Engagement and Efficacy: State of Our District with Tracy Dorland & Dr. Kym LeBlanc Esparza

In this first episode of our "State of Our District" series, Superintendent Tracy Dorland and Deputy Superintendent Dr. Kym LeBlanc Esparza reflect on the state of the district. They share  compelling gains in early literacy, the efforts to prepare students for both college and careers through durable skills, and the work being done to support students in both traditional and alternative education environments. Tracy and Kym also discuss how the middle school experience is being tailored to support adolescents as they prepare for their future. Don't miss this insightful conversation on the state of education in Jeffco, also available as a video on YouTube!

References from the episode:

1. View Monitoring Report 1.1 on this webpage.
2. View Jeffco's Graduation Rate News Story on this webpage.
3. View the SkillsUSA website.

Episode Transcript

Unknown (00:00):
I'm Tracy Durland. Welcome to Elevate Education. You might not recognize my voice, but I'm Superintendent Tracy Darland, and I'm thrilled to be joining the show for a special series of conversations about the state of our district in Jeffco public schools. I know we have listeners from across the country who tune in to elevate education, to hear from leaders on a range of topics that impact students, families and educators. While this series will focus on our district, I believe the topics that we'll be discussing. Student outcomes, safe and secure learning environments, school funding and long term financial stability are relevant to many districts, not just ours. I'm excited to share these important conversations with you and all of our listeners. So I'm going to start today, Dr. Kim, by talking just a little bit about why I became an educator. One of my earliest memories is being at my parents favorite Italian restaurant. When I was growing up as a kid, I was very young, maybe four years old, and I was sitting there at the Italian restaurant with my parents. I'm an only child, so it was just the three of us. You know, three is a magic number in my family. And I read something off the menu. I don't know what it was. I can't remember what word it was, but my mom freaked out and started beaming with pride and said, I'm so proud of you for reading the menu. Like the waitress came over and she shared with her that I had just read off the menu and I just remember thinking, Wow, that's a really big deal that I know how to read. And I it was just my earliest memory of my parents being really proud of me for my own personal educational journey I also was that kid who like, took the chalkboard from the basement and then hung it on the fence in my yard and played school with the neighborhood kids. And of course, I was the teacher anyway. And long story short, I ended up becoming an educator. I taught first grade and third grade, loved my experience in the classroom and my experience as a professional staff developer with teachers teaching side by side with them, planning lessons and just feel like I've had an incredible opportunity to impact the lives of students through the various roles that I've been able to have as an educator and leader in public education. I really do believe in the power of public education to help all American children achieve their biggest dreams, which, as you know, is part of our vision here in Jeffco. And so for our listening public. Today I'm joined by my friend and my colleague, Deputy Superintendent Dr. Kim LeBlanc Esparza. In this episode, we're inviting you into a conversation between two friends and colleagues as we explore the incredible work happening across Jeffco public schools. So welcome. Thanks for having me. This is going to be fun. Yeah, it's really nice to have you here. We have been focused recently at mid-year of the 2425 school year, really taking a look at our progress from last year, but also the beginning of this year to where we are now in January of 25. And just recently, you shared some information with our Board of Education in a monitoring report of our policy, 1.1, which is all about student achievement and student academic performance and well-being. Can you talk a little bit about what were some of the highlights for you as you put that report together and then shared with our board? Absolutely. I first want to start by saying a thank you to principals who joined me in that conversation, because really they are closest to the work as leaders in our schools. They have a vantage point and opportunity to reflect with our board, to talk about the work that they've done and how they feel like that has impacted the students experience and our academic growth. Every year when we hit that midpoint, we all sort of take a deep breath and look at that data and say, okay, is it going to show us what we think it's going to show us? And I've shared with our board a couple of times now we anticipate growth, but not off the chart growth. And the reason for that is in the fall, we are approaching the learning with the lens of what did they do over the summer? Did they use their skills? Did they practice reading? Did they, you know, did they have an academic experience of any kind? Or if not, did they take a break and coming into that next school year, what do they need to ground in what they know how to do moving forward? And so one of the things we recognize is that there are some reteaching to be done. There's some some work to be done getting kids where they need to go and then jumping right into that new learning. And so we'll start to see a point or two of growth, which we tended to see throughout most grade levels And it's not something that we get like really excited about. We want to see the trajectory starting to move up, which is what we've seen. And we also recognize that the majority of the growth that we see year after year happens between midyear and end of year. Now, that said, some of our most exciting pieces were. When we look at our kinder first and second grade literacy scores, our kids made some significant gains. We're talking like ten points of of growth from the beginning a year to the middle of the year. And that's really indicative of the great work that our educators are doing. When we think about their utilizing standards, they're utilizing high quality reading materials. They're really using their skills and training that they've gotten in building a foundation of literacy for kids. And we're seeing it show up in the data of our kids. When we look at our students at the secondary level, we're really excited about our ninth and 10th grade growth. We're seeing growth that is above the 50th percentile. And for those folks who don't know, really, that 50th percentile is sort of that average point of growth that we want to hit at least, which tells us they're making the kind of strides that we're looking for. Anything above that is really high growth. And for us to be able to say that we have over 20 schools that have hit the 55th and 60th percentile in growth really is an exciting benchmark for us to say our kids are making great gains and we're seeing that result in student achievement. Yeah, I mean, I think one of the most exciting trends that we're seeing based on what you've just shared, is that we are back to pre-pandemic levels of student achievement and I think in many categories moving beyond where Jeffco students were pre-pandemic. So that's something that I'm really proud of. I will also say is as we talk about in our Jeffco Thrive Strategic Plan, third grade reading is one of our targets, our key district wide targets, and we are passing the 50% of our students being on grade level by third grade. Prior to the work that we've been doing, we were in the forties, around 47%. I think of our third graders were reading on grade level prior to 2021 and now we're looking at 52 to 53% of our third graders who are reading on grade level. I'm proud of that gain. And I also want to be really honest with our community and those who are listening that Jeffco Public Schools has 52% of its third graders reading on grade level, which means that we have 48% of our students who are not. And that's also not okay. You know, we talk often in Jeffco about truth and hope. The hope is we're moving in the right direction. We have curriculum resources in place, we have teacher professional learning in place. Our teachers are working hard and working together to make sure that we have good instruction every day focused on getting those third graders to grade level and also from kindergarten to third grade. We see that as a trajectory, but we still have work to do. And while we're proud of the progress, we know that we need to continue the work and deepen the work as we move forward. Yeah, I think that your point is a great one, which is you have to celebrate the successes, you have to celebrate the growth and say, our folks are working incredibly hard, our kids are working incredibly hard. And in looking at that, we have to find where we are seeing the gains happen and really connect that to the hard work that is happening throughout our schools. And on the other side of it, as you well know, as the person who sort of gets certainly categorized as the data queen around here, I look at that data very, very closely and I will be the first person to point out that means we've got 48 more percent to go and we absolutely can do it. Our educators are amazing and they work really hard and they're going to continue to make those kinds of gains. And we're going to be really honest with where we are and what we're doing to continue to move that number so that more and more kids are reaching that really important milestone of third grade reading. Yeah, and folks can read more about what we're planning to do around that in the monitoring report of 1.1. Some of it has to do with building on the strong foundation of high quality curriculum in our classrooms and providing more intervention supports to students who we know aren't quite where they need to be And so I'm really excited for that work to move forward. I also just we've talked a lot about elementary school, third grade reading, and I just want to give a huge shout out to our neighborhood high schools. The comprehensive neighborhood high schools in Jeffco had a combined graduation rate of 93%, which is 9% higher than the state of Colorado's graduation rate. And the state of Colorado is one metric that we standard that we look at to compare ourselves against. But it is very exciting as a whole when we add in charter schools are alternative education campuses and our option schools, our graduation rate is at 85%. But just something to highlight, especially for our our 17 comprehensive high schools who serve the vast majority of Jeffco students coming in at 93% is something to be extremely proud of, I believe. Absolutely. Working closely with our high schools, with our high school reimagined work, we're in classrooms a lot. We definitely get the opportunity to see our students learning, to see our students really thinking about their futures and what they want to do. And seeing our educators really work side by side and give kids their best every day. And so to really. Be able to look at our data and see that we're graduating 93%. That's a big deal. And to go beyond that and say we have at least 11 of our high schools that have hit the 95% graduation mark for four year grad rate. That's an extraordinary accomplishment. And it really speaks to the hard work that our high schools are doing each and every day to really get to know their students, to figure out what they need, to figure out what their dreams are and help them kind of create a path that's going to get them the skill set and experience that they need to get where they want to go post high school experience. And so while you've heard me say plenty of times, any time that numbers is not 100% by God, we've got to figure out how to get the rest of them there. And we do. And that means that we can't we also can't forget that that 93% and that 95% is a big accomplishment that deserves being celebrated, because our schools are working hard. Our schools are really trying to help ground the students educational experience in what their future is going to be and how to prepare them for that And I think that to see how our graduation rate has increased each of the last couple of years really speaks to not just the high quality experience, but the reflective nature of our educators at the high school level, trying to make sure that all kids are reaching their biggest dreams. Yeah. And getting across that graduation, getting across that stage, and nothing more exciting than watching them walk across that stage. Yeah. And a big component of this, I mean, I've said publicly, I actually can see Jeffco public schools getting to 100% graduation rate. I'd love for us to be the first district in the nation to get there. I also will say that part of that is providing different and unique experiences for students whose path through high school might not be aligned to a comprehensive high school experience. And so while we have our comprehensive high schools, our neighborhood high school is hitting that 93 and or beyond mark for their graduation rate. We also have our alternative education campuses who are at a 39% graduation rate, and that is hard for me to see and talk about, but it's important that we talk about it. And I know with your team, our district academic leadership team, you're doing some strategic work in the high school, reimagined space for all schools, but also specific to alternative education and what we might provide in a smaller alternative setting for students where the comprehensive high school experience just isn't going to get them across that stage. Can you talk a little bit about that? Yeah, definitely. One of the things we begin to look at as we look at the student experience and ask ourselves, what story does the data confirm? What do we know is happening and how do we know it's happening? And as we look at the alternative education experience and fortunately or unfortunately, what you see is post-pandemic. Every time we had students who were not succeeding in a comprehensive experience, the positive aspect of that is our educators are proactive and our educators are very committed to students. And so if they found that a student was being successful, they tried to figure out a program that would work on behalf of the student and try to create something that would help them get the skills they need and get to that graduation point. And what ended up happening is we have a number of alternative experiences throughout Jeffco that overlap one another, so they're doing some of the same work. And so one of the things that we began to look at is what are the different alternative education experiences that we know are based in research, based on experience, based in success in other places and experiences that we've all had, and then try to figure out how do we sort of create some clarity and some focus of of our programs. And so looking at the data, looking at research around alternative education, we know that alternative education environments are designed to be smaller in nature. They're designed to be a much smaller student teacher ratio. They're designed to have frequent start over points, so to speak, instead of a semester long. We look at things like six weeks or texters so that students can earn credits in chunks of units rather than all at one time. So that is, if a student does struggle, it doesn't seem insurmountable to start over, to hit that start over point or to take a different direction in a content area. So all of that work is something that the team I'm working with is looking at and working with all our alternative schools who have asked us, can you help us better refine the student experience so that we can get better outcomes for kids and they're asking just the right question. And so some of the work that we're doing at Brady, some of the work that we're doing with the McLain team, some of the work that we're doing with Java and JR LP is going to be around. Let's refine that model to make sure that it is absolutely aligned to what we know as best practice, what we know, the research says, and then what we know our student experience needs to be because our students are telling us what they need it to be. And then from there the data begins to follow. And yes, there are alternative. Environments that we see 75, 80% graduation rate in experiences that many of us have had in our past. And so we look forward to doing that work together with Jeffco educators so that we can create that reality for our students here in Jeffco as well. Great. I just want to highlight this is an example of as we think about becoming a 100% district, whether that's 100% of third graders reading on grade level or 100% of 12th graders graduating ready for career and or post-secondary experiences. We have to begin looking at differentiating for students who are not being served as they need to be by the more traditional experience. And so I just appreciate the differentiated approach that you and your team are taking to looking strategically at where do we have kids, where what we're doing is not working, and how do we adjust our practice and differentiate for those students in those families who might need something a little different from Jeffco? And I really do believe that's the work that's going to get us to this 100% mark on so many of our goals. And so I want us ground next in this idea that we are aligning our work in Jeffco at the systemic level to national research on schools that have beat the odds and really are making those big gains for all kids. And so we've we've really accomplished a lot together in these these categories that are emerging from research around consistency, coherence and belonging. And so I want to highlight a couple of things. In Jeffco, one of the things that we're proud of around consistency is that we had 97% of principals returning to Jeffco for this school year. Consistency in school leadership is essential. You know, I talk often about the most important thing we do, the most important thing I think I do as superintendent, any superintendent is hire principals. I take it very seriously. We have a rigorous process in Jeffco. Anybody who wants to be a principal in Jeffco, please apply. we are looking for bright and talented leaders to support our local school communities at being the best they can be. What do you look for in a high quality school leader? Ironically, somebody asked me that the other day. We were sitting and talking among our ALT leadership team and I said, You know, one of the things that has stuck with me for a really long time is I want hungry, humble and smart. And when I think about that hungry meaning I want to keep thinking about what can we do better? How can we better serve the community? How can we better serve our students? How can we improve the student experience so that more and more students reach those important benchmarks that help open doors for them to be able to make choices within their lives? And to me, hungry school leaders constantly ask, What else, what else? What else should we be doing? What else do kids need from us? So that's a really important aspect. I think Humble is also always willing to learn. To me, it's the I know I've never arrived in education. A leader that I really, really respect once said to me, If you ever believe you've arrived in education, you're wrong. And I agree with that. I think that we have to constantly ask ourselves what more? How can I continue to learn and be better so that I can show up better for kids each and every day? And then finally, smart to me is knowing what you know, knowing what you don't know, and constantly asking what more? How can I do more and more to create better outcomes for kids? How can I ensure that that extraordinary student experience prepares kids for whatever it is that they're choosing to do, whatever their dream is? And so I look at that through a lens of those are the folks that are going to constantly help us try to better the student experience. Over time. The best leaders that we have really do create that genuine partnership with their teachers, with their students, with their educational support professionals and other staff members in their building and with their parents. And it is it is about taking the time to just step back and lean and listen and learn and remain hungry about what can we do better? What can we do more of and open to ideas. So so I appreciate that. Let's skip down to this idea of belonging, because I think one of the reflections that we're having, based on some recent research around what does it mean to belong in a school community, has a lot to do with belonging, not just to belong, but belonging in terms of seeing purpose in the learning experience that's being provided by that school. And so what we have found and what we've talked to our Jeffco Student Leadership Board about is often that students feel like they belong when they're successful with what's being asked of them as a learner in a school. And I think parents feel like they belong when their student is successful with the learning in their school. So there's this. Rather between a culture of belonging and the purpose of public education and academic success. What is your team doing in this space of helping students and families feel a sense of belonging at a school? You reflected on a really interesting point in this, and that is one of the aspects of feeling a sense of belonging is that I feel safe. I feel like I belong in this community. I feel like the people around me respect me, want me there. I found my people, so to speak. But every bit as important is that I feel like I can accomplish. I feel like I can be successful. I feel like I can grow here. I feel like I have not only a place in the community, but I also am getting better knowing that this is an academic environment and I can succeed here. And so what we see is our academic leadership team is working on high quality educational experiences, using great curriculum aligned to standards so that our students are growing. Our kids are meeting benchmark. Our kids are meeting standard. Our kids are breaking a cognitive sweat and feeling good. You've heard me say that over and over again. You know, years ago, as I was talking to parents as a principal, I talked a lot about what can you expect from this learning experience. And one of the things that I begin to talk about is I send my kids off to soccer practice four days a week. And when they get back in my car, for me to expect that they never broke a sweat or they never worked hard would be a ridiculous notion in sports. And yet we have to feel that same way about the academic environment. Our kids have to break a cognitive sweat. They have to feel that sense of accomplishment when they are creative and when they problem solve and when they really get a chance to work on a team project and they're successful with it. And that builds confidence and it builds hope. And that's how our kids grow. And they really began to do some of their best work. And that's that sense of belonging. It's really about both sides of that coin. Yeah. You know, when I go and do my instructional excellence at school visits, I talk to a panel of kids at every school that I go to. And one of the things that I ask them is, what do you wish your teachers would do more of and what do you wish your teachers would do less of? And every single group of students that I've talked to, from high school to middle school to elementary school, when I ask the question, what do you wish your teachers would do less of? Every single group, at least one thing they've said to me is talk. Yeah. And I don't think that's because our teachers are talking way too much. I mean, teachers have to talk to teach, like, I get that. But kids want to grapple with the content that their teachers are providing for them and the lessons that they have on their classrooms. When I asked them, What would you want your teachers to do more of? They say things like Create assignments where we can problem solve together. They want to collaborate with one another and they want to be creative in their learning. And so that's just aligns from the student voice perspective with with what you've shared here today. It also aligns with the high school reimagined work that we're doing when we think about the durable skills and we think about how we've sort of pointed those out and which ones are really most relevant to our students building their skill set for their future. You think about collaboration and communication as two of the top ones that our students really need to learn to develop. They need to build their muscle in those spaces. And so it really isn't terribly surprising, but it is kind of affirming that our kids recognize that a collaboration opportunity does build the skill set that they're really going to need, and their ability to communicate effectively is really important, too. So I want you to talk a little bit more about durable skills, because I think for our listening public, I mean, I know what that means because I, I read education articles and this is what I do for a living. But for our families and people who are like, what? What does that mean in durable skills? You know, I told you about Golden High School teacher who told me he wants to rename them Endurable Skills because they're endurable for our kids even after graduation, which I do think is part of the definition of what we're talking about But for those of us who went to high school in the eighties, nineties, early 2000s, what does durable skills mean for our kids? One of the things we began to recognize is you saw some education leaders throughout the country starting to talk about the world that our kids live in. When you think about millennials, when you think about Generation Alpha, when you think about the students who are coming out of high school today and the world of work and or the university experience that they're going to have looks so very different than it did when I went to school. And as we think about it doesn't make sense that the student experiences be the same as the ones that we had. skills. USA is a national organization that looked at over 60 million job postings over a four or five year period of time to say what are all the characteristics and skills that people need in order to be successful in the workforce? And they based it on what the workforce was telling us. And a couple of them that rose to the top became known as the durable skills. And Durable Skills is Skills USA and the U.S. Chamber. Commerce. And all of these organizations begin to put together visuals of those durable skills to say, what are they? And there are the skills that we recognize in the workplace are most designed to help you be a successful professional in whatever field you choose. So whether that's critical thinking, whether that's communication, whether that's collaboration, whether that's teamwork and fits into to collaboration, whether that's leadership. There are a number of different fields within durable skills that they've been able to identify, and then they sort of drill down to what does that really mean? What does that skill look like and how would that need to manifest itself in order for a professional to use it effectively? And so we've taken that body of research in that body of work and started to talk about that with our high schools, to say what is a part of a high school student experience that's going to give them the opportunity to build those skills into the resume of a Jeffco graduate. And so as we start to envision, was that work look like what we've talked about with our families in our community is we want our students to build a resume that tells whatever future employer, whatever higher education institution they navigate into, that they have begun to build the foundation of these skills so that they can be successful because it's based on what the world of work and the professional world has told us is most important for someone to be successful. Yeah, there's this highlight around the connection between the high school experience that we want to provide and are providing in many instances in Jeffco, across all of our schools and industry and the world of work that our students are going to be going into is really important to both you and me. And I think it's important for our community to understand that and know that. And it ranges from students in our AP classes having those types of experiences, building those durable skills, so that when they go to their next step into, say, a public university or a private university experience being able to leverage those skill sets in that next learning experience all the way to some of the work we're doing around more targeted career pathways like the Public Safety Academy that we are planning for, more middle school to turn into in partnership with our law enforcement agencies so that our students who want an experience exploring careers in public safety, whether that be a police officer or dispatch for one of our law enforcement agencies, legal studies, those kinds of experiences could be built in directly to their high school, their high school experience, whether it's like I said, that AP track that many of our students who are going to college are on, or a student who just says this, I already know what I want to do with my life, or at least I think I do, and enough that I want to explore that for my high school experience. I think we're going to really have everything on both ends of that spectrum and then in between, and that's what I believe our kids deserve. I agree with you. I think that having been a parent of five different students, children who went through high school, that had very, very different experiences, I would agree with you wholeheartedly. We want to look through that lens of the student who really wants to dive deeply into their academic pursuits and give them the opportunity to do that. And on the other end of it, the student who wants to go straight into the workforce, and maybe that's for a period of time to build a foundation of skills that they then want to take and go become a university student. Or maybe they want to just continue to move on through that field with the practical experiences and the education that they get within their field. But ultimately, it still comes back to we as an education environment and as a public education institution that serves our community, really has a responsibility to say, what do our high schoolers need And then to more importantly, ask our high schoolers, what do you believe your high school experience needs to be? And how can we better prepare you for that future? And so part of your commitment and part of my commitment is to say I want that high school experience to be engaging. I want it to be exciting, I want it to be relevant. I want it to prepare them for their future. And so we're really looking through the lens of every type of high school experience, whether that's an English class, an algebra one class, a chemistry class, or a CTE pathway in culinary arts. We want that to be really relevant and we want kids to see what they're doing is preparing them for the next step in their future and not be about academics for academic sake, but really tying to what's that next experience that I'm going to have and how do I know it's going to prepare me for that? And I think evidence of us moving in that direction is the increase in industry certificates that our students are graduating with, as well as an increase in college credits and concurrent enrollment that our students are graduating with. I'm just really proud of that. Okay. So we've talked about elementary. We've talked about high school and re-imagining high school. I want to now talk about the magic of middle school. We have done a lot of work with our middle school leaders to flip the switch on that mindset around our middle school students. We had some time with children's hospital physicians who are experts in the adolescent brain development who shared with us the fascinating statistic that middle schoolers brains change as much in middle school as they do between the ages of birth and five years old. It blew my mind. Based on that research that this is a special time for our students and we really need to be thinking critically about how we provide a middle school experience that honors and respects where our students are developmentally and provides opportunities for them to learn in a way that ignites their passions and gets them ready for high school. And the idea of exploring career. So talk a little bit about the magic of middle school and the work that we're doing in that space. Earlier, you talked a little bit about your experiences as a first and a third grade teacher. And you and I have talked about this. I've taught elementary, I've taught high school. But honestly, my favorite experience is sixth grade. It always has been. And that's just a it's such a unique time. Kids are so much fun at that age. And genuinely, I can say I grew the most as an educator when I taught middle school. So this this work is personal to me. When I think about the student experience at adolescence, they're still little, and yet they want to be big. And every time they point out they want to be treated like they're they're big and they're asking big questions and they're really dreaming big dreams and they're starting to process what could be. And at the same time, they have this great sense of humor. And so it's a whole lot of fun. And as we ground back, it really speaks to why that sense of belonging is so important that you talked about earlier. Not only giving kids a community to be in where they feel like people accept me for who I am and let me try out my sense of humor and let me try out the different things I want to try and be good at, whether it's music or art or clubs of some sort or athletics. And so middle school is a place where kids begin to ask, What could that be? What am I good at? And What do I want to pursue? What do I care about a lot? And then from there, when we think about their learning experience in the classroom, when I think about my experience teaching at that sixth grade level, my kids wanted to build things. My kids wanted to experiment with things. They really wanted to ask and problem solve and do experiments and try to see what happened and then reflect on it and to see sort of what they begin to think about and what they begin to discover really aligns with a lot of the work that we're starting to do around letting kids break the cognitive sweat. When they ask those questions, not answer them, but say, Well, what do you think we need to know in order to figure that out? What might that look like? Well, let's try it out. Let's see. And so our middle school educators really do such a great job of letting kids ask the question, but without necessarily answering them, just supporting them and figuring out how would they find that out, and then pursuing that as a part of an academic sort of challenge and pursuit. And so that's all part of the magic of middle school is letting kids learn about things that they care a lot about, stretching them and letting them break that cognitive sweat we talked about, letting them figure out what they care the most about in terms of what they want to pursue and in terms of interest, letting them try lots of things out and then creating that really strong sense of belonging and all of that is work that our leaders and our educators throughout our middle schools have begun to embrace and start to really be reflective on is the experience giving our kids everything they need to really have that magic of middle school experience. And in so many places we're seeing examples of that as we're going in and observing in classrooms and as we're walking schools with leaders and really looking at what some of the work that they're doing, it's really exciting to see that begin to come to life. Yeah, so proud of the work that our middle school teachers and leaders are doing. In fact, the work that our teachers are educators are doing across the district related to implementing curriculum, providing us feedback about how that's going, working together to problem solve day to day lessons and how to meet the needs of our students. Looking at data and really utilizing data to make decisions about next steps for students and targeted supports. There's just so much to be proud of in relation to our educators and the work that they're doing and. Jeffco And so big shout out to all Jeffco educators and the thanks for your commitment and care and expertize. So as we wrap up our discussion here today, thank you very much for spending some time talking with me and about the work we do together. But I am curious, what is the most rewarding aspect of what you get to do every day? Well, first, I'll say thank you for letting me be a part of this discussion. It's never a hardship to talk about the work we do because we both care so much about it and it's so much a part of who we are. I would tell you that probably one of the greatest things we've done in the last couple of years is get out into schools and walk classrooms alongside our principals every day to see the work that they're doing, to see the worker educators are doing, and to see our students learning. For me, the most rewarding piece is being able to ground back to the work I do every day here is so that our leaders and our teachers can do the great work that they do in classrooms. I remember being that teacher. In fact, for me, I really challenged myself to never forget what it's like to work in a classroom every day and how much fun it is and how rewarding it is and how hard it is. I think about why do I do what I do, it's so that that can happen for all of the kids in Jeffco. And the way that frankly, it happened for me as a student, the way that it has happened for my children and hopefully the way it's happening for this generation of Jeffco kids The work we do matters and if we do it well, then our schools can thrive and they can do what they need to do to make a difference for kids. Yeah, you know, I think about how I would answer that question. I grew up in Jeffco. I raised my kids here in Jeffco and and I decided to make this our home. And so being able to serve the community that helped raise me and that my students are being raised in and attending schools and really means a lot to me. I'm honored and feel fortunate and privileged to serve as superintendent in a community that is near and dear to my heart. My family has experience. So that's one thing. The other thing I would say that really is meaningful for me as superintendent of Jeffco is that I believe we are very much in Jeffco, a community of leaders building leaders, and it has been a joy to come in and not only serve as a leader for this community, but grow leadership capacity around me. As I mentioned in our school leaders, providing them opportunity to be reflective as leaders, to study what it means to be a leader in a in a school. Everything from operational leadership to instructional leadership to community leadership has really been a joy. And then also to just grow other aspects of supporting leadership opportunities in Jeffco. So teacher leadership is incredibly important and we now have structures across our schools where teachers serve on leadership teams alongside principals and giving them the opportunities to be part of those structures and have a voice in the decisions at their individual schools. To have an academic leadership team at the district that help guide you and me in decision making about things and operations, leadership team, those types of leadership structures and opportunities to help everyone be the best leader they can be in Jeffco is really meaningful to me and I will end on students and just express how important student leadership is to me as well. We have a Jeffco Student Leadership Board that I'm proud of that provides input to us on a regular basis regarding decisions that we need to make in the best interests of students. And so having their voice be at that table is important. And generally speaking, we have talked at length with principals about the importance of student voice in every school building, and I really do believe that every student deserves the right to be a leader in their community and a leader of their own lives and feeling efficacious with where they want to go to achieve their biggest dreams. So thank you. Thank you for sharing that. Well, thanks to all of our listeners for tuning in today as we partner here and Jeffco Public Schools to elevate education.