April 24, 2025 • 40 mins
In this episode of Build Momentum, we are joined by Dr. James Lane, Chief Executive Officer of PDK International, a nonprofit that supports those who work in public education, and its community-based movement Educators Rising. He has served at the federal, state, and local levels: in the U.S. Department of Education as Acting Assistant Secretary and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education; as Superintendent of Public Instruction in Virginia; and as Superintendent of three Virginia school divisions in Chesterfield County, Goochland County, and Middlesex County. Dr. Lane is also a former school principal and band director.
Some Questions We Ask:
- Tell us more about your career at all levels of K-12 education and now as a leader at PDK? (01:22)
- What is the most rewarding aspect of your career? (05:01)
- What insights from your time in the Department of Education surprised you—and were there any misconceptions about the superintendency that you experienced while working as a policymaker? (08:02)
- What are your thoughts about the 2023 RAND study, and do you have similar perspectives as other superintendents? (12:36)
- What are your strategies for bringing the community together to see your vision? (17:09)
- How have you been able to connect with the whole community to support you along the way in your career? (22:59)
- What is your opinion regarding humanizing the role of superintendents? (28:36)
- What advice would you give to supporters of K-12 education about advocating for district leaders? (33:13)
In This Episode, You Will Learn:
- About Dr. James Lane (01:32)
- Rewarding aspect of his expansive career (05:20)
- Insights he gained and misconceptions he encountered (08:21)
- Thoughts about the 2023 RAND study (13:06)
- Strategies for bringing the community together (17:34)
- How he connected with the community (23:13)
- His thoughts on humanizing the role of superintendents (28:51)
- Advice on advocating for K-12 district leaders (33:47)
Quotes:
“For me, the rewarding part of education is working with kids and preparing them for an amazing life and career and job and everything else. And I tried to remember that in every role I've ever been in.”
“The very best school districts I've seen have stability in the board and the superintendent, and then that leads to stability in the principalship, of the teachers, and of expectations around what we do in schools.”
“What your families want for their kids is important. Be willing to change what you want to do in that community based on the feedback of families.”
“The best thing that we can do to improve schools is make sure there's a great teacher in every classroom who's engaging parents and students.”
Stay in touch with Dr. James Lane:
PDK International
Educators Rising
LinkedIn
Stay in touch with Sarah Williamson:
SWPR GROUP Website
LinkedIn
Stay in touch with Chad Bolser:
LinkedIn
About "The Secret to Transformational Leadership," which Sarah co-authored with Dr. Quintin Shepherd:
Transformational Leadership Secret website
Purchase the print or ebook
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Sarah Williamson (00:05):
Hello and welcome to Build Momentum for
Education, a Podcast where weexplore thought leadership in
education. I'm Sarah Williamson,the founder of SWPR Group, an
agency that supports publicrelations, communication
strategies and thoughtleadership support for school
districts, education companiesand nonprofit organizations.
Chad Bolser (00:23):
And I'm Chad Bolser, chancellor at Ivy Tech
Community College in Indiana,this season, we explore a
particularly unique perspectivein K 12 thought leadership,
humanizing the role of thesuperintendent.
Sarah Williamson (00:36):
Throughout the many conversations we continue
to have with superintendents, aclear theme has emerged about
the need to bring more humanityinto the role of the
superintendency. In this specialseries, we interview current and
former superintendents andresearchers to pursue the core
question, how can we better seesuperintendents as real people
navigating complex challenges toprovide the best possible
(00:56):
education for K 12 students?
Chad Bolser (00:58):
We dig deeper into how this important work can help
build community, invitecollaboration and increase
widespread engagement.
Sarah Williamson (01:08):
We can't wait to get started. So let's dive
in. In today's episode, we'rejoined by Dr. James Lane, the
CEO of PDK International andEducators Rising. Dr. Lane, you
have such an incrediblebackground in education. Would
you mind sharing your deepexperience as a school district
superintendent for threedistricts in Virginia, your work
(01:28):
with the Department of Educationand more about your role as the
leader of PDK?
Dr. James Lane (01:32):
Yeah, absolutely. Thank you Sarah and
Chad, it's great to be with youall today and excited to be on
the podcast. Yes, I've been asuperintendent three districts
in Virginia. The first wasMiddlesex County Virginia, which
was a district out on the coastof Virginia. Actually, at the
time I was there, the entiredistrict had 1200 students, and
it was an amazing experience.
And I'm so glad I started mycareer there, first and
(01:55):
foremost. Because when you're ina community that small, everyone
knows everybody, it's like,everywhere you go is like,
cheers. And so, you know,everyone knows your name. And I
just loved the fact that I knewevery student in the community.
I knew every teacher intensely.
And there was this amazingopportunity for us to move the
school district together with ashared vision, because the
(02:15):
community was so tight. And justabsolutely loved my time there.
And then I went to Goochland,Virginia. And Goochland is a
slightly larger district, about2500 kids in that district at
the time that I was there, andwas known already as being one
of the most innovative districtsin the state. And again, because
of their relative size, we wereable to galvanize the community
(02:38):
around what we wanted to do. Andreally took that district to
becoming one of the very bestdistricts, not only in my
opinion, in all of Virginia, butaround the nation. We put
together an amazing team therethat was just passionate about
student engagement, make sureevery kid loved learning. And
that spirit infiltrated theentire district. And I really
felt like when I was there, wewere on the edge of really
(03:01):
building an amazing educationsystem focused on students and
their love of learning. And Ijust really enjoyed my time
there. And I was lucky enoughfrom the work that we did there
in growing the school district,to become the Virginia
Superintendent of the Year. Andso that launched me to a
position as the superintendentin Chesterfield. Chesterfield
County in Virginia is thelargest suburb of Richmond,
(03:24):
Virginia. It's one of the 70largest districts in the nation.
I think they got to beapproaching 70,000 students.
Now, you know, nearly 70schools. And just a real honor
to go from, you know, growing upin rural school districts in
terms of the superintendency togo into one of the largest in
America. And we really, again,built an amazing district that
(03:48):
got great outcomes for kids.
When I got there, we had a fewof the schools that weren't
accredited, for the first timein the history of the district.
Turned that around immediately,and that really, that district
has been on a jet pack. Theyjust hired a new superintendent
who was one of the principalswhen I was in the district, and
just impressed with what he'sgoing to do with the district.
And it was amazing time. And sothere's three great experiences.
When the governor got elected in2018 you know, he called and
(04:10):
asked if I would serve duringthat four years. Of course, I
didn't know we were going to bein the middle of COVID and all
of that, which was a unique partof that four years from 2018 to
2022, and in Virginia, we onlyhave one term governor, so we
knew we wouldn't be running forre election. So at the end of my
term, that's when the BidenAdministration called, and I led
K 12 initiatives for the Bidenadministration. But it was an
(04:31):
amazing experience. And, youknow, being a kid from Corbin,
Kentucky, where I just I neverthought in my life that A, I
would have these amazingexperiences, but B, that I'd be
sitting in the White Housediscussing policy with the top
leaders, not only in the nationbut the world sometimes. It's
been an amazing journey, andI've enjoyed every minute of it.
Chad Bolser (04:51):
Well, we're thrilled to have you here and
have a little time to talk andwith that resume that you just
outlined there quickly for us,we'd love to understand what you
have found to be the mostrewarding aspects of serving in
educational leadershippositions, particularly as you
just stated, you've had tons ofexperiences and different
(05:13):
capacities supporting theimportant work of education. So
what do you think about the mostrewarding aspects of that?
Dr. James Lane (05:20):
Well, every day I wake up and I think of myself
as a teacher that has gotten todo some of these really cool
things. I mean, I got intoeducation. I was a band
director. I got into educationbecause I wanted to teach music.
I wanted to teach kids a love ofmusic, and I wanted them to be
advocates for music education.
Because, you know, that's alwaysa challenge, especially during
difficult budget years. And youknow, I have a general rule that
(05:43):
I don't follow my kids or letthem follow me on social media,
or as much as you're allowed tocontrol that, unless they're
like have gotten into theircareers and are into jobs and
now they're all young adults allthese years later. And it's
amazing to me how many of themwork in the music industry,
whether it's some of them areband directors. Frankly, in the
band director of the high schoolthat my middle school fed into
(06:04):
was one of my former students.
Some of them are universityprofessors of music. Others are
DJs. Others work in radio.
Others are rappers and producersand all kinds of things. And so
for me, the rewarding part ofeducation is working with kids
and preparing them for anamazing life in career, in job
and everything else. And I tryto remember that in every role
(06:26):
I've ever been in that none ofus would be here. We wouldn't
have a central office, wewouldn't have a school district
if we didn't have kids andteachers and teaching and
learning. And so everything thatI have tried to do has been in
service of our teachers so thatthey can maximize the potential
of our students. And so whetherit was being at the US
Department of Education, the 50million plus kids in the nation,
(06:48):
when we were making policydecisions that could impact the
lives of that many Americans, Iwanted to make sure that it was
going to make a positivedifference in student outcomes
and students, you know,opportunities for economic
stability in their lives andgrowth and opportunity. And when
I was the state superintendent,and we were making some of the
difficult decisions aroundCOVID, I wanted to make sure
that we were going to doeverything in our power to make
(07:10):
sure that we were moving ourstate's education system
forward. And then obviously, asa district superintendent, a lot
of the decisions you make on adaily basis impact kids from
scheduling everything else, andso it's never been lost on me,
the burden of leadership andthat every decision you make
impacts so many Americans lives,that for me, the reward is
(07:30):
knowing when those outcomes comeout, or I hear a story from a
student later in life that madea difference, that I want to
make sure that the decisions Imake are ultimately in service
of our kids, and I know that thecloser I worked with kids, the
better decisions I make, and soI spend a lot of time as a
superintendent, as a statesuperintendent, as a US
(07:51):
Department of Educationofficial, making sure I spent
time in classrooms. So it wasnever lost on me why we were
there, and the rewards aremaking a difference for kids.
Sarah Williamson (08:02):
Yeah, that's so inspiring. I'm curious. When
I was thinking about questionsto ask you, one of the things
I'm most curious about is anyinsights you've gleaned from
your work with the US Departmentof Education that surprised you,
or were there any misconceptionsyou maybe had as a
superintendent that shiftedafter you had the experience of
working as a policy maker?
Dr. James Lane (08:21):
Yeah, and I will say being a district
superintendent is vastlydifferent than being state
superintendent. And statesuperintendent is vastly
different from being anassistant secretary, Acting
Assistant Secretary in the USDepartment of Ed. One of the
biggest surprises for me is, youknow, for lack of a better
phrase, how the sausage is made.
You know, I went from being thestate education leader, State
Superintendent Virginia, to theUS Department of Education, and
(08:43):
the levels of conversation andbureaucracy that you have to go
through to get regulations doneor issue grants, or, you know,
we call them NIS, and all ofthese pieces, there's a
clearance process where I justassumed that decisions were made
solely in the Department of Edby the leaders in that sector of
the department. And truthfully,you know, staffers would put
(09:06):
together policy briefings, andthen ultimately, that would turn
into regulations that wereleased, or notice for
applications and everythingelse, or notice of new
priorities or whatever it maybe. And then that would, you
know, filter through my team andvarious rounds that's known as
clearance in the federalgovernment. And then it got to
me, and then I would clear it,and then it would go to the
(09:26):
office of the secretary, andthey'd have to clear and then it
would go to the Office ofManagement and Budget, and then
they'd have to clear it. Then itwould go to the Domestic Policy
Council, and then they'd have toclear it. And then if at any
point of those steps they hadcomments or edits they wanted to
make, it would go back throughcertain rounds of clearance. And
you know, it just felt likethings that we knew were great
for kids, the process waslaborious. Now, I think that's
good in some ways, becauseyou're getting a lot of policy
(09:49):
makers eyes on it. And before wewould release things, Congress
would often require that webriefed members of Congress on
what we were doing and why wewere doing it. And so. So you
know, by the time you actuallyrelease something, you had
confidence that a lot of thestakeholders that were essential
in making the decision had achance to weigh in. And of
course, we had public commentperiods where parents and
teachers and advocates andassociations could write in. We
(10:13):
had to consider all of that inthe process. And so when
everything scales up to thisfederal level, that was the part
that was most surprising me ishow big it all was, and that,
you know, at the end of the day,we had to consolidate all that
big information and feedbackthat we were getting. I mean,
there would be some of ourreleases where 40,000 people
would comment. We'd have to gothrough those one by one, and
(10:34):
ultimately, once you got adecision made, you know, then it
goes out and you have the chanceto make a difference in kids
lives, like I talked about, evenat the state level, it was, you
know, potentially easier torelease policy than the way that
I saw that experience in thefederal government. And COVID
gave me some unique insights,where we were granted waivers of
certain regulations so that wecould make things happen faster.
(10:57):
It was fascinating to me to evensee that same process that's at
the federal level compared tothe state level, where, you
know, the General Assembly wouldpass laws, we would then,
similarly, have a policy teamreact to that, but then we would
take it to the board, and therewould be public comment,
multiple readings and all ofthat. But the process just the
closer you get to kids, gooddecisions can happen faster for
(11:19):
kids, and there is a need forprocess and making sure that
people have tons of opportunityfor feedback. But I think that
those that work in schooldistricts would be surprised at
the level of bureaucracy you gothrough. And then the other
thing I'd say I'm surprisedabout is when you run a State
Department of Education, youknow, you run Title One programs
and all the various federalprograms, and then, of course,
(11:40):
you're issuing the dollars thatcome from the General Assembly
for state and local budgets, andyou really have a strong grasp
on everything that's going on inyour state. It's amazing to me
that when I went to the federallevel, how much more is going
on, from competitive grants topolicy briefings to events to
executive orders and everythingelse that filters into it,
(12:01):
there's just so much moreinvolvement and intricacy the
further you get from thestudent. And so that's as a
policy maker, I've tried toalways be a person, and I said
this before, that stayedgrounded with what kids needed,
and that was the thing I think Ihelped with the most at the US
Department of Education, asevery idea came forward.
Sometimes I agree with it,sometimes I didn't. I was able
(12:24):
to give a really uniqueperspective on this is what it
really looks like in the field.
This is how you're going toimpact people. And let's make
sure that we consider thatbefore we actually do something
that's going to change the livesof that many Americans.
Chad Bolser (12:36):
At 2023, RAND study found that superintendents have
one of the most stressful jobsin America, and we have been
asking the superintendents thathave come on this podcast series
their thoughts about thesefindings. They have been super
interesting in their response tothat. Does this ring true for
(12:57):
you as a former superintendentand in your work at the
Department of Education, did youhear similar perspectives from
superintendents across theUnited States?
Dr. James Lane (13:06):
Definitely rings true for me. I mean, obviously I
was a superintendent and canspeak firsthand to the I think I
used this phrase before, but theburden of leadership, you know
that these are massive, massiveorganizations in your
communities, and oftentimes yourschool district is, you know,
not only place where we educateour children, it's sometimes the
largest employer in yourcommunity, and in Chesterfield,
(13:29):
I think at the time I was there,we had, you know, between bus
drivers and everybody, nearly10,000 employees in our school
district, and they're inherentlydesigned with school boards to
make sure that communities andparents are get a voice in
education. And there are a lotof varying opinions, I wouldn't
even say, on both sides, on allsides, of any aisle, of what
(13:51):
could come into asuperintendent's frame of
reference when it comes tomaking a decision. And I'm a big
believer in a shared vision forour school district. You heard
me talk about that before. I'm abig believer in making sure that
we have opportunities foreveryone in our community to
weigh in on what's best for ourkids, and then we move forward.
And you've also heard me say, Ibelieve that the best decisions
(14:12):
are made closest to thestudents, which is why I want to
make sure there's a lot of voicefor our parents and our
principals and our teachers tomake good decisions for our
students. And so I rememberreading a book in grad school
all years ago about the tangledweb of Educational Leadership,
and now that I've seen it, notonly at the local, well, you
know, I went from classroom tobuilding to district to state to
(14:36):
federal leadership, having beenin all of those seats, it's
unbelievable how many peopleweigh in on a daily basis on the
decisions that superintendentsmake. The federal government is
coming down with mandates andcompliance and grants. The state
is coming down with regulationsand new laws. We might pass 1 to
10 education laws in an entireadministration. In the federal
(14:59):
government. You compare that tothe state, they may pass 200
education laws each session, andthen that filters down into
school board policy. And then,of course, you know, the
principal and the teacher andthe parents and all the
stakeholders that have to beinvolved in this. And so the
superintendent is doing anunbelievable juggling act trying
to make sure that they'renavigating all these differing
(15:20):
opinions of the right thing todo with their district, side by
side with all of these federaland state and local compliance
mandates to ultimately make adecision. And then, you know,
let's be honest, education hasbeen at the center of politics
over the last four years,especially coming out of the
pandemic, and superintendentsare facing a lot more pressures
than they've ever ever had. Andso it definitely rings true to
(15:43):
me, and it's one of the reasonswhen I came to PDK, we started a
network to supportsuperintendents and help them,
you know, navigate some of theseissues and think through in a
non partisan and bipartisan wayhow they can be prepared for the
variety of issues that they'regoing to face in their school
district. And I believe that thevery best school districts I've
seen are when you have stabilityin the board and the
(16:06):
superintendent, and then thatleads to stability in the
principalship and stability ofthe teachers and expectations
around what we do in schools.
And the longer folks are there,if they're doing good work,
hopefully that's beingrecognized by the community, the
more that those good ideas canbe institutionalized, whether
it's thinking about new ways tomake sure students love learning
every day, or thinking about newmetrics for assessment and
(16:28):
accountability that we need tomove forward, or how we might
want a mastery based or acompetency based education. You
know, all of these things areconstantly being filtered
through the needs of thecommunity, but my best advice to
superintendents is, yes, yourjob is stressful. You can have a
family, make sure family isfirst, make sure you're taking
care of yourself second, butthen make sure that you know
(16:49):
what your community reallywants, and don't try to make
decisions in a silo about whatyou think is best for your
district. Make decisions on whatyou think the families in your
communities want, and ultimatelythat's going to lead you to
success and probably reduce somestress on you, rather than
pushing envelopes that maybeyour community is not interested
in.
Sarah Williamson (17:09):
I think you actually answered my next
question. You did such a goodjob with that one. All right, so
I would love to dig into whathas been your strategy for
bringing people together, otherthan what you just shared to
help see your vision. And I'veseen a lot of superintendents
who don't just bring peopletogether, but they actually
help, they work with ourcommunity to build a vision
together for a school district,or even, I guess, a state. You
(17:30):
can think of it from thatperspective too. Would you mind
sharing a little bit more aboutthat?
Dr. James Lane (17:34):
Yeah, every superintendency I had, I always
started with 100 day plan,fascinatingly, never knowing I
would end up here all theseyears later. PDK actually led my
transition team when I was inChesterfield to write that 100
day plan. And one of the firstthings that I believe are
essential to, you know, bringingpeople together, to share your
(17:56):
vision is actually bringing themtogether, right? And you know,
it's not enough just to surveyor ask people's opinions, but,
you know, bring people togetherin a room and have a deep
conversation about what thewants and needs are in your
community. And I believe it'sessential to do that in the
first 100 days, and show peoplethat you're going to be
committed to the community andwhat you're looking for and
(18:17):
spend a lot of time in schools.
You know, some of thesuperintendents that I have seen
struggle the most get mired inthe politics and the, you know,
the back office workings of thisdistrict, and sometimes get
perceived as that they're notamongst the people or in the
schools or whatever. And so Iset aside time in my calendar
every day, especially when I wasin smaller school districts. And
(18:40):
if it wasn't every day, atleast, every day, at least every
week, to make sure that I got toevery school in my community on
a regular basis, and knowingwhat's going on in my schools
was essential. But it's not, youknow, oftentimes the
superintendent you might bedropping in for a specific
purpose, you're going to see aspecific classroom, or you see a
project or something like that,make sure that you actually take
that time to go into the officesand talk to the staff and ask
(19:03):
them their opinions. And one ofmy favorite things to say to
people is be curious, you know,ask people about what's going on
in the school, and not in a waywhere they feel scared or it's
accountability focused, but justso you know what's going on in
the community, what they reallyneed. And then I would sit down
with my principals once aquarter and go through the needs
of their schools and making surethat we were giving them the
(19:24):
resources that they needed to besuccessful. But there are so
many forms where you can bringpeople together, but if you
expect parent engagement to livethrough school board, public
comment and the surveys youoffer, you're never going to
have a shared vision for yourcommunity. And it really is
about bringing people together.
And so for me as asuperintendent, I was just
constantly thinking about newways that I could find new
(19:49):
opportunities to see people inmy community that hadn't given
me an opportunity to weigh in,and not only at the end of my
first 100 days, where wereleased a report about what
that said that then filteredinto, you know,the next couple
years of really developing newstrategy and a new strategic
plan. And I think that having astrategic plan as early as
possible, while still gettingthat feedback is essential for a
(20:12):
superintendent, because thatbecomes the roadmap for the
district. And you should driveyour school board meetings
around the vision of what's inthat strategic plan, and you
should have the topics of theschool board meeting be aligned
to what's in your strategicplan, so everyone can see how
you're moving your districtforward, and constantly be
pushing belief in thosestrategies and the outcomes that
(20:32):
that could lead to maximize thepotential of students. But the
other thing I would say aboutbuilding a shared vision and
bringing people together ishaving the right team. I'm
actually in the middle ofwriting a book, and I just
finished one of the chapters.
And you know, the phrase that Iuse at the beginning of chapter
is, if you're going to bemaniacal about anything, be
maniacal about people. And I'mthat way that, you know, I mean,
(20:52):
until I got into where I had10,000 employees, even now at
PDK, or in my smaller districts,or when I was a principal, every
single person that wanted towork in our school division. I
wanted them to interview with meso that even if it wasn't about
me making the final decision, ifthe team had done multiple
rounds of interviews and theyknew who they really wanted and
all of that, yeah, sure, therewas a piece of it where I wanted
(21:12):
to make sure that they were theright person for our district.
But for me, it was about usingthat moment at the end of the
interview to make sure they knewwhat the vision, the mission,
the values, the strategies ofour organization were the goals
of our organization, so thatwhen they actually started
working with us, that everyperson, not only that worked in
our district, but everyone thatwas going to work in our
(21:33):
district, knew where we weregoing and we were in alignment.
And then I just spent a ton oftime trying to recruit the
absolute best talent to myschool district. I don't know
the number, but it's now dozensof current and former
superintendents that have comethrough my school districts.
Because once I hired, you knowthat being maniacal about
(21:53):
people, once I hired someone Ithought was really great, then
it was on me to give them theautonomy, to learn, to lead and
to lift up the things that wewanted to do, because I knew
they knew where we were going,because we had that from the
very first conversation that wehad together. And I have found
that when I can bring acommunity together with shared
vision and put together a teamthat's amazing and that we are
(22:13):
unbelievably rigorous around theway that we choose them to make
sure they're the very best,those two things, along with
knowing what our parents and ourfamilies want are essential to
the success of a schooldistrict.
Chad Bolser (22:27):
By the way, if I was wiping a tear from my eye
when you were talking aboutstrategic plans and
communicating and vision, andit's it was because I got
emotional about that. It's greatto hear great leaders talk about
how they go about doing theirbusiness. And I think one of the
cool things about our podcast inthis series has been we've got
(22:47):
to talk to a lot of amazingleaders. But folks, they
continue at times, even withthat too, they struggle with
communication and how to do thatand creatively do that. Can you
talk a little bit about that, Ithink you've shared a little bit
of how you did that, but abouthow storytelling and connecting
to others, family members,community members, the folks
(23:09):
that you needed to help supportyou along the way in your
career.
Dr. James Lane (23:13):
Yeah, I can remember a time when I was a
superintendent. Well, first, letme say I think that storytelling
is huge, right? That anotherphrase I use, like the maniacal
phrase I used a minute ago, isthat if you aren't telling your
own story, then no one's tellingyour story, right? And what came
out of that is that when I was asuperintendent, at the beginning
of the school year, or frankly,throughout the school year, you
(23:35):
can be absolutely certain thatif something bad happens in your
school district, it's going tobe in the media, right? And I
was always a big believer on weneed to be in front of those
things. We need to be honest andtransparent, and we need to make
sure that people know how we'readdressing it, and that we have
plans to make sure things likewhatever that may be, never
happen again. But the bad thingsthat happen and that you see on
(23:57):
the news and that reallydominate the news, you know.
Crisis in the classroom, Ithink, is, you know, one of the
segments you often see on thenews or whatever, that is such a
small percentage of the greatand amazing things going on in
our school district every day,right? That, you know, there are
kids who were literally puttingthem on a trajectory of success
that they could not have seen ifit wasn't possible for our
(24:18):
school district. We're seeingteachers break through with kids
in a way that are going tochange their lives. We see
families becoming part of aschool community that are seeing
their kids blossom into amazinghumans in the future. And I want
people to know that side of whatwe do as well, not just the
fight that happened at schoolXYZ on Thursday that's all over
(24:40):
the news or whatever, though, wegot to address those fights and
make sure they don't happen aswell, right? And have a safe
climate. And so I was a bigbeliever in us telling our
story. And so, you know, I usedto call it the five for five,
but when I was a superintendent,I tried to release five positive
stories five days a week, youknow, so essentially, a good
news story about our schooldistrict every day. And I'll be
(25:01):
honest, the media didn't alwaysrun those stories, but I can
tell you, they would not haverun a single positive story
about us if we didn't give themopportunities to come see the
positive things going on ourschools. And in time, we were
able to develop relationshipswith our media partners where,
yeah, when we were doing a bigpositive announcement, they
would be there because we wouldbe honest and transparent with
(25:21):
them around the negative thingsthat they were also reporting
on. And so I felt like I couldcall on our media to say, You
know what, we're announcing abig new initiative today. We're
going to do a press conference.
I'd like to see you there, andthey would be there. And then
really, social media has changedthe game here. I mean, you know,
you have to be careful withsocial media, because a lot of
people don't know how to bepolitically astute and the way
(25:41):
that they speak in social media.
They want to say their opinionson everything, and that's not
what a government agency or aschool district should be
thinking about. You should bethinking about communicating
your vision and the things thatyou're doing and making sure
that parents know what's goingon in your schools. Nobody cares
about your personal politicalopinions, unless they disagree
(26:02):
with them, and then they'regoing to care a lot. You're
going to hear about it all thetime. You're going to have
political issues, and it's goingto cause you more stress. But
ultimately, what they want toknow is, what do you believe in
for our kids, and how are youacting on that to make a
difference? And so we use socialmedia. I mean, I mentioned we
had 10,000 employees. Well, wehad 70,000 students. Well,
theoretically, you know,assuming two parents in every
(26:22):
household, which you know,obviously is not the case in
every single household. But youknow that that means that we
have up to 140,000 more parentand so, you know, that's 140,000
family members, maybegrandparents, you know, will
make up for any numbers I mightbe off. But then you take that
to the 70,000 students and thenthe 10,000 employees, you know,
we're talking well over a couple100,000 people that are in our
(26:45):
communication channels everyday. That's far more than the
people that are watching the TVnews or reading the newspaper or
commenting on each post thatsomeone says that's negative
about you in social media. Soyou have an unbelievable reach
to tell the good things aregoing on, but at the same time,
you have to pair that good stuffgoing on with that same
transparency around the badstuff. So you're telling your
(27:06):
story there as well. And so it'sjust really, really important to
me to make sure that myteammates knew. We want you to
tell the amazing stories ofwhat's going in your schools,
obviously, with student privacyin mind. And you know, rules and
regulations, of course, but youknow, I want our families to
know what we're trying to do. Idon't want there to be any
secrets. And if parentsdisagree, please tell me, so we
(27:28):
can change and align to thevalues of our community. And I
think that when you're tellingyour own story, you have a great
opportunity to really galvanizeyour community, but if you're
always reactive and responsive,you know, in politics, we always
say if you're explaining you'relosing, well, then you're going
to lose a lot if you're onlyfocusing on the reactive side.
But if you're telling your storyconstantly, you're using the
(27:50):
channels that you have, you havea much better opportunity to
make sure that families aretrusting of the work that you're
trying to do.
Sarah Williamson (27:57):
firming to hear you say that too, because
this is what we coach every day,proactive media relations,
telling your story before othersdo. So couldn't agree more about
all of that. So one of thereasons we wanted to host this
podcast series is we were alsowriting a book about in defense
(28:18):
of the superintendency andunderstanding one of the
challenges that superintendentsare facing, and it's so complex,
but that so many of all of youessentially are really are doing
this job to support students andto help make a better world for
the people that are coming intoit next. So do you think it's
important that we're having thisconversation illuminating the
(28:38):
humanity of superintendents? Isit important for your
communities, as district leadersto see that you're a real person
navigating complex challengesand you're really supporting K
12 students? That's your job. Isthat important?
Dr. James Lane (28:51):
Well, a, yes, it's very important. But what I
will say b is, no one willquestion your humanity in the
superintendency if you're outleading amongst the people, like
your teammates and your familiesand your communities. And you
know, I talked about thisbefore, but it you are the
center of the educationcommunity in your county or
(29:11):
district or state or whatever.
You know, if I take the time togo to every Friday night
football game in GoochlandCounty and shake hands with
everyone and answer questionsthat may pop up at the football
game, or even just watch theteam and celebrate the state
championship we won when I wasthere. You know, all of that is
just really important to peopleseeing you as a person. And you
know, I mentioned that, youknow, I'm very family focused,
(29:33):
family first, and, you know, thehealth second, and all of those
kind of things. But I was aparent throughout my
superintendency. My kids went tothe districts where I was
superintendent because, youknow, they make you move there
now, Middlesex, I had been theresince I was a principal, so I
when I was superintendent inMiddlesex, I was living in
Goochland, but then I becamesuperintendent inaudible. My
kids went to Goochland schools.
(29:53):
My kids went to Chesterfieldschools. And, you know, I didn't
just show up as asuperintendent. I was showing up
as a parent, and when I went tothe Friday night football game,
I brought my family, and when wewent out to dinner, people would
come up and say hi, and I didn'tshy away from that. I wanted
people to see me as a member ofthe community and that I have
family, and that when I'mfighting for making a difference
(30:14):
for our kids, I'm fighting formy own kids too, side by side
with you, and my kids are in thesame class with your kids, and
we're having some of the sameissues, of like, let's think
through how we can, you know,work through some of this
together. And I just thinkthat's really important. But I
think that if you lead from aperch, or, you know, an ivory
tower, as they say, sometimes,then people are only going to
see you as that person in thetower. And, you know, get out of
(30:36):
the tower, be out there withyour families, and that will
help a lot. And it's not justenough to be there. Believe that
what your families want fortheir kids is important, and be
willing to change what you wantto do in that community based on
the feedback of families. Thatultimately, you know, school
boards are elected, and you knowso are governors and presidents,
(30:58):
and what you want to know isthat the things that you're
doing are things that yourschool board can support. And if
you can't do that, thenultimately, either the school
board is going to change oryou're going to change, and
that's not good for anybody. Itold you, stability is
important, and so you've got tobe flexible, and you've got to
know those components. And so Ispent a lot of time in my
superintendencies. And you know,the times in my career, where I
(31:20):
had the most challenges werewhen I knew the community wanted
something different than whatthe other leaders in my school
district wanted, and I gotpushed too far by the other
leaders to do what they wantedversus what the community
wanted. And I tried to limitwhen that happened as much as
possible. And it happened,thankfully, very few times in my
(31:41):
career, but the times that Iwent against my gut, and you
know what my bosses told me todo, usually didn't work out in
the way that my bosses thoughtthat that was going to work out.
And so I spent a lot of timecoaching my boards or elected
officials to also do that work,to be in the community and be
listening to people and knowwhat people want, because I
(32:02):
think that that's essential. Butultimately, there are a lot of
superintendents. I know thatpart of being human is I need
time where you're going to leaveme alone, and I'm going to be
over here and I'm going torejuvenate. And I think
rejuvenating and taking care ofyourself and all that is
important. But when we takethese jobs, we take on that
burden of leadership, and partof that burden of leadership is
being a face in your communityand being the voice for kids in
(32:25):
your community. And that's goingto come with some of those
political hot spots, and the wayyou counter that is by being
there right with them, side byside, fighting for them. And
remember, every time a parentcomplains to you, you've got to
realize that that parent isfighting for the most precious
and important thing in theirlife, which is their own child.
They're not arguing with you,the superintendent. They're
(32:47):
fighting for their kid. Andevery parent meeting I had, or
every community meeting I everhad, I tried to never take
anything personally, because atthe end of the day, if the roles
were reversed and somebody wasdoing something I thought wasn't
right for my kids, I'd befighting just as hard side by
side with the other parents. Andwhen I got that perspective, it
allowed me to feel more human,because I realized, okay, I'm
(33:09):
here to work side by side withthese parents, and not for
against or whatever other piecesof this folks run into from time
to time.
Chad Bolser (33:17):
I think answers like that are why we've enjoyed
this series so much, and we'vetalked to leaders, and when they
express things like that, wewere become bigger and bigger
fans of the folks that are doingthe type of work in educational
leadership positions. So I thinkthe question that we have tried
to ask is, what as supporters ofK 12 education and community
(33:39):
members and parents, and whatcan we do better to be the
support that you all need toguide and lead our
organizations?
Dr. James Lane (33:47):
Yeah, I think that the most important thing
that anyone can do is show up,listen and lift your voice
right. And now I know there areanomalies out there, and there
are districts that maybe don'toffer opportunities for families
to weigh in, but most of thedistrict leaders I know in
America give plenty ofopportunities for folks to
(34:08):
engage in the big decisions ofthe school district. And as much
as I'm big on galvanizing peopleand bringing people together
when it's like an open Town Halltype thing, unless there's a
really controversial topicthat's coming up or something
that the community reallydisagrees with, I find that very
few people actually come and soit's another reason that I'm
(34:28):
very intentional about, okay,I'm gonna invite people
personally to come to thingswhen I want feedback, so that I
make sure that I have the voicesthat I want. But I'm more than
welcoming to anyone else thatwants to have voice at that
table. But showing up is thefirst thing when your district
or your principal or yourteacher is asking for your
feedback. Be willing to give it,because we will hear from a
(34:50):
small subset of probably themost concerned citizens, but we
need to hear that side by sidewith folks that support are
against maybe or mutual, just sowe have a better sense of what's
going on. And then the secondpiece I mentioned was, listen
when you come to those events,make sure you take time to
understand what the district isreally trying to do. Because I
can't tell you how many times aproposal will hit the news or
(35:13):
the social media, and it'snothing like what we were
actually proposing. But therumor mill has taken over, and
we spend more time trying tocombat the rumor mill in the
absence of being proactive,which hopefully we were
proactive enough where thatdidn't happen. But if you come
to our events, at least makesure that even if you disagree
with it, you hear yoursuperintendent's perspective on
(35:33):
why they're going about it theway that they're going about it,
and then lift your voice makesure the superintendent knows
how you feel about it. I mean, Ialways a big believer in civil
discourse and doing the rightway, of course, or the best way,
but then as a superintendent,make sure that you're open to
hearing that feedback andwilling to change based on it,
because the one thing that Ithink disenfranchises a lot of
families is when they lift theirvoice and share concerns and
(35:55):
then nothing's done about it, orthere's no response to their
feedback. And so that's myadvice to folks that want to
support our superintendents, isjust be there and be present.
You don't always have to agree,but when you do agree, lift your
voice then as well. And that isbig for me. I can't tell you how
many times I just got pressedand pressed and pressed to go
after something by you know, wewould survey 80 to 90% of people
(36:16):
would agree with what I wastrying to propose, but when it
came time for implementation. Weonly heard from the five or 10%
that were never reallyinterested in that, and I lost
the voice of the community thatreally had this groundswell. And
we need you there as well, andwe need people to stand up with
superintendents who are havingthe courage to go after things
(36:36):
their community wants. But atthe same time, the
superintendent has to be openenough that if 89% of your
families are against you, yougotta be willing to pivot and go
the direction of your community.
Sarah Williamson (36:47):
Thank you. Dr lane, where can our listeners
connect with you and learn moreabout you?
Dr. James Lane (36:51):
Yeah. So you know, I'm the CEO of PDK
International. Now our biggestwork at PDK is we are. When I
left government after 25 yearsof these amazing opportunities I
had, I felt like we wereconstantly chasing silver
bullets sometimes, right? Like,you know, what's the new type of
school that we want to make adifference, or what's the new
policy that's going to changeassessment and accountability?
(37:12):
But I have this belief in myheart the best thing that we can
do to improve schools is makesure there's a great teacher in
every classroom who's engagingparents and students. And so
I've kind of dedicated my workat PDK to growing the next
generation of teachers. And sowe have a program here. We own
the brand rights to futureteachers of America and future
educators of America, and we'verebranded that as educators
(37:35):
rising. And we're puttingprograms in high schools all
throughout the nation to try toencourage more kids to consider
education for their life andthen train them on the concepts
to give them a leg up when theyactually get into the classroom
after they get certified, and insome cases, get kids right out
of high school to consider jobsas paraprofessionals and then
training them to becometeachers. And so there are a
(37:57):
number of ways to engage withme. I'm active on social media.
I have accounts on X andLinkedIn. I tend to keep my
Facebook more so I can put mykids in my pictures with the
people that I see on a day today basis, but LinkedIn and X
are great ways to connect. Youcan obviously reach out to me
through the PDK website, happyto come talk to you about the
work that we do in educatorsrising but you know, y'all can
tell I'm not shy. If you emailme, I'm going to respond. If you
(38:19):
reach out to me on social media.
We'll engage. And I would loveto continue this conversation
around how we can improveeducation in America.
Sarah Williamson (38:26):
Thank you so much for joining us. This has
been excellent conversation.
Appreciate it Dr. Lane,
Chad Bolser (38:30):
Yeah. Thank you so much.
Dr. James Lane (38:32):
Chad, thank you.
Thanks for having me.
Chad Bolser (38:35):
Thanks for tuning into the Build Momentum for
Education podcast. If youenjoyed listening today, we
would love to hear yourfeedback, and we'd be grateful
if you could leave us a review.
Sarah Williamson (38:46):
This helps us to share these powerful stories
with even more people. If youliked what you heard, we'd be
honored if you could share thisepisode with someone in your
network. We look forward toseeing you next time on Build
Momentum for Education.
Hello and welcome to Build Momentum for
Education, a Podcast where weexplore thought leadership in
education. I'm Sarah Williamson,the founder of SWPR Group, an
agency that supports publicrelations, communication
strategies and thoughtleadership support for school
districts, education companiesand nonprofit organizations.
Chad Bolser (00:23):
And I'm Chad Bolser, chancellor at Ivy Tech
Community College in Indiana,this season, we explore a
particularly unique perspectivein K 12 thought leadership,
humanizing the role of thesuperintendent.
Sarah Williamson (00:36):
Throughout the many conversations we continue
to have with superintendents, aclear theme has emerged about
the need to bring more humanityinto the role of the
superintendency. In this specialseries, we interview current and
former superintendents andresearchers to pursue the core
question, how can we better seesuperintendents as real people
navigating complex challenges toprovide the best possible
(00:56):
education for K 12 students?
Chad Bolser (00:58):
We dig deeper into how this important work can help
build community, invitecollaboration and increase
widespread engagement.
Sarah Williamson (01:08):
We can't wait to get started. So let's dive
in. In today's episode, we'rejoined by Dr. James Lane, the
CEO of PDK International andEducators Rising. Dr. Lane, you
have such an incrediblebackground in education. Would
you mind sharing your deepexperience as a school district
superintendent for threedistricts in Virginia, your work
(01:28):
with the Department of Educationand more about your role as the
leader of PDK?
Dr. James Lane (01:32):
Yeah, absolutely. Thank you Sarah and
Chad, it's great to be with youall today and excited to be on
the podcast. Yes, I've been asuperintendent three districts
in Virginia. The first wasMiddlesex County Virginia, which
was a district out on the coastof Virginia. Actually, at the
time I was there, the entiredistrict had 1200 students, and
it was an amazing experience.
And I'm so glad I started mycareer there, first and
(01:55):
foremost. Because when you're ina community that small, everyone
knows everybody, it's like,everywhere you go is like,
cheers. And so, you know,everyone knows your name. And I
just loved the fact that I knewevery student in the community.
I knew every teacher intensely.
And there was this amazingopportunity for us to move the
school district together with ashared vision, because the
(02:15):
community was so tight. And justabsolutely loved my time there.
And then I went to Goochland,Virginia. And Goochland is a
slightly larger district, about2500 kids in that district at
the time that I was there, andwas known already as being one
of the most innovative districtsin the state. And again, because
of their relative size, we wereable to galvanize the community
(02:38):
around what we wanted to do. Andreally took that district to
becoming one of the very bestdistricts, not only in my
opinion, in all of Virginia, butaround the nation. We put
together an amazing team therethat was just passionate about
student engagement, make sureevery kid loved learning. And
that spirit infiltrated theentire district. And I really
felt like when I was there, wewere on the edge of really
(03:01):
building an amazing educationsystem focused on students and
their love of learning. And Ijust really enjoyed my time
there. And I was lucky enoughfrom the work that we did there
in growing the school district,to become the Virginia
Superintendent of the Year. Andso that launched me to a
position as the superintendentin Chesterfield. Chesterfield
County in Virginia is thelargest suburb of Richmond,
(03:24):
Virginia. It's one of the 70largest districts in the nation.
I think they got to beapproaching 70,000 students.
Now, you know, nearly 70schools. And just a real honor
to go from, you know, growing upin rural school districts in
terms of the superintendency togo into one of the largest in
America. And we really, again,built an amazing district that
(03:48):
got great outcomes for kids.
When I got there, we had a fewof the schools that weren't
accredited, for the first timein the history of the district.
Turned that around immediately,and that really, that district
has been on a jet pack. Theyjust hired a new superintendent
who was one of the principalswhen I was in the district, and
just impressed with what he'sgoing to do with the district.
And it was amazing time. And sothere's three great experiences.
When the governor got elected in2018 you know, he called and
(04:10):
asked if I would serve duringthat four years. Of course, I
didn't know we were going to bein the middle of COVID and all
of that, which was a unique partof that four years from 2018 to
2022, and in Virginia, we onlyhave one term governor, so we
knew we wouldn't be running forre election. So at the end of my
term, that's when the BidenAdministration called, and I led
K 12 initiatives for the Bidenadministration. But it was an
(04:31):
amazing experience. And, youknow, being a kid from Corbin,
Kentucky, where I just I neverthought in my life that A, I
would have these amazingexperiences, but B, that I'd be
sitting in the White Housediscussing policy with the top
leaders, not only in the nationbut the world sometimes. It's
been an amazing journey, andI've enjoyed every minute of it.
Chad Bolser (04:51):
Well, we're thrilled to have you here and
have a little time to talk andwith that resume that you just
outlined there quickly for us,we'd love to understand what you
have found to be the mostrewarding aspects of serving in
educational leadershippositions, particularly as you
just stated, you've had tons ofexperiences and different
(05:13):
capacities supporting theimportant work of education. So
what do you think about the mostrewarding aspects of that?
Dr. James Lane (05:20):
Well, every day I wake up and I think of myself
as a teacher that has gotten todo some of these really cool
things. I mean, I got intoeducation. I was a band
director. I got into educationbecause I wanted to teach music.
I wanted to teach kids a love ofmusic, and I wanted them to be
advocates for music education.
Because, you know, that's alwaysa challenge, especially during
difficult budget years. And youknow, I have a general rule that
(05:43):
I don't follow my kids or letthem follow me on social media,
or as much as you're allowed tocontrol that, unless they're
like have gotten into theircareers and are into jobs and
now they're all young adults allthese years later. And it's
amazing to me how many of themwork in the music industry,
whether it's some of them areband directors. Frankly, in the
band director of the high schoolthat my middle school fed into
(06:04):
was one of my former students.
Some of them are universityprofessors of music. Others are
DJs. Others work in radio.
Others are rappers and producersand all kinds of things. And so
for me, the rewarding part ofeducation is working with kids
and preparing them for anamazing life in career, in job
and everything else. And I tryto remember that in every role
(06:26):
I've ever been in that none ofus would be here. We wouldn't
have a central office, wewouldn't have a school district
if we didn't have kids andteachers and teaching and
learning. And so everything thatI have tried to do has been in
service of our teachers so thatthey can maximize the potential
of our students. And so whetherit was being at the US
Department of Education, the 50million plus kids in the nation,
(06:48):
when we were making policydecisions that could impact the
lives of that many Americans, Iwanted to make sure that it was
going to make a positivedifference in student outcomes
and students, you know,opportunities for economic
stability in their lives andgrowth and opportunity. And when
I was the state superintendent,and we were making some of the
difficult decisions aroundCOVID, I wanted to make sure
that we were going to doeverything in our power to make
(07:10):
sure that we were moving ourstate's education system
forward. And then obviously, asa district superintendent, a lot
of the decisions you make on adaily basis impact kids from
scheduling everything else, andso it's never been lost on me,
the burden of leadership andthat every decision you make
impacts so many Americans lives,that for me, the reward is
(07:30):
knowing when those outcomes comeout, or I hear a story from a
student later in life that madea difference, that I want to
make sure that the decisions Imake are ultimately in service
of our kids, and I know that thecloser I worked with kids, the
better decisions I make, and soI spend a lot of time as a
superintendent, as a statesuperintendent, as a US
(07:51):
Department of Educationofficial, making sure I spent
time in classrooms. So it wasnever lost on me why we were
there, and the rewards aremaking a difference for kids.
Sarah Williamson (08:02):
Yeah, that's so inspiring. I'm curious. When
I was thinking about questionsto ask you, one of the things
I'm most curious about is anyinsights you've gleaned from
your work with the US Departmentof Education that surprised you,
or were there any misconceptionsyou maybe had as a
superintendent that shiftedafter you had the experience of
working as a policy maker?
Dr. James Lane (08:21):
Yeah, and I will say being a district
superintendent is vastlydifferent than being state
superintendent. And statesuperintendent is vastly
different from being anassistant secretary, Acting
Assistant Secretary in the USDepartment of Ed. One of the
biggest surprises for me is, youknow, for lack of a better
phrase, how the sausage is made.
You know, I went from being thestate education leader, State
Superintendent Virginia, to theUS Department of Education, and
(08:43):
the levels of conversation andbureaucracy that you have to go
through to get regulations doneor issue grants, or, you know,
we call them NIS, and all ofthese pieces, there's a
clearance process where I justassumed that decisions were made
solely in the Department of Edby the leaders in that sector of
the department. And truthfully,you know, staffers would put
(09:06):
together policy briefings, andthen ultimately, that would turn
into regulations that wereleased, or notice for
applications and everythingelse, or notice of new
priorities or whatever it maybe. And then that would, you
know, filter through my team andvarious rounds that's known as
clearance in the federalgovernment. And then it got to
me, and then I would clear it,and then it would go to the
(09:26):
office of the secretary, andthey'd have to clear and then it
would go to the Office ofManagement and Budget, and then
they'd have to clear it. Then itwould go to the Domestic Policy
Council, and then they'd have toclear it. And then if at any
point of those steps they hadcomments or edits they wanted to
make, it would go back throughcertain rounds of clearance. And
you know, it just felt likethings that we knew were great
for kids, the process waslaborious. Now, I think that's
good in some ways, becauseyou're getting a lot of policy
(09:49):
makers eyes on it. And before wewould release things, Congress
would often require that webriefed members of Congress on
what we were doing and why wewere doing it. And so. So you
know, by the time you actuallyrelease something, you had
confidence that a lot of thestakeholders that were essential
in making the decision had achance to weigh in. And of
course, we had public commentperiods where parents and
teachers and advocates andassociations could write in. We
(10:13):
had to consider all of that inthe process. And so when
everything scales up to thisfederal level, that was the part
that was most surprising me ishow big it all was, and that,
you know, at the end of the day,we had to consolidate all that
big information and feedbackthat we were getting. I mean,
there would be some of ourreleases where 40,000 people
would comment. We'd have to gothrough those one by one, and
(10:34):
ultimately, once you got adecision made, you know, then it
goes out and you have the chanceto make a difference in kids
lives, like I talked about, evenat the state level, it was, you
know, potentially easier torelease policy than the way that
I saw that experience in thefederal government. And COVID
gave me some unique insights,where we were granted waivers of
certain regulations so that wecould make things happen faster.
(10:57):
It was fascinating to me to evensee that same process that's at
the federal level compared tothe state level, where, you
know, the General Assembly wouldpass laws, we would then,
similarly, have a policy teamreact to that, but then we would
take it to the board, and therewould be public comment,
multiple readings and all ofthat. But the process just the
closer you get to kids, gooddecisions can happen faster for
(11:19):
kids, and there is a need forprocess and making sure that
people have tons of opportunityfor feedback. But I think that
those that work in schooldistricts would be surprised at
the level of bureaucracy you gothrough. And then the other
thing I'd say I'm surprisedabout is when you run a State
Department of Education, youknow, you run Title One programs
and all the various federalprograms, and then, of course,
(11:40):
you're issuing the dollars thatcome from the General Assembly
for state and local budgets, andyou really have a strong grasp
on everything that's going on inyour state. It's amazing to me
that when I went to the federallevel, how much more is going
on, from competitive grants topolicy briefings to events to
executive orders and everythingelse that filters into it,
(12:01):
there's just so much moreinvolvement and intricacy the
further you get from thestudent. And so that's as a
policy maker, I've tried toalways be a person, and I said
this before, that stayedgrounded with what kids needed,
and that was the thing I think Ihelped with the most at the US
Department of Education, asevery idea came forward.
Sometimes I agree with it,sometimes I didn't. I was able
(12:24):
to give a really uniqueperspective on this is what it
really looks like in the field.
This is how you're going toimpact people. And let's make
sure that we consider thatbefore we actually do something
that's going to change the livesof that many Americans.
Chad Bolser (12:36):
At 2023, RAND study found that superintendents have
one of the most stressful jobsin America, and we have been
asking the superintendents thathave come on this podcast series
their thoughts about thesefindings. They have been super
interesting in their response tothat. Does this ring true for
(12:57):
you as a former superintendentand in your work at the
Department of Education, did youhear similar perspectives from
superintendents across theUnited States?
Dr. James Lane (13:06):
Definitely rings true for me. I mean, obviously I
was a superintendent and canspeak firsthand to the I think I
used this phrase before, but theburden of leadership, you know
that these are massive, massiveorganizations in your
communities, and oftentimes yourschool district is, you know,
not only place where we educateour children, it's sometimes the
largest employer in yourcommunity, and in Chesterfield,
(13:29):
I think at the time I was there,we had, you know, between bus
drivers and everybody, nearly10,000 employees in our school
district, and they're inherentlydesigned with school boards to
make sure that communities andparents are get a voice in
education. And there are a lotof varying opinions, I wouldn't
even say, on both sides, on allsides, of any aisle, of what
(13:51):
could come into asuperintendent's frame of
reference when it comes tomaking a decision. And I'm a big
believer in a shared vision forour school district. You heard
me talk about that before. I'm abig believer in making sure that
we have opportunities foreveryone in our community to
weigh in on what's best for ourkids, and then we move forward.
And you've also heard me say, Ibelieve that the best decisions
(14:12):
are made closest to thestudents, which is why I want to
make sure there's a lot of voicefor our parents and our
principals and our teachers tomake good decisions for our
students. And so I rememberreading a book in grad school
all years ago about the tangledweb of Educational Leadership,
and now that I've seen it, notonly at the local, well, you
know, I went from classroom tobuilding to district to state to
(14:36):
federal leadership, having beenin all of those seats, it's
unbelievable how many peopleweigh in on a daily basis on the
decisions that superintendentsmake. The federal government is
coming down with mandates andcompliance and grants. The state
is coming down with regulationsand new laws. We might pass 1 to
10 education laws in an entireadministration. In the federal
(14:59):
government. You compare that tothe state, they may pass 200
education laws each session, andthen that filters down into
school board policy. And then,of course, you know, the
principal and the teacher andthe parents and all the
stakeholders that have to beinvolved in this. And so the
superintendent is doing anunbelievable juggling act trying
to make sure that they'renavigating all these differing
(15:20):
opinions of the right thing todo with their district, side by
side with all of these federaland state and local compliance
mandates to ultimately make adecision. And then, you know,
let's be honest, education hasbeen at the center of politics
over the last four years,especially coming out of the
pandemic, and superintendentsare facing a lot more pressures
than they've ever ever had. Andso it definitely rings true to
(15:43):
me, and it's one of the reasonswhen I came to PDK, we started a
network to supportsuperintendents and help them,
you know, navigate some of theseissues and think through in a
non partisan and bipartisan wayhow they can be prepared for the
variety of issues that they'regoing to face in their school
district. And I believe that thevery best school districts I've
seen are when you have stabilityin the board and the
(16:06):
superintendent, and then thatleads to stability in the
principalship and stability ofthe teachers and expectations
around what we do in schools.
And the longer folks are there,if they're doing good work,
hopefully that's beingrecognized by the community, the
more that those good ideas canbe institutionalized, whether
it's thinking about new ways tomake sure students love learning
every day, or thinking about newmetrics for assessment and
(16:28):
accountability that we need tomove forward, or how we might
want a mastery based or acompetency based education. You
know, all of these things areconstantly being filtered
through the needs of thecommunity, but my best advice to
superintendents is, yes, yourjob is stressful. You can have a
family, make sure family isfirst, make sure you're taking
care of yourself second, butthen make sure that you know
(16:49):
what your community reallywants, and don't try to make
decisions in a silo about whatyou think is best for your
district. Make decisions on whatyou think the families in your
communities want, and ultimatelythat's going to lead you to
success and probably reduce somestress on you, rather than
pushing envelopes that maybeyour community is not interested
in.
Sarah Williamson (17:09):
I think you actually answered my next
question. You did such a goodjob with that one. All right, so
I would love to dig into whathas been your strategy for
bringing people together, otherthan what you just shared to
help see your vision. And I'veseen a lot of superintendents
who don't just bring peopletogether, but they actually
help, they work with ourcommunity to build a vision
together for a school district,or even, I guess, a state. You
(17:30):
can think of it from thatperspective too. Would you mind
sharing a little bit more aboutthat?
Dr. James Lane (17:34):
Yeah, every superintendency I had, I always
started with 100 day plan,fascinatingly, never knowing I
would end up here all theseyears later. PDK actually led my
transition team when I was inChesterfield to write that 100
day plan. And one of the firstthings that I believe are
essential to, you know, bringingpeople together, to share your
(17:56):
vision is actually bringing themtogether, right? And you know,
it's not enough just to surveyor ask people's opinions, but,
you know, bring people togetherin a room and have a deep
conversation about what thewants and needs are in your
community. And I believe it'sessential to do that in the
first 100 days, and show peoplethat you're going to be
committed to the community andwhat you're looking for and
(18:17):
spend a lot of time in schools.
You know, some of thesuperintendents that I have seen
struggle the most get mired inthe politics and the, you know,
the back office workings of thisdistrict, and sometimes get
perceived as that they're notamongst the people or in the
schools or whatever. And so Iset aside time in my calendar
every day, especially when I wasin smaller school districts. And
(18:40):
if it wasn't every day, atleast, every day, at least every
week, to make sure that I got toevery school in my community on
a regular basis, and knowingwhat's going on in my schools
was essential. But it's not, youknow, oftentimes the
superintendent you might bedropping in for a specific
purpose, you're going to see aspecific classroom, or you see a
project or something like that,make sure that you actually take
that time to go into the officesand talk to the staff and ask
(19:03):
them their opinions. And one ofmy favorite things to say to
people is be curious, you know,ask people about what's going on
in the school, and not in a waywhere they feel scared or it's
accountability focused, but justso you know what's going on in
the community, what they reallyneed. And then I would sit down
with my principals once aquarter and go through the needs
of their schools and making surethat we were giving them the
(19:24):
resources that they needed to besuccessful. But there are so
many forms where you can bringpeople together, but if you
expect parent engagement to livethrough school board, public
comment and the surveys youoffer, you're never going to
have a shared vision for yourcommunity. And it really is
about bringing people together.
And so for me as asuperintendent, I was just
constantly thinking about newways that I could find new
(19:49):
opportunities to see people inmy community that hadn't given
me an opportunity to weigh in,and not only at the end of my
first 100 days, where wereleased a report about what
that said that then filteredinto, you know,the next couple
years of really developing newstrategy and a new strategic
plan. And I think that having astrategic plan as early as
possible, while still gettingthat feedback is essential for a
(20:12):
superintendent, because thatbecomes the roadmap for the
district. And you should driveyour school board meetings
around the vision of what's inthat strategic plan, and you
should have the topics of theschool board meeting be aligned
to what's in your strategicplan, so everyone can see how
you're moving your districtforward, and constantly be
pushing belief in thosestrategies and the outcomes that
(20:32):
that could lead to maximize thepotential of students. But the
other thing I would say aboutbuilding a shared vision and
bringing people together ishaving the right team. I'm
actually in the middle ofwriting a book, and I just
finished one of the chapters.
And you know, the phrase that Iuse at the beginning of chapter
is, if you're going to bemaniacal about anything, be
maniacal about people. And I'mthat way that, you know, I mean,
(20:52):
until I got into where I had10,000 employees, even now at
PDK, or in my smaller districts,or when I was a principal, every
single person that wanted towork in our school division. I
wanted them to interview with meso that even if it wasn't about
me making the final decision, ifthe team had done multiple
rounds of interviews and theyknew who they really wanted and
all of that, yeah, sure, therewas a piece of it where I wanted
(21:12):
to make sure that they were theright person for our district.
But for me, it was about usingthat moment at the end of the
interview to make sure they knewwhat the vision, the mission,
the values, the strategies ofour organization were the goals
of our organization, so thatwhen they actually started
working with us, that everyperson, not only that worked in
our district, but everyone thatwas going to work in our
(21:33):
district, knew where we weregoing and we were in alignment.
And then I just spent a ton oftime trying to recruit the
absolute best talent to myschool district. I don't know
the number, but it's now dozensof current and former
superintendents that have comethrough my school districts.
Because once I hired, you knowthat being maniacal about
(21:53):
people, once I hired someone Ithought was really great, then
it was on me to give them theautonomy, to learn, to lead and
to lift up the things that wewanted to do, because I knew
they knew where we were going,because we had that from the
very first conversation that wehad together. And I have found
that when I can bring acommunity together with shared
vision and put together a teamthat's amazing and that we are
(22:13):
unbelievably rigorous around theway that we choose them to make
sure they're the very best,those two things, along with
knowing what our parents and ourfamilies want are essential to
the success of a schooldistrict.
Chad Bolser (22:27):
By the way, if I was wiping a tear from my eye
when you were talking aboutstrategic plans and
communicating and vision, andit's it was because I got
emotional about that. It's greatto hear great leaders talk about
how they go about doing theirbusiness. And I think one of the
cool things about our podcast inthis series has been we've got
(22:47):
to talk to a lot of amazingleaders. But folks, they
continue at times, even withthat too, they struggle with
communication and how to do thatand creatively do that. Can you
talk a little bit about that, Ithink you've shared a little bit
of how you did that, but abouthow storytelling and connecting
to others, family members,community members, the folks
(23:09):
that you needed to help supportyou along the way in your
career.
Dr. James Lane (23:13):
Yeah, I can remember a time when I was a
superintendent. Well, first, letme say I think that storytelling
is huge, right? That anotherphrase I use, like the maniacal
phrase I used a minute ago, isthat if you aren't telling your
own story, then no one's tellingyour story, right? And what came
out of that is that when I was asuperintendent, at the beginning
of the school year, or frankly,throughout the school year, you
(23:35):
can be absolutely certain thatif something bad happens in your
school district, it's going tobe in the media, right? And I
was always a big believer on weneed to be in front of those
things. We need to be honest andtransparent, and we need to make
sure that people know how we'readdressing it, and that we have
plans to make sure things likewhatever that may be, never
happen again. But the bad thingsthat happen and that you see on
(23:57):
the news and that reallydominate the news, you know.
Crisis in the classroom, Ithink, is, you know, one of the
segments you often see on thenews or whatever, that is such a
small percentage of the greatand amazing things going on in
our school district every day,right? That, you know, there are
kids who were literally puttingthem on a trajectory of success
that they could not have seen ifit wasn't possible for our
(24:18):
school district. We're seeingteachers break through with kids
in a way that are going tochange their lives. We see
families becoming part of aschool community that are seeing
their kids blossom into amazinghumans in the future. And I want
people to know that side of whatwe do as well, not just the
fight that happened at schoolXYZ on Thursday that's all over
(24:40):
the news or whatever, though, wegot to address those fights and
make sure they don't happen aswell, right? And have a safe
climate. And so I was a bigbeliever in us telling our
story. And so, you know, I usedto call it the five for five,
but when I was a superintendent,I tried to release five positive
stories five days a week, youknow, so essentially, a good
news story about our schooldistrict every day. And I'll be
(25:01):
honest, the media didn't alwaysrun those stories, but I can
tell you, they would not haverun a single positive story
about us if we didn't give themopportunities to come see the
positive things going on ourschools. And in time, we were
able to develop relationshipswith our media partners where,
yeah, when we were doing a bigpositive announcement, they
would be there because we wouldbe honest and transparent with
(25:21):
them around the negative thingsthat they were also reporting
on. And so I felt like I couldcall on our media to say, You
know what, we're announcing abig new initiative today. We're
going to do a press conference.
I'd like to see you there, andthey would be there. And then
really, social media has changedthe game here. I mean, you know,
you have to be careful withsocial media, because a lot of
people don't know how to bepolitically astute and the way
(25:41):
that they speak in social media.
They want to say their opinionson everything, and that's not
what a government agency or aschool district should be
thinking about. You should bethinking about communicating
your vision and the things thatyou're doing and making sure
that parents know what's goingon in your schools. Nobody cares
about your personal politicalopinions, unless they disagree
(26:02):
with them, and then they'regoing to care a lot. You're
going to hear about it all thetime. You're going to have
political issues, and it's goingto cause you more stress. But
ultimately, what they want toknow is, what do you believe in
for our kids, and how are youacting on that to make a
difference? And so we use socialmedia. I mean, I mentioned we
had 10,000 employees. Well, wehad 70,000 students. Well,
theoretically, you know,assuming two parents in every
(26:22):
household, which you know,obviously is not the case in
every single household. But youknow that that means that we
have up to 140,000 more parentand so, you know, that's 140,000
family members, maybegrandparents, you know, will
make up for any numbers I mightbe off. But then you take that
to the 70,000 students and thenthe 10,000 employees, you know,
we're talking well over a couple100,000 people that are in our
(26:45):
communication channels everyday. That's far more than the
people that are watching the TVnews or reading the newspaper or
commenting on each post thatsomeone says that's negative
about you in social media. Soyou have an unbelievable reach
to tell the good things aregoing on, but at the same time,
you have to pair that good stuffgoing on with that same
transparency around the badstuff. So you're telling your
(27:06):
story there as well. And so it'sjust really, really important to
me to make sure that myteammates knew. We want you to
tell the amazing stories ofwhat's going in your schools,
obviously, with student privacyin mind. And you know, rules and
regulations, of course, but youknow, I want our families to
know what we're trying to do. Idon't want there to be any
secrets. And if parentsdisagree, please tell me, so we
(27:28):
can change and align to thevalues of our community. And I
think that when you're tellingyour own story, you have a great
opportunity to really galvanizeyour community, but if you're
always reactive and responsive,you know, in politics, we always
say if you're explaining you'relosing, well, then you're going
to lose a lot if you're onlyfocusing on the reactive side.
But if you're telling your storyconstantly, you're using the
(27:50):
channels that you have, you havea much better opportunity to
make sure that families aretrusting of the work that you're
trying to do.
Sarah Williamson (27:57):
firming to hear you say that too, because
this is what we coach every day,proactive media relations,
telling your story before othersdo. So couldn't agree more about
all of that. So one of thereasons we wanted to host this
podcast series is we were alsowriting a book about in defense
(28:18):
of the superintendency andunderstanding one of the
challenges that superintendentsare facing, and it's so complex,
but that so many of all of youessentially are really are doing
this job to support students andto help make a better world for
the people that are coming intoit next. So do you think it's
important that we're having thisconversation illuminating the
(28:38):
humanity of superintendents? Isit important for your
communities, as district leadersto see that you're a real person
navigating complex challengesand you're really supporting K
12 students? That's your job. Isthat important?
Dr. James Lane (28:51):
Well, a, yes, it's very important. But what I
will say b is, no one willquestion your humanity in the
superintendency if you're outleading amongst the people, like
your teammates and your familiesand your communities. And you
know, I talked about thisbefore, but it you are the
center of the educationcommunity in your county or
(29:11):
district or state or whatever.
You know, if I take the time togo to every Friday night
football game in GoochlandCounty and shake hands with
everyone and answer questionsthat may pop up at the football
game, or even just watch theteam and celebrate the state
championship we won when I wasthere. You know, all of that is
just really important to peopleseeing you as a person. And you
know, I mentioned that, youknow, I'm very family focused,
(29:33):
family first, and, you know, thehealth second, and all of those
kind of things. But I was aparent throughout my
superintendency. My kids went tothe districts where I was
superintendent because, youknow, they make you move there
now, Middlesex, I had been theresince I was a principal, so I
when I was superintendent inMiddlesex, I was living in
Goochland, but then I becamesuperintendent inaudible. My
kids went to Goochland schools.
(29:53):
My kids went to Chesterfieldschools. And, you know, I didn't
just show up as asuperintendent. I was showing up
as a parent, and when I went tothe Friday night football game,
I brought my family, and when wewent out to dinner, people would
come up and say hi, and I didn'tshy away from that. I wanted
people to see me as a member ofthe community and that I have
family, and that when I'mfighting for making a difference
(30:14):
for our kids, I'm fighting formy own kids too, side by side
with you, and my kids are in thesame class with your kids, and
we're having some of the sameissues, of like, let's think
through how we can, you know,work through some of this
together. And I just thinkthat's really important. But I
think that if you lead from aperch, or, you know, an ivory
tower, as they say, sometimes,then people are only going to
see you as that person in thetower. And, you know, get out of
(30:36):
the tower, be out there withyour families, and that will
help a lot. And it's not justenough to be there. Believe that
what your families want fortheir kids is important, and be
willing to change what you wantto do in that community based on
the feedback of families. Thatultimately, you know, school
boards are elected, and you knowso are governors and presidents,
(30:58):
and what you want to know isthat the things that you're
doing are things that yourschool board can support. And if
you can't do that, thenultimately, either the school
board is going to change oryou're going to change, and
that's not good for anybody. Itold you, stability is
important, and so you've got tobe flexible, and you've got to
know those components. And so Ispent a lot of time in my
superintendencies. And you know,the times in my career, where I
(31:20):
had the most challenges werewhen I knew the community wanted
something different than whatthe other leaders in my school
district wanted, and I gotpushed too far by the other
leaders to do what they wantedversus what the community
wanted. And I tried to limitwhen that happened as much as
possible. And it happened,thankfully, very few times in my
(31:41):
career, but the times that Iwent against my gut, and you
know what my bosses told me todo, usually didn't work out in
the way that my bosses thoughtthat that was going to work out.
And so I spent a lot of timecoaching my boards or elected
officials to also do that work,to be in the community and be
listening to people and knowwhat people want, because I
(32:02):
think that that's essential. Butultimately, there are a lot of
superintendents. I know thatpart of being human is I need
time where you're going to leaveme alone, and I'm going to be
over here and I'm going torejuvenate. And I think
rejuvenating and taking care ofyourself and all that is
important. But when we takethese jobs, we take on that
burden of leadership, and partof that burden of leadership is
being a face in your communityand being the voice for kids in
(32:25):
your community. And that's goingto come with some of those
political hot spots, and the wayyou counter that is by being
there right with them, side byside, fighting for them. And
remember, every time a parentcomplains to you, you've got to
realize that that parent isfighting for the most precious
and important thing in theirlife, which is their own child.
They're not arguing with you,the superintendent. They're
(32:47):
fighting for their kid. Andevery parent meeting I had, or
every community meeting I everhad, I tried to never take
anything personally, because atthe end of the day, if the roles
were reversed and somebody wasdoing something I thought wasn't
right for my kids, I'd befighting just as hard side by
side with the other parents. Andwhen I got that perspective, it
allowed me to feel more human,because I realized, okay, I'm
(33:09):
here to work side by side withthese parents, and not for
against or whatever other piecesof this folks run into from time
to time.
Chad Bolser (33:17):
I think answers like that are why we've enjoyed
this series so much, and we'vetalked to leaders, and when they
express things like that, wewere become bigger and bigger
fans of the folks that are doingthe type of work in educational
leadership positions. So I thinkthe question that we have tried
to ask is, what as supporters ofK 12 education and community
(33:39):
members and parents, and whatcan we do better to be the
support that you all need toguide and lead our
organizations?
Dr. James Lane (33:47):
Yeah, I think that the most important thing
that anyone can do is show up,listen and lift your voice
right. And now I know there areanomalies out there, and there
are districts that maybe don'toffer opportunities for families
to weigh in, but most of thedistrict leaders I know in
America give plenty ofopportunities for folks to
(34:08):
engage in the big decisions ofthe school district. And as much
as I'm big on galvanizing peopleand bringing people together
when it's like an open Town Halltype thing, unless there's a
really controversial topicthat's coming up or something
that the community reallydisagrees with, I find that very
few people actually come and soit's another reason that I'm
(34:28):
very intentional about, okay,I'm gonna invite people
personally to come to thingswhen I want feedback, so that I
make sure that I have the voicesthat I want. But I'm more than
welcoming to anyone else thatwants to have voice at that
table. But showing up is thefirst thing when your district
or your principal or yourteacher is asking for your
feedback. Be willing to give it,because we will hear from a
(34:50):
small subset of probably themost concerned citizens, but we
need to hear that side by sidewith folks that support are
against maybe or mutual, just sowe have a better sense of what's
going on. And then the secondpiece I mentioned was, listen
when you come to those events,make sure you take time to
understand what the district isreally trying to do. Because I
can't tell you how many times aproposal will hit the news or
(35:13):
the social media, and it'snothing like what we were
actually proposing. But therumor mill has taken over, and
we spend more time trying tocombat the rumor mill in the
absence of being proactive,which hopefully we were
proactive enough where thatdidn't happen. But if you come
to our events, at least makesure that even if you disagree
with it, you hear yoursuperintendent's perspective on
(35:33):
why they're going about it theway that they're going about it,
and then lift your voice makesure the superintendent knows
how you feel about it. I mean, Ialways a big believer in civil
discourse and doing the rightway, of course, or the best way,
but then as a superintendent,make sure that you're open to
hearing that feedback andwilling to change based on it,
because the one thing that Ithink disenfranchises a lot of
families is when they lift theirvoice and share concerns and
(35:55):
then nothing's done about it, orthere's no response to their
feedback. And so that's myadvice to folks that want to
support our superintendents, isjust be there and be present.
You don't always have to agree,but when you do agree, lift your
voice then as well. And that isbig for me. I can't tell you how
many times I just got pressedand pressed and pressed to go
after something by you know, wewould survey 80 to 90% of people
(36:16):
would agree with what I wastrying to propose, but when it
came time for implementation. Weonly heard from the five or 10%
that were never reallyinterested in that, and I lost
the voice of the community thatreally had this groundswell. And
we need you there as well, andwe need people to stand up with
superintendents who are havingthe courage to go after things
(36:36):
their community wants. But atthe same time, the
superintendent has to be openenough that if 89% of your
families are against you, yougotta be willing to pivot and go
the direction of your community.
Sarah Williamson (36:47):
Thank you. Dr lane, where can our listeners
connect with you and learn moreabout you?
Dr. James Lane (36:51):
Yeah. So you know, I'm the CEO of PDK
International. Now our biggestwork at PDK is we are. When I
left government after 25 yearsof these amazing opportunities I
had, I felt like we wereconstantly chasing silver
bullets sometimes, right? Like,you know, what's the new type of
school that we want to make adifference, or what's the new
policy that's going to changeassessment and accountability?
(37:12):
But I have this belief in myheart the best thing that we can
do to improve schools is makesure there's a great teacher in
every classroom who's engagingparents and students. And so
I've kind of dedicated my workat PDK to growing the next
generation of teachers. And sowe have a program here. We own
the brand rights to futureteachers of America and future
educators of America, and we'verebranded that as educators
(37:35):
rising. And we're puttingprograms in high schools all
throughout the nation to try toencourage more kids to consider
education for their life andthen train them on the concepts
to give them a leg up when theyactually get into the classroom
after they get certified, and insome cases, get kids right out
of high school to consider jobsas paraprofessionals and then
training them to becometeachers. And so there are a
(37:57):
number of ways to engage withme. I'm active on social media.
I have accounts on X andLinkedIn. I tend to keep my
Facebook more so I can put mykids in my pictures with the
people that I see on a day today basis, but LinkedIn and X
are great ways to connect. Youcan obviously reach out to me
through the PDK website, happyto come talk to you about the
work that we do in educatorsrising but you know, y'all can
tell I'm not shy. If you emailme, I'm going to respond. If you
(38:19):
reach out to me on social media.
We'll engage. And I would loveto continue this conversation
around how we can improveeducation in America.
Sarah Williamson (38:26):
Thank you so much for joining us. This has
been excellent conversation.
Appreciate it Dr. Lane,
Chad Bolser (38:30):
Yeah. Thank you so much.
Dr. James Lane (38:32):
Chad, thank you.
Thanks for having me.
Chad Bolser (38:35):
Thanks for tuning into the Build Momentum for
Education podcast. If youenjoyed listening today, we
would love to hear yourfeedback, and we'd be grateful
if you could leave us a review.
Sarah Williamson (38:46):
This helps us to share these powerful stories
with even more people. If youliked what you heard, we'd be
honored if you could share thisepisode with someone in your
network. We look forward toseeing you next time on Build
Momentum for Education.
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