School District Superheroes

Gordon Amerson: Val Verde Unified School District

• Nick Telford • Season 1 • Episode 4

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In this episode of School District Superheroes, Nick Telford sits down with Dr. Gordon Amerson, Superintendent of Val Verde Unified School District, to discuss his unique path to education and his forward-thinking approach to school leadership

In his early years, baseball was a big part of Gordon's future plans. Gordon shares his personal journey of being drafted by the San Diego Padres and playing for the New York Yankees organization, and how a career-ending hand injury led to a profound identity shift. With his mother's guidance, he found his true calling: inspiring the next generation as an educator.

Gordon opens up about some of the hardest calls he's had to make, from choosing ethics over optics during a high school testing cheating scandal, to navigating the highly polarized political climate of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this episode, you'll learn:

  • Amerson's philosophy based on four pillars: Listen, Empower, Affirm, and Develop (L.E.A.D.)
  • Why Val Verde Unified is a trailblazer in family engagement
  • Details about district initiatives funded by a $35 million Community Schools grant
  • Why Amerson isn't afraid of AI, instead advocating for administrators to use it
Gordon Amerson

I was pretty good at baseball, so I ended up being able to play professional baseball. I was drafted by the San Diego Padres and played in the Padres organization for three years, and then I got traded to the New York Yankees organization. got hurt, got injured, and the sage wisdom of my mom making sure that I had a college scholarship when I signed that baseball contract, um, I was able then to go to school and get my bachelor's degree and became a high school teacher. that's where, my life calling kind of took over, 'cause I always thought I was gonna be on ESPN but the plan for me was that I was going to be able to impart wisdom and inspiration to the next generation of young people,

Speaker

You're listening to School District Superheroes, a podcast that puts the super back in superintendents. In each episode, you'll learn how today's most innovative superintendents are re-imagining what's possible for students, staff, and their communities. And now for your host, Nick Telford.

Nicholas Telford

Well, today I'm joined by Dr. Gordon Amerson, Superintendent of Val Verde Unified School District. As somebody who I've known for many years, uh, who is an outside the box thinker, always one step ahead of the crowd, and always innovating and bringing so much energy and enthusiasm everywhere he goes. Uh, so Gordon, you're very welcome to the School District Superheroes Podcast.

Gordon Amerson

Thank you, Nick. it's a pleasure. I'm glad to be with you, and, I'm looking forward to a, a fun, a fun conversation and sharing a bunch of different things and hopefully having some laughs along the way. So appreciate it.

Nicholas Telford

so just to kick it off, Gordon, who was your favorite superhero growing up?

Gordon Amerson

Oh, my favorite superhero growing up. I was a, I was a big fan of Spider-Man. and then as I've gotten older, shameless plug, but I'm a huge Black Panther fan. Uh, you know, Spider-Man is still fun and very innovative, but, when Black Panther came out, several years ago, I just connected and I liked it.

Nicholas Telford

I love it. what, what, uh, maybe resonated with you about that superhero in particular?

Gordon Amerson

when I was small and I was a kid, I mean, funny story, I actually, got a concussion one time, um, trying to be Spider-Man, thinking that I could kinda swing from one thing to the next, and next thing you know, I go down and land on my head, and next thing I know, I wake up, I'm in Loma Linda University Medical Center Hospital, uh, because I completely knocked myself out. why? 'Cause Spider-Man was fun and could... was strong, and he'd do all these kinda crazy fun things, uh, between buildings and all this kinda good stuff. And so that was easy when I was younger. As I've gotten older, Black Panther, leadership and strength, um, Black excellence, uh, what Black excellence looks like, the ability to persevere, the ability to, to bring people together. Like, I just think that there were a lot of qualities in Black Panther's character, and quite frankly, by the way that Black Panther was also casted in, in the, in the Marvel's, uh, in the Marvel collection, there's a lot of reasons that, that I, I found some connections and it resonated with me.

Nicholas Telford

well, thanks for sharing. going back to the past, maybe post-concussion, um, just wanted to about, your background a little bit. I've-- known you for a number of years, and you've got, a really interesting, compelling, background. Uh, so wouldn't mind if you could share a little bit about that with us.

Gordon Amerson

Yeah. the CliffsNotes version of it, just depending on how long we wanna go, but, very fortunate to be the product of a mom and a dad who, had me when they were kids, so they were kids having a kid. and, you know, growing up in Southern California in the late '70s, early '80s, a challenging time and there were lots of things that you could get caught up in, lots of, lots of potholes that you could f- you know, you could fall into. I had two parents that were super focused on making sure I was gonna be successful. and I had sports. and so my parents made sure I was super successful at school. There were very high expectations. even though my parents didn't have formal education, like the formal levels of education that I have, uh, they were committed that I was gonna have that and that my sisters were gonna have that. and then I had the athletics field. W- so whether it was, whether it started with soccer, uh, my very first sport I ever played was soccer, and I was bigger than everybody, I was faster than everybody. Uh, uh, and so I excelled on the soccer field and then, uh, then I found the baseball field because that's where a lot of my friends were playing baseball. And then up through high school football and baseball and running track and playing basketball, I always had sports to keep me grounded, made me, uh, be parts of teams. It made me understand what my role and my responsibilities were within that organization and to find my place. Uh, I was, I was pretty good at baseball, so I ended up being able to play professional baseball. I was drafted by the San Diego Padres and played in the Padres organization for three years, and then I got traded to the New York Yankees organization. Played in the New York Yankees organization for multiple years. Um, got hurt, got injured, and the sage wisdom of my mom making sure that I had a college scholarship when I signed that baseball contract, um, I was able then to go to school and get my bachelor's degree and became a high school teacher. and then that's where, my life calling kind of took over, 'cause I always thought I was gonna be on ESPN and be on, on the sports highlight reels. but the plan for me was that I was going to be able to impart wisdom and inspiration to the next generation of young people, and that was gonna be in the classroom. That was gonna be being a teacher and being a coach, and then eventually having the opportunity to become a educational leader and, being a high school assistant principal, principal, director, and on up the line to superintendent. and now I get to do systems-level change and systems-level work, and I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be, doing exactly the work that I'm supposed to be doing. Uh, and I think that that's gonna be my contribution to society, is being able to be an educator who's helped tens of thousands of kids, be productive citizens in this world. So, that's a little bit about my story, and I'm very, very happy to be living it every day.

Nicholas Telford

obviously there's tons of lessons you can learn through organized sports and teamwork, sportsmanship. I wanna dig into one thing though, um, because you made it all the way to the top, like, the, the tiny, tiny percent of people who actually get to cross that line into professionalism. but then there's also the time where that ends for one reason or the other. And I, I, I just wanna dig into how did you deal with-- 'cause adversity is everywhere. It comes upon us in life in lots of different forms and ways. But when it comes to sports, it's a great, uh, way for us to, to look at life and take lessons. And I just wonder how you dealt with transitioning from a very exciting life in professional sports to the next phase of what you're now obviously you're called to do.

Gordon Amerson

Yeah, probably, probably one of the hardest transition periods of my entire life. again, you know, the two things that I was always good at was I was good at school, and I was good at sports. and so it's, it's interesting or maybe fortuitous that I ended up in the education space because I always did school pretty well. But I-- my identity as a professional athlete and thinking that my goal and my path was gonna lead me to, playing a hundred and sixty-two game schedule all over the country in front of, you know, twenty thousand, thirty thousand, forty thousand people every single night, that is something that I thought was going to be my reality. due to an injury, I stopped playing because I was injured I injured my left hand and I'm left-handed. I throw left-handed. I bat left-handed. but my left hand was not going to be usable in the way that I needed to use it, moving forward. after the surgical repairs in my hand, uh, it took me about ten years, ten plus years before I could actually get into a push-up position just to simply do a pushup again because of the limited range of motion and mobility that I would have in my left hand. And still to this day, I have numbness and no feeling in multiple fingers on my left side. So, it was as a result of that injury that really ended my career. And so there was this feeling of loss. There was this feeling of resentment because of getting hurt and not breaking through, not because I wasn't good enough, but that maybe it was cut short, and I didn't really have that opportunity to fully realize whether I was going to be able to do that or not. that was a real tough piece for me to deal with as a very early 20-something, you know, young man, who had been able to excel and who had been able to achieve and who had reached a level of success and a level of status in that regard. and I'll tell you what, one of the questions said kind of how do you deal with it? I give a lot of credit to my mother. I have to be honest with you. I give a lot of credit to my mom. my mom had me when she was 15 years old. She was 15 years, five months, and five days old when I was born. but the sage wisdom of a mom to not only navigate and literally negotiate my contract with the San Diego Padres, make sure there were things that were gonna be in there to protect me, and then to keep continuing to push me when I needed that push. When I made that phone call that I was no longer gonna play, uh, the phone call was to my mom first. and she asked me if I was sure. "Are you sure? Are you sure you're, you're done?" And I was like, "Yeah, Mom, I'm really sure." and she kept pushing me to, to go back to school, to go back to school to make sure that I finished that. when I got my first degree, then my second degree, and then my third degree, when I got my doctorate, I tell this, the funny story. I said how important education was to my parents and to my mom in particular. my mom doesn't have a high school diploma, but she has eight college degrees because I have three, my middle sister has three, and my youngest sister has two, and all eight of those degrees are prominently on my parents' wall in my parents' home. I think that having that solid foundation, I'm going through my own collective kind of process of dealing with that and having to make peace with that. but having some guidance and Having a mentor, even if that mentor is your mom, but having somebody in your life that could give you some clarity and talk you through it, was really, really important, for me during that time.

Nicholas Telford

you feel these things happen for a reason? Is that part of the mindset?

Gordon Amerson

Absolutely. Uh, yeah. Um, I think when I say that I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be, I do think that there's a level of divine intervention, right? we're put in the places and the spaces where I think we can do the most good for the most people, and I think that my plan and that, this path that I'm is exactly where I'm supposed to be, and I do think that there's a level of divine intervention that allows that to happen.

Nicholas Telford

Yeah. when you look back on life, it makes more sense when you look back on the path. Like, someone told me life is written backwards or something to that effect. because when you do look back and things that have fit into place make no sense at the time, and you look back and it all makes complete sense, right?

Gordon Amerson

Yeah, exactly.

Nicholas Telford

even though it might've been painful at the time, it does seem to work itself Obviously, leadership is something that, I know is a priority of yours. you have lived it, so it makes it-- you were in a place where you were able to, point to that experience and have people, follow your lead and, you're a kind of natural leader. And I wanna just find out from you, what do you think, leadership these days, what is it? what do you feel leadership is these days? Because I think it has changed over time. what do you feel it is, especially in a school district setting,

Gordon Amerson

Yeah, I, I think that, I think the concept or the principles, with respect to leadership have evolved, uh, quite extensively over the last couple of decades. And having been doing this work for now the last twenty-five years, I've seen a real sea change in, what might have been traditional leadership or traditional, we'll even say management structures, which are lots of command and control and kind of, authoritative kind of, you know, lead by, have positional authority. So it's like, well, I'm the superintendent, so since I said it, you should go and do that thing. and I, I've seen that structure, I've seen that style, but I think it's evolved over time. But I think your question kinda gets to what my own maybe philosophical view is on leadership, and I believe that leadership is about inspiring people. I think leadership is about, going above and beyond to serve the community that you have the privilege of leading. And what that looks like is lots of listening, and it looks like empowering people. So I have a framework that I try to live by, and the framework is the word lead, and it means, number one, you listen. You listen to your people, you listen to your community, you listen to your students. Uh, it also means, E, empower. You gotta empower people to do their jobs. You gotta empower, people to stand up and fill in the gaps and bring the right supports, and bring the right inspiration to get... Empower people to be better and be bigger. And then you gotta affirm. You gotta affirm people, like tell people that they do a good job, recognize people, platform people, give them opportunities to grow and to shine and to thrive. And then lastly, you gotta develop. You always have gotta be in a system of continuous improvement. if you look back at the work that you do and you say, "Okay, well, I'm kinda done," like, this is as good as it's gonna get. If we're not always striving to get a little bit better, like one percent better, you know, today than yesterday, and the next day one percent better than the day before, and you keep going towards in- continuous improvement, our job as leaders is to shape the system and build the system. I'm always thinking about how do I lead people using that framework and that mindset, really, really developing the right systems and developing the people in that system to make it great. At the end of the day, we're servants. and at the end of the day, in a time and a place where it's getting sometimes more and more challenging and more and more polarized, and more and more a reason for us to pull away from each other, I want us to find the human-centered nature of this work, especially in education. Everything we do is people-centered. Big people and little people, and all these hearts and minds that we're trying to inspire, and we're trying to motivate on a daily basis. So I think human-centered leadership, seeing everybody for being a human being, and being somebody who is special, and somebody who is unique, and somebody who inherently wants to be nurtured, and somebody who wants to be coached, and somebody who wants to get better. Those are all things that I believe good leaders should typify now. Less command and control, and more about how do we inspire people, and how do we build people up to make people better? That's really in a nutshell, for me, the most important things.

Nicholas Telford

How can I-- If it's okay, I'm gonna steal LEAD from you. It's a, it's a-- I love that framework, and it's so easy to remember. It's something to

Gordon Amerson

I haven't trademarked it yet, so feel free to take it for now, Nick. But once I trademark it, then I'm gonna have to get some royalties

Nicholas Telford

I-I'll, I'll play up.

Gordon Amerson

use it.

Nicholas Telford

you've got it recorded here on the podcast. I'll, I'll, I'll play, I'll play the theme. Obviously, you, you, um, have been aspiring superintendent, and now you are a superintendent. Any lessons for those, um, possibly listening in, teachers, administrators, assistant superintendents, in terms of, uh, the qualities that you feel are important in a, in a modern-day superintendent that you could share?

Gordon Amerson

focus on people first. it's not about you, it's about us. I think the number one thing for, for leaders today is how do I do more for other people? and how do I leverage and use my position, my influence, my title, my role to make other people's lives better?

Nicholas Telford

Mm-hmm.

Gordon Amerson

if there's one thing I would tell, aspiring leaders, up-and-coming leaders, is get really, really clear on two things. What is your vision? Who are you? What is your vision? And then also, what is your vision for being able to cast that vision 'Cause the number one thing that leaders have to do is we have to cast vision so that people are inspired to follow or seek to help us articulate and reach whatever that vision is. And then the second thing is to get really, really clear on what your philosophy is. What is your why? We can go back to Simon Sinek's work on Start with Why. What is your why? Why do you do this work? Why do you wanna lead? Why do you wanna have what we just call the heavy crown of leadership on your head? 'Cause it is not-- Leadership is the greatest job you can have, but it's also sometimes the hardest job that you can have. You get blamed for stuff that's not your fault. You get, given scenarios that have no easy solution. and sometimes you have to just stand in the gap, and you have to take the arrows for other people as leaders. So what I would say to up-and-coming leaders, cast vision, know your why, and get ready, to stand in the gap and take the shots for other people, when it doesn't feel comfortable and when it doesn't even make sense. But that's the job. That's the job of leadership.

Nicholas Telford

from what you're saying, it feels to me that that is, enough then to, make those, those arrows and those, uh, shots that you have to take bearable because you know the reason for why you're taking them. so that, obviously, that's the pur- the purpose of... And the, and the greater that why is, the stronger that is in you and, and the more shots you can take. But ultimately there, it's for the greater good, right? you said like, you know, you do a lot of hard things, make hard decisions, take a lot of shots. Could you hone in on like one of the most challenging things it is to be a superintendent?

Gordon Amerson

I can give you a couple of examples. Um, but let me, let me give you two examples, probably two of probably the hardest challenges that I've had in leadership in general. One is a story about when I was a principal, and then obviously one is a story about being superintendent. So when I was a high school principal, we had a challenge And in California in the, in the early 2010s, uh, a lot of our work was driven by, uh, what we called the API scores, Academic Performance Index. And so you wanted to have the high... You wanted to have scores that were above seven hundred, above eight hundred, and that was kind of the benchmark of whether you were a good school or a not-so-good school. And so that high-stake testing environment was always there. one of the years when I was a high school principal, I discovered that one of my teachers was cheating on the exam. were making copies of the test, and then reteaching the test back to their students so their students would get better scores, uh, and I discovered this. you know... I think I was thirty or thirty-one when I became a high school principal. I was a very young, uh, you know, very eager, up-and-coming leader, and now I've got, I've got this cheating scandal that I'm gonna have to address. Uh, and I went through that process and I called the district office. I got the district office involved. Um, we went through a whole investigative process in getting determined that, you know, there were testing irregularities that were done on the campus, And the state of California actually Gave us basically a red mark. We basically had, a scarlet letter, if you will, where we lost our test scores and it basically said on the state's website that this school had adult testing irregularities, which was code for there was cheating that happened there. And that happened on my watch, and I had to lead people through that. I had to have town halls with the community. I had to talk to parents about what this meant. I had to explain to the staff that all their hard work had actually been vacated and invalidated because of these actions that happened. Uh, and it wasn't, it wasn't widespread. It was one teacher who made that decision and, put the school in a really bad position, in a really bad spot. and in some ways, people blamed me, because in that moment, Nick, in that moment, when I first learned about it, I could have made the decision to, to bury it, for lack of a better term. I didn't have to report it, and if I didn't report it, maybe none of that ever happens, and maybe no one ever finds out. But I knew what was the right thing or, what was the right call, and what was the thing that was going to keep my integrity, my ethical center, uh, where it was supposed to be. I mean, I got questioned by staff. Staff was like, "You didn't have to s-" Yes. Yes, we did, because it was the right thing to do. What message are we sending to our students if we're covering up things and we're not being honest, we're not being truthful, but we're telling them that they should tell the truth and they should... Right? So that was very hard, and in some cases along the way, I thought I might lose my job over it. I didn't because of a, because of a really good leader. a really good leader who saw more in me and actually realized that the decision I made was all about being ethically, sound and being a really good person with really good morals and values. and so that was one. That was probably one of the toughest. And that happened over the span of, like, two to three years, so it was a, it was a long, it was a long process.

Nicholas Telford

wow!

Gordon Amerson

hardest thing as a superintendent, I had the privilege and the challenge of leading a school district through COVID, and leading the, leading a district through that period of time that, people were worried about their health and their safety, and whether people were gonna get sick, and whether people might lose their lives to this pandemic and to this illness. and then the politics that were wrapped around it about whether you should wear a mask, or you shouldn't wear a mask, or whether you should get a vaccination, or you should or shouldn't get a vaccination, and when to open schools and when not to open schools. Like, that was really, really tough. And the most important thing that I learned during that time was that you have to be an effective communicator. You have to communicate first and foremost as a superintendent, you always have to communicate with your board. You have to have your board in lockstep with you every Step of the way. because a board that is informed and a board that is, knowledgeable and a board that feels that they know where the superintendent is and what the superintendent is thinking and how the superintendent is moving forward is a board that will support you, is a board that will defend you, and is a board that will feel that they can do their job of governing the school district in a much more effective and informed way. but it was not for the faint of heart because at every turn we were making the wrong decision. Because if we were gonna support masks then, you know, half the community loved you for being thoughtful and being responsible about wearing a mask and half the people thought, it was a hoax and it was no big deal and it was nothing more than a common cold and so either way you were wrong. And then if you advocated for vaccines it's like, well, but the vaccines aren't reliable yet and they're, they're dangerous and so people wanted to get the vaccine, they loved the fact that we had set up vaccine clinics to facilitate those things and other people were like thinking, "Hey, well you're just putting poison in people's arms," right? So you're, you're wrong or you're right or you're right or you're wrong, which one is it? And that, and the crux of that, reporting a teacher cheating on something, you do it, some people like it, some people don't like it. How you handle a global pandemic, some people love your decisions, some people don't like your decisions. It doesn't matter, that is again the heavy crown of leadership that you have to wear on your head. Because the reality is in any organization you've got just genuinely, the standard bell curve distribution of, people and of individuals. On the extreme left you got people who are your champions. The moment you say do something they're, they're on it, they're going, they're running, they're running with it, right? they're just champions for it. And then you have your early adopters. Well as soon as the champions start running the early adopters are like, "Cool. All right, well Gordon and Nick, they're out there doing it and I like Gordon and Nick, I trust what they're doing," so they jump on it. And then you've got that massive group in the middle that are just, they, they kind of vacillate back and forth. And depending on how well those folks do it, then they start to slide more people that way. And then on the tail end you have your late adopters. they're waiting and they're waiting and they're waiting and then finally they come along but there's always that last group. We call those the NFWs. No freaking way. I don't care what you say, what you do, and that's your community. That's a community, right? that can be a school staff, that can be a corporate entity, that can be a school community, that could be a city. But that general standard distribution of people and of like human behavior, it's very, very real. And how well you communicate is how much you can slide that bell curve to the left and get more people on board and if you don't communicate really well, then what happens is that bell curve slides to the right and much more people become NFWs and late adopters and skeptics and that's, that's the work of leadership is figuring out how to move people and you do it best by effectively communicating.

Nicholas Telford

Yeah. That's fascinating. And thanks for sharing those stories to kind of illustrate those challenges. it does feel to me that, staying true to what you believe is really what can guide you through the different kinds of folks who will be on your side or not on your side to varying degrees. And if you wanna please this person, that person, that's the opposite of staying true to what you believe. That's trying to satisfy, and that won't work as a strategy. If you do that, it might be tough, it might feel like it's not going the right way for you, but ultimately, it's the winning strategy.

Gordon Amerson

Yeah. I couldn't agree more. if we spend all of our time trying to make one hundred percent of people in the organization happy, then the, unintended consequences is that you will have more and more people unhappy because they will feel like you vacillate, or you are flip-floppy, or you don't maintain a position, or your position changes based on the last person you talked to. If you have, your vision, if you know where you wanna go, and that you're always persistently kind of, going after that North Star. If you know what your vision is, and then you're really clear on your why, it gets much easier to communicate why you're taking the position that you're taking. It's like, well, Gordon, why are you doing that?" And it's like, "Well, because it's good for kids." And my why is I wanna take good care of kids. I wanna make sure we're producing happy, healthy, well-adjusted kids through our system. That's my why. That's my North Star. What's the vision? To be the most innovative, cutting-edge district in the state of California. That's the vision. That's where we're going. If I can be really crystal clear on that, then people won't ask then, "Well, why are you doing all this stuff with AI? Why are you doing all this stuff with..." It's like, "'Cause that's my North Star, and that's my why." 'Cause I want my kids to be the best cutting-edge twenty-first century, you know, s-students and citizens who know how to use technology, know how to embrace technology, how to kn- you know, exist in a globally in-interconnected world. That's my why, and that's my North Star. "Oh, well, that makes sense. Okay. Well, now we know why you keep banging the drum on this thing and this thing and this thing." So as long as we're clear, and as long as I can articulate that, and I... as long as I can stay on that message, people may not agree with it, but they'll respect the fact that I'm consistent.

Nicholas Telford

Yeah. Yeah, hundred percent.

Gordon Amerson

the most important part.

Nicholas Telford

Yeah, absolutely. so jumping to, uh, your current district, Val Verde Unified School District, You talked about AI. That, that's, you know, very topical and exciting for everybody to kinda learn where people are at in that journey, especially as superintendent. But if you could maybe share, uh, some initiatives that you're most proud of currently, uh, or even most recently within, within the district and community, we'd love to hear about 'em.

Gordon Amerson

thing that attracted me to Val Verde at the very outset was cutting edge, innovative, outside of the box. And I'm like, that's what I think I am, I think I fit that mold, and I think that if that's already kind of the district's identity, I think that I might fit really well there and be able to make a positive contribution and help that district move forward. things that are just interesting and unique about, about our space. I think we do of the most advanced work with engaging families. we have resources and support mechanisms that are in place that I have not seen in any other district, with the things that we do around our parent resource center, our community resource center. we have localized health clinics, in and around, uh, our, on our district property that we've created where, you can get full urgent care level, healthcare there. we have community resources and a community laundromat that we've run more seventy-five thousand loads of laundry for community members and for families that need and have to have those resources. It's also where we have essentially a captive audience, so you're already there and you're able to get your laundry done. But then we have parent engagement classes, and so you can learn how to support your student, how to help them be successful in school. You can get your healthcare needs. I mean, those are the types of things... And you might see one or two of those things in other places, but to see them all intentionally developed in one space to be able to support a community in that way is very, very transformational. you know, some of the things that we're really, really pr-proud of, we just got a huge grant for the Community Schools It was thirty-five million dollars, that will allow us to do really wide sweeping supports for students, to create new and innovative programs on our school sites, working with our principals to come up with those out-of-the-box thinking ideas based on feedback from their students and based on feedback from families and community members. that's a big piece for us. and nevermind the movements that we've had with respect to student achievement. We're closing the excellence gap. We're closing achievement gaps for students in language arts, mathematics. We're reducing the rates of chronic absenteeism across our district. we're putting in the right systems and structures. We are one of a very few handful of districts in the state of California to have every one of our schools, be certified as PBIS Platinum schools. I believe we are the single largest district in the state, as far as, like, size of schools and size of school district. We're the largest In the state to have one hundred percent certified platinum PBIS schools. That's a huge piece because that is about culture change, that's about, creating the right frameworks, creating the right mindsets, and building that system over time. And then on top of that, all the things that we're doing as we try to push the envelope with respect to artificial intelligence. I know that this scares a lot of people, um, because there are the thoughts out there that AI, is gonna replace people or replace jobs. our commitment is that we wanna use AI to streamline regular rote, routine, compliance-driven tasks, so that way people can more authentically connect and interact with each other. So if we can find ways to streamline the work of getting one thousand people into a basketball gymnasium to watch a basketball game, and instead let all the staff that are there now interact authentically with folks and then be able to support and be engaged, that's a better use of our time. If we can find ways to get students checked into school faster, so that way now we can more authentically interact with students, or we could have a much more authentic conversation with a parent on the phone who has a really critical question, that's another way we can leverage and use AI. How do we use it to relieve some of that teacher workload that teachers have with respect to grading and developing assessments? If those are all things that we could use and leverage AI around, that's something that we wanna do. and I personally have had the opportunity to speak, at two national-level conferences about AI just over the last, couple of months. I had a chance to speak at South by Southwest, about, you know, A-AI. Uh, and, and that was an amazing experience. I mean, South by Southwest has like thirty thousand people that come to it over the course of, like, two weeks. Uh, and then just most recently, uh, had a chance to speak, um, was invited by Apple to come and speak at the conference that was here in San Diego. About six thousand people come to that. just being able to talk about Valverda and what we do and being really, really proud. And then just personally, what I'm learning as an AI enthusiast and as an AI savvy leader. I've been tinkering with, you know, ChatGPT since November of 2022 when it first came out, and it was saying all kinds of crazy stuff and, you know, there was all kinds of, new learnings from it. but I've essentially played with AI every single day, probably since November of 2022. So now I'm learning how to code things, build things, develop things, create new things, by again, going back to being a, a really effective communicator. And so what we're trying to teach our students to do here in Valverda, along all the other lines of everything we're doing, is how do we teach you to be a really, really effective communicator? 'Cause you can be an effective communicator with another human being and a effective communicator using These new age platforms and technologies, uh, we think we're giving you the durable skills that are gonna be able to support you, as you go out into the world and as you, make your mark on society. So those are a number of the things that we're doing here in Val Verde.

Nicholas Telford

Exactly. Yeah, that's a great way to put it, actually. That'll be the tagline we'll use for, the podcast, Make Us More Human. Um, well, listen, I don't wanna take too much more of your time, Gordon. I just maybe, a couple more questions before one, one to kind of shine the light back on yourself. when your tenure is over, what do you hope your district says about your leadership?

Gordon Amerson

it's a simple response. Uh, he left us better than he found us. You know? and that probably didn't come out exactly the way I wanted it, but my, my vision or my goal has always been to come into an organization and hopefully leave it better off than I found it. So what are the things, what are the value adds that I did? did I help create enduring systems? Did I help create happier kids? Did I help create, increased working conditions and salaries and benefits for employees? Did I help a board make really, really tough decisions when those tough decisions came down, but now the district and the community has been able to move forward? I would just really want somebody to probably say after I've left here, we're really glad that he was here for those years. It was really a great experience."

Nicholas Telford

Well, it sounds like it's going well so far. lastly, I know that you have always been a step ahead. I've known you doing your own YouTube channel way before I even knew what you were doing or how, how to leverage that. Um, and, um, you have your own kind of consulting, uh, firm, The Principal's Leader. And correct me of any of this if I'm incorrect, but you're a certified Gallup CliftonStrengths consultant and practitioner, instructor at UCI. So there's a lot more to Gordon Amerson than, As if being a superintendent wasn't hard enough and enough work, you seem to have, wanna do even more. So is there anything you'd like to share about that other side of what you're doing that people might be interested in?

Gordon Amerson

um, my creative outlet is, like, I've got these stories and these things in my head. I've had these experiences. Uh, and what I'm hoping to do is just share them with other people 'cause if they find a nugget of wisdom in there, or if it helps them, pursue a career in education, or it helps them get their next job promotion because they want upward mobility, they want upward economic mobility or social mobility. And if something that I maybe have shared in a video or in a blog post or in some way, shape, or form, if it helps add value to somebody's life, that's really why I do it. and, and so on Friday nights, I go home and turn on the camera and talk for 20 minutes about, you know, three things that every high school principal should do to make their staff feel more engaged or the top 10 questions you might see on an interview in 2026 or something that's in this lane that I can just naturally kinda talk about and maybe share some insights, give some nuggets of wisdom, give an example or two. If somebody finds value in that, I think it's really, really important. I've been fortunate to be a Gallup Certified Strengths Coach since 2017, so I help people discover what their CliftonStrengths are, what their top five are, and then I help them aim those things towards their goals Towards their career objectives, social objectives, you know, what relationship objectives, whatever the case may be. If we can learn about your natural gifts, your natural talents, the things that naturally get you going, and then we can help you discover what those are and then aim those towards those goals and objectives that you have, we're helping you kind of f-fulfill some things that are really important. and then at the end of the day, consulting, working with school districts, working with charter schools, or working with, county offices or universities, and working with leaders, on strategic planning, on, instructional development, leadership capacity building. now I'm just getting to have conversations. I just-- I get to talk for a living. And, I was taught a long time ago that the higher you move in an organization, the higher levels of leadership that you attain, your entire job is to talk. So if I'm gonna talk, I should probably be good at it, and I should probably know what the heck I'm talking about. and I get to do that through this consulting practice and this consulting work.

Nicholas Telford

Well, great. Well, well, thanks for that. It's, uh, you, you s-- you really genuinely are someone who likes to give back, to share your experiences to make others' lives easier and, and to inspire so, so I think, you know, you're an asset to the education community and I think people would should tune in, listen to what you have to say 'cause it's always valuable. I always, uh, really enjoy our conversations no matter, no matter how casual or, or formal they are. so well, thank you so much, uh, Gordon, for, for your leadership, for your insights, uh, for your humor, and, and for joining us today on the podcast. And, I look forward to seeing you around.

Gordon Amerson

Thanks, Nick. It's been a pleasure. Thanks for letting me be on your show. Appreciate you.

Nicholas Telford

No problem at all. Thanks, Gordon