Small Actions, Big Impact: Andrew Marotta on Leading with Positivity

 What happens when a Staten Island kid chasing small-town living lands in Port Jervis on the day of the flood — and never leaves? Andrew Marotta, educator, author, and the driving force behind Port Jervis City School District's communications renaissance, joins Rob and Jess for a conversation about what drew him to teaching, what's kept him there for nearly three decades, and why looking for the positive isn't naive — it's a leadership strategy. Plus: the veteran teacher who stormed into his office angry and left with the wind back in her sails. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:01

Good news doesn't sell, but we're telling it anyway. You're listening to the Progress Report.

SPEAKER_01 0:06

Hello, everyone, and welcome to The Progress Report. Along with my co-host Jessica Curtis, I'm Rob Somerano. Today we have with us an educator, a speaker, an author who looks to inspire leaders to survive and thrive. Welcome to the show, Andrew Morata. How are you, Andrew?

SPEAKER_00 0:24

Hey Rob. Hey Jess. Happy to be here. Happy to connect with Port Jervis people here.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

Great to have you on the show. We're stoked to have you. Yeah. So tell us a little bit about what's going on right now in Port Jervis and anything new and exciting you can share with us.

SPEAKER_00 0:40

It is celebration and recognition time, right? This is the progress report. So we're in the we're in the top of the sixth or bottom of the sixth inning here. It's recognition time. We're about to kick off our celebrations and our ceremonies, kind of turning into the fourth quarter or the or the bottom third of the game there. We just had our high school musical here, Shrek, which which just knocked it out of the park. We've come so far with technology and the lighting and the sound, and then the talent of the kids was outstanding. But it's going to be recognition time. There's celebrations and award ceremonies, National Honor Society inductions, end of the year things. Hopefully the baseball team will make the playoffs, uh, uh all of that good stuff. So it's just a it's a great time of the year and finally starting to warm up a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 1:33

You know, and I always look at this time of the year with the recognition time as not only is it, you know, looking back at the past at what people have accomplished, but I think it's also a lot of motivation for kids, you know, for the future that, you know, the younger kids that see certain students or athletes or teachers even getting recognition for things, it can kind of inspire others to want to say, you know, I want to be that guy next year. I want to get that award. And I think that's that's kind of a cool thing, too.

SPEAKER_00 2:01

Yeah, and part of what we get to do in Port Jervis, too, I get to put it on a podcast. I get to celebrate it, audio, video, all of those things. So tomorrow is Administrative Professionals Day, right? Our our clerical and our admin aides, and we're gonna celebrate Jean-Marie Shields, a Port Jervis graduate class of 1976. And she'll she'll be on there. And and and again, our community will get to see her. Many of her former students. Uh, so you're 100% correct, Rob. We get to celebrate those people, but also allow other people to meet them as well through through video and audio programming.

SPEAKER_02 2:39

Andrew, take us back to because you you've been an educator in in one capacity or another for for a minute. And and right, you as a principal, an assistant principal, district leadership role now. What originally drew you into education and and what kept you there?

SPEAKER_00 3:01

Good question, Jess. And and again, excited to be on with you guys living living my life as Andrew Murata, but living my life as a poor, you know, Mr. Port Jervis, too, you know. Uh I grew up in Staten Island, Jess. We were a family uh that stressed education. My parents, like we were the kids at school that had perfect attendance. Like we went actually when school was closed, like my parents still sent us, like we're knocking on the door. Um, you know, so it was always education, always doing our homework, always there was no days off. Um and I was actually at a a basketball camp in the summer. I played Division III college basketball at Guildford College in Greensboro, North Carolina, home of the fighting Quakers. And I was working at a basketball camp in the summer. I was a sophomore in college, and one day I was going, man, like I like this basketball camp. I'm teaching these kids, they're learning how to do a layup. I taught them, I kind of liked it. Like, how can I continue to work summer basketball camp? You know, and and it was like, well, you know, teachers, you're you're off in the summer, you could do something else. And I was like, hmm. And then it was like, well, I like the interaction of teaching a kid something, and then they go out and do it. Um, my dad was a pharmacist, my brother's a chemist, and it was like, he said, well, why don't you why don't you teach science? You know, they always need science teachers. And I was like, Yeah, I love science. And again, we grew up in an education science family. So I was a bio major and bam, I was teaching uh uh, you know, science in the New York City public schools until 05 when we decided to move. And my first day in Port Jervis was the day of the flood, Jessica, 20 uh 05.

SPEAKER_02 4:43

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 4:44

People thought it was April Fool's joke, but it wasn't it was the the day of the flood. I think it was April 4th or 5th there, and the city was underwater for a week. And that was that was my introduction to Port Jervis.

SPEAKER_02 4:55

That was a bad flood, too. That was a really bad flood.

SPEAKER_00 4:59

I met Jimmy Stirr, the poker guy who raised all that money for the school district.

SPEAKER_02 5:04

I I uh I gotta tell you, my accountant is still up in Orange County. I went and dropped my my uh tax stuff off to him, and ironically, he's right across the hall from Jimmy Stirr Travel. So I was waiting to go in to talk to the accountant, and who walked by me but Jimmy Stirr? And he has like a I I laugh because he's got his own travel agency. But I'm hey, more power to you. Polka and polka in paradise. I love it.

SPEAKER_00 5:34

Raised the raised a lot of money for us. But the second part of the question is I fell in love with with Port Jervis. You asked what kept you going. Uh, you know, I'm in my 26th, 27th year, and it's like Rob or baseball, right? There's always another inning, there's always another game, there's always another kid, there's always another day, there's always another school year. Uh, and the beauty of education is if you screw something up one day, you make a mistake, you forget something, tomorrow's a new day. And you show up to school, you put your port gear on, you put a smile on, the kids will be there, the adults will be there, and when you act in an authentic manner, they forgive you. And you you do better the next day, and and it keeps happening. So there's always another another day, another person, another chance to keep moving forward.

SPEAKER_01 6:20

So I love that outlook. And why port Jervis, Andrew? What drew you to Port Jervis that you made the move from?

SPEAKER_00 6:28

We lost him, but I'll jump in. I heard his question, you know, there he's back with us. Yeah. I, you know, I was in the city, I was probably teaching six, seven years, and we decided to move out of Milford, Guildford College, small town, small community. Um, my friend, this is I'll give you the short answer of a long story, Rob. My friend lived outside Winston-Salem, North Carolina, small town. I'm from Staten Island, New York. Everything's locked, everything is always tied up. You know, a lot of people, we pull up to his house in the country, and he leaves the key in the ignition. I said, Hey man, you left the key in the ignition. And he looks and he goes, Yeah, I know. I said, Well, what are you doing? And he said, Well, that's where I leave the key. And I said, Why would you leave the key in the ignition? And he tilted his head with me and he looked at me, and this was a paradigm shift. This was a slap in the face and a lightning bolt in my heart. He looked at me and said, Why wouldn't I? And I was like, I want to live in a place where you could uh you could do that. I never had heard of such a thing. And long story short, we were gonna go to North Carolina's too far. My high school sweetheart married too far. Families, well, where can we go? Where's the compromise? And we started looking Orange County, we started looking at New Jersey, Milford, PA. We stopped at the traffic light at the Dimmock in Milford, PA, and it was like, man, this place is like a fairy tale. And uh, so we settled on Milford, but my New York background, I wanted to stay in New York, my New York teacher's retirement. Um, so I drew a uh a line from from Milford, and I saw Port Jervis, I saw Minnesic, I saw Middletown, I saw Newberg. And I said, Well, I could be within that line. And uh, true story, I I I called Port Jervis so many times asking about an administrative opening, any openings that the lady, Barbara Hamilton, somebody years ago, yeah, the phone and she would say, Andrew, there's nothing here, but I'll keep you putting we got to know her, you know, by name. And then something opened in 05, and here I was.

SPEAKER_01 8:33

You know, it's funny you mention her name because 04-05, I was playing pro ball with the A's, and in the offseason, I would always substitute substitute teach. So when my phone would ring at five in the morning and I'd hear, hey Rob, it's Barbara Hamilton. I knew oh, I'm getting called in today. So I haven't heard that name in 20 years, so it's kind of funny to bring it up.

SPEAKER_02 8:54

You know what, Rob, that's funny because I I uh I was subbing right around it must, it must have been right around oh three, oh four. And I'm surprised I never I never ran into you, but I only did uh elementary school. So I I got to do Sullivan Avenue, ASK, and uh that was primarily what I did. And then high school, God bless John Bell. I told him I did not want to go to the middle school because those kids will eat you alive. And the one time I I went to high school, I was dressed like a 20-something, and the hall monitor told me that students had to enter through the front door, and I was like, Oh no, I'm a substitute. And he was like, No, no, you have to go through the front door, you're a student. And anyway, funny. And then the the the the hilarity in all of it was like I was subbing for um an English class, and they up up over Mr. Winstead's, what was Mr. Winstead's room downstairs, and they had a movie they were supposed to watch, and the whole class comes in, and it's all of my friends from high school's younger brothers, and they they all one one of them in particular, I always we called each other each other jinkies, and he looked at me and he said, Oh, jinkies, what the heck? And then he walked out. Andrew, so so going from the the educator as as a teacher to assistant principal, principal, to the role you have now in in in more of a uh expansive leadership role within the district and really but bolstering and and like you and I were talking before we started the the podcast about um giving good news and cheering on cheering on all of the great things that the school district is doing. How's that how has that shift changed your perspective on leadership and and really impact?

SPEAKER_00 10:59

Great question, Jess. Great question. I gotta thank Dr. John Bell. You mentioned him, our superintendent had the vision to see what could be, right? When you've never had something before, people are afraid. Uh he has opened the gate and just said, Andrew, you know, have at it. Let's go. He was saw and he saw some of the things I was doing outside of school on social media, my blog, trying to outreach and reach people and and you know make a positive impact. And it was like, well, how can we do that here in Port Jervis? So I was able to step away from a principal job and become the director of communications and academic services. And we never had that title before. So, so what could it be? And he says yes a lot, which is which is great. And it was like, hey, can we try this? And hey, can we do this? So we now have Port Center, which is a podcast that we do. We have Port Connect, which is our alumni podcast, which I know you guys have uh had a taste of here. We do the Port Pride blog spot. Um, and we've even started the Pledge in the Classroom, one of our greatest content pieces that gets thousands and thousands of views. I go into the classroom, the kids say to pledge, they introduce themselves, and now we get to hear a little bit from the teacher, right? Some of the some of the learning that they're doing, and they're proud to share. These were things that we never had before. But if you Google Port Jervis Schools, this is the stuff that's gonna come up. And like we shared off air, that's that's what people are watching. That's what people see. And, you know, we're our enrollment is going up. The town and the city is in a in a renaissance, there's growth, so many different programmings with Port Jervis Recreation and the police department. And I get to connect the dots with all of that. Um, and and it's a great, it's a great spotlight, you know. As a leader, if you look for positive things, you you're gonna find them. Uh, if you're looking to celebrate others, you're gonna meet them. You know, it's you are what you think about most of the time. And I'm walking around with the you know, the goggles on looking for all the stuff, and I don't even have to look hard anymore. It's just my email and people text me, and hey, this is happening, and hey, Andrew, could you do this? And it's just gained such momentum. I've told other school districts if you don't have a communications person and not just a position, like you gotta have the person who knows a Rob Samarano, who knows Jessica Curtis is in the Hall of Fame, who knows, you know, the connections. And I don't know. I walk around, I was a lot of these people's principal, and I was a lot of these people's assistant principal, and I, you know, um, and it's it's been fantastic. It really has changed, right? If schools aren't changing and growing, like where are we gonna go? Like uh we don't want to be blockbuster here. We want to be Netflix and we're innovating and changing and growing, and uh all of this stuff is is is great new content that that I'm directing. The goal is to train some kids and get more, you know, where now it's it's more student-led and and there's some student autonomy there, um, you know, student broadcasting and and all of that kind of stuff. So those that's where we want to go in the future.

SPEAKER_01 14:13

Andrew, you're definitely a very positive guy, which is like perfect for our show, The Progress Report, because it's a very positive show. Um, but as a leader, there are times where constructive criticism can be valuable to somebody. And how do you how do you kind of balance that? That's you know, I you you strike me as a person that's very much an optimist, like you said, looking for the good, looking for uh great accomplishments and those types of things. But when you run into those moments where maybe somebody's not living up to their potential or not, you know, doing things the way that they should be, because you know what their goals are. Um, how do you how do you handle those situations to kind of marry that together with the with the positive attitude?

SPEAKER_00 14:53

Yeah. Good question, Rob. Um, you got to ask questions. Um you have to assume the good, right? If you're noticing a problem, let's say someone's coming in late. Um, you could easily just write a memo and say, so and so, you're you're coming in late every day, you're gonna be suspended, you're gonna be, you know, here's a reprimand, you could do that, or you could ask questions, right? Is there something going on? Hey, hey Rob, I've noticed you you've been late to work a couple of times. Like, I can't have that. Like I got you got to be on time. That's a simple thing. Uh, but maybe there's something going on, right? And and then how do we adjust to that? I've learned to assume the good, right? Assume that something this situation, the there's a there's a positive intent. Um, I've also learned to give people chances. I have written uh written up a lot of observations, Rob, and then I've I've written them up, and then I've ripped them up. I've got into a classroom, I've done an evaluation, it wasn't the person's best day. And and uh hey, you know what? We're gonna do it again. It's not in the contract, they get another chance, you know. People are are very gracious of being forgiven, getting second chances. There's some people that say, well, you, you know, you're you're you're lowering the bar, you're lowering the expectations if you're not holding people to a high standard. Well, the goal is that they're gonna be at their best, right? Because uh a good employee, a good staff member who's at their best is gonna positively impact the kids. If you're a punitive system and you're writing up teachers and you're writing up employees because of uh a subpar performance, is that gonna make their classroom environment better? Versus, you know, you gave somebody a chance. So uh here's a story. I did a veteran teachers evaluation. Um, and the system at the time, you would just submit it electronically. There wasn't a dialogue there. But I bumped into the person next to that. I said, Hey, could you, you know, could you come in my office? And we chatted and and I asked some questions, and and then I said, Well, hey, uh, I I did want to share that I've seen you better. And yesterday was not a great day for you. Just you were you were flat. Um, and we have to engage kids, we have to find more creative ways. And the person got mad. The person got mad, a little defensive at me. Uh, it was like, okay, you know, all right. Uh the person storms in my office the next day, and I'm like, oh man, you know, school is just about to start and I'm like, oh, you know, and the person said, Listen, I wasn't happy yesterday, but I gotta tell you, you put the wind back in my sails. You were right, Andrew. I needed to hear that. I was flat and I appreciate your honesty. And I'm gonna go in there and have a kick-ass day. So thank you. And I was like in my seat, like, all right. I was ready for her to jump across the desk and take a swing at me because she was fired up. But, you know, Rob, you played baseball a long time, and sometimes that there isn't that spark on the fastball. And and depending on how somebody comes at you, you know, they might help you get it back. So I I was a fan of those type things uh without, you know, uh a punishment or a penalty, because I don't think that's the the avenue that's going to move the dial. Inspiring people and making them think and making them reflect, I think are great ways. Books, right? Asking people to read, hey man, I read this great book, about, you know, uh leave it in your mailbox, that kind of stuff. But in the end, sometimes people had to be written up, sometimes people had to be let go. Tonight we are are celebrating teachers that are getting tenure. And there are some teachers that are not on that list, that are not getting tenure. Um, and that's those are things that we have to do as educators to continue to move Port Jervis forward.

SPEAKER_02 18:40

Absolutely. Andrew, uh so the the phrase surviving and thriving is central to your message. And and tell us, tell us about um your your writing and and some of the books that you've written and why you're writing them. Take us into the into the zone where you were, where finally you're like, you know what? I'm gonna start writing books. I've got so much information I want to share. Tell us about that.

SPEAKER_00 19:10

Yeah, yeah. Thank you, Jess. Someone challenged me years ago. I spoke, I spoke to a class, a college class, and the professor in there said, Andrew, where's your book? You know, and I said, I said, I don't have a book. What are you crazy? I said, I got little kids. I was refereeing college basketball at the time. I was a principal. It's like, I was like, I don't have time to go to the bathroom. And he says, Well, Andrew, you you gotta write a book. I said, I don't know how. I couldn't write a book. He says, you don't have to know how. He said, just write down everything you're doing as a princer ball, and you can help other people. And we were making strides in Port Jervis. We were moving forward as principal. Y'all know you went to the school back in the wild, wild west, uh, you know, when people were smoking outside every door and all that kind of stuff. The place was a little dingy, and we've come a long way. So I got ADD, Jess. It's a superpower, not a disability. I was on the way home. I wasn't texting and driving, but he was in my head, and I was like, you know, pick up papers every time you walk by. Make sure you say hello to everybody, make sure you have the recognition days, have a self-reflection at the end of the day, drink a lot of water, wear comfortable shoes, uh, you know, all of those things. I was doing so on the way home, I had 60 things. The next morning at school, I always got my notepad. I still always got my notepad with me, always ready to write something down, always ready to learn, always remember to put it on paper. Uh, I have 40 more. So in less than 24 hours, I had a hundred tips that I do often as a principal. And I was kind of like, I got something here. And it wound up becoming 125 tips for principals, and they were easy to write because I lived them, I did them, and that so that first book was easy, and I just kind of filled in those things. And again, so comfortable shoes is an example, or wearing wearing the port swag. Uh, there was not a lot of port pride or swag, and I was like, I'm the billboard, like I'm gonna be the billboard. And so I I could wear a port shirt for 180 days in a row and not wear the same shirt. Yeah, uh, you know, those were things that I did. So then that book came. I got some positive reactions from it. I got invited to go speak some places, and I was kind of like, wow, this was cool. And at the time my refereeing career took a swing or changed. I did not get rehired in the ACC. I was a referee in the Atlantic Coast Conference. I didn't get rehired. New supervisor came in, had a different mindset, a different thing. I was eight years in the ACC. Uh, and that changed, and I was kind of like, you know what? That's I was I was not happy about that. I was not pleased at the time. Um, but I said, hey, let's do something different. And I started presenting more. I started writing more and um kind of opened a door for me that I didn't know was there. And I eventually wound up writing. One of the books is called Tales from the Hardwood, uh, lessons from the time as a basketball official. So I love it. I have seven books now and my podcast and kind of the stuff I was doing outside of school. Now it kind of blends into school. There's a lot, I do a lot of the professional development here. I speak to schools outside of Port Jervis, but there's just a lot of crossover now where previously they were they were separate. Uh and now they've kind of crossed together. And the work I was doing outside of school, I get to do in school. So it's a it's a nice blend. As they said in Seinfeld, like my worlds are colliding in that place.

SPEAKER_02 22:36

Which is awesome. And and your latest book focuses on on small actions. So it I mean right, we were talking off air about kindness and and you know, we we need more of that societally. And that that book it it focuses. I mean, really, that that's the crux of why Rob and I are doing this podcast and why I'm trying to promote my my projects under the Think American umbrella. And so, so tell us tell us the name of the book and and you know what it's about and and why are those those small actions often the most powerful ones that that really resonate.

SPEAKER_00 23:22

Yeah, thank you, Jess. That professor who said, Andrew, you gotta write the book was Dr. Rob Gilbert, Montclair State University. And someone had introduced me to Dr. Rob uh and the success hotline. And that phone number is 973-743-4690. So just like I'm giving you the phone number there, write it down, friends. 973-743-4690. Someone told me that. They're like, Andrew, cool, you should call the hotline. You'd love it. I'm like, what is it? And they said, Dr. Rob's been leaving a message about being successful, a positive mindset, a growth mindset message about being successful. No strings attached. You don't have to leave a message, just someone who's trying to do good in the world. And I'm like, oh my God, this is great. And like five notebooks full later, you know, I've been calling 10 plus years. I'm like, this guy's got to be recognized. Like I got, I became friends with him. We, you know, we we went to some games. He came to watch me officiate. And so that that recognition, that the thing became the magic acronyms, formulas, and impactful stories of leadership, a dedication to the amazing Dr. Rob Gilbert and the Success Hotline. So it is a lot of his concepts and a lot of the things I've learned on the hotline weaved into my life. How did they impact me? Uh, and and the conclusion is it's about others, right? It's about others. Dr. Robb has been doing this trying to help other people. And uh, so that's what the book is. It's it's a their positive mindsets. They are uh you know stories and and acronyms.

SPEAKER_02 25:05

Andrew, your message is such a powerful reminder that leadership isn't about titles, it's about how we show up every single day. And that and and that idea of small intentional actions creating real impact is something we're gonna continue exploring. Because coming up next on the progress report, we're shifting gears just a bit, but staying rooted in that same idea of perseverance and purpose. Until next time, keep looking forward because progress is always just ahead.