Preparing to Disrupt the Disruption in Education

We launch Homeroom Attendance by asking a simple question with sharp edges: are we truly present in our schools or just physically in the room. We challenge the addiction to new initiatives and make the case that trust and culture, not binders and acronyms, determine whether students and adults can do their best work. 

• reintroducing the show and why the rebrand matters 
• defining “attendance” as presence for students and adults 
• naming the big three issues: teacher burnout, teacher turnover, student disengagement, plus leadership fatigue 
• explaining why new initiatives fail when the culture stays the same 
• shifting from “what programs do we need” to “what conditions do we need” 
• unpacking culture as the operating system of a school 
• real example: behavior problems rooted in broken trust 
• sharing my background and why this work is personal 
• reflective questions: what can’t be solved by another initiative and what version of your school you’re building 

If you enjoy this episode, I want you to share it with someone. Please like, please subscribe, stay connected with Homeroom Attendance, and message me the challenges you’re having and the questions you need answered. 

www.homeroomattendance.com

Transcript

Welcome To Homeroom Attendance

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Education needs people who are truly present, not just in the building. I'm Edward DeShazer, and welcome to Home Room Attendance. Your seat is safe. Uh, today I am asking, are you present or are you absent? Let's begin. Before we get into today's episode, I want to take a second because this is not just another episode. This is a new chapter. Some of you found me through Teachers Ed Podcast. You have been rocking with me for a while, and I genuinely appreciate that. Uh, that show meant a lot to me. That is where all of this began at my kitchen table during COVID. But here is the thing about growth. Sometimes the container, sometimes the place that you started in cannot hold what you want to become. And the fact that you're here listening, most of you on a Sunday or whatever day it may be, means a lot to me. And I will never take that lightly that people take time out of their day to lock in with me and to connect with me. I have spent 11 years in educational leadership. I've spent 20 now, now 20 years in education. I've been in classrooms, I've been in boardrooms, I've been in budget meetings, and I've been in some really uncomfortable conversations about what it actually takes to move a school. And the more I've moved through this work, the more I've realized that the conversations we need to be having are bigger than what the old name of the Teachers Ed podcast was holding. So here we

Why The Show Rebranded

SPEAKER_00 1:56

are. We rebranded homeroom attendance. People ask why that name. Somebody is taking attendance. They ask who's here, they ask who showed up, and that's the question I want to ask every single episode, not just of the students, not just of the teachers, but also of the leaders, of the adults in the building, of you that are listening right now. Are you present or are you just in the room? This show is for anyone in education who is serious about that question. Teachers, principals, executive directors, superintendents, district leaders, instructional leaders, coaches, parents who have stepped up and became advocates. If you are connected to a school, you belong in this room. And I'm glad that you are here.

Awards Amid Burnout And Turnover

SPEAKER_00 3:03

So let's get into why I've called this first episode and kind of labeled it around the disruption. Uh in 2026, uh sh a couple months back, I found out that I was nominated as the 2026 Top School Executive Director. Uh, that in news um we found out long before it was getting announced, and you know, when it came out, people congratulated me, and I received every bit of it. But if I can be honest, my first thought wasn't necessarily about the award. My first thought was the people who make this work possible are exhausted. Right now, across the country, you have school leaders who are staring at the same three problems and calling them by different names, hoping a different name is gonna fix them. Teacher burnout, teacher turnover, uh, student disengagement, and leadership fatigue. If you want the real number on teacher attrition, it is uh the Learning Policy Institute has reported that roughly 8% of teachers leave the profession every year. And in higher need schools, that number climbs even higher. So think about what that costs a school, not just in hiring, but in trust, in the relationships that took years to build that are now gone from your building and the students. You know, we talk about the test scores, we talk about the proficiency gaps, we talk about what it looks like when a kid sits in a classroom and is fully checked out, not because they can't learn, but because nobody in the building has figured out what it takes to get them to want to learn. And there's leadership fatigue. And I want to sit here for a second because I don't think we talk about this honestly enough. School leaders are carrying things that aren't in their job description. Uh, mental health crisis, family instability, budget cuts that require you to do more with less every single year. You are making real decisions with real consequences for real children, and a lot of you are doing it while running on fumes. Here's

Conditions Beat Initiatives Every Time

SPEAKER_00 5:17

what I know to be true. None of those three problems are going to get solved by another initiative. We have been initiativing, if that's a word, ourselves to death. New programs, new curriculums, new professional development, new acronym here, new acronym there, and we're expecting different outcomes from the exact same culture. Culture isn't a program, it is a practice. It is the operating system that everything else in your building is going to run on. When the operating system is broken, it does not matter how good the apps are, nothing is going to work right. So, what do we actually do? I want to give you something practical to walk away with today, not just a problem for you to stew on. There's a question I've started asking in every school that I've done work with, and it tends to make people uncomfortable at first, which to me usually means it's the right question. I would challenge you to stop asking what programs do we need, and start asking what conditions do we need. Those are fundamentally different questions. A program is something that you implement, conditions are something that you build. Conditions require you to look at the culture, who feels safe, who's feel seam, who feels like they can actually belong in this building before you start stacking interventions on top of a cracked foundation. And I want to give you a real example of what that looks like. I've been in rooms where a school was struggling with the student behavior, and our immediate instinct was to find a behavior management program, something with a framework and a binder, and uh, you know, maybe bringing a consultant like me or someone else in for a couple days, and I get it. When you are in a fire, the first thing we want to grab is the hose. But when we slowed down and asked about the conditions, here's what we tend to find. Teachers didn't feel like leadership has their backs, so they were managing classrooms more defensively. Students felt that tension and they responded to it. The behavior problem was not the root issue, the trust problem was. You fix trust, you change behavior. If you implement a program on top of broken trust, you're gonna get compliance at best, and at worst, you're gonna get resentment. The old playbook will tell you to find the right program. The new question that I want to ask and encourage you to do, I guess not the question, the new thing I want to encourage you to do is to build the right culture. And that shift is entirely uh is what this show in this episode is gonna be about. Not this, not the podcast, but this episode specifically. And you know, some of you are maybe brand new here, you've never heard about Teachers Ed podcast, and you found homeroom attendance fresh. So

Why This Work Is Personal

SPEAKER_00 8:24

let me just take 30 seconds just to tell you about a little bit about who I am. My name is Ebert DeShazer. I was a teacher turned school leader, and for the last 11 years, I believe, I've served as the executive director at a K28 school in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. A school that I believe in uh deeply, a school that I love deeply. Uh, I love our staff, I love our students, I love everyone that I get to do this work with on a day-to-day basis. I've written two books, a third one is on the way. Uh, The Secret Sauce and the Closing the Believement Gap. Uh, the the Closing Believement Gap is something that I think about constantly. Uh, the gap between what people believe is possible for them and what actually is possible. That gap has a name and it typically starts uh and closing it is going to start with the culture. I also do keynote speaking and I work with schools and districts through teachers ed consulting. But more than any title title or credential, I'm somebody who cares about this work. I was suspended from school 30 times, expelled three times. Teachers changed my life. A principal changed my life, a superintendent changed my life. I really care about this work that we do because I was a kid who needed people to show up for him. And because those adults decided to show up for me, I get to do this work. So this is not just some academic thing for me. This is not just some job for me. This is personal.

Reflective Questions For Real Change

SPEAKER_00 9:53

Every episode, I'm going to leave you at the end with a reflective question, not a to-do, not some assignment, but a question that I want you to sit with and let resonate with you. Um, the question that I'm asking today, what's one challenge in your school that can't be solved with another initiative? And I want you to actually think about that. I want you to name it. I want you to write it down if you need to. If you're driving, please don't write it down. I guess I have to say that so I don't get sued. But I want you to think about what that question or what that problem in your school that can't be solved with another initiative is. Because the challenge you just named, it's more than likely a culture issue. And culture issues don't get solved by adding something to your calendar. They get solved by having honest conversations, making structural changing changes, making staffing changes, moving people, and choosing every single day to build conditions where people can do their best work.

Share Subscribe And Stay Connected

SPEAKER_00 10:51

And before uh we get ready to let you go, because this is just the beginning of a long conversation, what I want you to do, and is if you enjoy this episode, there's not a ton to it. I didn't want to get jump right in and jump right into the deep water. Um, but if if you think this is a podcast you're gonna enjoy, if you feel like if you've been here and you know where I'm gonna, the journey I'm gonna take you on, I want you to share it with someone. Send it to someone you're building, send it to someone you care about, someone in your district, someone who needs to hear this conversation today, because that is how this show is gonna grow. Please like, please subscribe. Um, if you're watching on YouTube, please subscribe if you are listening on one of the podcast platforms. Um and if you have not already, um just stay connected with homeroom attendance, with myself. Um, we have a newsletter that's coming out. So once that comes out, make sure you tap in. It's gonna be monthly, I believe. So it's not gonna be something we're pushing out constantly, but when we push it out, I want people to read and I want to have their, I want there to be some good information on it. And I want to hear from you guys. I want you to message me challenges you're having. I want you to let me know some of the things you need support with. Tell me the questions that you need answered because this show is not for me. This show is for you, and it only is going to work if I know what for you actually means. Now, what I'm leaving you with this week, and I wanted to sit with you for a bit, is really for this is for the school leaders, and I can you can this is for the the teachers too, because if you're in a classroom, you are a leader as well. And are you building the version of your school that the people inside actually deserve? If you're a teacher, are you building the version of your classroom that the students inside actually deserve? Are you building a space in your building that you actually deserve? Or are you just maintaining the version that has always existed? That's the work. That's the question that I have. That's what I want to reflect on. Uh, we are here every single week. I'm gonna be having some guests on. Uh, we're gonna be doing a lot of other fun things at some events I'm going to this summer. Uh, so you will hear from a lot of other educators other than myself. If you're interested in being a guest on the podcast, please shoot me an email. Um, but that's all I have for you today. I didn't want to give you too much, just want to get the surface level of what we're going to be doing. Um, I am Edward DeShazer. You have been present for homeroom attendance. Class is dismissed.