makes communication easier.
00:09:52 Athena Cordero
If you guys have challenges that you're working through to get a hold of
00:09:56 Athena Cordero
each other, to know how to get a hold of each other, to be able to rely on that is probably invaluable for you.
00:10:00 Manny Marquez
Yes, it is.
00:10:01 Manny Marquez
And it also, it gives that opportunity that you can create change quicker.
00:10:06 Manny Marquez
You know, without all the, it's always a hard machine to move.
00:10:08 Manny Marquez
It's always hard to steer that boat.
00:10:09 Athena Cordero
Absolutely.
00:10:10 Manny Marquez
But when you're with the wonderful size that we are, we can communicate so quickly and we can make things happen faster.
00:10:18 Athena Cordero
So, okay.
00:10:19 Athena Cordero
I mean, I can imagine that you guys have a system for how to manage challenges, how to get through things, but what's maybe, I don't know, the strangest thing that might land on your desk is superintendent that people are like, you have to deal with that.
00:10:36 Manny Marquez
There's always things that don't come in a, when you get trained in your admin credential, there's always those things that don't come, no one ever trained you for this.
00:10:44 Manny Marquez
As soon as I walked into the,
00:10:46 Manny Marquez
to the position that we were finishing building this beautiful stadium.
00:10:50 Manny Marquez
we have a brand new stadium.
00:10:51 Manny Marquez
And all of a sudden, I'm having to figure out, understand what they're talking about with construction and holding ponds and all these things.
00:10:57 Manny Marquez
It's like, I don't know anything about this stuff, but I better figure it out real fast.
00:11:02 Manny Marquez
You know, whether it's real estate or, you know, property movement, department movement, things like that.
00:11:07 Manny Marquez
That's all of a sudden, you have to understand these things.
00:11:10 Manny Marquez
contracts are dealing with whether it's the, yeah, my CBO deals with a lot of it, but it's still being involved with all of those pieces with construction and those things that normally wouldn't have anything to do with education.
00:11:23 Athena Cordero
Yeah.
00:11:23 Manny Marquez
You know, as far as being a principal in the end.
00:11:26 Manny Marquez
all about your experiences that get you here, all of a sudden you really are on a whole new learning platform.
00:11:31 Athena Cordero
I appreciate that.
00:11:33 Athena Cordero
And if there are some students who, you know, listen and hear you, I hope that they hear in that that you're never done learning.
00:11:40 Manny Marquez
No, never, never done learning.
00:11:43 Manny Marquez
You're never done learning and you always have to understand your resources and that you're never alone in whatever challenge that might be, you know, that I find with some of the best superintendents out there,
00:11:55 Manny Marquez
They just need to know their resources and having surrounding yourself with the absolute best people.
00:12:00 Manny Marquez
I am very fortunate that my school board has like this, these five individuals that all are gifted in their own rights.
00:12:09 Manny Marquez
And for me to be able to pull them as a resource when I need them, you know.
00:12:13 Manny Marquez
I've got a physicist, I've got a realtor, I've got a retired teacher, I've just got, I've got an ex-military, I've got these wonderful array of people that I can pull on.
00:12:24 Manny Marquez
And that's just my, that's my board, let alone what I have available from my high school staff and, you know, my high school administrator who's been there for nine years as a principal, which is a little unheard of to us that long, right?
00:12:37 Manny Marquez
And all those pieces, you know, all their different experiences,
00:12:42 Manny Marquez
I'm pulling on everybody and I'm finding my best resources to make us successful.
00:12:46 Manny Marquez
I don't care where the good idea comes from, but my goodness, it better come from somebody.
00:12:50 Athena Cordero
That's such a great, great point and it reminds me, I wanted to ask you.
00:12:56 Athena Cordero
the way you look at this, in human resources, physical, all the different kinds.
00:13:00 Athena Cordero
How did you guys get through?
00:13:02 Athena Cordero
I mean, there was a lot going on when the fires were happening.
00:13:05 Athena Cordero
For a minute there, it felt like all of California was on fire.
00:13:08 Manny Marquez
Yeah.
00:13:08 Athena Cordero
But you guys did have to deal with that.
00:13:10 Athena Cordero
What was that like for you up there?
00:13:11 Athena Cordero
And how did you guys pull together to get through that time?
00:13:14 Manny Marquez
Oh my goodness, that was an adventure, considering that was my first couple months in.
00:13:18 Manny Marquez
Oh my gosh, as a superintendent, it was my first couple months.
00:13:21 Manny Marquez
So, side note here too, the previous administration,
00:13:25 Manny Marquez
they all retired all at once.
00:13:28 Athena Cordero
Really.
00:13:28 Manny Marquez
They just did something they wanted to do and they were all friends and it was nothing bad or anything like that.
00:13:34 Manny Marquez
It was just that's how it went.
00:13:35 Athena Cordero
Right.
00:13:35 Manny Marquez
So it was an entirely new cabinet.
00:13:38 Manny Marquez
So it was me, my executive assistant, you know, and one of my executive directors and my CBO.
00:13:44 Manny Marquez
All of us were brand new.
00:13:46 Athena Cordero
Wow.
00:13:47 Manny Marquez
All of us were new, but we had all been around for a long time.
00:13:50 Athena Cordero
Yeah.
00:13:50 Manny Marquez
Like my current CBO, she went to Bear Valley Schools.
00:13:53 Athena Cordero
Okay.
00:13:54 Manny Marquez
You know, one of them was a secretary.
00:13:55 Manny Marquez
All of us had been around for a while, so no entities.
00:13:59 Manny Marquez
So it was interesting when we entered into that, it became.
00:14:02 Manny Marquez
daily meeting.
00:14:03 Manny Marquez
We had basically, as soon as we went into fire mode, usually you depend on your, just your immediate cabinet and you're trying to plan in the war room, those kind of things.
00:14:11 Manny Marquez
But the war room became the entire leadership team.
00:14:15 Manny Marquez
And when I say my leadership team is we were on daily, I think it was 1:00 meetings.
00:14:21 Manny Marquez
I can't remember once I had all my information in order.
00:14:24 Manny Marquez
I had daily meetings with my entire leadership.
00:14:25 Manny Marquez
That included my
00:14:28 Manny Marquez
my transportation manager, my food service, nutrition services, everybody, all of them.
00:14:34 Manny Marquez
M&O, it included all my principals.
00:14:37 Athena Cordero
M&O, sorry.
00:14:38 Manny Marquez
Maintenance and operations.
00:14:38 Athena Cordero
I just want to make sure we get everybody's.
00:14:40 Manny Marquez
Shout out to everybody.
00:14:41 Manny Marquez
Yeah, my maintenance and operations, everybody that's on my leadership team for Bear Valley, we all met, and that included union representation as well.
00:14:49 Manny Marquez
We include them in our leadership teams, our union presidents.
00:14:53 Manny Marquez
Everybody met daily to have a full understanding of what we were doing, what the communication was going to be, what our next moves were, what the current situation was.
00:15:02 Manny Marquez
So there was never anyone uninformed.
00:15:04 Manny Marquez
And then we would get information out to the parents as soon as possible.
00:15:07 Manny Marquez
As soon as we got off, we were communicating, getting information to parents.
00:15:10 Manny Marquez
But it was a constant source of how are we going to convey information as quickly as possible.
00:15:16 Manny Marquez
attending all the briefings with the fire department.
00:15:19 Manny Marquez
And it's nice when you're in Big Bear that, the community works so closely together between, I have the mayor's calling, we're all calling each other.
00:15:29 Manny Marquez
The fire chief, the captain of the sheriff's department, everybody was all communicating constantly.
00:15:35 Manny Marquez
We talked, the fire chief and I talked almost every morning as well as the captain of the sheriff's department in Big Bear.
00:15:41 Manny Marquez
So that communication, that tight-knit community,
00:15:45 Manny Marquez
That's one of the reasons.
00:15:47 Manny Marquez
I will most likely retire from Bear Valley because you just, it's a unique place and you don't get that everywhere.
00:15:53 Athena Cordero
So that's, I can't even say how awesome that is, especially in, you know, when you're dealing with a tragic thing like that.
00:16:00 Athena Cordero
People, what was the evacuation, how did that affect school every day?
00:16:07 Manny Marquez
Oh, that was, you know, we were out, you know, and it's interesting because you put yourself in these situations and then
00:16:14 Manny Marquez
You make assumptions, and a lot of people, a lot of the parents, left town or did different things to get their children out of smoke.
00:16:20 Manny Marquez
But what we found in the process of it, what we learned from ourselves as a community, is that we suddenly found ourselves that there was a certain amount of population that their parents couldn't work, and they couldn't go anywhere because they couldn't afford it financially.
00:16:35 Manny Marquez
And we have this wonderful EL parent liaison, Dr.
00:16:40 Manny Marquez
Crow,
00:16:41 Manny Marquez
who I had asked her to start making phone calls, check on all of our families, start checking on all our EL families that start there, make individual phone calls.
00:16:48 Manny Marquez
And what we found through that process is there was a lot of families in need at that point.
00:16:53 Manny Marquez
All of a sudden, two-thirds of their meals were taken away.
00:16:56 Athena Cordero
Wow.
00:16:57 Manny Marquez
You know, we realized that.
00:16:58 Manny Marquez
And then so our Rita Acevedo, who is our child nutrition services manager, director, she did a wonderful job.
00:17:06 Manny Marquez
She gathered up a couple members that were willing to come in
00:17:09 Manny Marquez
And any food they had on hand, they started giving away.
00:17:14 Manny Marquez
And we gave away far more food than we even realized the need was out there.
00:17:18 Athena Cordero
I bet.
00:17:18 Manny Marquez
Because all of a sudden, a lot of these families who depended on their labor, which the town had shut down, all of Bear Valley had pretty much shut down.
00:17:27 Manny Marquez
So there wasn't any work.
00:17:28 Manny Marquez
They worked daily, you know, their day-to-day, check to check.
00:17:31 Manny Marquez
So suddenly we found that, oh, we have to support this community still.
00:17:36 Manny Marquez
we learned that through COVID.
00:17:37 Manny Marquez
The moment you take out public education, it shuts down the world a little bit.
00:17:41 Athena Cordero
Yeah, definitely.
00:17:42 Manny Marquez
So same thing happened in Bear Valley and our little microcosm.
00:17:45 Manny Marquez
The moment we have fires, we realized there isn't a support necessary, a support system that has to go into place.
00:17:51 Manny Marquez
And we found that we needed support through helping to continue to support our families feeding, like I said, two-thirds of their meals that they're depending on for breakfast and lunch went away.
00:18:02 Manny Marquez
So supporting that was important.
00:18:03 Manny Marquez
And my team
00:18:04 Manny Marquez
did a wonderful job with that.
00:18:06 Athena Cordero
And then, I'm sorry, just to go back, you said you're, was it your EL coordinator or EL?
00:18:11 Manny Marquez
Yeah, it's through our CCSPP grant, the Community Schools grant, that they were able to hire Dr.
00:18:17 Manny Marquez
Crowley, and she's a student, she's a parent liaison for our EL families.
00:18:20 Athena Cordero
Okay.
00:18:21 Athena Cordero
EL meaning.
00:18:22 Manny Marquez
EL, English language learners, yes, our ELL, English language learners.
00:18:25 Manny Marquez
So she was able, she's our communication for parents anyway, so she started reaching out to parents.
00:18:33 Manny Marquez
just one at a time, one at a time, seeing what their needs were, seeing if they were doing okay.
00:18:37 Manny Marquez
And that really gave us a look, a bird's eye view into what our community needed, what our families needed.
00:18:44 Manny Marquez
And it taught us a lot about how we need to be prepared for those moments and what we need to kick in and how fast we need to kick in to support families.
00:18:53 Athena Cordero
It sounds like you all became like the district, the, you know, your schools became kind of a hub for support, you know, during the night.
00:19:01 Manny Marquez
It really did.
00:19:02 Manny Marquez
And everyone came together.
00:19:03 Manny Marquez
so, with the whole process.
00:19:06 Manny Marquez
everybody was willing to do anything necessary.
00:19:09 Manny Marquez
in my daily meetings, I had, there was never a day where somebody, one of my leadership team was absent.
00:19:14 Manny Marquez
Everybody was there, and that's almost 20 people on a Zoom for us.
00:19:20 Manny Marquez
that was daily and they were all wanted the information they all gave their input everyone had great ideas you know it didn't matter who it was and it was a great process to go through in the worst of circumstances which that's a challenging circumstance it taught us a lot about ourselves and being new as a team as a cabinet team and you know at the district office level it really brought us together and helped us understand and gave everybody a voice which was so important in that moment that everyone have a different perspective so it was you know
00:19:50 Manny Marquez
It was an interesting learning process.
00:19:52 Athena Cordero
It sounds like a really beautiful example of servant leadership in the community, and not just those who maybe hold what some of us think a leadership position is, but in every position.
00:20:05 Athena Cordero
In every role, there was an opportunity for folks to step up and to lead in some way, which is awesome.
00:20:12 Athena Cordero
It still sounds like I'm hearing it again.
00:20:14 Athena Cordero
You all were so willing to still learn, you know, through the process.
00:20:18 Athena Cordero
That takes a lot of humility, especially for folks who've, you know, I've been in a fire.
00:20:23 Athena Cordero
I know how to do this.
00:20:24 Athena Cordero
You have to
00:20:25 Athena Cordero
still be willing to learn the situation.
00:20:27 Manny Marquez
Yes, I think me or my leadership or any of us showing our vulnerability in those moments, our willingness to stop and listen to every idea and every parent, whatever it was, every teacher, it was really important for us to stop and listen.
00:20:43 Manny Marquez
That's, to me, that's the greatest skill is to stop and listen when you can, and then you figure so much more out and you learn.
00:20:50 Manny Marquez
And the depth of learning goes so much further.
00:20:53 Athena Cordero
So as I'm talking to you, I'm just going to go ahead and admit I picked on your website.
00:20:57 Athena Cordero
I picked at Bear Valley Unified's website.
00:21:00 Athena Cordero
And I did come across your slogan, Educate, Inspire, and Prepare.
00:21:04 Athena Cordero
Can you talk to me a little bit about that?
00:21:05 Athena Cordero
I mean, I can read it from the website.
00:21:07 Athena Cordero
We want to hear what does that really mean to you all up there.
00:21:09 Manny Marquez
You know, that's everything for us as far as what we look at and how we view students.
00:21:14 Manny Marquez
And not just students, but family as well.
00:21:16 Manny Marquez
You know, we always say, you know, students
00:21:18 Manny Marquez
We students first, and students are absolutely first, but I've come to the realization it's not students, it's people.
00:21:25 Manny Marquez
It's people first, because before they enter our rooms, they're people.
00:21:29 Manny Marquez
These are people with lives who, I don't know what their challenges were before they left their homes.
00:21:33 Manny Marquez
And to say students first, it's...
00:21:36 Manny Marquez
It kind of, to me, you have to always look at the teacher as well.
00:21:40 Manny Marquez
It's a partnership in that classroom every day between the teacher and the student.
00:21:43 Manny Marquez
Neither of them can operate without the other, and that partnership is important.
00:21:47 Manny Marquez
And that's why I like to say it's people first.
00:21:49 Manny Marquez
And in our, into educate, inspire, and prepare, I almost wish it was a little way around here.
00:21:55 Manny Marquez
It's been done years ago, but to me, the most important thing in there is inspire, because we need to educate.
00:21:59 Manny Marquez
Yes, we need to educate.
00:22:01 Manny Marquez
But sometimes all we've seen it before, all the education in the world is not going to make a difference unless you're inspired.
00:22:08 Athena Cordero
Very true.
00:22:09 Manny Marquez
What are you inspired to do?
00:22:11 Manny Marquez
You know, I think those are the most important elements.
00:22:14 Manny Marquez
To me, that's the most important element as far as what do we want to inspire our children to
00:22:20 Manny Marquez
be better than they ever thought they could be.
00:22:23 Manny Marquez
So we want to prepare them for that.
00:22:24 Manny Marquez
That's why prepare is in there as well.
00:22:26 Manny Marquez
But I believe the most important word in that, because yes, our job is to educate and that's what we do by nature.
00:22:31 Manny Marquez
And that's our mechanism that keeps us moving.
00:22:34 Manny Marquez
The harder piece is to inspire and how we do that.
00:22:37 Manny Marquez
And that's where it gets into the art of teaching.
00:22:40 Manny Marquez
There is an art there that is, you know, like I said, I love walking into classrooms and watching them and interacting with students.
00:22:48 Manny Marquez
and watching them in their art form at their own level, and everybody's different.
00:22:53 Manny Marquez
Like I said, don't try to do what somebody else does in a classroom because it's going to come off as a hustle and the kids know that.
00:22:59 Manny Marquez
So to watch that and to watch them inspire and where our students end up in the long run, because so much of us keep up with our students, it's important.
00:23:09 Manny Marquez
You know, my own children went to Bear Valley.
00:23:12 Manny Marquez
So it's personal.
00:23:14 Manny Marquez
my son did, one of my sons did theater and he is now, because of what Bear Valley offered him in theater since he was in elementary, because of what they offered him in the arts, he is now an arts teacher for school in Pomona.
00:23:26 Manny Marquez
My other son, he probably, he was not, did not want to go to college, but he went to college because he loved wrestling.
00:23:32 Athena Cordero
Okay.
00:23:32 Manny Marquez
And every, you know, he wrestled since he was in.
00:23:36 Manny Marquez
middle school and he loved it.
00:23:37 Manny Marquez
And because a teacher there put a wrestling program together because he knew him and a few friends wanted to.
00:23:42 Manny Marquez
So once again, it took a teacher to put that together and it took the administration to support that.
00:23:47 Manny Marquez
That's our job is to support him.
00:23:49 Athena Cordero
You know, so I have to say I'm listening and I agree.
00:23:53 Athena Cordero
When you hear educate for folks who've worked in education for a long time, it feels like it comes with the territory.
00:23:59 Athena Cordero
That's our job.
00:23:59 Athena Cordero
We're supposed to teach, make sure we educate.
00:24:01 Athena Cordero
But you're right.
00:24:02 Athena Cordero
There's a difference between making sure you transfer knowledge and then motivating somebody to do something about it, which that's inspiration piece is to act on it, right?
00:24:12 Manny Marquez
Yes.
00:24:12 Athena Cordero
So for that to be part of what grounds you all, the roots of what you do up there, as a parent myself, I appreciate that because it's hard to motivate kids these days.
00:24:23 Manny Marquez
Oh, it is.
00:24:23 Athena Cordero
Because there's so much at their fingertips.
00:24:26 Athena Cordero
That's so quick, they have so much access to everything so to get them to act on something Positive something and they've learned that can help and be excited about exactly.
00:24:36 Manny Marquez
I think that's the biggest point there I want to see students be excited about something and genuinely go out there into this world and Find something that they're so passionate about, you know to that's the excitement.
00:24:47 Athena Cordero
Right.
00:24:48 Manny Marquez
That's the piece.
00:24:49 Athena Cordero
So is there
00:24:51 Athena Cordero
I don't know, a story, an example, anything that comes to mind, a kiddo, a family up there that has inspired you.
00:24:58 Manny Marquez
Oh my goodness.
00:24:58 Athena Cordero
25 years.
00:25:00 Manny Marquez
Oh, there are so many.
00:25:02 Manny Marquez
My goodness, yeah, you got me on that one because there are so many people.
00:25:08 Manny Marquez
And especially because there are so many that work for Bear Valley.
00:25:10 Manny Marquez
The joke is, because I had to do a lot of the hiring last year, the joke is, man, you'll hire anybody that has a Big Bear High School diploma.
00:25:17 Manny Marquez
And it's very true because I will hire to be a Big Bear High School graduate means something to me.
00:25:23 Manny Marquez
And when they come back and they, especially the students that come back and get their degrees and come back, it's wonderful.
00:25:30 Manny Marquez
It's wonderful.
00:25:31 Manny Marquez
So I'll tell you the, I guess, the most recent story.
00:25:34 Manny Marquez
this, because like I said, there's so many of them.
00:25:36 Manny Marquez
Most recent stories, we hired a young man who was a Big Bear High School graduate all the way through, I mean, all the way through, right?
00:25:42 Manny Marquez
And he comes in and he interviewed for a counseling position.
00:25:45 Manny Marquez
And he's young, 25, 26, I believe, right on college, did his internships, things like that.
00:25:52 Manny Marquez
And then he, so we offer him a job, but he came in and even in this interview, he says, what better way?
00:25:59 Manny Marquez
to serve and then to come back and serve the community that raised you.
00:26:02 Manny Marquez
So inspiring right there, right?
00:26:04 Athena Cordero
He got you at that.
00:26:05 Manny Marquez
Oh, yeah.
00:26:06 Manny Marquez
Oh, all day long, right.
00:26:07 Manny Marquez
All day long, that was sold.
00:26:09 Manny Marquez
Then all of a sudden, the night of the board meeting, we invite them to the board meetings when they're gonna be confirmed.
00:26:16 Manny Marquez
So we invite them, we always tell them, oh, bring your mom or your spouse or your dad or whoever it might be.
00:26:21 Manny Marquez
This young man walks in with everybody.
00:26:24 Manny Marquez
Oh.
00:26:25 Manny Marquez
And it was the most inspiring thing, and here's why: because his family, who is also Big Bear residents, he brought moms, and he was a Latino young man, and he brought in his mom, his dad, and his...
00:26:38 Manny Marquez
his cousins and his primas and everybody.
00:26:41 Manny Marquez
And it was wonderful because they celebrated that moment with him.
00:26:45 Manny Marquez
A lot of times you have, a couple people come in, but when they celebrated that moment with him and they were so excited and so proud, and the fact that Bear Valley had such peace in his success, oh, that was way inspiring.
00:26:58 Athena Cordero
I bet.
00:26:58 Athena Cordero
I bet.
00:26:59 Athena Cordero
So I wish I could have seen that.
00:27:01 Athena Cordero
Actually, that sounds like it was really fun.
00:27:03 Manny Marquez
It was a fun moment because even everyone there who some people knew him and he was
00:27:07 Manny Marquez
He was so excited.
00:27:08 Manny Marquez
He was there in his suit and he was so proud in that moment.
00:27:11 Manny Marquez
That's what we're looking for.
00:27:12 Manny Marquez
He was inspired.
00:27:13 Manny Marquez
He was ready to work and he's been nothing but wonderful in his first couple months of work here.
00:27:17 Manny Marquez
He's been nothing but wonderful.
00:27:18 Manny Marquez
And it was to be a part of that whole process from this young man from kindergarten on and to have him want to come back and serve his community.
00:27:26 Manny Marquez
Oh, that's the win.
00:27:27 Athena Cordero
Oh, that's very special.
00:27:28 Athena Cordero
Yeah, you can't you can't beat that at all.
00:27:31 Athena Cordero
I'm excited for him and moving forward in his role.
00:27:34 Athena Cordero
I'm very happy for him.
00:27:36 Athena Cordero
Looking forward then, what are some things maybe in the future for your district that you're excited about?
00:27:43 Manny Marquez
So many things.
00:27:44 Athena Cordero
Okay.
00:27:45 Manny Marquez
So, you know, we just finished, like I said, we finished our stadium, which was a huge accomplishment for this district.
00:27:53 Manny Marquez
And mind you, hats off to the previous administration who really put a lot of hard work and creativity on how they use funding and everything else.
00:27:59 Manny Marquez
And that's become a gem of our, you know,
00:28:02 Manny Marquez
of our district because we waited for 40 years for that.
00:28:05 Manny Marquez
We were still playing on the middle school field because it was our old high school.
00:28:10 Manny Marquez
So we were still playing on that field.
00:28:11 Manny Marquez
So that's just as a turf field and everything and it's just beautiful.
00:28:14 Athena Cordero
I think I've seen it.
00:28:15 Athena Cordero
It's on the website.
00:28:16 Manny Marquez
Yeah, it is beautiful.
00:28:19 Manny Marquez
So that's a source of pride for us.
00:28:22 Manny Marquez
But really looking as we're looking forward into expanding our CTE program at the high school, really trying to get into that, into our, you know, our arts there.
00:28:31 Manny Marquez
And then as well as the dual enrollment, really expanding that because dual enrollment creates so much opportunity for our students because they don't have a college right next door.
00:28:41 Manny Marquez
They don't have a college, you know, within 10 minutes of themselves, you know, or 20 minutes, you know, it's going to be an hour for them, for their community college.
00:28:48 Manny Marquez
So the dual enrollment has really opened up a lot of opportunities for students.
00:28:52 Manny Marquez
That's a huge plus for us.
00:28:53 Athena Cordero
So just give us, for those of us listening that don't know what dual enrollment is, just give us a little like overview.
00:28:59 Manny Marquez
Sure.
00:28:59 Manny Marquez
Dual enrollment offers students the opportunity to earn dual credits.
00:29:03 Manny Marquez
So they're earning college credits while they're also earning their high school credits to be able to graduate.
00:29:08 Manny Marquez
So they're able to walk out with college credits.
00:29:11 Manny Marquez
Some of our students who are now in what's called a cohort.
00:29:15 Manny Marquez
So we have ninth graders walking out with, you know, walking out in ninth grade with nine units, 12 units.
00:29:20 Manny Marquez
You know, it's pretty impressive.
00:29:22 Manny Marquez
graders already having nine college credits.
00:29:24 Manny Marquez
Pretty impressive.
00:29:25 Manny Marquez
So we have two cohorts now.
00:29:26 Manny Marquez
We have, you know, our junior, I'm sorry, our sophomore cohort and then our freshman cohort since we've just started this.
00:29:33 Manny Marquez
But if they stay with the cohort, they'll walk away with, you know, with basically an AA enough credits to be able to transfer into a university, a four year.
00:29:42 Manny Marquez
So it's pretty impressive and it gives them that extra step.
00:29:45 Manny Marquez
and it's not for everyone, but it's one of those things that you want to make sure you're offering something for everyone.
00:29:51 Manny Marquez
Right.
00:29:51 Manny Marquez
Some people, it may not work for a student that wants to go to a larger school, but as far as anyone that wants to go to a Cal State or anything like that, it certainly, it certainly offers up a window, a wide window of opportunity.
00:30:03 Athena Cordero
Well, and.
00:30:04 Athena Cordero
Even if you're in the process of trying to understand who you are and what you want to do, to already have that available to you.
00:30:11 Manny Marquez
Oh yeah.
00:30:11 Athena Cordero
You know, while you're trying to make that decision, I'm sure it's just awesome.
00:30:15 Athena Cordero
It's huge.
00:30:16 Manny Marquez
Yes, there is a freshman that came out of freshman year because she's an incredible young lady.
00:30:21 Manny Marquez
And she was walking away with like 18 units because she did summer units and everything.
00:30:25 Manny Marquez
So the students that take advantage of it is really, really interesting and inspiring to watch it.
00:30:31 Manny Marquez
of course you want them to be, you got to find that balance too, because you want them to still enjoy their high school life.
00:30:36 Athena Cordero
Of course.
00:30:37 Manny Marquez
You're only in high school once, and you want them to enjoy that and be a part of it.
00:30:41 Manny Marquez
But to have the opportunity.
00:30:43 Manny Marquez
That's pretty, it's pretty inspiring to watch that, to watch them already developing and build up college credits already.
00:30:49 Athena Cordero
I bet, I bet.
00:30:50 Athena Cordero
Especially, and so for those who remember in the very beginning, you talked about moving to Big Bear, not having one credit, one college credit, starting as a paraeducator.
00:30:58 Athena Cordero
I mean, for kids to be in the 9th grade and to understand what college level coursework is like.
00:31:04 Athena Cordero
That's cool.
00:31:05 Athena Cordero
Very cool.
00:31:06 Manny Marquez
It genuinely is something special.
00:31:08 Manny Marquez
And especially considering we're trying to Big Bear, our greatest strengths come from within.
00:31:13 Manny Marquez
You know, it's always nice when we get people we hire with experience from what we call down the hill.
00:31:19 Manny Marquez
You know, it's always great when we have that.
00:31:20 Manny Marquez
But we tend to find that our greatest strengths is when we have the power from within to grow within and to be able to have students be able to grow and start their college credits in Big Bear, I think is pretty special.
00:31:31 Manny Marquez
And especially when the greatest, you know, achievement that we want to
00:31:34 Manny Marquez
accomplishes is many of our high school teachers that can teach those classes, because it's great with the community colleges if they have a master's in that subject area, they can teach the college class.
00:31:45 Manny Marquez
So they get to still have their wonderful high school teacher, but getting college credits.
00:31:51 Manny Marquez
So it's pretty wonderful.
00:31:53 Athena Cordero
That's super unique.
00:31:55 Athena Cordero
And I have to say,
00:31:58 Athena Cordero
and being able to work with a few schools, that's like built-in buy-in, for your district.
00:32:04 Athena Cordero
I live here.
00:32:05 Athena Cordero
I went to school here.
00:32:06 Athena Cordero
I was raised here.
00:32:07 Athena Cordero
I worked here.
00:32:08 Athena Cordero
I'm giving back.
00:32:09 Athena Cordero
And then I get to see kids come behind me and do the same thing.
00:32:12 Athena Cordero
I can't even imagine, you know, the feeling.
00:32:14 Manny Marquez
Yeah, we take a lot of pride in that.
00:32:17 Manny Marquez
And it is, it's fun to watch.
00:32:19 Manny Marquez
And of course, you want them to spread their wings and sometimes leave our small town.
00:32:23 Manny Marquez
And if you come back to us, like, you know, I was talking about the young man that did,
00:32:27 Manny Marquez
It's even that more special.
00:32:29 Manny Marquez
You'll fly a little bit, and if you come back to us when it's time, that's when it's time.
00:32:33 Manny Marquez
And we love that.
00:32:34 Athena Cordero
Very cool, very cool.
00:32:35 Athena Cordero
So, okay, I mean, you've seen and you understand Bear Valley very well.
00:32:44 Athena Cordero
It is a smaller community, smaller school district, but it sounds like still, with the challenges that you all have had,
00:32:52 Athena Cordero
and just everything that comes with education and the, you know, the different patterns we see every couple of years with students.
00:32:58 Athena Cordero
What's maybe a little bit of advice you would give to someone who's thinking about administration, you know, and education?
00:33:05 Manny Marquez
Oof.
00:33:08 Manny Marquez
It's not an easy, it's not an easy road and you better love it.
00:33:12 Athena Cordero
Okay.
00:33:12 Manny Marquez
You know, I'd say that truly because I, you know, I, I genuinely love it.
00:33:17 Manny Marquez
I don't,
00:33:19 Manny Marquez
It's not a matter of loving being in charge.
00:33:21 Manny Marquez
That's not it.
00:33:21 Manny Marquez
It's not a matter of wanting to have any type of authority or anything like that.
00:33:25 Manny Marquez
If anything, you are, like you said, you are an absolute servant in this position and be prepared to be a servant in this position.
00:33:33 Manny Marquez
Your goal is to watch everybody else succeed.
00:33:37 Manny Marquez
When everybody else succeeds, everything works together.
00:33:40 Manny Marquez
So it should not be your goal to watch yourself succeed or to be, you know, congratulate yourself in any way, shape or form.
00:33:47 Manny Marquez
Your job should be the absolute joy of watching everybody else succeed, whether it's your teachers, your principals, your students, executive directors, whatever it might be.
00:33:57 Manny Marquez
Your job is to help everybody succeed.
00:34:00 Manny Marquez
When everybody succeeds, you know, the whole thing in the district is better and the children are better.
00:34:06 Athena Cordero
That is great advice.
00:34:07 Athena Cordero
I appreciate that, Manny.
00:34:09 Athena Cordero
Okay, so...
00:34:10 Athena Cordero
With all that you have on your plate, what maybe is a guilty pleasure, just to keep yourself grounded?
00:34:17 Manny Marquez
Oh.
00:34:19 Manny Marquez
You know, a guilty pleasure, I don't know if it's guilty, but I enjoy the moments with...
00:34:27 Manny Marquez
with some of my staff members.
00:34:29 Manny Marquez
And like I said, my guilty, my pleasure is always my grandchild.
00:34:32 Manny Marquez
I have a grandchild.
00:34:33 Manny Marquez
So that's, I want to spend every moment with him, my grandchild and my wife and my children.
00:34:37 Manny Marquez
That's always where I want to spend every moment away from Bear Valley is with my wife and my children, my grandson.
00:34:44 Manny Marquez
But you know, but as far as anything else besides that, what feeds me sometimes is, you know, I'm a
00:34:50 Manny Marquez
creature of habit in the manner that I get up every morning at 4:00 in the morning and have a certain routine that I must go through, whether it's working out and coffee and whatever it is that I do in the morning.
00:35:01 Manny Marquez
But I genuinely enjoy, like I feel like I need to spend time.
00:35:05 Manny Marquez
with the people I work with and love as family.
00:35:09 Manny Marquez
I need to spend time with them, whether it's going out after work, something like that.
00:35:13 Manny Marquez
And I know it's a fine line for superintendents, but I think that that bonding and that connection and that time and understanding them and knowing their families is so important to me.
00:35:24 Manny Marquez
And it's not part of the job.
00:35:26 Manny Marquez
It's something I enjoy.
00:35:28 Athena Cordero
It sounds like something that fuels you.
00:35:32 Athena Cordero
to keep going, to do all of it.
00:35:33 Manny Marquez
Yeah, it does.
00:35:35 Manny Marquez
And with my staff, my staff is so important to me and they work so hard that knowing their family members and knowing their children's names and having close relationships with their children through the years that I've known through the years, some of them I've seen, there was a little eighth grader, that, I'm sorry, no, he's not eighth grade, sixth grade this year.
00:35:54 Manny Marquez
A little guy who's sixth grade, I remember he was born early and I remember I was,
00:35:58 Manny Marquez
in the hospital when he was born because his mom was one of my teachers.
00:36:03 Manny Marquez
So you take those experiences and you take all those relationships, that's the survival.
00:36:09 Manny Marquez
That's what warms you and that's what makes you want to continue to do better and work that much harder.
00:36:16 Athena Cordero
Okay, now you just gave me a piece of information that now I have to ask.
00:36:21 Athena Cordero
If you are willing to do something a little fun for the kids and your staff.
00:36:25 Manny Marquez
Oh man, okay.
00:36:27 Athena Cordero
How about, because you guys are very close-knit, I'm going to challenge you to a game of two truths and a lie.
00:36:36 Athena Cordero
Okay.
00:36:37 Athena Cordero
So you know the rules.
00:36:38 Athena Cordero
You're going to give me two truths and one lie.
00:36:40 Athena Cordero
I don't have any idea.
00:36:43 Athena Cordero
And I don't know you very well, so I won't know.
00:36:46 Athena Cordero
But this is what we'll do.
00:36:48 Athena Cordero
We're going to make this interesting so that when you go back to your district,
00:36:52 Athena Cordero
They are going to try to figure out what the lie is.
00:36:55 Athena Cordero
I'm not going to reveal it here.
00:36:56 Athena Cordero
Okay.
00:36:58 Manny Marquez
You know, the hardest challenge of that is I've been around too long.
00:37:01 Manny Marquez
Okay.
00:37:02 Manny Marquez
And these people know me way too well.
00:37:05 Manny Marquez
Like I said, there's relationships that go 25 years and they know me better than I know myself.
00:37:10 Manny Marquez
So that's a hard one to pull off.
00:37:12 Athena Cordero
I said it was gonna be a challenge.
00:37:13 Manny Marquez
It's gonna be a, you know, it's a brutal challenge, but you know what?
00:37:16 Manny Marquez
I'm gonna go with it and I'm gonna throw them a softball on this one.
00:37:20 Manny Marquez
I'm gonna throw them a softball on it and let's see if I can get this.
00:37:25 Athena Cordero
Okay, so whenever you're ready, you're gonna give me three things.
00:37:28 Athena Cordero
Two things are gonna be true, one's going to be the lie, and I'll let them figure that out when you return.
00:37:33 Athena Cordero
Okay.
00:37:33 Manny Marquez
Okay.
00:37:33 Athena Cordero
Okay, go for it.
00:37:35 Manny Marquez
Okay.
00:37:37 Manny Marquez
I was valedictorian in high school.
00:37:40 Manny Marquez
Okay.
00:37:41 Manny Marquez
I also, my sport in high school was pole vaulting.
00:37:45 Athena Cordero
Okay.
00:37:47 Manny Marquez
And I have one brother and one sister.
00:37:50 Athena Cordero
Got it.
00:37:50 Athena Cordero
All right.
00:37:51 Athena Cordero
I have no idea.
00:37:52 Athena Cordero
So please, folks, don't e-mail me.
00:37:54 Athena Cordero
I don't know.
00:37:54 Athena Cordero
You're going to have to ask Mr.
00:37:55 Athena Cordero
Marquez to clear that one up.
00:37:58 Athena Cordero
That was very awesome.
00:37:59 Athena Cordero
I really appreciated getting to know you a little bit more.
00:38:03 Athena Cordero
I do have to ask, of course, one more question.
00:38:05 Athena Cordero
You know, here at CAHELP, our mission is the relentless pursuit of whatever works in the life of a child.
00:38:11 Athena Cordero
So I'm going to ask you, last question, what worked for you as a kid?
00:38:16 Manny Marquez
Oof.
00:38:18 Manny Marquez
What worked for me as a kid?
00:38:22 Manny Marquez
I'm in education because not a lot of things worked for me as a kid, let me be honest.
00:38:26 Athena Cordero
Okay, okay.
00:38:26 Manny Marquez
I'm in education because I found it challenging.
00:38:30 Manny Marquez
School was challenging, everything was challenging, but I think what worked for me as a kid is the continued support from people who were maybe outside of my, you know, my family, of people believing, seeing things in me
00:38:51 Manny Marquez
that I didn't see in myself.
00:38:53 Manny Marquez
So I needed that.
00:38:54 Athena Cordero
Yeah.
00:38:54 Manny Marquez
I needed that reminder because it was challenging just the way I grew up, things like that.
00:38:59 Manny Marquez
I needed it.
00:39:00 Manny Marquez
I needed those people to recognize the things I did not see in myself, which is what got me here today.
00:39:05 Athena Cordero
Awesome.
00:39:06 Athena Cordero
Awesome.
00:39:06 Athena Cordero
Very awesome.
00:39:07 Athena Cordero
Okay, Manny, this was great.
00:39:08 Manny Marquez
Awesome.
00:39:09 Athena Cordero
We might have to get some of your folks back here to figure out the two truths in a lot.
00:39:14 Manny Marquez
I'm telling you right now, I threw them a softball right now.
00:39:20 Manny Marquez
Even for my students, because I've had students so long that even they know.
00:39:24 Manny Marquez
Even they know.
00:39:25 Manny Marquez
But you know what?
00:39:26 Athena Cordero
That's a good problem to have.
00:39:28 Athena Cordero
And I'm happy for you.
00:39:29 Athena Cordero
I'm happy for them too.
00:39:30 Athena Cordero
Thank you so much for coming and talking to us today.
00:39:32 Athena Cordero
We'll have to have you back.
00:39:33 Manny Marquez
Thank you.
00:39:33 Manny Marquez
This was awesome.
00:39:34 Manny Marquez
I really enjoyed being here.
00:39:36 Manny Marquez
This was a lot of fun.
00:39:37 Manny Marquez
Thank you so much.
00:39:38 Manny Marquez
Thank you for the work you guys do.
00:39:39 Athena Cordero
Thank you.
