Season 1 Episode 5: Understanding Your "Why" with James Hiu

Join Multnomah Education Service District Superintendent Dr. Paul E. Coakley as he speaks with Gresham-Barlow Superintendent James Hiu about the importance of mentors and colleagues as thought partners and about why it’s critical to understand your “why” when working in the field of education.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
-
- Welcome Leaders, aspiringLeaders, equity Warriors,
policy Makers, educators,and Barrier Breakers.
This is the Leaders BuildingLeaders Podcast with me,

(00:22):
Dr. Paul Coley, superintendent
of Multnomah Education Service District.
We are dedicated to elevatingvoices, empowering others,
speaking our truth, rethinking systems,
and giving people their flowers.
Today we are joined by aspecial guest, Gresham Barlow,
superintendent James Hugh,superintendent Hugh served

(00:43):
as deputy superintendent
and acting superintendent prior
to being appointed to the role.
He's also served as thedistrict's secondary education
director and was the principal
of Sam Barlow HighSchool from 2004 to 2010.
Before becoming an administrator,James taught health and PE

(01:04):
and served as highschool athletic director.
His first job in educationwas an elementary PE teacher
at Applegate ElementarySchool in Portland, Oregon.
Superintendent Hugh hasserved as an educator
for the past 31 yearsin K 12 public schools
in the great state of Oregon.

(01:25):
He earned his bachelor's andmaster's from Linfield College
and his administrator license from
Portland State University.
Please welcome James Hugh
to give the listeners some background.
When did you move to Oregon?
- I moved to Oregonwhen I was 17 years old,

(01:47):
when I graduated from highschool in 1985 from Roosevelt
High School in Honolulu, Hawaii.
- And growing up, whatwas your favorite subject?
- My favorite subjectgrowing up was mathematics.
I really believed thatmathematics was the key to helping
to elevate my life, uh,academically to do something

(02:09):
that I wanted to do, uh, when I got older.
- And did you alwayswanna work in education?
- Actually, yes. My momwas a 30 year public school
teacher in the same classroom.
She was a fourth grade teacher at Luna
Little Elementary School.
My uncle was a teacher administrator,
and then later becamethe state superintendent

(02:31):
of public instructionfor the state of Hawaii.
And I had two or threeaunts that were teachers,
and then later became administrators.
And then I had my middle sister
who became an educator as well.
So I was, uh, in a family oflong time educators. Right.
- And growing up, who were thethree most influential people

(02:52):
in your life and how did they impact you?
- That's a great question. Thefirst person I would say is
was my father, Richard.
Uh, Richard was, uh, my best friend.
He was, uh, uh, someonewho, uh, I tried to emulate
and continue to try to emulate,uh, his love for his family,

(03:13):
his love for being a father and a husband.
Um, he unfortunately passed,uh, of cancer at the young age
of 72, so he is been gone for 16 years.
Um, he was probably the mostinfluential person in my life
and continues to be somebodythat I look forward to,
to someday becoming.

(03:34):
Uh, second person was, uh,my college football coach.
Ed Ruman. Ed was, uh,
my football coach at LinfieldCollege back in 1985 to 89.
Uh, we won a small collegenational football championship
and the IA level, but he was someone
who always cared about his athletes,

(03:55):
not just on the footballfield, but in the classroom
and as young men.
And he was trying to ensure
that young men weregonna be successful far
beyond college football.
Right. And then the thirdperson, uh, was my, um,
first mentor and actuallyhired me in my first
administrative job, uh, Mr. Kelly Hood,

(04:15):
who unfortunately passed, um,40 years in public education.
Wow. He was the principalof Milwaukee High School
where I became assistantprincipal, athletic director,
um, in 2000.
And he was somebody whoreally taught me about, uh,
communication and lovingpeople and coming alongside

(04:37):
and really supporting, uh, people.
He said that, you know, at somepoint, you're gonna be able
to give back to thisprofession the same way
I'm giving you an opportunity.
So he was certainly been somebody
who was a very strong mentor of mine.
- Thank you. And how would youdescribe your college years?
- I enjoy college. I wasn'tnecessarily a great student

(05:00):
when I was, uh, a freshmanin college in 1985.
You know, I, I graduatedwith about a three point GPA.
Um, I wasn't necessarily motivated,
but I certainly did find,uh, when I went to college,
I actually did really well
because I was internally motivated.
I knew that I was going to be an educator,

(05:21):
so I started takingeducation in a changing world
and some basic, uh,general education courses.
And I really found a love andpassion for public education.
So I actually did really well,
but I was the kind of personwho had to really work hard.
So while I did well in school,I was someone who tried hard,

(05:43):
had to study, um, had to make sure
that I was doing all the right things.
- If you could give your your18-year-old self one piece
of advice, what would it be?
- I would would say do nottake yourself so seriously.
When I was 17 and I grad fromgraduated from high school,

(06:04):
I already had a plan, a master plan.
I knew that I was gonna go to college.
I knew I was gonna be an educator.
I knew I wanted to get married.
I knew that I wanted to goahead and teach and coach
and make a positive impact on the world,
but I somewhat stressed myself out
because, you know, as I was planning, uh,
when things didn't necessarilyhappen the way it was

(06:25):
supposed to happen, I tookit upon myself to really, um,
make sure that things worked the direction
that I wanted to, to work.
And sometimes it worked thatway, and sometimes it didn't.
And so I would say to my younger self,
don't take yourself so seriously.
Right. Life happensfor a reason. Enjoy it.

(06:47):
- And with 32 years ofexperience, I'm sure
that you've had youropportunity to be a mentor
and also to be mentored.
Um, can you share withus an experience of, uh,
being a mentee and also a mentor?
- Yeah, absolutely. You know,
after 32 years,
I still actually have anexecutive coach while I'm a

(07:07):
superintendent of schools in the
fourth largest city in 10th largest
school district in the state.
Right. We all need thought partners.
We all need folks to really help us think
through some challenging situations.
And I'm fortunate to be ableto surround, be surrounded
by several colleagueswho have been mentors
of mine over the years fromDon Gring to Gus Baldis.

(07:31):
Yeah. To Mike Scott, who'smy current executive coach,
the former superintendent
of the Hillsborough School District.
So a lot of times whenwe're going through dealing
with issues within our school districts,
we can't really talk to ourexecutive leadership teams.
We certainly can't alwaystalk to our school boards,
but we know that we havethe answers within us.

(07:52):
Sometimes we just need a thought partner
to talk about, to talk to.
And so with that being said, you know,
I've had the opportunity, um,
and I do have, uh, I'msurrounded by a lot of people
that have been mentorsof mine, even you, Dr.
Coakley, in, in, in, whenwe are trying to deal
with the situ situationsaround the region.
Um, but I will say that, you know,

(08:14):
when I became an administrator, um,
23 years ago, you know, KellyHood was the person who said,
at some point in time, you know,
I'm giving you anopportunity, you're gonna need
to support others and giveother people opportunities.
And so I've tried to be a thought partner.
I've tried to be an executive coach

(08:35):
and a mentor even when Iwas a building principal.
And then since I've been in adistrict office position the
last 13 years of, of my career.
So really trying to give back
and really try tosupport other colleagues.
- Thank you. And
what advice would yougive someone entering into
the field of education?
- Yep. I think that it's a super marathon.

(08:58):
It is not necessarily a sprint.
And if you sprint, you'regonna get tired quickly. Yeah.
Um, this is a very challenging profession.
Um, but we do thisbecause we love children,
and we have found our internal why.
And I saw, I would saythat we need to make sure
that each person understandswhat their why is

(09:19):
and understand that this is going to,
there's gonna be good days,there's gonna be bad days,
but we're gonna really have to lean in.
And all lead, every job is important.
From the office secretaryto the classroom teacher,
to the buildingadministrator, to the director
of student support services,to the superintendent.

(09:40):
Every role is important.It's just different.
So we really have tolean in, work together.
And I do think that byworking together, um,
great things will continue
for students in our school districts.
- And education is a very demanding field.
Are there sacrifices thatyou've made along the way?
- Yeah, absolutely. You know,

(10:00):
starting in the classroomin 1991 in Portland public
schools, you know, had an opportunity
to do quite a bit of coaching.
So there was just that timeaway to coach, to teach,
to engage, to be a partof a school community.
When I came to GreshamBarlow, uh, in 2003, um,
had an opportunity to be abuilding principal at San Barlow

(10:22):
High School, and reallyimmersed myself into a community
where I felt like I was theface of the Barlow community,
um, and really enjoyed myself.
But when you're involvedin the school community,
you're going to plays,you're going to, uh,
theater performances,you're going to athletic
and activities, uh,

(10:43):
and you are immersed withinthat community with parents,
with students, uh,
and you do give up some ofyour personal freedoms of going
to your own family events,
or sometimes there's, uh,an event on your birthday
or your children's birthdays.
And then over time, of course, you know,

(11:03):
when you work in a district office
and you have a school boardmeeting, a work session,
a business meeting, youdon't always have the luxury
of being able to say, I'mgonna take that day off
because it's a my birthday,or it's my wife's birthday.
Right. So there's a lot that you have to,
you know, have to balance.
But I do think that, you know,with enough planning, um,
there are opportunities,you know, for us as families

(11:26):
to be able to celebrate on a weekend,
on the previous weekend, the next weekend.
Um, but I do find that, youknow, over time I've had
to miss some of my kids' events.
But it was because I wasactually doing the, the business
of the school district
- Right now for this part ofthe interview, I'll say a word
and then you tell me what comes to mind.

(11:48):
So the first word is resilience.
- Challenges. And I think challenges
because I think about the pandemic
and I think about, peopletalk about resilience,
whether it's resilience of our educators,
or resilience of our community,resilience of our students.
And I think about the challenges,
but I also think about how we have had

(12:11):
to flip public education upside its head
and actually have hadopportunities for innovation.
So when you say resilience,while I think about challenges,
I'm not necessarilythinking it's a bad thing,
it was a necessary thing.
Right.
- Failure,- Success.
And when I think about my own life

(12:31):
and the, the successes that I've had,
I've also had failures.
And you think you learn from your failure.
And I think that what thathas done is it has helped me
to grow as a leader, togrow as an educator, to grow
as a husband and a father.
So as many of the failures that I've had,
I've had successes as well.
Being a father has been a huge success.

(12:52):
Seeing my children graduatefrom high school, the ability
for me to be able to hand my daughter,
her high school diploma is something
that I'll always remember.
And so when I think about failure,
I also think about successes,
- Success,- Failure, .
And again, we kind ofjust talked about that.
But, um, I have learned quite a bit.

(13:13):
There are most days thatI feel like are good days.
Every once in a while, I willsometimes think to myself,
sometimes it's challengingbeing me as superintendent,
as being the face of the, the school,
entire school district.
But when there are failures,there are successes.
And when there are successes,there's going to be failures.

(13:36):
- Pandemic,- Innovation, the pandemic has really
allowed us to innovateas a school district.
There are a lot ofbenefits of the pandemic.
You know, we no longer aredoing things that we used to do
before the pandemic.
And I'm trusting that we're gonna continue
to have the courage, notto necessarily go back
to do the things that waseasiest for us as adults,

(13:59):
but do what's right for our students.
- Leadership,
- Leadership change.
And I think as I thinkabout my own journey
as a leader in an Oregonpublic school district, um,
nothing is really ever the same.

(14:21):
Um, prior to the pandemic,during the pandemic
and post pandemic, and we've had a lot
of changes in leadership,
and some of it has beenpositive, some of it
has been challenging for us.
But the one thing we know in life is
that nothing stays the same.
And so with change inleadership comes, opportunities,

(14:42):
comes hope for a newgeneration of our students.
- Education,- Education, passion,
education has been my passionover the course of 32 years.
It continues to be the reasonwhy I wake up each morning.
Um, I still believe that Ican provide strong leadership

(15:04):
and help support our school district
and our school community.
- Sports.- Vision
Sports has given me a vision of
by participating in sportsmany, many years ago
and playing at the high school level.
And then certainly playing atthe college level has allowed

(15:24):
me to learn some skills thathave really, um, helped me
to provide a strongvision into who I wanted
to be when I was a lifelong educator.
Who I wanted to be as a lifelongleader, who I wanted to be
as a father, who I wantedto be as a husband.
- Professional development,

(15:44):
- Learning, professional development.
We are lifelong learners as educators.
I've been taking classes.
I've been participating inprofessional organizations from
the Coalition of OregonSchool Administrators
to the Oregon SchoolActivities Association.
And through, um, many differentprofessional organizations

(16:05):
as, uh, a practitioner, uh,
somebody who's learning fromfolks at a national level,
at a regional level, at a statewide level.
And I think as educators
and education leaders, we're continuing
to be lifelong learners.
- Thank you. Uh, younailed that question. Now.
Uh, we know

(16:26):
that education is constantlychanging and evolving.
Uh, how do you stay informed
and relevant with the latestresearch, best practices
and innovations, um,
as you continuously driveyour district for improvement?
- That's a great question.
There are a lot of things that we're doing
as an organization.
I have a strong leadershipteam, uh, individuals who

(16:49):
are very good at what they do,whether it's human resources,
student support services, teaching
and learning, school operations.
They are the leads of departments.
And they share
with me current updates in best practices,
research based practices.
Um, um, there are organizationsout there like the Coalition

(17:12):
of Oregon SchoolAdministrators as well, as well
as Oregon School Boards Association.
There's different conferences,again, at the regional,
at the state, and at the national level
that I make sure that I'm attending.
And then I do quite abit of reading, um, on
what's going on in public education, some
of the best practicesthat, that are out there.

(17:33):
Yeah.
- And as a superintendent,I know you to be calm
and organized, but whenyou feel overwhelmed
or unfocused, how do you refocus?
- Yeah, that's a great question.
I've recently been thinking about that.
Um, I think that you have to breathe.
We have to make sure thatwe have, um, something

(17:54):
that we're passionate about,something, a hobby that we do.
I try to do some walking.I try to, um, um, travel.
I try to eat healthy, tryto drink a lot more water.
Um, trying
to take my time in justenjoying daily life.
Um, but sometimes the workdoes get overwhelming.

(18:17):
I'm really good about making sure
that people within our organization know
and understand family comes first
and they need toprioritize their own selves
and their families.
I'm not always great at takingthat advice, but I'm learning
after 32 years, um, that Ineed to slow down a little bit.
I need to breathe and I needto enjoy not just my family,

(18:38):
but I need to enjoy what'shappening around me.
We have a lot of very committed educators
who are doing really good things for kids.
We've got 1200 employees,
we've got 10,500 students and families.
So just making sure that,you know, I'm always keeping
that why at the center

(18:59):
and I'm making decisions
that I believe is best for our students.
- Thank you. Um, so
for the past few years I'vebeen doing this thing called
Master the Morning, trying to get
as much outta my morningroutine as possible.
And I'm interested to know more about
what does your morning routine look like?
- My morning routine starts atabout four 15 in the morning.

(19:22):
Wow. Where I get up, I alwaysput my alarm on for four 30,
but I always get up before thealarm, turn the alarm off, go
and try to do a little bit of exercising,
take a quick cold shower.
Wow. 'cause I believe that ithelps kind of the blood flow.
Right. And then I tryto get into the office
by about 6, 6 15 in the morning.

(19:42):
Some names when I'm really motivated,
and I know there's a lot to do.
I try to get into theoffice by about five 30,
and people think that's really early.
But actually that, that timeallows me to check some email.
It allows me to kind oforganize my thoughts,
put together a task list.
And also, you know,
about seven o'clock is whenstaff starts coming in the

(20:03):
building, and I start meetingwith folks, uh, Wednesdays
and Friday for Wednesdaymornings and Friday afternoons.
I'm always in schools
because I believe that we need to inspect
what we expect out of our schools.
And certainly I'm looking for good things
to share what's going well in our schools.
So Wednesday mornings
and Friday afternoons,I go and visit schools.

(20:26):
I talk to our staff, I talk
to our building level administrators.
I talk to kids. Uh,
sometimes I bring school board members in
so they can see what'sgoing on in our schools.
But really, you know, duringthe course of a school day,
it starts early, it ends late.
If we have a board meeting,
if we have a key communicatormeeting, if I have a,

(20:47):
a meeting with another boardthat I'm, um, I'm a part of,
whether it's the Centerfor Advanced Learning
or it's another meeting withthe county commissioners
or with our school boardor local leadership.
But I'm always, um, involved in meetings.
Um, my job is different.
I would say I'm the leadeducator, the lead learner

(21:08):
for our school district, butI certainly am someone who
has a specific role that Ideal with the bigger picture.
And then what I'm tryingto do is make sure
that the organization isbeing run by qualified
leaders, um, who are department heads
that are really taking care
of the everyday operationsof the district.

(21:29):
But on the mo on on the daily, I really am
busy from the start of the school day
to the end of the school day.
I have no problems going to sleep.
And, and, and when I put myhead down, I'm out. Right.
- now we areliving in the times of ai,
and technology is critical to do our work.

(21:49):
Yeah. Uh, what are yourfavorite tech tools that you use
to keep yourself organized?
- You know, I would say
after 32 years, I'm notnecessarily saying I'm a dinosaur.
I certainly know how to use technology.
I know how to use social media.
Um, I certainly believethat technology is a friend.

(22:09):
Um, I certainly try to make sure
that I have an updated calendar.
I have chosen not toutilize AI for writing
of speeches or presentationsthat I'm making.
I believe that while I'm notnecessarily comfortable always
speaking in front of largeaudiences, I do believe that

(22:30):
what comes out of my mouthcomes from my heart, is who I am
as a leader, who I am as aneducator, who I am as a person
who is Asian Pacific Islander,who grew up in Hawaii.
So for all those reasons,
while I believe technology isimportant, I have a laptop,
I have an iPad, I use my Google Calendar,
I use Google Documents.
Right. But as far as ai,I haven't necessarily, um,

(22:55):
utilized it to write anyspeeches at this point.
- Right now, these last few questions are
so the listeners can get toknow you a little bit better.
Um, so what is your favorite sport?
- Favorite sport is football. I played it,
I played baseball, playedfootball, wrestled,

(23:15):
and I did track and field in high school.
Then when I went to college at
Linfield, you know, I played football.
We won a small collegenational championship. So Wow.
Football is my sport.
And then of course, you know,my, my oldest son, Kimo,
who you know, played,uh, high school football
for Central Catholic andthen went to Simon Frazier
and now is at, um,

(23:36):
Charleston Southern University in
Charleston, South Carolina.
So, um, do still love to watch, um,
certainly love to play.
Um, but my body is a lot older now,
so I will just say I watch.
And then my other favoritesport is women's basketball,
because our youngest daughter,Melanie plays, she played
for Barlow when they were runner up

(23:58):
to the state championship two years ago.
And then she currentlyplays for the University
of Hawaii at Hilo Oh, wow.
In her second year. So That's great.
You know, I will say thoseare my two favorite sports
because my two favoritepeople are playing.
Yeah.
- And what's, uh, yourfavorite kind of music
and who do you like to listen to?
- You know, I grew up in the seventies
and eighties in Honolulu.

(24:19):
So they were, um, local artists,
I would say theircontemporary Hawaiian music.
Um, and then of coursefor some upbeat music
back in the eighties andearly nineties, it was called,
they call it Hawaiian music,
which was Jamaican and Hawaiian.
So it's really upbeat,uh, island, reggae island,

(24:41):
uh, beats where there'sdrums, there's, you know,
high levels of energy.
So, um, I feel likethose are the, the music
that I somewhat listen to.
And then every once in a whileI'll have some country music
station on, just becauseI can at least hear
and understand the words.
- , I got another onefor you. Yep. Oregon or Hawaii?

(25:03):
- Hawaii. A hundred percent .
- And is there anythingelse that you would like
to share with the audience? Well,
- Just the fact that I appreciatethe opportunity to be able
to speak and, and share
and, you know, I would beremiss if I didn't share that,
you know, um, Dr.
Coley, I, um, you releasedthe new book called The Reason

(25:24):
for Every Season, and it's Memoirs
of a Black Superintendent in Oregon.
I actually had the opportunityto read the first couple
of chapters, and Iappreciate your leadership in
Oregon Public Schools. Oh,
- Thank you.
- Um, and just know that,you know, um, the work
as leaders is not always easy,
but I still feel like together good things

(25:46):
will happen for our students.
And so I do want to say that,um, I did purchase your book
and I did buy books forour leadership team,
and you can get it on Amazon
or you can get it on, um,Barnes and Noble .
Um, but it is actually a very good read.
And so I appreciate yousharing your honesty and,
and giving some informationabout your journey as a,

(26:09):
and you know, Dr.
Coley did actually go to
g Barlow School District, and so Right.
He has some ties to our school district.
So I even thought thatwas really, really great
where he was sharing his experiences
within our public schools.
- Oh, thank you. I appreciate it.
And I thank you foryour time and joining us
and, um, just sharing with the listeners.
I think there's a lot of, uh,important information for, uh,

(26:32):
aspiring leaders and teachersand people in education.
So thank you for your time.
And let's give, uh, superintendent James
Hugh Gresham Barlow.
A round of applause.