August 28, 2023 • 24 mins
Hopefully, every school district has leaders who are passionate about learning and the success of their students. One such figure in Chesapeake Public Schools is Superintendent, Dr. Jared Cotton. In this episode, we get to know Dr. Cotton as he takes you through his educational journey and his passion for helping students find their own paths.
Dr. Cotton also shares some exciting new initiatives and programs for the 2023-2024 school year. These initiatives run the gamut from school safety to ensuring our students get the best possible education. Listen today to our first full episode today!
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Episode Transcript
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Matt Graham (00:00):
Welcome to Amplified the Chesapeake Public
Schools podcast.
Richie Babb (00:13):
Chesapeake Schools is located in the Hampton Roads
area of southeastern Virginia.
We serve 40,000 students in 45schools and three centers.
This podcast is designed totell the stories behind our
story and to introduce andcelebrate the people and
programs that make us one of thepremier school districts in
Virginia.
Matt Graham (00:34):
Alright, welcome to our very first episode of
Amplified the Chesapeake PublicSchools podcast.
This is Matt Graham, and I amhere with Mr Richie Babb.
Richie Babb (00:44):
Indeed.
Matt Graham (00:45):
Yep, and we are also here with a special guest,
our superintendent, Dr JaredCotton.
Hello, happy to be here.
Alright, and word on the streetis that you are an avid tennis
player.
Is that true?
Dr. Jared A. Cotton (00:59):
I'm a tennis player, I would say, and
I enjoy tennis.
I won't speak to how good I amat tennis, but I do enjoy tennis
.
Richie Babb (01:08):
Yeah, we decided not to ask that question, so so
how's your?
Dr. Jared A. Cotton (01:12):
summer been .
It's been hot, I will tell you,but I been busy.
A lot of people don't realizethat there's a lot that goes on
in the summer in schools.
You know I still have people Irun into and say aren't you
excited that you have thesummer's off?
Matt Graham (01:24):
And I said no, I don't have the summer's off,
we're working.
Dr. Jared A. Cotton (01:27):
Right, and we're very busy preparing for
the upcoming school year andit's a different kind of busy
but it's very busy.
But fortunately I did have sometime to break away and take a
little bit of vacation and, asthe staff know, I had a chance
to go on an Alaskan cruise,which was amazing.
Nice With my family time toseparate and get away, but of
course.
Now we're back and gettingready for the start of a great
(01:48):
school year Awesome.
Richie Babb (01:49):
Yeah, I would hate to have seen your email inbox
when you got back from Alaska.
Dr. Jared A. Cotton (01:55):
Yeah, surprisingly it wasn't too bad.
One of the things I like aboutgoing on a cruise is you don't
get your emails very well.
Yeah, Right.
And you do disconnect a littlebit once the boat takes off and
leaves the shore, but that doeshelp with a nice break.
But you're right, when you getback they're all there, Right.
Richie Babb (02:13):
Right.
So I think most people may know, but tell us a little bit about
your connection with ChesapeakePublic Schools.
Dr. Jared A. Cotton (02:21):
Sure, well, I started as a student, of
course, in Chesapeake.
I started in fifth grade.
I just relocated back toVirginia.
I had my family was well-rootedhere in this area, norfolk,
chesapeake area.
So I started as a student infifth grade at Crestwood
Intermediate.
Of course at the time it was anelementary school.
(02:43):
It was grades probably fourthrough six at the time.
I know it's a little differentnow, but so then I went on
through Crestwood, crestwoodmiddle school and then I went to
Grapewich High School where Igraduated as a wildcat, and then
, of course, Well, that makesthree of us actually in this
room that graduate fromGraebridge.
Richie Babb (03:01):
Yeah.
Dr. Jared A. Cotton (03:02):
I'm among friends.
We've got lots of wildcats inhere and then, of course, went
on to Old Dominion University.
Didn't know exactly what Iwanted to do, but I found my way
, gravitating toward teachingand education.
There were lots of differentpaths that I was pursuing or
looking to pursue, but I keptcoming back to teaching.
(03:23):
And then I was fortunate tostart teaching at Crestwood
Intermediate, where I was once astudent, and I actually ended
up in the same classroom where Iwas once a student.
So I was hired to teach fifthgrade.
I did that for several yearsand then I had a chance to go
into a technology job and a lotof people don't realize this,
but at the time I was one of twotechnology integration specials
for the whole city ofChesapeake.
(03:45):
Now we have pretty much one inevery school.
Richie Babb (03:48):
Right.
Dr. Jared A. Cotton (03:48):
But at that time there were only two of us,
so I got a lot of time on theroad traveling from school to
school and then, of course, cameup through Chesapeake.
Assistant Principal at ChittumElementary, had a brief stint at
Hickory Middle School as anassistant principal, then, of
course, became a principal atTriegel Elementary for a couple
of years and I became thedirector of assessment and
(04:09):
accountability, where Iintegrated technology with
testing because at that time itwas moving to computers and
online.
And then, of course, I had anopportunity to go to Virginia
Beach for a stint there as theirassistant superintendent for
accountability, which ended upbeing associate superintendent
for lots of other areas.
Then I went to Henry County assuperintendent in the you all
(04:31):
know Henry County andMartinsville area in the western
part of the state and did thatfor several years and I had the
great honor to come back home tomy hometown here in.
Chesapeake and just finished myfifth year here in Chesapeake,
so looking forward to startingmy sixth year in Chesapeake.
Richie Babb (04:47):
Yeah, the further we get away from the pandemic,
probably the better.
You look forward to each yearmore.
Dr. Jared A. Cotton (04:52):
Of course, those two years felt like ten.
Yeah, absolutely right.
Richie Babb (04:57):
Absolutely right.
Matt Graham (04:58):
Well, when you were telling us about your
background there and all that,was there something in
particular that made you sort oflean towards that education?
Like, was there something likea moment or something that kind
of had that spark that broughtyou to education?
Dr. Jared A. Cotton (05:13):
Sure, and I tell this, we like to call it
our origin story.
Those of you who likesuperheroes, they always have an
origin story.
But at the time I was initiallypursuing a degree in pharmacy.
I thought I was going to becomea pharmacist, and then I found
my way to the Pine TreatmentCenter where I was a counselor
and an activities coordinatorlifeguard.
(05:34):
So I was involved in activitieswhile I was pursuing a college
degree.
And then the thing that reallychanged things for me is I had
to substitute in a classroomthere for a couple weeks and, by
the way, I had been in thatclassroom a few times and those
kids were not at all interestedin what was going on in that
classroom.
(05:55):
So they were misbehaving, theywere distracted, they were
constantly being removed and Iwould be the one who would have
to take them out of theclassroom because they were
having issues.
And they said we need you to bethe sub for two weeks.
And I said are you kidding you?
Matt Graham (06:10):
want me to take that job.
Dr. Jared A. Cotton (06:13):
And I said, okay, I'll do it.
And of course I said but I'mnot going to do it the way that
it was being done.
I wanted to make it excitinghands on.
I took the student outside, wedid science experiments, we got
fully engaged in learning andI'm a big science math person
and I really wanted theminvolved with hands on
(06:33):
activities.
And what I found was thestudents were excited about
participating in the activitiesand we didn't have any behavior
issues during those two weeks.
And because I laid it out atthe beginning, I said we're
going to have a great time, butif you mess up, then if we go
outside, we all got to come backinside.
Richie Babb (06:49):
Right.
Dr. Jared A. Cotton (06:51):
And they took me at my word and we had a
great two weeks and I realizedI'm pretty good at this.
I'm pretty good at gettingstudents engaged and excited
about learning.
And then I said maybe this ismy calling.
And then, of course, I went totell my parents that I wanted to
be a teacher.
The first thing they said wasdo you like being poor?
And I said, I don't care whatsalary I make.
(07:16):
I feel like this is what I wasmeant to do.
And so it was such a powerfulexperience to realize, when
you're struggling to find yourpath and that's what we talked
about and just before the timeis helping students find their
purpose and what they'repassionate about.
And for someone who isstruggling for so many different
career paths to find the onethat really resonated with me,
(07:40):
and the fact that I've had a 30year career, that started with
that spark, and that's why Ithink it's so important that we
get our students exposed todifferent opportunities early,
absolutely.
Richie Babb (07:52):
Looking back at your time as a student in
Chesapeake, any teachers thatstand out to you or that you
look to as sort of role modelsin teaching?
Dr. Jared A. Cotton (08:02):
Of course, one of the funny things that
happened to me.
When I came back to Chesapeake,I went to Indian River High
School to do my welcome meet andgreet and then I heard a voice
coming from the hallway and itwas Mrs Shuler, who was my sixth
grade teacher, and at the timeand she's recently retired.
actually, I think she's failedat retirement because I think
we've already brought her backto work part time.
(08:23):
But I heard her voice and rightaway I knew it was her and she
was a great teacher in sixthgrade when I was at Crestwood,
and so it was so good to runinto her again.
But one of my all time favoriteteachers that I always remember
is Mrs Martha Woolery fromGrape Ridge High.
Matt Graham (08:41):
School.
Dr. Jared A. Cotton (08:41):
She was my English teacher when I was in
10th grade at Grape Ridge Highand I was so happy to be in her
class and she really had a wayto make you feel confident that
she could be a great writer,that you could be a great
speaker, because she had us dopublic speaking?
in her English class and shealso sponsored different
(09:03):
organizations that I was a partof as well.
And what I thought was sopowerful is when I was at an
event later in my career.
I saw her at an event beingrecognized and I went up to her
in the parking lot and I madesure I told her, because that's
one of the things that we don'tdo a good job of doing we don't
tell people that they've had animpact on our lives.
So I'm so happy that I did that.
(09:24):
Unfortunately, mrs Woolerypassed away a handful of years
ago, but I'm so happy that I hadthe chance to tell her when I
saw her.
And I do encourage you hear mesay this all the time Let people
know they've had an impact onyou and your life, because a lot
of times they have no idea andas educators, we're always happy
(09:45):
to hear that.
Richie Babb (09:46):
Yeah, no doubt.
So you mentioned 30 years ineducation.
What changes in educationgenerally have been most
significant in your opinion?
Dr. Jared A. Cotton (09:58):
Well, I would say the first one that
comes to mind, obviously, istechnology has certainly changed
so much.
You know, I I laugh sometimeswhen I think about my time at
Crestwood Middle School and Itell people you know, we didn't
have AC in the building, right,and we weren't allowed to wear
shorts, except when thetemperature hit over we were
(10:19):
allowed to wear the shorts, soterrible that we were excited
about a hundred degree.
But you know temperatures.
But anyway, you know thetechnology, the one-to-one
technology and all the all thatwe've done.
Now we have one-to-one devicesfor our students, but also the
all the different software thatwe've been purchasing and that
we've made available to ourstudents that can really
(10:40):
Personalize learning and helpour students really meet their
specific needs.
But we also have been usingtechnology much more now to get
students to think creatively, tocommunicate in many different
ways.
And and one of the biggestthings that I've seen over the
last few years is you know, whenwe were in school, when you
were writing or communicating orpresenting, you were presenting
(11:01):
to your class or your teachernow.
You have the ability to presentto the world right now.
Right.
What you create and present,develop can be shared all over
the world.
All over the country, you getfeedback from people in all
different parts of the world,which is exciting but also adds
a level of responsibility thatyou have to be mindful of right,
(11:23):
because Anything you put outthere is there for everyone to
see.
Yeah, so it.
So that has changed quite a bit.
You know we've also been reallyworking on what do we value in
education.
You know, as you are goingthrough learning the facts and
figures, those those areimportant to a point, but what
we really have to spend timedoing is making sure that we're
(11:46):
preparing our students for theworkforce, and that means
critical thinking, communication, collaboration, all of those
important skills that ourstudents really need to develop
and Years ago we didn't reallyhave a good way to measure that
or to assess that or toencourage that, and now it's a
must.
Yeah in order to prepare ourstudents for the future.
(12:06):
And we're really big inChesapeake on preparing our
students for what's next whetherit's a career, whether it's the
military, whether it's college,and In order to do that, you've
really got to make sure thatyou're creating learning
opportunities in schools wherestudents can develop those
Important skills.
Richie Babb (12:22):
Yeah, yeah right.
Matt Graham (12:23):
Yeah, it's all post online, like yesterday, about
how the smart boards and alltheir classrooms have been taken
.
Yeah, right, and I rememberwhen that was like the
innovation, right, yeah yeah, sono more of that sort of stage
on the stage everyone, it's notjust on the board.
Everyone's has that right.
Dr. Jared A. Cotton (12:38):
Yeah, and a good point, because we've just
added box light Flat panels toall of our learning spaces,
which is incredible, Wow whichmeans that any of our students,
as you were saying, can presentproject.
You know, it's not just theteacher, right.
Matt Graham (12:53):
Right.
Dr. Jared A. Cotton (12:53):
And now students can put they can be
working on something on theircomputer and they can pop it up
on the box, box like projectorand then they can share it with
the class, and it's reallymaking sure that everyone has an
opportunity to share their work.
Richie Babb (13:09):
I think the biggest thing about that sort of
technology change is it reallyaffects student engagement.
When I started teaching, andcertainly when I was in school,
as you know, it was sitting get,I mean, and if you didn't get
it that's your problem, whereasnow this technology allows us to
really make sure that studentsare engaged, and I'm glad you
said that because it's really afocus.
Dr. Jared A. Cotton (13:31):
here in Chesapeake we are working on
more student centered learningand we have three distinct areas
that we're really working on.
That's one, one technology, asI've shared project based
learning and assessment wherestudents are involved more in
projects than instead ofmultiple choice tests, because
we know that's going to preparethem better for their future.
And of course we've been reallyworking to help support our
(13:53):
students with their well beingand their social emotional
development and of course, asyou all know, that's been quite
the challenge during COVID andcoming out of.
COVID.
So there are lots of ways thatwe have to put supports in place
to help students academicallyand with building their
confidence and working towardtheir goals.
(14:14):
So those are areas that arereally helping us be more
student centered rather thanteacher centered, right.
Because as you were saying theteachers this age on the stage
in the past, yeah Now we wantour students to do more of the
talking and more of the thinkingrather than the teacher doing
all the work.
The students should be Right.
Matt Graham (14:31):
Right, yeah, for sure.
Richie Babb (14:32):
All right, thank you, dr.
Matt Graham (14:33):
Connor, we're going to take a quick break and
continue this amazingconversation as we get to know
you and some of the awesomethings that are happening here
with just be public schoolsFamilies.
(14:54):
Now is the time to complete theonline student verification
process through parent view.
This important process ensuresthat we have the correct
emergency contact information onfile for your student.
The deadline is Friday,September 29th 2023.
Visit cpschoolscom for moreinformation.
Be a part of the ChesapeakePublic Schools family.
(15:20):
We are hiring teachers, busdrivers, school nutrition
workers, nurses and more.
Visit cpschoolscom or call757-547-0001 to join our team.
Richie Babb (15:40):
All right, we're back here.
You're just joining us.
Just rewind the podcast,actually, yeah.
I didn't realize so I wouldrecommend you listen to the
whole thing.
Well, it's fine.
You say like rewind.
Matt Graham (15:52):
I know Rewind, I know my daughter is a teacher Is
is six and we're watching amovie and she's like Reback it.
There is no wine.
Can you reback it?
And I'm like that makes totalsense.
Richie Babb (16:06):
It's funny people still say when they videotape,
when they record things, theysay I got to go videotape this.
We haven't used videotape inhow long but some of those words
stick around, but anyway we'vebeen talking to Superintendent
Dr Jared Cotton and trying toget into his background and some
of his thoughts on education.
But we want to kind of turn itnow to to Chesapeake Public
(16:27):
Schools, and the beginning ofschool is here.
Matt Graham (16:29):
Yeah, so school is just underway, and are there any
new programs or projects orinitiatives that you're
especially excited about thatyou'd like to share with our
listeners in our community?
Dr. Jared A. Cotton (16:42):
Sure, we always have great things
happening each and every year aswe kick off a new year, and
that's one of the things I loveabout education is, every year
you have a fresh start.
You get to start anew and I wasone of those nerds that enjoyed
the beginning of the school yearin the fall.
But we've got some great thingsgoing on, academically as well
as safety-wise.
(17:02):
I'll talk about some of thesafety niches we're excited
about.
We are implementing the StudentID badges, which many of our
listeners probably have heardabout through the news.
Where our students are inelementary schools, k through
five are going to have an IDbadge, which is going to be
important because they're goingto be able to check in when they
get on the bus.
They're going to be able to usethose badges when they check
out in the cafeteria, when theycheck books out in the library,
(17:26):
and we've piloted that atNorfolk Highlands Elementary
this past year and it was verywell received.
So it's going to be veryhelpful from a safety
perspective, but also from aconvenience perspective.
And of course, if that goes wellas we anticipate it will we're
going to expand to Midland HighSchool, so that's exciting.
We've also just reported on ourSheriff deputies.
(17:46):
We've partnered with theSheriff's Department.
Our community and our boardmembers have said we really need
to work on improving safety inour elementary schools and we're
very excited that now we'regoing to have Sheriff deputies
serving in different boroughsthroughout our elementary school
zones and they're going to bein and out of our elementary
schools on a regular basis,providing an extra layer of
(18:07):
support.
And what a great partnershipwith our Sheriff's office.
Matt Graham (18:11):
So those are.
Dr. Jared A. Cotton (18:12):
Those are two really exciting initiatives
that are going on.
From an instructionalstandpoint.
You know we are implementing anew learning management system
Canvas and parents.
It'd be a little adjustment butfrom what I've seen from the
teachers already they havereally embraced this new
learning management system.
You all know we had School of Gin the past but now we're
(18:32):
moving toward Canvas.
But what's exciting about it isall of our resources are being
loaded in there over the summerto prepare our students and our
teachers for interactive handson collaborative type lessons.
So all of that is being uploadedand ready to go and we're going
to continue, as I said earlier,to work towards student
centered learning initiativesreally focusing on our students
(18:56):
being more actively engaged inlearning through projects and
project based instruction aswell as assessments.
So those things are happeningthat are really exciting.
Parents of our younger studentsare also going to start seeing
more happening in elementaryreading.
You know, we're reallyembracing the science of reading
, which is research basedinstructional methods to really
(19:20):
help our students develop in thearea of literacy, and that's
going to be something that'sthat we started working on last
year and that's really rampingup as we move into this year.
So those are.
Those are some of the thingsthat are that are happening as
we move into this, this newschool year.
And, of course, we're workingon lots of capital improvement
projects and doing some work toinvest in playgrounds across
(19:44):
several of our schools andtracks and and fields we're
trying to develop.
That's a work in progress that'sgoing to take time and it's
interesting that you asked thisquestion because we're going to
do a readiness presentation forthe board at the next board
meeting, where we talk aboutsome of the things that we've
accomplished over the summer.
That's really gearing us up fora new year.
Richie Babb (20:05):
I want to step back for just a second on the school
safety topic.
I know that the deputyinitiative that we have is
evidence of our interest inschool safety, but I don't know
if most people know like ourschool safety team and that sort
of stuff Talk about what we doto help ensure safety in our
(20:26):
schools.
Dr. Jared A. Cotton (20:27):
Sure, we do get a lot of feedback about
safety and what are we doing toaddress school safety?
I'm really proud to be a partof the Chesapeake community
because we have such a greatpartnership with our first
responders, our ChesapeakePolice Department and our police
chief, chief Sileski, oursheriff as I've spoken about
earlier Sheriff O'Sullivan, andour city at large.
(20:48):
I mean, we've got so manydifferent community partners who
meet monthly to talk aboutsafety initiatives.
It's the mayor's safety taskforce.
Our mayor, dr West.
Rick West put together thistask force, I would say probably
about almost six years ago, andwe meet monthly and we talk
about ways that we can improvesafety.
(21:10):
We have subgroups who reportout, we gather feedback.
Every time there's a safetyincident, we debrief, we talk
about and, whether it's oursafety incident or an incident
around the world, I often getasked about.
You know what happened locally?
Yes, we do pay attention tothat, but we also pay attention
to safety events that happeneverywhere, because there's
always learning that can happenthere.
(21:31):
So what we do is we discuss it,we debrief, we talk about ways
that we can improve safety, andI have to tell you that we've
made incredible progress overthe last few years ensuring up
safety in our schools.
But safety's never done.
It's a daily conversation, it'sa constant review and
discussion and it's constantplanning.
(21:52):
And, of course, our citycouncil has been supportive in
providing us with funds to helpwith some of our safety projects
, which has been powerful aswell.
Matt Graham (22:00):
Yeah, I think I think my kids.
I have two kids that are in theschool system, that are in
their four and six.
They're in the elementaryschool, so I think they're going
to be excited about seeing thesheriffs.
Richie Babb (22:11):
Oh, yeah, I'm sure, yeah, right, yeah.
And you know and SheriffO'Sullivan also mentioned the
fact that it's good for them,because then kids get to see at
a very young age that they'rethe good guys.
Dr. Jared A. Cotton (22:24):
Yeah the good guys and girls.
And Sheriff O'Sullivan madesuch a great point.
He said that the first reactionthat our young students have
with law enforcement he wants itto be positive.
Matt Graham (22:34):
Right and.
Dr. Jared A. Cotton (22:35):
I thought that was a powerful statement
that he made and, after meetingthe group that he's put together
to serve our elementary schools, I'm very excited about the
team we have in place, so I'mlooking forward to starting day
one with this new initiative and, of course, depending on how it
goes which I anticipate will goreally well we'll certainly
look at adding even additionalsafety and security.
(22:58):
The other thing that we've addedat elementary schools that I
want to make sure the listenersknows we added additional school
security officers.
Those are our staff memberswe've added and they're serving
elementary schools as well, sowe're increasing those numbers
also.
So, among other things, thereare lots of things that we do.
We don't always enumerate allthe great safety initiatives we
(23:19):
have in place, but we want tomake sure that everyone's aware
that it's always top of mind.
The number one thing we have todo is make sure students and
staff are safe each and everyday.
Instruction is what we're allabout, but you can't have good
instruction and high qualityteaching and learning if you
don't feel safe.
Correct.
So, that's why we make sure thatwe spend time making sure
(23:40):
everyone feels safe and that wedo everything we can to ensure
safety in our schools.
Richie Babb (23:44):
Yeah Well, I appreciate you taking your time
to be with us.
That's, we're out of time andI'm sure you have other things
to do, but we appreciate yourtime.
It was nice to have a fewminutes to sit and allow us and
our listeners all thousands ofthem to get to know you.
Matt Graham (24:02):
Well, I'm telling you it's going to be millions.
I'm absolutely sure.
I mean it's going to beworldwide, so thanks again for
joining us.
Richie Babb (24:12):
That's all the time we have for this episode of
Amplify, the Chesapeake PublicSchools podcast.
You can share your thoughts byvisiting cpschoolscom.
Don't forget to follow us onSpotify, apple Podcast, google
Podcast, amazon Music Stitcherand iHeart Radio, wherever you
get your podcast.
Thanks for listening.
Welcome to Amplified the Chesapeake Public
Schools podcast.
Richie Babb (00:13):
Chesapeake Schools is located in the Hampton Roads
area of southeastern Virginia.
We serve 40,000 students in 45schools and three centers.
This podcast is designed totell the stories behind our
story and to introduce andcelebrate the people and
programs that make us one of thepremier school districts in
Virginia.
Matt Graham (00:34):
Alright, welcome to our very first episode of
Amplified the Chesapeake PublicSchools podcast.
This is Matt Graham, and I amhere with Mr Richie Babb.
Richie Babb (00:44):
Indeed.
Matt Graham (00:45):
Yep, and we are also here with a special guest,
our superintendent, Dr JaredCotton.
Hello, happy to be here.
Alright, and word on the streetis that you are an avid tennis
player.
Is that true?
Dr. Jared A. Cotton (00:59):
I'm a tennis player, I would say, and
I enjoy tennis.
I won't speak to how good I amat tennis, but I do enjoy tennis
.
Richie Babb (01:08):
Yeah, we decided not to ask that question, so so
how's your?
Dr. Jared A. Cotton (01:12):
summer been .
It's been hot, I will tell you,but I been busy.
A lot of people don't realizethat there's a lot that goes on
in the summer in schools.
You know I still have people Irun into and say aren't you
excited that you have thesummer's off?
Matt Graham (01:24):
And I said no, I don't have the summer's off,
we're working.
Dr. Jared A. Cotton (01:27):
Right, and we're very busy preparing for
the upcoming school year andit's a different kind of busy
but it's very busy.
But fortunately I did have sometime to break away and take a
little bit of vacation and, asthe staff know, I had a chance
to go on an Alaskan cruise,which was amazing.
Nice With my family time toseparate and get away, but of
course.
Now we're back and gettingready for the start of a great
(01:48):
school year Awesome.
Richie Babb (01:49):
Yeah, I would hate to have seen your email inbox
when you got back from Alaska.
Dr. Jared A. Cotton (01:55):
Yeah, surprisingly it wasn't too bad.
One of the things I like aboutgoing on a cruise is you don't
get your emails very well.
Yeah, Right.
And you do disconnect a littlebit once the boat takes off and
leaves the shore, but that doeshelp with a nice break.
But you're right, when you getback they're all there, Right.
Richie Babb (02:13):
Right.
So I think most people may know, but tell us a little bit about
your connection with ChesapeakePublic Schools.
Dr. Jared A. Cotton (02:21):
Sure, well, I started as a student, of
course, in Chesapeake.
I started in fifth grade.
I just relocated back toVirginia.
I had my family was well-rootedhere in this area, norfolk,
chesapeake area.
So I started as a student infifth grade at Crestwood
Intermediate.
Of course at the time it was anelementary school.
(02:43):
It was grades probably fourthrough six at the time.
I know it's a little differentnow, but so then I went on
through Crestwood, crestwoodmiddle school and then I went to
Grapewich High School where Igraduated as a wildcat, and then
, of course, Well, that makesthree of us actually in this
room that graduate fromGraebridge.
Richie Babb (03:01):
Yeah.
Dr. Jared A. Cotton (03:02):
I'm among friends.
We've got lots of wildcats inhere and then, of course, went
on to Old Dominion University.
Didn't know exactly what Iwanted to do, but I found my way
, gravitating toward teachingand education.
There were lots of differentpaths that I was pursuing or
looking to pursue, but I keptcoming back to teaching.
(03:23):
And then I was fortunate tostart teaching at Crestwood
Intermediate, where I was once astudent, and I actually ended
up in the same classroom where Iwas once a student.
So I was hired to teach fifthgrade.
I did that for several yearsand then I had a chance to go
into a technology job and a lotof people don't realize this,
but at the time I was one of twotechnology integration specials
for the whole city ofChesapeake.
(03:45):
Now we have pretty much one inevery school.
Richie Babb (03:48):
Right.
Dr. Jared A. Cotton (03:48):
But at that time there were only two of us,
so I got a lot of time on theroad traveling from school to
school and then, of course, cameup through Chesapeake.
Assistant Principal at ChittumElementary, had a brief stint at
Hickory Middle School as anassistant principal, then, of
course, became a principal atTriegel Elementary for a couple
of years and I became thedirector of assessment and
(04:09):
accountability, where Iintegrated technology with
testing because at that time itwas moving to computers and
online.
And then, of course, I had anopportunity to go to Virginia
Beach for a stint there as theirassistant superintendent for
accountability, which ended upbeing associate superintendent
for lots of other areas.
Then I went to Henry County assuperintendent in the you all
(04:31):
know Henry County andMartinsville area in the western
part of the state and did thatfor several years and I had the
great honor to come back home tomy hometown here in.
Chesapeake and just finished myfifth year here in Chesapeake,
so looking forward to startingmy sixth year in Chesapeake.
Richie Babb (04:47):
Yeah, the further we get away from the pandemic,
probably the better.
You look forward to each yearmore.
Dr. Jared A. Cotton (04:52):
Of course, those two years felt like ten.
Yeah, absolutely right.
Richie Babb (04:57):
Absolutely right.
Matt Graham (04:58):
Well, when you were telling us about your
background there and all that,was there something in
particular that made you sort oflean towards that education?
Like, was there something likea moment or something that kind
of had that spark that broughtyou to education?
Dr. Jared A. Cotton (05:13):
Sure, and I tell this, we like to call it
our origin story.
Those of you who likesuperheroes, they always have an
origin story.
But at the time I was initiallypursuing a degree in pharmacy.
I thought I was going to becomea pharmacist, and then I found
my way to the Pine TreatmentCenter where I was a counselor
and an activities coordinatorlifeguard.
(05:34):
So I was involved in activitieswhile I was pursuing a college
degree.
And then the thing that reallychanged things for me is I had
to substitute in a classroomthere for a couple weeks and, by
the way, I had been in thatclassroom a few times and those
kids were not at all interestedin what was going on in that
classroom.
(05:55):
So they were misbehaving, theywere distracted, they were
constantly being removed and Iwould be the one who would have
to take them out of theclassroom because they were
having issues.
And they said we need you to bethe sub for two weeks.
And I said are you kidding you?
Matt Graham (06:10):
want me to take that job.
Dr. Jared A. Cotton (06:13):
And I said, okay, I'll do it.
And of course I said but I'mnot going to do it the way that
it was being done.
I wanted to make it excitinghands on.
I took the student outside, wedid science experiments, we got
fully engaged in learning andI'm a big science math person
and I really wanted theminvolved with hands on
(06:33):
activities.
And what I found was thestudents were excited about
participating in the activitiesand we didn't have any behavior
issues during those two weeks.
And because I laid it out atthe beginning, I said we're
going to have a great time, butif you mess up, then if we go
outside, we all got to come backinside.
Richie Babb (06:49):
Right.
Dr. Jared A. Cotton (06:51):
And they took me at my word and we had a
great two weeks and I realizedI'm pretty good at this.
I'm pretty good at gettingstudents engaged and excited
about learning.
And then I said maybe this ismy calling.
And then, of course, I went totell my parents that I wanted to
be a teacher.
The first thing they said wasdo you like being poor?
And I said, I don't care whatsalary I make.
(07:16):
I feel like this is what I wasmeant to do.
And so it was such a powerfulexperience to realize, when
you're struggling to find yourpath and that's what we talked
about and just before the timeis helping students find their
purpose and what they'repassionate about.
And for someone who isstruggling for so many different
career paths to find the onethat really resonated with me,
(07:40):
and the fact that I've had a 30year career, that started with
that spark, and that's why Ithink it's so important that we
get our students exposed todifferent opportunities early,
absolutely.
Richie Babb (07:52):
Looking back at your time as a student in
Chesapeake, any teachers thatstand out to you or that you
look to as sort of role modelsin teaching?
Dr. Jared A. Cotton (08:02):
Of course, one of the funny things that
happened to me.
When I came back to Chesapeake,I went to Indian River High
School to do my welcome meet andgreet and then I heard a voice
coming from the hallway and itwas Mrs Shuler, who was my sixth
grade teacher, and at the timeand she's recently retired.
actually, I think she's failedat retirement because I think
we've already brought her backto work part time.
(08:23):
But I heard her voice and rightaway I knew it was her and she
was a great teacher in sixthgrade when I was at Crestwood,
and so it was so good to runinto her again.
But one of my all time favoriteteachers that I always remember
is Mrs Martha Woolery fromGrape Ridge High.
Matt Graham (08:41):
School.
Dr. Jared A. Cotton (08:41):
She was my English teacher when I was in
10th grade at Grape Ridge Highand I was so happy to be in her
class and she really had a wayto make you feel confident that
she could be a great writer,that you could be a great
speaker, because she had us dopublic speaking?
in her English class and shealso sponsored different
(09:03):
organizations that I was a partof as well.
And what I thought was sopowerful is when I was at an
event later in my career.
I saw her at an event beingrecognized and I went up to her
in the parking lot and I madesure I told her, because that's
one of the things that we don'tdo a good job of doing we don't
tell people that they've had animpact on our lives.
So I'm so happy that I did that.
(09:24):
Unfortunately, mrs Woolerypassed away a handful of years
ago, but I'm so happy that I hadthe chance to tell her when I
saw her.
And I do encourage you hear mesay this all the time Let people
know they've had an impact onyou and your life, because a lot
of times they have no idea andas educators, we're always happy
(09:45):
to hear that.
Richie Babb (09:46):
Yeah, no doubt.
So you mentioned 30 years ineducation.
What changes in educationgenerally have been most
significant in your opinion?
Dr. Jared A. Cotton (09:58):
Well, I would say the first one that
comes to mind, obviously, istechnology has certainly changed
so much.
You know, I I laugh sometimeswhen I think about my time at
Crestwood Middle School and Itell people you know, we didn't
have AC in the building, right,and we weren't allowed to wear
shorts, except when thetemperature hit over we were
(10:19):
allowed to wear the shorts, soterrible that we were excited
about a hundred degree.
But you know temperatures.
But anyway, you know thetechnology, the one-to-one
technology and all the all thatwe've done.
Now we have one-to-one devicesfor our students, but also the
all the different software thatwe've been purchasing and that
we've made available to ourstudents that can really
(10:40):
Personalize learning and helpour students really meet their
specific needs.
But we also have been usingtechnology much more now to get
students to think creatively, tocommunicate in many different
ways.
And and one of the biggestthings that I've seen over the
last few years is you know, whenwe were in school, when you
were writing or communicating orpresenting, you were presenting
(11:01):
to your class or your teachernow.
You have the ability to presentto the world right now.
Right.
What you create and present,develop can be shared all over
the world.
All over the country, you getfeedback from people in all
different parts of the world,which is exciting but also adds
a level of responsibility thatyou have to be mindful of right,
(11:23):
because Anything you put outthere is there for everyone to
see.
Yeah, so it.
So that has changed quite a bit.
You know we've also been reallyworking on what do we value in
education.
You know, as you are goingthrough learning the facts and
figures, those those areimportant to a point, but what
we really have to spend timedoing is making sure that we're
(11:46):
preparing our students for theworkforce, and that means
critical thinking, communication, collaboration, all of those
important skills that ourstudents really need to develop
and Years ago we didn't reallyhave a good way to measure that
or to assess that or toencourage that, and now it's a
must.
Yeah in order to prepare ourstudents for the future.
(12:06):
And we're really big inChesapeake on preparing our
students for what's next whetherit's a career, whether it's the
military, whether it's college,and In order to do that, you've
really got to make sure thatyou're creating learning
opportunities in schools wherestudents can develop those
Important skills.
Richie Babb (12:22):
Yeah, yeah right.
Matt Graham (12:23):
Yeah, it's all post online, like yesterday, about
how the smart boards and alltheir classrooms have been taken
.
Yeah, right, and I rememberwhen that was like the
innovation, right, yeah yeah, sono more of that sort of stage
on the stage everyone, it's notjust on the board.
Everyone's has that right.
Dr. Jared A. Cotton (12:38):
Yeah, and a good point, because we've just
added box light Flat panels toall of our learning spaces,
which is incredible, Wow whichmeans that any of our students,
as you were saying, can presentproject.
You know, it's not just theteacher, right.
Matt Graham (12:53):
Right.
Dr. Jared A. Cotton (12:53):
And now students can put they can be
working on something on theircomputer and they can pop it up
on the box, box like projectorand then they can share it with
the class, and it's reallymaking sure that everyone has an
opportunity to share their work.
Richie Babb (13:09):
I think the biggest thing about that sort of
technology change is it reallyaffects student engagement.
When I started teaching, andcertainly when I was in school,
as you know, it was sitting get,I mean, and if you didn't get
it that's your problem, whereasnow this technology allows us to
really make sure that studentsare engaged, and I'm glad you
said that because it's really afocus.
Dr. Jared A. Cotton (13:31):
here in Chesapeake we are working on
more student centered learningand we have three distinct areas
that we're really working on.
That's one, one technology, asI've shared project based
learning and assessment wherestudents are involved more in
projects than instead ofmultiple choice tests, because
we know that's going to preparethem better for their future.
And of course we've been reallyworking to help support our
(13:53):
students with their well beingand their social emotional
development and of course, asyou all know, that's been quite
the challenge during COVID andcoming out of.
COVID.
So there are lots of ways thatwe have to put supports in place
to help students academicallyand with building their
confidence and working towardtheir goals.
(14:14):
So those are areas that arereally helping us be more
student centered rather thanteacher centered, right.
Because as you were saying theteachers this age on the stage
in the past, yeah Now we wantour students to do more of the
talking and more of the thinkingrather than the teacher doing
all the work.
The students should be Right.
Matt Graham (14:31):
Right, yeah, for sure.
Richie Babb (14:32):
All right, thank you, dr.
Matt Graham (14:33):
Connor, we're going to take a quick break and
continue this amazingconversation as we get to know
you and some of the awesomethings that are happening here
with just be public schoolsFamilies.
(14:54):
Now is the time to complete theonline student verification
process through parent view.
This important process ensuresthat we have the correct
emergency contact information onfile for your student.
The deadline is Friday,September 29th 2023.
Visit cpschoolscom for moreinformation.
Be a part of the ChesapeakePublic Schools family.
(15:20):
We are hiring teachers, busdrivers, school nutrition
workers, nurses and more.
Visit cpschoolscom or call757-547-0001 to join our team.
Richie Babb (15:40):
All right, we're back here.
You're just joining us.
Just rewind the podcast,actually, yeah.
I didn't realize so I wouldrecommend you listen to the
whole thing.
Well, it's fine.
You say like rewind.
Matt Graham (15:52):
I know Rewind, I know my daughter is a teacher Is
is six and we're watching amovie and she's like Reback it.
There is no wine.
Can you reback it?
And I'm like that makes totalsense.
Richie Babb (16:06):
It's funny people still say when they videotape,
when they record things, theysay I got to go videotape this.
We haven't used videotape inhow long but some of those words
stick around, but anyway we'vebeen talking to Superintendent
Dr Jared Cotton and trying toget into his background and some
of his thoughts on education.
But we want to kind of turn itnow to to Chesapeake Public
(16:27):
Schools, and the beginning ofschool is here.
Matt Graham (16:29):
Yeah, so school is just underway, and are there any
new programs or projects orinitiatives that you're
especially excited about thatyou'd like to share with our
listeners in our community?
Dr. Jared A. Cotton (16:42):
Sure, we always have great things
happening each and every year aswe kick off a new year, and
that's one of the things I loveabout education is, every year
you have a fresh start.
You get to start anew and I wasone of those nerds that enjoyed
the beginning of the school yearin the fall.
But we've got some great thingsgoing on, academically as well
as safety-wise.
(17:02):
I'll talk about some of thesafety niches we're excited
about.
We are implementing the StudentID badges, which many of our
listeners probably have heardabout through the news.
Where our students are inelementary schools, k through
five are going to have an IDbadge, which is going to be
important because they're goingto be able to check in when they
get on the bus.
They're going to be able to usethose badges when they check
out in the cafeteria, when theycheck books out in the library,
(17:26):
and we've piloted that atNorfolk Highlands Elementary
this past year and it was verywell received.
So it's going to be veryhelpful from a safety
perspective, but also from aconvenience perspective.
And of course, if that goes wellas we anticipate it will we're
going to expand to Midland HighSchool, so that's exciting.
We've also just reported on ourSheriff deputies.
(17:46):
We've partnered with theSheriff's Department.
Our community and our boardmembers have said we really need
to work on improving safety inour elementary schools and we're
very excited that now we'regoing to have Sheriff deputies
serving in different boroughsthroughout our elementary school
zones and they're going to bein and out of our elementary
schools on a regular basis,providing an extra layer of
(18:07):
support.
And what a great partnershipwith our Sheriff's office.
Matt Graham (18:11):
So those are.
Dr. Jared A. Cotton (18:12):
Those are two really exciting initiatives
that are going on.
From an instructionalstandpoint.
You know we are implementing anew learning management system
Canvas and parents.
It'd be a little adjustment butfrom what I've seen from the
teachers already they havereally embraced this new
learning management system.
You all know we had School of Gin the past but now we're
(18:32):
moving toward Canvas.
But what's exciting about it isall of our resources are being
loaded in there over the summerto prepare our students and our
teachers for interactive handson collaborative type lessons.
So all of that is being uploadedand ready to go and we're going
to continue, as I said earlier,to work towards student
centered learning initiativesreally focusing on our students
(18:56):
being more actively engaged inlearning through projects and
project based instruction aswell as assessments.
So those things are happeningthat are really exciting.
Parents of our younger studentsare also going to start seeing
more happening in elementaryreading.
You know, we're reallyembracing the science of reading
, which is research basedinstructional methods to really
(19:20):
help our students develop in thearea of literacy, and that's
going to be something that'sthat we started working on last
year and that's really rampingup as we move into this year.
So those are.
Those are some of the thingsthat are that are happening as
we move into this, this newschool year.
And, of course, we're workingon lots of capital improvement
projects and doing some work toinvest in playgrounds across
(19:44):
several of our schools andtracks and and fields we're
trying to develop.
That's a work in progress that'sgoing to take time and it's
interesting that you asked thisquestion because we're going to
do a readiness presentation forthe board at the next board
meeting, where we talk aboutsome of the things that we've
accomplished over the summer.
That's really gearing us up fora new year.
Richie Babb (20:05):
I want to step back for just a second on the school
safety topic.
I know that the deputyinitiative that we have is
evidence of our interest inschool safety, but I don't know
if most people know like ourschool safety team and that sort
of stuff Talk about what we doto help ensure safety in our
(20:26):
schools.
Dr. Jared A. Cotton (20:27):
Sure, we do get a lot of feedback about
safety and what are we doing toaddress school safety?
I'm really proud to be a partof the Chesapeake community
because we have such a greatpartnership with our first
responders, our ChesapeakePolice Department and our police
chief, chief Sileski, oursheriff as I've spoken about
earlier Sheriff O'Sullivan, andour city at large.
(20:48):
I mean, we've got so manydifferent community partners who
meet monthly to talk aboutsafety initiatives.
It's the mayor's safety taskforce.
Our mayor, dr West.
Rick West put together thistask force, I would say probably
about almost six years ago, andwe meet monthly and we talk
about ways that we can improvesafety.
(21:10):
We have subgroups who reportout, we gather feedback.
Every time there's a safetyincident, we debrief, we talk
about and, whether it's oursafety incident or an incident
around the world, I often getasked about.
You know what happened locally?
Yes, we do pay attention tothat, but we also pay attention
to safety events that happeneverywhere, because there's
always learning that can happenthere.
(21:31):
So what we do is we discuss it,we debrief, we talk about ways
that we can improve safety, andI have to tell you that we've
made incredible progress overthe last few years ensuring up
safety in our schools.
But safety's never done.
It's a daily conversation, it'sa constant review and
discussion and it's constantplanning.
(21:52):
And, of course, our citycouncil has been supportive in
providing us with funds to helpwith some of our safety projects
, which has been powerful aswell.
Matt Graham (22:00):
Yeah, I think I think my kids.
I have two kids that are in theschool system, that are in
their four and six.
They're in the elementaryschool, so I think they're going
to be excited about seeing thesheriffs.
Richie Babb (22:11):
Oh, yeah, I'm sure, yeah, right, yeah.
And you know and SheriffO'Sullivan also mentioned the
fact that it's good for them,because then kids get to see at
a very young age that they'rethe good guys.
Dr. Jared A. Cotton (22:24):
Yeah the good guys and girls.
And Sheriff O'Sullivan madesuch a great point.
He said that the first reactionthat our young students have
with law enforcement he wants itto be positive.
Matt Graham (22:34):
Right and.
Dr. Jared A. Cotton (22:35):
I thought that was a powerful statement
that he made and, after meetingthe group that he's put together
to serve our elementary schools, I'm very excited about the
team we have in place, so I'mlooking forward to starting day
one with this new initiative and, of course, depending on how it
goes which I anticipate will goreally well we'll certainly
look at adding even additionalsafety and security.
(22:58):
The other thing that we've addedat elementary schools that I
want to make sure the listenersknows we added additional school
security officers.
Those are our staff memberswe've added and they're serving
elementary schools as well, sowe're increasing those numbers
also.
So, among other things, thereare lots of things that we do.
We don't always enumerate allthe great safety initiatives we
(23:19):
have in place, but we want tomake sure that everyone's aware
that it's always top of mind.
The number one thing we have todo is make sure students and
staff are safe each and everyday.
Instruction is what we're allabout, but you can't have good
instruction and high qualityteaching and learning if you
don't feel safe.
Correct.
So, that's why we make sure thatwe spend time making sure
(23:40):
everyone feels safe and that wedo everything we can to ensure
safety in our schools.
Richie Babb (23:44):
Yeah Well, I appreciate you taking your time
to be with us.
That's, we're out of time andI'm sure you have other things
to do, but we appreciate yourtime.
It was nice to have a fewminutes to sit and allow us and
our listeners all thousands ofthem to get to know you.
Matt Graham (24:02):
Well, I'm telling you it's going to be millions.
I'm absolutely sure.
I mean it's going to beworldwide, so thanks again for
joining us.
Richie Babb (24:12):
That's all the time we have for this episode of
Amplify, the Chesapeake PublicSchools podcast.
You can share your thoughts byvisiting cpschoolscom.
Don't forget to follow us onSpotify, apple Podcast, google
Podcast, amazon Music Stitcherand iHeart Radio, wherever you
get your podcast.
Thanks for listening.
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