Quest for Success
David Shimer | Superintendent of Burton Schools: A Profound Discussion on Leadership, Technology, and the Future of Education
What happens when you put a visionary superintendent, a technology pioneer and a fervent advocate for education in the same room? You get an enlightening conversation with David Shimer, the superintendent of Burton Schools, who has seen the transformative power of technology in the education field. In this riveting conversation, David takes us through his journey, from the inception of computer labs to the successful implementation of a one-to-one device program. He unpacks the lessons learned, the challenges faced, and the immense satisfaction of seeing students flourish with these integrated tools.
David also dives deep into the art of leadership, unravelling what it truly means to guide and inspire. From discussing the nuances of a superintendent's responsibilities, to the importance of servant leadership, he shares invaluable insights. We also traverse the delicate balance between a demanding career and family life. David's tales of being a supportive figure in his children's lives underscore the significance of presence, not pressure, in nurturing their passions.
As we journey further, we explore mentorship, the pursuit of continuous improvement, and a glimpse into the future of education. David emphasizes the critical role of educators and mentors in shaping the next generation and the necessity of investing in them. The conversation climaxes with a heartening chat about David's plans to start a podcast showcasing positive experiences within the Burton School District. Get ready for an episode that intertwines leadership, technology, education, and inspiration - all with the earnest endeavour to make a difference in the world of education.
Quest for Success Links | https://linktr.ee/questforsuccess
What happens when you put a visionary superintendent, a technology pioneer and a fervent advocate for education in the same room? You get an enlightening conversation with David Shimer, the superintendent of Burton Schools, who has seen the transformative power of technology in the education field. In this riveting conversation, David takes us through his journey, from the inception of computer labs to the successful implementation of a one-to-one device program. He unpacks the lessons learned, the challenges faced, and the immense satisfaction of seeing students flourish with these integrated tools.
David also dives deep into the art of leadership, unravelling what it truly means to guide and inspire. From discussing the nuances of a superintendent's responsibilities, to the importance of servant leadership, he shares invaluable insights. We also traverse the delicate balance between a demanding career and family life. David's tales of being a supportive figure in his children's lives underscore the significance of presence, not pressure, in nurturing their passions.
As we journey further, we explore mentorship, the pursuit of continuous improvement, and a glimpse into the future of education. David emphasizes the critical role of educators and mentors in shaping the next generation and the necessity of investing in them. The conversation climaxes with a heartening chat about David's plans to start a podcast showcasing positive experiences within the Burton School District. Get ready for an episode that intertwines leadership, technology, education, and inspiration - all with the earnest endeavour to make a difference in the world of education.
Quest for Success Links | https://linktr.ee/questforsuccess
All right. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the Quest for Success podcast. Super excited on our guest today. Known this guy for quite a few years now. I get to work with him every day and it's a pleasure. He's a staple leader in our community and we're excited to get to kind of just have some conversation with him, have him share some insight into leadership and kind of overseeing an organization. But he is the superintendent of Burton Schools, former principal, vice principal, teacher all around educators, wife's also a superintendent and he's been a director at all kinds of other things in education. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Mr David Shimer onto the podcast.
Speaker 2:All right, thank you, it's great to be here.
Speaker 3:Yeah, this is really cool for me. This is like a full circle situation for people. I'm sure they don't know is that Mr Shimer was my fifth grade teacher and shoot. Let's not say how long ago that was. It was a while back, I think it might have been the beginning of my career. I might have to say sorry for some of the instructional practices.
Speaker 1:I wasn't sure about. You came a long way since then. Yeah, there's been a lot I've learned in the process. Yeah, so that's awesome.
Speaker 2:I do have memories of Zach. He was a good kid he really was.
Speaker 1:You said fifth grade.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was fifth grade.
Speaker 1:I was Strathmore Elementary, he's being too kind man.
Speaker 3:That was my learning years.
Speaker 1:I was just saying that Is that where you got your starting education at Strathmore.
Speaker 2:That is where I got my start. Yeah, I started back in 2000,. Was able to get a job right out of Fresno State over to Strathmore Elementary.
Speaker 1:Nice, go dogs.
Speaker 2:Yes, go dogs, you and your wife, right? Yeah, she at the time wasn't. My wife didn't know her actually, but she started at the same year.
Speaker 1:And now she's the superintendent for Strathmore School.
Speaker 2:District Another full circle moment because, she wanted to go back and give back to where we got our start, which? Was at Strathmore Elementary and she had that opportunity a couple of years ago to be able to go back and be the superintendent there, which is kind of a full circle moment for her.
Speaker 3:Yeah, for sure, we'll let her down.
Speaker 1:So, David, we have a mental minute just to kind of get the gears turning a little bit, to get us kind of starting the conversation and loosened up. So Zach's going to kick us off with the first question.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so we all kind of have proud moments throughout our career. What is one that stands out to you the most?
Speaker 2:Think of a proud moment. I think of one that would be bringing technology into our school district. Originally. I had a chance over at Strathmore to be really part of bringing technology and its infancy for our kids back when it was just sitting at a computer lab and PowerPoint and that kind of thing.
Speaker 2:But I saw when I was getting my master's degree right in the technology perspective of how we could bring innovation to education and I was able to kind of work through that from a point of a computer lab to now being a one-to-one district and having every student with the device having that innovation, the creativity, the opportunity for that creativity. So I think it's my proud moment, working many years to get to that point. We started from, basically, I said, that computer lab concept of you get technology for one hour a week to all the way to now we have it for every day. Every opportunity Doesn't mean we use it every moment but it's there and available.
Speaker 3:It has access. Yeah, access.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and now we get to kind of see the fruits of that labor from the educator perspective our families, our students and the community. So cool.
Speaker 3:We live in a technology world. Now I mean, keep up, right, we do, you gotta keep up.
Speaker 1:So that's cool, so David, you know we all have those different inspirations in our lives, and so, being an educator, who was that inspiration for you? Was it a family member? Was it a former teacher that you had, who kind of instilled those values to be of service and get into education?
Speaker 2:That's a good one. I kind of think of three different angles on this one. As far as my work ethic, what got me where I'm at right now? I'd have to go to my dad. My dad was the one that inspired me along the way. He was always there supporting. Didn't push us to have to be any certain person, but it was always there supporting. He had us working hard outside. It wasn't kind of, there was no excuses.
Speaker 2:We had to get things done and keep that kind of develop that work ethic in me. On the educational side, I think of Dr Gary McKeel. He was a former superintendent over at Burton School District and I don't know he just he would. He found a way to inspire, inspire us to reach those dreams. So when I mentioned that technology portion where we said we brought in one-to-one, I remember sitting with him at the desk and just saying, hey, I have this dream, I love to be able to bring technology to the kids and I've seen it happening over at Clovis, you know, and I wanted to see if I can get that opportunity. And he would never say no, he would just kind of say, well, let's talk about that, let's think about where we can go with this, let's work towards that. And he always believed in me, he believed in a lot of other leaders in our district and I think he has a if you were to ask a lot of leaders in our district. His it's that inspiration of believing in people. So I think of him.
Speaker 2:And then one other one I think about is my high school English teacher back at Monacci. She let us not have to write reports in place. We were able to do videos so we could, and that was back before we had any of the technology we have now. We are splicing VCRs together and bringing soundboard together and adding our own sound effects and we're able to instead of doing a written report. She allowed us to do some crazy videos.
Speaker 1:And we were able to.
Speaker 2:I remember more from that than anything else I've done did in high school along the way.
Speaker 1:It's like the experience of it, the experience of it is truly.
Speaker 2:She allowed us to not have to conform to just the basics. It was truly what inspired the creative aspect.
Speaker 3:I should remember she challenged you in a different way than others. What?
Speaker 2:was her name? It was Mrs Miller. Yeah, she's our English teacher, actually. I have an opportunity ever for two different years, and so are my. It would be my sophomore year and my senior year, and both times we would. It would be like all right, what's our next video? What are we going to do? So I think I have a video for every every unit. We had in high school that we did a video rather than a report. I think we still did some of the written reports, but honestly, I don't remember that.
Speaker 3:What I remember in the videos we did Is that kind of where it sparked for you. Like the technology part of everything Like boom. She was the one that kind of looked that up for you.
Speaker 2:We have this group of friends I won't call them nerds, but you know group of friends kind of hung around and thought about hey, how could we do this next thing, how could we spice this together?
Speaker 2:How could we go get the catch up and make it look like blood as Julius Caesar is getting, you know, falling off of a tower or something? And so we were doing a lot, of, a lot of what I call high tech things at the time. Now you'd probably laugh at it, but it's pretty, pretty fun. It inspired me to then try and find those opportunities for kids in the classes I had, as I was, as I was a teacher for a few years. There. We had those moments where I was able to and I'm thinking about when, about when, zach, when you were in fifth grade but we had a couple of kids that kind of had that same inspiration and I was able to bring the video into their experience as well.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's awesome, that's cool, that's cool. You mentioned the word I think twice a little bit earlier, the word leader In your terms. What does it mean to become leader?
Speaker 2:I think when, in my terms of being a leader, it's trying to inspire others to be better, or even be more than what they would think they're capable of.
Speaker 2:I think of servant leadership. I don't think of it being the boss. Actually, when I hear boss, it kind of makes me cringe a little. I kind of try and avoid that, although I allow people to say it if they're going to say it. But when it comes down to it, it's not about being the boss. It's about providing opportunities for inspiration and inspiring other people to be better. And I think of a leader as being somebody who's okay with having people around them that are smarter than them at different things, because you can't be the I know it all. You just can't be, and the more you can surround yourself with those that do know, the better we can all be.
Speaker 3:It gives that synergy?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I didn't have this on there, but I was thinking of a fourth question, kind of just a fun one. You're a sports guy we actually went to we were at a conference in Oregon last year and we got to go see the Portland Trail Blazers and Knicks play and Damian Lillard, and that was a cool experience Got to share with you. But who, like who were your teams growing up and was there like a player or something that you kind of followed growing up that inspired you to kind of, you know, get an athletics or anything of that nature?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was always basketball all the way around since I was I don't know what age, because at the time I mean I was as tall as I am now. I was six, one and seventh grade. I've probably 130 pounds, so that's why I got pushed around a little bit, but I was tall enough. I always was following the Lakers. I'm a Laker fan, diehard Laker fan. Magic Johnson, that was my magic number. I had 32. My locker number was always that my nine number in high school I didn't.
Speaker 2:I wish I would have had a gym like we're in right now, because if I would have had somebody that would have pushed me and got me into the gym, I would have been a much stronger basketball player as I moved into the upper parts of my high school career, but I would just didn't get any bigger. I was always about that six one, 130, 140 pounds, and then gradually everyone else got bigger around me Lakers, the other one I think of is 49ers. I'm a 49er fan. I'm Joe Montana, steve Young, all the way through. Of course I can't not mention Kobe Bryant. I mean that's after the Laker Showtime. Lakers, it was Kobe Bryant. So I've just been. It's been quite fun to follow the Lakers all along the way, because they've had a good run, not just a decade, but multiple decades.
Speaker 1:Yeah, franchise right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's an incredible franchise. Yeah, let's kind of like let's start at the beginning with you now, right, Because you mentioned right, you like technology. So my question is why get into the education system? Why not an IT guy? What made you want to become an educator?
Speaker 2:It's kind of an interesting story, because I actually didn't start as an educator. I went to Fresno State. I was looking well, originally I was looking for a job that wasn't an education, because my parents were both educators men. They encouraged me to go do more, do something different. So you don't need to. You know, go stretch out and find other opportunities, Spread your wings.
Speaker 2:Yeah, do something a little bit different and I ended up saying, oh, I want to go for a pharmacy. It didn't really, it was more because I saw it was a quick way to get you know. Five years and you got a pretty good position coming out of college. Didn't work out right out the gate because I found I wasn't into chemistry and I didn't realize that, and so a lot of moments, like a lot of kids have along the way, is they realize you're got to find something that you passion and drive. So I ended up getting into Fresno State and getting a degree in advertising and along the way that's kind of where I developed a lot of my skillset with actually advertising, mass communications and journalism. So it was I was able to develop some of those technology pieces I had.
Speaker 2:And I got a job at a sporting goods store actually in Fresno as their marketing manager and I found it to be like an eight to five job that didn't, at the end of the day, didn't bring fulfillment at all.
Speaker 2:I was finding myself kind of just counting the minutes. And you get an advertising circle. You have an ad come out on a Thursday and then you do a radio spot, a TV spot, but they just kind of all come and go and it's another cycle and there's no kind of break. And I was so used to that with my own family because they were both educators. We had this kind of cycle where you would have those moments with your family as well in the summer. At the time I didn't have a family. Oh, I had a family with my. I didn't have my wife and my kids at the time, but when I looked at that I was. It just didn't have a fulfillment and so I kind of wanted more gravitated back to education.
Speaker 2:I really value those days because I think it's helped lead me where I'm at right now. Yeah, I've always had a skill set that educators necessarily don't always have and it's a valued skill set in education. You wouldn't believe it, but marketing is quite a valued skill set for somebody to have, because you're not in education going to hire a marketing person necessarily, but if you have somebody that has that skill set, it can help you advance in education Excellent.
Speaker 2:So I was able to bring that and kind of told my parents at the time, hey, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna go for education and be an elementary teacher. And it went back, got another degree. They didn't. They failed to tell me at the time I could have taken a test and what are two more years of college, so I have a double degree for no real reason other than I'm more educated. Now got the experience.
Speaker 3:So, like you mentioned, yes, exactly, that's a bonus for sure.
Speaker 2:So that was just a Kind of a moment where I said I need to find something that's fulfilling and I I kind of was in that mode from being an Education with my parents, all that time is seeing that kind of build up through the year. And then you get that time off in the summer to really kind of regroup and start a new year fresh Mm-hmm. All that has that kind of a.
Speaker 2:It's a fulfilling cycle that I was used to yeah, and it was something that I could start connecting with kids. There's a something about connecting with kids where you can see them have that same spark that I would not mention, mrs Miller. That Mrs Miller Provided back in the day for me was that spark of saying a kid their eyes light up and say yeah, do that, let's try that why don't you and try and inspire?
Speaker 1:them to have that innovative. Yeah and you get to see that, that feedback right then and there hands-on that impact.
Speaker 1:Right right, not having to wait five or ten years for something to you know come into, come into fruition, but right then, and there, get to see kids a lot, eyes light up and get to see you know Whether it's in athletics or whether it's in the classroom. You get to see that all the time. Why? Why elementary? Why did you want to go that route and not Middle school? Or did you have a preference? Or it was like you wanted to go? You want to be K6?.
Speaker 2:That's a good question, I'll. I mean, to be honest, it was I was a little bit afraid of middle school high schoolers, yeah, and I was kind of didn't. I was a little worried about kindergarten, first grade. I actually student taught in kindergarten and yeah, that freaked me out a little too, it's. I just saw that connection I could make. It seemed like at the time attitudes were a little Easier to handle in those grades. I just feel like they're at that point in that third through sixth grade where they still want to do good for you, yeah. But then since then my opinions obviously have changed. My thought process on that have changed because I've seen how much Middle schoolers and high schoolers want to perform for adults too. Yeah, you have to make those connections with them and build the relationships and you really can have that impact as well.
Speaker 1:Right, what kind of I mean Spending that? How many years did you spend as a teacher?
Speaker 2:You're five years as a teacher and then I'm three years as a computer lab, like technology specialist.
Speaker 1:So what at that time was like a teacher in the classroom. And you know, now you're a superintendent, your assistant superintendent, you've been administrator as a principal and vice principal. You've you've spent time at every single level in education. What did that time, those five years in the classroom, kind of do to? To how should I word this? Create that vision, that that leadership vision, and have that impact in that foresight now, in your role as a superintendent, to Be able to support educators, support elementary teachers, support those, the day-to-day teachers in the classroom get builds Empathy for what, what teachers have to be, what have to go through.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I Still say I mean I can relate to what they have to do, although, like now that it's been almost two decades since I've been in the classroom, it's really hard to to come in and say, well, this, this is how it used to be, because a lot changes in 20 years, so a lot of it has to be continuing to have conversations and and have that being visible and being present in the classroom, to kind of Continue to build on that empathy, because we can lose track, I think yeah, you hear that dialogue happens sometimes, which is
Speaker 2:we can, yeah, kind of become disconnected from what teachers are going through or what classified staff is going through, because it changed things have changed in over the years in the classroom to some degree and I think it's gone nicely kind of Trying to remember your roots, like where you, where you came, yeah, and try not to let that positional authority Get to your head. If we lead by position, you're gonna get some stuff done, but you're not gonna inspire anyone and your innovation is gonna go out the door. You're gonna be more. I'm honestly. You're just gonna get compliance and compliance isn't gonna lead you to next steps.
Speaker 1:Yeah, compliance doesn't lead lead to creativity, not at all.
Speaker 3:It kills it kind of shackle yourself with it. So, like in the introduction, blaine mentioned that you are the Burton school district superintendent. What is the role of that like? What do you do? What are the specifics of a superintendent? Lots of meetings, lots of meetings, yeah lots of people to talk to.
Speaker 2:I'm and I'm what, in fourth month of this role, mm-hmm, still discovering all the Aspects and the complexities of the role. A lot of it is trying to to Sustain a vision. You know, one of ours is really focusing on the whole child and finding success in the student by connecting them. We have a lot of opportunities to connect kids to something that they're interested in. We, I, the role I guess, is to make sure all Adults are kind of focused in on that piece is how do we make sure students succeed in our, in our district?
Speaker 2:I've had to expand my thinking a lot over the last, even few months, which is I don't realize the complexities of it as I've kind of dug in. I've been more focused in on over my career on the academic side, which would be instructional, leadership, curriculum and instruction, but there's so much more to it the aspects of transportation, nutrition, you know the maintenance. Everything has to happen, even what's really what's really something as a learning curve for me, as the building Facilities when we're talking through you know next steps for kind of keeping on the cutting edge of Facilities. We got some modernization projects happening and I'm like oh, wow.
Speaker 2:And the budgets that go with that right, the Politics that go with things you know having to having to make sure I'm visible within the community. It's not just about being in the classroom.
Speaker 2:So it's a kind of a balance for me that I'm trying to still find my way through and making sure I I have that balance between, you know, balance between developing people, between Building connections with relational capacity, but also thinking about the task involved, which is we have to make sure we're fiscally solvent, to make sure we're continuing to Build for the future progress.
Speaker 2:Yeah all of those pieces. So there's, I guess the biggest realization is the complexity of it all, is there's so many aspects and Realizing how much we depend on our team. So I have a team of assistant soups our executive cabinet, who I depend Amazing amount of dependency on because I have to believe and and Believe that they're going to kind of work through those next steps. I can't be in charge or be have my hands in everything, right, so the more I can Let go of that and trust the people around me to do that job, the more than we can move forward as a district, because it we are Not a huge district but we're also not small enough to where I'm gonna have my hand in everything.
Speaker 1:How many, how many students? It's a couple, a few thousand students, right but, how many students? If you combine students, teachers, everyone, all the employees, how many like individuals are? Are you overseeing? I guess in that role.
Speaker 2:We have about 4800 students we all we're out at. I think the number we just got was 583 staff members so we're closing in on 600. We've had a lot of staff come in because there's been a lot of one-time money after COVID, because we are Around 500 not so long ago and now we're at that 583, but there's so much more. Support staff after school programs have really kicked up a number of staff members as well because we've received a lot of those Funding opportunities.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean it's. It's incredible because I don't think people really pitens their perspective. You know over five thousand individuals like that's. That's bigger than most. You know large 500, you know companies and all these major Organizations that we see right, and so you're overseeing all that.
Speaker 1:With that being said, you know one of the questions that a lot of people are asked whether you, if you go into to interview for admin position, whatever is, you know what is your, what is your leadership style? Right, what is your? What does that style look like? And if, if you go look at different CEOs or look at different coaches, everyone's leadership style might be a little bit different, right, and how they manage, how they go about the day-to-day operation. Whatever that is for you. You've been able to work as a superintendent. You're an interim Assistant superintendent, you're an interim superintendent. You've been at every level. What would you say is your leadership style at this point in your career Especially, you know, four months into your superintendent still probably growing, is still evolving, but what would you say that that kind of leadership style would be for you right now?
Speaker 2:I've read a lot of books over the years and leadership. I'm sure I some of those authors that stand out, like Simon Sinek, I've got Patrick Lincione, mm-hmm, you've got Brene Brown, you know all of them talk about Servant leadership to some degree, right at how do we build relational capacity, so a relational leader that also has Servant leadership and finds ways to inspire people around them. I don't, I and there's so there's other ones that are kind of lead by positional status and that'd be the kind of the opposite of where I'm at, which is trying to find ways to inspire those around you, not micromanage, kind of kind of get people, kind of get people on your bus right, and saying let's, let's do this, let's get it, let's get inspired about what do you like to do, what do we want to do, what are we going to do together, trying to make other people shine around you? That's that challenge constantly and trying to highlight that, because I'm always looking for opportunities to find ways to highlight the great work that's happening around us, constantly trying to find those moments.
Speaker 2:I just listened to a speaker the other day at a leadership session, joe Sanfilippo, who's a superintendent in the I think it's Minnesota, might be Wisconsin. But when he was talking about he's like always try and find ways to give yourself a chance, to give yourself a chance to, to, to grow as a district, to grow as a leader, and those moments don't pass up on those moments, those moments to highlight somebody's doing a great job, those moments to shout out somebody that's that's taken, that's taken their students to another level. Maybe that's taken on a program or a or a I mean anything that's happening.
Speaker 2:A conference, whatever yeah taking something to a new level and so it's not seen that as a threat. I guess a servant leader would see that as a as an amazing opportunity for the people we're serving is wow. You just did that because a positional leader often will see that as oh, you're kind of threatening my authority. You know you're threatening my position because you're trying to outshine me. I would love the people around me to outshine me.
Speaker 2:I see that as the best possible option best possible outcome of anything we do is wow, that's amazing work you've just done right now. Highlight it. Where can we, how can we get you to the next level, so constantly trying to figure out what that passion is, reignite? If it has to be reignited, maybe it just needs to be. We just need to provide fuel to it and say let's do that, let's go for it. And then you start seeing people around you prosper, become that, take it to the next level and always trying to figure out where they want to go.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, you do a such a good job of that, You're such a humble servant. And you mentioned Simon Sinek. You know he's got. He's got a book called Leaders Eat Last.
Speaker 1:I don't know if you've seen this one, but it does go back to that right, and not leading by titles, not leading by you know those, those types of things, the title on your desk, but by being able to go out and you're doing some different things right now the internships you're going and working with, you know, the maintenance team, the transportation team and those types of things to be able to see what they're doing in the day to day so you're able to best support them. So I think that's pretty cool. And not being afraid to get dirty and not being able to be able to be able to be able to be able to be able to be able to feel afraid to you know, pick up trash or not being above anything else.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, yeah, that's truly a servant leader, or somebody that's going to be. Have the the humility, I guess, to to do that, to be there, the desire to build the relational capacity to where they'll have your back when those moments get a little tough, because there's going to be some tough moments. There's going to be moments where you have to make tough decisions, yeah, and when you build that capacity with those people you serve, it'll go smoother.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean, it won't be always perfectly smooth Right, we're not going to and try and pretend that it's always going to be smooth but I found trying to find ways to build that capacity really quickly. One of them was that superintendent internship and just spending one day trying to get a little bit of a vlog that goes with it, trying not to make it about me but trying to make it about relationship with those individuals. So spend that one has really been a a huge eye opener for me as well as a relation builder, because now I'm able to connect. I've done it with three so far, three different departments, but spending the entire day as if I'm one, as if I'm with them. I'm one of them. So I was out trying to mow the lawn, not doing a really good job on that lawnmower, but being cutting trees, serving in the cafeteria and then trying to log log that with our staff members not to show that I'm look what I'm doing hey, look what I'm doing, but more like hey, look what they're doing.
Speaker 2:Look what they're doing every day to serve our kids and value the fact that there's a lot of hard work that happens there, that one has paid off a lot as far as building not only relational capacity but connections with other people. Saying wow you're willing to do that and I'm like yes, that's why I don't need to be called, even Mr Shimer, you know.
Speaker 2:David to our to our most of our staff when we're talking through it. It's not, it's not a boss thing. It's not like I'm above anything. I'd rather actually be right there alongside everybody as I'm talking with them. That's the, that's the goal. I know there's times when we have to be the the boss, but trying to avoid those moments so that you're more at. So then there's more chance that those moments when we need to talk through it, we'll get the real story.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's time and a place. Yeah, there's a time and a place for it.
Speaker 1:And it helps having built those relationships right. When you do have to have those tough moments.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I had to sat with our supervisor of grounds when I was working there and just learning about his story just sitting in the truck with him as we were driving to our next task that I had as I was talking to that moment I would have never had. I wouldn't have taken that time to have an internship with the grounds department and I sat and talked with him in his truck and just found out things about him personally, his family, his, his reasons for his passion for the grounds. And knowing then that now when I have a quick, a quick question about something I see as I'm walking the grounds, it won't be like I'm calling somebody I don't know and he'll know I'm coming from a right place in my heart. I'm similar to him. I know now he's not just doing a job, he really cares about how the grounds look on our, at our district. I wouldn't have known that if I wouldn't have taken that time for that connection. So that relational capacity is huge.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I agree, 17 years, as in the educational system. How many years?
Speaker 2:It's been 20, since 2000. So 23. 23.
Speaker 3:23. So 23 and you're fresh as a superintendent, though Four months you mentioned just a bit ago that's barely starting, but up until now, though, what would you say is your biggest career accomplishment.
Speaker 2:Biggest career accomplishment? I think a few too. I know I'm thinking it's just building that the the relationships within our district.
Speaker 3:I mean.
Speaker 2:I have some relationships with an inspiring people within our district. I'm Burton, I'm just, I'm just bleed Burton blue. I think the accomplishment I think of, though, is building our brand yeah, burton brand, really talking through everything we see, I it just. It's been a passion of mine. If I, if you were to say where would I be right now, I'd probably be behind all the cameras that are over here. I'd be trying to set all this up. I mean, I come into this kind of setup and I go, oh my gosh, what can I do?
Speaker 1:Get this camera, get this thing, going.
Speaker 2:I'd be doing that sort of thing because I love highlighting people and so a lot of what we've done over the last few years in marketing, probably over five years, along with a team of a couple others, along with Irene or Tega, who's part I got to mention her name in, roberto Escudero originally we were able to really build, rebrand Burton and bring in the logo, bring in our the full, you know the website design. Bring in a video opportunity. You know finding ways to be more cutting edge and getting on social media. And now if you follow us on social media, you'll see that Burton experience is. I guess that's I'm proud every moment I see, like right now we're running a campaign on just doing staff shout outs and it's coming out and dropping at 6pm every day and seeing the number of interactions that we would have never had before.
Speaker 3:That engagement yeah.
Speaker 2:And I've been on the board, that 4500 on Facebook, a few thousand on Instagram and all that was built from nothing probably five years ago and that I just see that and that kind of brings back in that idea of when you have a skill set, don't underestimate it. Because I had that marketing skill set, that advertising marketing kind of page layout I can, I can drop an ad still for our own district and now I can use that to actually promote our district.
Speaker 2:Now the only difference is I need to be in front of the camera and I realize that don't love it still, but I put myself in front of the camera because I know that's the position I have now. Before I used to kind of hang out behind it and love highlighting other people. I have to kind of step aside from that. So my, I have to be a little less humble and say all right, I am, I want to lead from the front and that's what.
Speaker 2:I'm going to do now. When it comes to our branding, I'm now that person, but I'm still in the back of my head. I'm still thinking all the back end. Like how do we get the lights? What do we do with this? How do we make this look amazing? How do we find that next innovative way to display things? And then what's awesome is when you surround yourself in our district with those kind of people I mean Blaine's one of them.
Speaker 2:Blaine, we got Fernando Gonzalez, so I know he's running around back here in the back and though those people inspire me, you inspire me to say, man, they're trying to cutting edge things. I mean, how did he do that? I kind of find out how they did that, because now I want to do that. Stay curious.
Speaker 3:Yeah, stay curious.
Speaker 1:In relation to like challenges. Has that been one of the biggest challenges for you? To kind of have to get in front of the camera now and get out and be on the microphone. You know big events and things like that Because, like you said, you're the guy that marketing major, you know behind the camera being creative and a lot of times you're, you know, behind a computer on a Saturday and in the dark kind of doing that type of stuff and not in front of the camera, and so I'm assuming that's probably been one of the biggest challenges so far to have to pitch yourself out there a little bit more. Yeah.
Speaker 2:That's been a huge challenge. The other one I think of is I, yeah, yeah, when I look at it, it is a challenge there's. I want to be highlighting other people, I want to be finding way, but one thing I have been able to do I know I have to step outside, I guess, of some of those pieces I'm not going to be behind the camera now.
Speaker 2:I know that I guess it's a challenge because sometimes I still see myself as just I'm just David, and other people say, oh, the superintendent's here, you know, watch out. Oh, the superintendent's here. So I haven't been able to I don't know if I want to to own it that much where I'm walking around, oh, I'm the superintendent, I just still see myself as like a colleague, somebody who's really trying to help Burton shine, and so that's a. That's kind of been a challenge to step away from doing some of those things because I know there's other, more important tasks I need to do. So now I kind of just do it for fun on the weekends, and my wife doesn't agree that it's just for fun.
Speaker 2:She still thinks I'm working and I try and convince her. As I'm working on this next flyer or this ad or this, you know I'm thinking of a way to highlight our staff and by doing this or I'm thinking of a way to find you know that next thing, like our next campaign, is going to be on service in January.
Speaker 2:I've already got that spinning in my head. I'm doing some of the work, but I know I can't do the work during my day job, you know, because I have to be with people, I have to be out in the community. I have to make sure I'm doing the pieces that the superintendent does. So the challenge is stepping away from that and being in front of the camera, but also I'll find my way to do some of that on the weekend and find a balance, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:That's the key word. Yeah, definitely talk about balance here for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, your wife's a superintendent as well, Lily, and you're a superintendent at Burton. How have you guys been able to balance that Well?
Speaker 2:I will say there's ups and downs. I talk about the hills in the valley. The balance is tough because we also have four kids.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:And a lot of times when a superintendent starts their superintendency, their kids are already out of the house or out of high school into college. Maybe we happen to both be superintendents and have kids at home. You know, I've got a nine-year-old, they're 14, 15, and an 18-year-old, so we're lucky to have grandparents, my parents, that are really, really supportive and so they can be that Uber driver for us. We have to find those moments to schedule time, so I have to be intentional.
Speaker 2:I guess that's what it is. And when I talk about balance, we have to balance and then be intentional, have to find the moments that we have. I still get a little. It's a little tough sometimes because I've got my littlest nine-year-old that's always asking to toss the football and I get home and I go
Speaker 2:oh, I'm kind of dead. I don't know. I've been talking with people Because I'm an introvert by nature, so it takes that's another challenge. By the way it takes a lot of energy for me to be in front of people or to be in a crowd of people. I know how to do it. I've learned how to do it over the years. Back when I was in high school, I wouldn't say a word, I would be always in the background, I would. You would never catch me in front of anybody. I've learned how to do that, but it uses a lot of energy.
Speaker 2:So, then I've got to have some energy. When we get home my wife and I are able to kind of talk shop a little bit. You know, hey bounce this idea off of her, she bounces some ideas off of me. So we do find moments to kind of connect about. You know, there's there's the challenges of working with five board members. There's the challenges of working with an amazing amount of employees that we have.
Speaker 2:So that that does help. I've always had my wife working alongside girl, working through um, working through leadership throughout. She was at Burton with me for so long as far as all along. She was about a VP at a principal about the same time I was. As I was a director she was continuing to be a principal throughout. So we've always had those moments where we're able to kind of bounce, bounce ideas off each other. She's under pretty, pretty understanding. She's pretty understanding of everything we have to go through, especially as we've been getting into um superintendent. I mean just happens to work out that we don't have board meeting on the same night, but if we do have some events on the same night, our kids are you kind of just run the house. You know, they just let them go. Sometimes they're nice and they'll get the dishes done. But yeah, there's a. It's a challenge to balance. I'm not going to say I know how to do that really well yet, but we're still.
Speaker 1:It's always a growing um there's moments where you're growing things.
Speaker 2:Yes, we always just have to be thinking through yeah, like, how do we um do that? The one thing we do intentionally as a family is we schedule every you know, schedule three trips potentially every year. That are pretty big trips. I mean so, during the summer we'll take two weeks. During winter We'll take one week. In Easter We'll take one week, and that's we have. And then we'd break away and we say we're going on this trip as a family. So they're always looking forward to that. Next thing what's the traditional trip we have?
Speaker 2:So, um, we have to make time for ourselves. Yeah, the balance, balance of yard work, I'll do. I find yard work to be very Therapeutic. Yeah so I love doing your work.
Speaker 1:I was doing, I was working four hours this morning like mindless.
Speaker 2:Huh yeah, it helps me get to the point where I can rejuvenate yeah it, they the grass doesn't. It's satisfying to, though. You know what I mean when you're all done with it.
Speaker 3:You look back like, yeah, exactly. So our podcast Usually just focus on the athlete, right, you know. But you have a position where you oversee a lot of athletes, you know as well as Blaine does on a more certain level of it, how? And you also had kids who play sports, right, multiple sports. Or you talked about your son he just finished playing football and now he's going into basketball and stuff like that. How important would you say it is for students to get involved in athletics or any extracurricular activities, so to say?
Speaker 2:I think it's critical, actually essential. Especially we have a lot of students that don't have a lot of connections at home. Possibly, you know, they don't necessarily have those moments to go on a trip with their family. They don't have a moment to connect outside. So to get those connections in our school or Sports is one huge one. We always find out when it comes to driving factor, especially in our port of Valeria. Sports is a thing right. Where do you go when you're on the weekend? You go out to the, the park out there.
Speaker 3:I'm trying to remember it's the sports, sports, or it's on blacks and it's hoppin, there's so many people out there.
Speaker 2:What is those connections that kids have and developing that sportsmanship?
Speaker 3:You know so characteristics so huge, develop character.
Speaker 2:I think of other pieces that we're we're really focusing on, as well as the visual and performing arts. So I kind of see that as like similar to sports it's. It makes a connection. Yeah, something that connects them to something beyond just academics. Academics is essential. It's it's something we all need to have, but not every kid's gonna wake up in the morning.
Speaker 2:I can't wait to go to my math class. I can't wait to go to ELA. I can't wait to go to history or science. Some might, some might find those connections, especially a teacher that's really inspired that in them. But those connections I think of where Blaine's at right now in Burton Middle School. That's what they're all about. It's inspiring because they're trying to find connections for every single student, like what's that connection? It's gonna make it and a lot of times it is sports. Sports provide that connection.
Speaker 2:Very proud of when the connection comes with a coach that builds not only the capacity for that student to Succeed as an athlete but builds character.
Speaker 2:That's huge because, if we're being real, most of our students are not going to go on and become, even college, a lone professional, but what they are gonna take with them is a character that's built. So I have a lot of respect for coaches who build character and culture, yeah, who find a way to to not and not isolate kids, not, you know, not talk down to them, but find ways to inspire them. I don't know, I just think of certain coaches that come to mind as as we, as I think through it, the ones that even with my son, dj, who was, who's a pretty big athlete he likes. I mean, he's got the football and basketball going really well. Now he's got his coach inspiring him to do track this year coming up, and it's it's. What is that connection that they make with them? I don't know. I just like to study sometimes those coaches that come in and and not just try to win games.
Speaker 2:It's about building character with kids and how they handle losing as much as how they handle winning. I love I know it sounds weird, but I love watching sometimes when a A team loses and how they handle that, and I have so much pride in how my own kid handles Another group, even when they win or when they lose, how they handle the after the game Adversity character that goes with that. I'll take that any day over the week of ours. How?
Speaker 2:of how you handle those situations rather than just, you know, cheering the wind. Because what do you remember again, once again, when it's all done? You don't remember the wins or losses, you remember the, that teamwork you built.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the character you built that relationship, your job right, the brotherhood, the sisterhood, yeah, john Wooden. Well, you saying that John Wooden just studying hit, reading his his books, hit, watching his stuff. He would always tell his players whether you win or lose. I, if I'm looking at the film or I'm looking at the court, I shouldn't be able to tell a difference. I should by looking at your body language. I should not be able to tell if you've won or lost why. You know in today's world it's okay, I think it's. You know, sometimes we we want to, we want to be excited if we win right. But I think he was more focused on like Body language, right, you shouldn't be down if you've lost, but you shouldn't be, you know, boasting and stuff and bragging and If you've won right. So he was just saying you know, be even kill, don't get too high, don't get too low. I think John.
Speaker 2:Wooden's a huge. I've been reading some of his his work as well. I mean that he goes through. I Can't express enough how much he was talking about character, you know, and how much he's building a team. He will. He will, I think, even sent a few kids Out of the system if that were amazing athletes. But being an amazing athlete but without character is not gonna get you where you want to go as a team over time. That character is what's gonna keep your team moving forward. I mean, yes, you want to have that athleticism but Wow, when you're talking through what he was looking for, he was looking for the character that goes with that right and it's huge.
Speaker 2:I I don't even know how to express it sometimes in word, it's just that feeling you get in it. It's a proud moment. When I see my own kid, you know, after he knocks somebody down, put his hand up to opposing team and pull them up, that's more, that's a bigger for me than him knocking that.
Speaker 2:Or you know pounding someone. You know that kind of thing, you know it's. There's so many different ways of looking at it, but I see him pat another kid on the helmet whenever he's done with you know, doing a play that he maybe just just Completely smacked him or something made him fumble or something. You know that kind of thing. Rather, I actually have more pride in the moment when he does those things. Yeah, then I do in the actual play, it's kind of crazy. Is that that that'll carry over?
Speaker 2:Yeah, because he's developing something, then that when he's working with a colleague, he'll have that understanding exactly it's huge. Yeah, because we know realistically right, we're not all gonna become Well even if we do go pro, there's gonna be a last whistle.
Speaker 3:Yeah, there's gonna be a last time when that buzzer goes off and that's it.
Speaker 2:You've also seen how many pro athletes can come up into the system and not have that character built, and how fast the system can eat you up. Yeah, yeah and that it's sad to see that, because there's so much athleticism or a natural athleticism, sometimes it's lost due to, I Mean, a level of character that hasn't been built. Maybe it's a lack of coaching over the years, or maybe it's just. Maybe it's just didn't have that opportunity to build that character.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean so you have. So, gabby, she graduated, she played volleyball a Good volleyball player throughout high school and you know academics great as well. And then DJ is coming through sophomore now, atmanachi and playing basketball, football and track. Both of the both of your kids have great character, great sportsmanship. So we always try to ask, like parents of athletes, what, what advice I guess you would give to two other parents of athletes, or just like what, what have you been able to instill into your kids? That that's, you've seen that been successful in Allowing them to learn those characteristics, learn the sportsmanship and those type of aspects that are gonna allow them to be successful, not just on the court or field, but into their, their life outside of their sport.
Speaker 2:It's a good question. There's a lot. I Don't know how intentional it is, but it's. I learned a lot from my own dad, who came Regardless of whether I played or not in basketball. I gradually is like I said. I was a little, I was really skinny, I was like a beanpole all the way through. If I would have had somebody, if I'd had a gym, I had just done it. I wish I would have, but I didn't, and so. But my dad was there, no matter whether I was playing or not. He was there for me along the way. He came to every single game. He was a teacher.
Speaker 2:But right we had to break out early. Sometimes we had a game in Bakersfield. There was not. I can't think of one moment where he wasn't there and he had made a point to do that because his dad wasn't there for him. Yeah when he played football. His dad never came to a game, so he said he was gonna come to every single one of his kids games. That instilled in me kind of this wow, I didn't even play, dad, why'd you come?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:He's I'm coming to every one of your games.
Speaker 1:I'll be there.
Speaker 2:Delano, bakersfield, wherever it's at, I'm gonna drive there and be there for you, so that I guess it's being there and not having the pressure of you know, hey, if you're gonna, you do this. If you're want to do it for yourself, you're going to. I'm not going to pressure you to to be something that you're that you're not wanting to do. So we've kind of worked through that over time. I'm always gonna be there for DJs games. Mm-hmm, it was really hard because I'll miss my first game actually was last Thursday, missed the first one because we had a school event happening. That was the first time I've missed anything with him, with any any of my kids, and Did he notice?
Speaker 2:Did he notice he was saying that it's okay. It's okay because I'm not gonna maybe get to play as much as I as it would anyway. So he was understanding of it, but I'm sure he would have.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm sure he did notice.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but being there, not pressuring too much, understanding that I think it's afterwards saying, hey, how did it? You know, I'm I don't know just being understanding of the fact that it's not, it's not the only thing in your world, it's not. It's not, it's not that big a deal. He had a mom. Well, dj's mom was my wife.
Speaker 2:She didn't have a chance to be in any sports. I think it's where he got his speed from. She was super fast. She had a chance to be in sports, I'm sure, but she didn't because of Just the opportunities weren't there. She had to work with her family or work through things. She didn't have that same opportunities that I had growing up. And so she's always kind of grounded me in that way, because I'll get kind of intense about basketball, because I like basketball a lot, and so I'll be trying to tell him hey, you got to do this, you got to be there and get really intense with them and kind of frustrate them a little bit sometimes, and she'll come in and say, hey, dude, it's not that big a deal.
Speaker 2:You know, it's, it's a sport putting the perspective, yeah, the perspective and understanding that, hey, it's a sport now. It doesn't mean we don't play hard, work hard. What's been really cool to watch with DJ is he's driven Something. Something drives him beyond. Internally he's driven, so I haven't had to do as much. We don't. We haven't had to push him because he pushes himself. Actually sometimes we have to tell him to relax. He's actually pushes himself so hard he doesn't get the the sleepy needs.
Speaker 2:Yeah because he's working out Seven in the morning and then he's doing football practice three, four hours and he still goes to the gym for a couple hours at night, and that was like every single day Over the season and he's continuing to do some of that. So it's a, it's supporting but not pushing so hard that they don't like what they're doing.
Speaker 2:I mean forcing forcing because, um, we have a another son that doesn't isn't really doesn't like sports that much. We've kind of pushed him a little bit to do swimming or something. You got to do something right, um. So I believe every it's always good to kind of push kids a little bit when they're younger, to do something right. You got to do something, whether it's swimming, whether it's a band, whether it's Choir, whether you know any number of option. Art, um, visual and performing arts. There's a lot of opportunities and finding those moments and saying, hey, you've got to do, let's do something, and then we figure out what might stick or what becomes something you're really passionate about.
Speaker 2:But if we push it too much, sometimes we find ourselves pushing yeah, pushing against kids and they and they kind of kind of wear out on something, even if they've got the talent.
Speaker 1:Yeah, uh, something kind of clicked in my mind when you were talking about, you know, being um At dj's games and your dad being at all your games.
Speaker 1:Um, you get that perspective now as a leader. Um, obviously, you know, when you're overseeing thou 500 something teachers and staff members A lot of these staff members have, uh, kids and stuff that play sports, and so sometimes you know, you, you you have that perspective and that empathy of like, hey, like, take off, you know, take care of yourself, family first. Um, this isn't that important, make sure, make sure you are going to your game. So you kind of get that perspective now, um, and I see that in our, within, our district. Um, that is that comes down from the top, because you know, we do Put our, we, we do have that emphasis in our district about putting your family first, taking care of yourself, so then you can Take care of your work, because if you ain't taking care of yourself, um, and your, your own world, how are you going to? You know, pin 100 into your work, um, so that kind of clicked in my mind as you're talking about that.
Speaker 2:You have a lot of, as it is family first. You mentioned it, and there's not a moment that I won't. When it comes up to it, we say, hey, yeah, you gotta take care of yourself, your own health first, family first, finding ways to say yes before we say no. I mean, then I think if we give some of that and we build those relationships, they're gonna put in the work. People around you, if you, nat, will put in the work.
Speaker 2:There's very little situations where they won't, and so us believing in the fact that they I don't know them seeing that, we're gonna say, yeah, take off, do that. And I've been pretty lucky right now that I have a board of our board has that same kind of mindset which is saying, yeah, you're kids first, we know that's gonna happen and we know you're gonna show up. I'm gonna go to those school events, things. We have to be at the personal level, thinking through how to connect personally with people. If we just see it as a business, we're not putting out just products, we're putting out like kids, kids. There's such a complexity to that.
Speaker 1:We're not just creating we're not a factory.
Speaker 2:Not everything's gonna be the same. We have multiple people, multiple situations happening and we have to realize people have personal lives that have things happening all the time. Sometimes I don't even realize it and I go and there's some teachers that are dealing with some amazing personal situations that are just either health issues or, yeah, that are just. We have to be understanding of that. That. They have that and if we aren't, we lose track of our people. And when we lose track of our people, they're not gonna do the work anyway, because they can't, they won't be able to, or they'll see us as being just harsh and cold towards people.
Speaker 1:That's when you lose your culture, right, yeah.
Speaker 3:When you were going to school right Fresno High School and were you a good student? Did school come easy to you or was it something of a challenge to where I was like, oh man, I got to study, I got to put in long hours, I need to get this. Or did it come pretty quick to you? It came pretty quick? It came pretty quick.
Speaker 1:Everything was I'm sorry I got to fly your face. I didn't mean to bite through adversity a little bit.
Speaker 2:It's getting a little. It came pretty easy. That was an actually life in general has come. I say it in a, I don't like to talk about it in that way, but it's just. Things have come pretty easy for me and I think that sometimes is not always a good thing. I think we have to deal with adversity sometimes in order to be prepared for when it comes to us. Yeah, I was. I didn't have a lot of adversity growing up, my pretty not a lot of things happened that were that serious along the way I was able to. I think the first time I hit a point academically where I was struggling was when I went for that pharmacy degree and I hit chemistry in college and that was like my first C, I think it was like a B minus or a C and I said I worked as hard as I possibly could and I only got a C.
Speaker 3:You didn't get the result you wanted.
Speaker 2:I didn't get the result I wanted, because every other time, if I even thought I was getting A minus, I could just work a little harder and get the A. You never stressed on it, not even, not once in high school, and got through valedictorian, those kind of things got calculus hit me a little hard but not even close until I hit that in college and I didn't know how to deal with it. I think having adversity I actually want to encourage. I wish I mean the more we protect our kids from adversity, I think the more disservice we can do them sometimes because, they don't know how to deal with it.
Speaker 2:When it hits them square in the face at some time in the future. I think that's why sometimes I can want to avoid conflict, because I haven't had a lot of opportunity to deal with conflict.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so you know with that, adversity creates pressure. You know you get some students that aren't as good with school and the books and getting their homework done and having good grades and all that type of stuff. What advice would you give those kids, though? What would you tell them? The ones that do struggle, you know that have a hard time passing the curriculum and dealing with that pressure. You know just everything you know coming down on them.
Speaker 2:I think it's well. I think through back to sports with coaching. Right, Coach? I have the same issues when we talk through with a leader that's struggling or a teacher that's struggling or anyone that's struggling is.
Speaker 2:Originally I saw coaching as only a sports oriented, but to have a coach or somebody's helping it be like a tutor or somebody that can help you with your organization, finding somebody that can work through that so I think an adult that you can rely on as a student, but even a coach we all can use a coach and I think I've learned that over the years is I used to think what, why would I need a coach? I think of when I originally went into this one when I originally You're buddy, okay, yeah.
Speaker 2:I hope I took a good enough shower.
Speaker 1:I'll go on now too.
Speaker 2:When we talk about a coach and what a coach can do for adults as well, I think everyone can use a coach, or everyone can use somebody who's helping them meet that next level. I think the one that's a quote that stuck with me over the years is Dave Ramsey. When I was listening to Andre leadership, he was talking about the only difference between you now and you from a year from now is the people you meet and the books you read. That's literally the difference between the two-.
Speaker 3:Smag it, give it a good wave.
Speaker 2:It really is that. You can see yourself getting connected to the coach and finding that gets constructed by that fly. That fly got me good.
Speaker 1:See how easily we just-.
Speaker 2:Yes, I got glinting around on my nose. How do we get to see that as an opportunity to have somebody that cares about them, because you can't do it alone. That's the thing.
Speaker 3:It comes hard to find somebody to do it with, finding that person to walk side by side with you to take you where you want to go. I agree to that. That's the thing it's like Because pressure, as they get older, pressure hits and it comes down hard on them. The middle school you start now dealing with some real life stuff, all these type of things, and high school hits, and then it's like oh man, this is all new to them.
Speaker 3:Like you mentioned before, adversity it's great, it's amazing, but to a certain extent because if people don't usually handle it in the way that we would like them to, sometimes and they shut down and that's not the best way to do it. But it's kind of hard when you've Because I deal with a lot of student athletes and there's high pressure. Now you add the extra curriculum on top of the school having good grades, excelling at your sport, making your parents happy, making your coach happy, looking good in front of your friends and it's just like boom, you know. And so, to your point, you're right a good mentor, coach, friend, parent, it makes all the difference in the world, for when that pressure just starts collapsing down on them and that's the hard part, because there's students that and when we talk about students, there's students that don't have that necessarily at home.
Speaker 2:They may now have that parent support at home sometimes. So we have to find ways to connect them at school and find that one teacher that's gonna inspire them. If you hear those moments, that's when I get the most inspired. When I hear kids later on, when they're in their 20s, talking about what will help you get there, and it's always about somebody they connected with along the way.
Speaker 2:They always point back to a person that said all right, you gotta get out from underneath, whatever's that adversity that's with you right now, and that was somebody helping them get there and believing in them. And that's that moment you live for is if you can help somebody along the way believe in themselves. That's my ultimate goal as a superintendent, or even as a leader, as I've worked my way through is always wanna ask in my rounding conversations what can I do for you? How can I get you to that next level? Where are you aiming for? And if I can set them up for that next level, that's the true goal, right?
Speaker 3:there that success.
Speaker 2:Help, yeah, to help other people find success, because if we set that person up for the next level and help them hit their goals or help them hit their passion, they're gonna give 10 times more effort and we're gonna find that much more student success in the process.
Speaker 3:When we grow, we go.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean because you can watch a really good coach. Bring the same 10 players to another level because of how they're able to connect and inspire kids.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it takes one person to believe in you. For sure, true.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so kind of we talk about kids, advice for students and things like that. What about future educators? We constantly have educated, retiring. We always wanna attract the best and the brightest, because my thing is, every job, no matter what anyone's doing, everyone's going through teachers, everyone's going through education. That is the fundamental base of society, our educational system, everyone's goes through it and it has a huge effect on our society and our future. That's everything right. So we wanna attract the best and the brightest. And teaching's tough right. You've been a teacher, you oversee some. You know I teach. Zach teaches in a different aspect, but he's a teacher. We got Gonzo Fernando Gonzalez in here. He's an educator. So we want the best and the brightest. What advice would you give to those future educators that are wanting to get into education? Maybe they're not sure. Why should they get into education? Why do we need them? For our future and our society?
Speaker 2:Man, that's a deep question.
Speaker 3:It is Very deep question.
Speaker 2:I don't even know if I can give it justice but I'm gonna start digging. Yeah, I mean because there's I'm sure there's such a great quote somewhere and answer. You know that people give I think of it as being making a difference. You know, some of it can get a little cliche sometimes but really, when it comes down to it, you're shaping the next generation.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean if you've got that in your heart, to come through and say we're not just building a new product and trying to make the next million dollars, we're building the next generation that's gonna building a legacy.
Speaker 2:You know, when it comes down to it, if that, if any connection you've made with those students carries on and they connect with somebody else along the way, all those connections lead to us growing together. I'm a huge believer in continuous improvement. That's something I've gained over the last seven years. Probably is our journey at Burton School District in continuous improvement and saying what is that next level? How do we build, how do we connect with our? The next?
Speaker 2:You know our kids and so I think that's. I guess when I look back at it, it's. It is that it's leaving that legacy of, if you can see it past the day to day when you say I know a teacher saying, you know, I have to go to school and teach kids, and if you just see it as you're just trying to teach kids academic or just trying to teach them how to do addition and subtraction, it's so much more than that. If somebody has that inspiration, those are the things we look for when we talk into teachers or potential teachers. Is somebody that comes in not just saying, oh, I know how to do math, I know how to do language of arts, you know, or I know how to do this.
Speaker 2:A lot of us know how to do those things, but we know, how to connect with kids in order to get them inspired to learn it and see why they need to know it not just know it because, if you know it, we have a lot of book, smart kids.
Speaker 2:But they haven't necessarily learned how to connect in our world that we live in as they come out, and that's when they hit that adversity right when they hit, the real world hits them and they haven't developed critical thinking or creativity, some of those pieces, or even sometimes grit. So any teacher that can identify the fact that they're trying to build kids, the whole child, not just. Oh, that's not my responsibility. All I'm doing is teaching them.
Speaker 3:Yeah, two plus two.
Speaker 1:Yes, kind of missed the point.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I guess that's. I mean, it's not the most polished statement back to you, oh that's great.
Speaker 3:No, I think it's great. Yeah, you know.
Speaker 2:But it's like something that's in your heart. Really you have a heart for kids. You see it in our teachers where you walk in and you can tell when they have that heart for kids. They want to see them succeed. They know not every kid comes in with the same support at home.
Speaker 3:Every kid has a different story. They all do.
Speaker 2:We're not a factory and we're not a not everyone comes in starting off and we're not trying to output the same kids we're. Every one of them is unique.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So that's huge to see, helps us to identify why we want to spend some of our dollars and our after school dollars to give as many opportunities as we can to kids, because that might be that one moment that kid made a connection that kept them in school. That's huge when you can find and not realize wow. I think the latest one I think of is we created a we.
Speaker 2:I'm just gonna say we even though I didn't have a lot to do with other than saying we had a dream to create a after school elementary sports kind of program for kids.
Speaker 2:that was kind of like a no cut type situation, so the students wouldn't get necessarily cut from the team in the early elementary to see if we can develop a passion for kids that might not have parents who have them involved with them after school sports, because which we know that it takes some resources to have and some time and effort from parents to have kids involved with sports programs that are outside of school. So to be bringing that in, we might make that one connection or two connections that kids find and that keeps them coming to school. Once we get them to school then we start thinking about now we can educate them, but if they're before that they might not found that connection and they're kind of not even wanting to come to school. And then we find them to be true in and then gradually they could go down another route which is not showing up. So the more we can find those connections, the more we can put dollars towards kids and those connections. I think is huge.
Speaker 3:Yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 3:I mean, and the last time I was with you was in fifth grade Yep, yeah, conversations were a little bit different then, you know, but now you know, sitting here and talking to you and listening to your story and everything, I could easily see why you're in the position that you're in. You know you're the, the leadership, that skills that you have, the vision that you have, everything that you have coming, that you've received, and that what you want to get, man, it all makes perfect sense why you're the man for the job and I'm really glad that our, our kids in our community and our youth have somebody like you in that position. It's, it's really, it's really awesome. You know, and I'm I'm really happy.
Speaker 3:I'm really happy to have this conversation with you because I get the inside scoop and get a get a feel for who you are personally and you know it gets me a little emotional, you know, because sometimes you know we get kids that do get left behind and it always starts at the top. You know it starts at the top and then it trickles down and you know some, just, you're a man who I, I'm listening to that you know no kid gets left behind if you have something to do about it.
Speaker 2:We got it. We got to give it our best effort. I mean, there's times when we have to keep working to find that.
Speaker 2:That's why I talk about continuous improvement so much is that it's always putting yet on the statement. Right, if we can just put yet on the statement, that gives everyone a chance. Just give people a chance. It doesn't mean we're not gonna have a lot of adversity, you know, along the way, and there might be some moments where this is tough, decisions that have to be made. But, right, let's give ourselves a chance. Be thinking about that.
Speaker 2:Finding people that have that same passion and heart to be on the team that work towards that is huge. It gets us. It gets us that much more opportunity to find that one student that maybe would slip through, right? Yeah, that's something developed over the years, because I've seen some great educators who have been have demonstrated that. That's when one of the biggest privileges over the years is being able to be in classrooms and see being meetings and being in all kinds of different aspects of education and see people who care. Beyond the day-to-day, you know, beyond this. This is my job, this is my no so much more than a job, it's a calling, it's a perfect, you know, it's a profession. At the least it's a calling at the In another level. For some it's a calling, it's something. Yeah, I'm not really thinking about the time right now, what I'm thinking about that connection.
Speaker 1:I made to a kid right now who's going to find success someday.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh yeah, it's, it's a.
Speaker 1:It gets me emotional, it's something that You're passionate Like yeah you're passionate, passionate, yeah and, at the end of the day, we can't lose sight of why we do this right the kids.
Speaker 1:Yeah one thing things get tough. As an educator, whatever we go through things, it's like, okay, you sometimes got to remove yourself from you know that, that tunnel vision, whatever you're in, and sometimes like take that step back and say, why are we doing this? Why do we get into this from the beginning? And it's the kids and I Kind of what Zach just said, your leadership.
Speaker 1:You know there's so many great people that work in Burton school district and I can't say her name them all, but I mean, whether it's you for Gonzo, you know Casey, irene, like there's been so many times like we're, you know it's on the weekends or a holiday whatever, and or we're late hours and we're not even thinking of like I've never thought about Going to work out from seven to leave that 330, whatever it is, it doesn't cross your mind, right, a paycheck doesn't cross my mind, and that's, that's because of the people that we're surrounded with.
Speaker 1:Right, we're going in. It's like it's a project, right, how can we make this better? How can we continually improve? Because we've never arrived right. And so how do we keep Building this program, building these programs, building this, this school district? And that comes from your leadership and all the the great people Within our school district, because that's the mindset it takes. That's the mindset and that that's why other school districts are coming to see and look at what we're doing, and I mean that's also why we're going to tell their districts as well.
Speaker 1:So it's that continuous improvement, like you said yeah never arriving and always trying to get better and see where we could Improve on and remaining the student of the game.
Speaker 2:Yeah, constantly trying to find ways to make Things better, yeah, better. What's that next step? What's that next change idea that we're gonna try? That's, and it can be as small as when we're looking through the marketing for our own district. I think, that can't take that lightly is how do we, how do we improve our service? How do we improve, I mean, the one I've been working on to try and be less of a big Superintendent up on it been the office that nobody knows where he's at, kind of thing Visibility yeah but finding that balance between visibility and getting work done getting right so that's a constant.
Speaker 2:All right, where have I been today? I try I have to intentionally schedule those pieces in order to Continue to be. I want to be a more human to everybody. You know. Not the big boss yeah there's. I don't need to be that, I don't have to have that position. But man, the, the, the opportunity it provides to bring that many more Chances for students to succeed. It's worth it.
Speaker 1:It makes it all, without a doubt, yeah With. With all that being said, you know we, kind of briefly, we've talked about a lot of stuff Before the podcast started. You know there's so much stuff in this new world, this digital technology world, and it's getting to know artificial intelligence and different things that we're already implementing In our district and in some some ways, in a classroom and things like that. So it's about, you know, staying Not just on par but staying ahead of the game, right, whereas when our kids Graduate you know they've seen this right there entering the workforce or entering the university system, a college system, whatever the trade different trades are going into, and you know they're there or they're a world ready.
Speaker 1:We call it right. What? What is, I guess, the future of education look like, and what do we need to do as a school district, but also just as in society, to be able to set our students Up for success? You know, we're doing a lot of amazing things extra curriculars right now, the implementing and staying up with the the latest and greatest technology we have, you know, one-to-one Mac books and Apple technology with all of our students. So I guess the question goes back to what is the future future of education? What do we need to do or continue doing To set our students up for success? I Think.
Speaker 2:The one I think about a lot is, once again, that continues improvement. Try remaining hungry, trying to figure out what is that next step, and being open to it, because we can get stuck in our ways and all of a sudden we were cutting edge and then you know, pre-covid, we're cutting edge and then post-covid, we're now you know we don't want to let. We don't want to let it slip and and sometimes it can happen right in any kind of situation and kind of uproot that. So, remaining Innovative, being open to seeing where other districts or other trainings can take us, we don't want to. I don't want to get into that Spot where we're always adapting the next biggest program, the next best program, the next best this or that, because those are fads, passing passing fads.
Speaker 2:But what are the big picture pieces, and I think you mentioned one of them being AI. We have to. Sometimes you look at it as well. We want to just hide it right, even with students and technology right in the classroom. You can see it as an interruption, or you can see it as an innovation, innovative tool, mm-hmm, and it's so much easier just to get rid of it. No, let's just not do it Be. Let's try and regulate and and make make technology go go away. Let's make AI not be an option.
Speaker 2:They'll People will find us around that people will find ways to make it happen. So why not embrace some of these pieces and find out how we can manage it to help kids be successful and be prepared for the world they're gonna jump into because they're going to be part of it? Technology can be one of the best things in the world, but it also can be one of the things that can be a really tough thing for Students as they're working through it. So the more we can teach responsibility around it, the more and it's not just technology, but any Anything, and we're competing with some technology that is definitely Tough to compete with. When we're trying to talk of a traditional classroom, sure, so the more we can get students talking in the classroom, the more we can get Students interacting and learning some of those skill sets that employees, employers, are looking for, always trying to find those options, because employers are not looking for Grades. When you're talking about the, you know the 4.0. There's a lot of 4.0.
Speaker 2:Yeah but there's a lot less kids that have the critical thinking, that have developed the grit to stay with it, the the creativity, the creative mind to solve a Complex problem that can come up at a job yeah, that's what employers are looking for. So the more we can incorporate that into our, our lessons and be open to it and not get stuck in that traditional mindset. That's kind of what I look at for education is how can we continue to be open, not Not closed, but not so much that we're looking to find a new program, I guess cuz right or if we're gonna find a new program.
Speaker 2:We evaluate what we're already doing and try not to stack because we can get into that. We're the next shiny object stacks on top of the other shiny object and all of a sudden we have too many things we can't be excellent at right, yeah, no, I think that's really good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean. Yeah, it's thank you. I, like I said, I Appreciate you taking the time to to jump on the podcast with us.
Speaker 1:It's a conversation I I had was a while back and with Gonzo, like hey, what's up? You know we've had athletes was kind of our. We had athletes, coaches, health and fitness experts. But it's quest for success and when we look in our community we look at different people. Your name just keeps coming up right, and so you've been through every different level of education. You're now the superintendent of Burton School District and You're continuing to inspire, you're continuing to just be a good role model, not just for For for kids, but for teachers like myself, for other community leaders in our community as well. So we appreciate that and it's it's a privilege to have you on and to work with you as well.
Speaker 3:Yeah, most definitely. Yeah, like, my take away is how involved you get everybody you know in ways, you know where most leaders have a hard time doing, you know, and the biggest takeaway is you give recognition when recognition is due, and sometimes that's hard for leaders to do and that's the thing I truly admire. It's like being able to say I didn't do this alone. I had a lot of help and, like you mentioned a few times, like you have a Strong core, people close around you to make sure that everything is moving accordingly and correctly in the direction that you see, the best vision for Burton School District. So, if I mean, if there's, if there's, that one thing I'm taking away is is how involved you you get everybody. You know you get everybody rolling in the same direction and you make sure that they get their recognition for helping you move that boat.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that's a.
Speaker 2:That's the goal right is to get everybody rolling in that same direction, trying to get all those arrows pointing in the same way. It's not always easy, man. You also have to have intentional moves that happen along the way. The one I think of that I think a huge advice that has come over the years. I mean, when you're talking through that, reminding me of Bernay Brown, talked about vulnerability, and I've had to work through that because I used to think vulnerability meant weakness, yeah, and then you have to be this tough persona, you know, you have to be this person that's in charge and always, always knows all the answers. And she talked about that vulnerability, how important it is to build a team, to build Leaders around you that work through it, and being vulnerable enough to say you know what, I don't have the answer to that and that takes a lot and it was hard.
Speaker 2:For me. It is still gonna always be challenging, because then you have to be, when you're vulnerable, you it's not being weak, it's being Approachable, being, you know, owning. When you make a mistake, apologizing that's hard to do as a leader but just flat out saying you know what? Hey, I messed up, yeah, I didn't realize it was gonna be approached this way, because then gradually you can think through Big decisions. So, like right now we've got a couple big decisions happening in our district and I'm trying to think of all the angles, right, empathy, trying to jump into everyone else's shoes and saying, okay, how are they gonna see that? What's the best way to cascade that messaging? I know honestly, I know from the beginning I'm gonna mess up somewhere. So I have to be ready to be vulnerable and say you know what? I Didn't see that angle because I don't know. But if I can be trusting of my team around me, they're gonna help me see more angles, yeah, and there will be less chance of that happening. But I have to be prepared to be vulnerable.
Speaker 1:Yeah, being transparent. Transparent vulnerability.
Speaker 2:Keeping. I think the other word that keeps coming to mind that you mentioned earlier was balance trying to make sure, because you don't have the right balance, you can actually kind of lose it sometimes and you, you wear yourself down and you lose track of who you are If you're not careful and don't keep a balance in your life because then you might lose, you might lose it and regret it. Right, lose something in a situation that you later on say but if it happens, we're all human, similar to with our own staff.
Speaker 2:We have to be vulnerable and saying hey, you know what, Saying that to a team's heart, though? Yeah, yeah a few times when you say I messed up here.
Speaker 3:Yeah, like before the pod, before you got here, you know me and Blaine, we're talking like man. We don't judge people by their mistakes or you know, we judge them by how they respond to their mistakes. You know, and that's that's very important for people to understand, because we are human and we are gonna make more than one, two, three, four, ten thousand mistakes in our lifetime, you know, especially when we're trying to progress and we're trying to learn and we're trying to adapt and we're trying to figure things out. I mean, it's gonna happen, it's gonna happen.
Speaker 2:So if you're not making mistakes, you're not trying very hard. That's the other piece and that's why, by being vulnerable, by being understanding, I Want people to be feel like they can make a mistake, because if they're not making mistakes, then we're not.
Speaker 3:We're not moving to that next level.
Speaker 2:We're not innovating People are just going to comply, and when we have all compliance, people in our in any business in education as well. If we just have compliance people we're surrounded by, we're gonna get the job done. But other companies, other education institutions, any, they're gonna pass us up yeah all of a sudden.
Speaker 2:Well, ten years from now, we'll realize we're stuck in 2023. Yeah, and I've seen it happen to educational institutions as well. It's like stuck in early two thousands, you know still, and Because you, we were afraid to be vulnerable and to take that next step, and people weren't. We're fearful of of.
Speaker 1:Changing that next step.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're. They're just wanting to comply. Come to work, do your job, be quiet, comply. That's when you're working in an organization as fear built into it, or or authority Authority built into it. Right, physician authority, yeah and never lasts.
Speaker 1:I never, it doesn't.
Speaker 2:It might last for a little bit, but then you end up finding over time that it that other people pass you up in business. You go out of business. Right, we've seen it happen with companies before. You know you see why. You say why does one company just completely blow it, blow it out of the park? Well, another company who is doing so great end up just literally going out of business and education.
Speaker 2:You don't go out of business because you just keep having kids come, but what you do is you have an, an educational institution that is not innovative and gradually it's not producing as much student success as it could you and you get kind of compliance?
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, no, I think I think one of my favorite traits about you is that how you've managed to overcome your being an introvert, because it's hard, you know, being an introvert and having to speak to all these people all these times, all these events and all these type of things like you. But you've rose to the challenge and you got comfortable, getting uncomfortable, and To me, that's a leader. You know that, that's how you succeed. You know you have to get Uncomfortable to get comfortable, you know, and so I Just like I keep mentioning it is like the the leadership skills, I mean Guys, just that they're throughout this whole podcast, all these nuggets you know I've a day all this relates to sports. All of it relates to sports you know what I mean.
Speaker 3:So guys just business leadership business leadership Systems.
Speaker 2:you know like they all tie in together, so yeah, I love reading the business leadership books as well as educational leadership books. By seeing, I think everything ties in. Yeah, good practices, or good practices when that comes into leadership. Yeah, it's about building relationships. Yeah, connecting and finding ways to go beyond just getting the job done right. It's huge.
Speaker 3:We've been playing set a couple of times on other podcasts as to about your, the vulnerable vulnerability, you know, and I mean it's like when I lost my train of thought on that. You know, being vulnerable is is tough, but I lost my train of thought on that one. We always say it every, every, about almost every single podcast. I forgot what it was.
Speaker 1:I'm trying to thank to pick you up, but no, no, no, it was a great one.
Speaker 3:You know I'll think of it. Go ahead. I would have been one of the spotlight, right yeah?
Speaker 1:Little closing Sure. You'll think about it, about two hours later.
Speaker 3:You know I was thinking about it for the last five minutes. I'm ready to bring it out, you know of course. Oh, that's what I was gonna say. You know, when people get you know, you admitting that you don't know something. But we respect the people that say that. But they say I'll figure it out.
Speaker 1:Those people right there are the best people to be around.
Speaker 3:You know what I mean. You have to be around those people and you need to be one of those people, especially through adversity or learning new things. I don't know it. I'm sorry I don't have an answer for you, but I'm gonna figure it out. Growth.
Speaker 1:Yeah, go back and go back to your homework, go call people, talk to people you trust, and you've come back and I think we've got something there.
Speaker 2:By admitting it. Then you can actually go back and get it done, because otherwise you kinda wanna bury it or hide it if you wanna hide it, then you're not gonna go back and figure it out.
Speaker 1:And that's being a humble, because then if you're willing to say I don't know, well, then you're more willing to say go seek help too and go ask. Because a lot of the type of those people that can't say that they know it all, or not willing to say I don't know, they're also probably not willing to go ask for help and go talk to people and say hey, what do you think about this?
Speaker 3:And so it's always a challenge for men too to ask for help you know.
Speaker 2:It is. That's that fine line between vulnerability and weakness, and I used to think it was all one, as I would. I've always, because I hadn't dealt with a lot of that sort of thing, haven't had a lot of adversity in my life. It hasn't been there. But it doesn't mean I can't learn that from other people's stories, from other people's like, say, books, or by talking to other people.
Speaker 3:Their experiences yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I still have to walk. When I get ready to walk into a room right now, I have to take a breath before I just have to focus. I mean, even coming here today, I was more nervous than when I actually when I was gonna talk in front of the 600 staff members.
Speaker 1:Because I was like well, what's gonna happen?
Speaker 2:It's unsuredness, right Of what's gonna? Happen and am I gonna say the right words? And there was video cameras on me.
Speaker 1:You know that kind of thing.
Speaker 2:I have to take a breath, think about it. I have to, but I can't memorize it. I can't write it down, because if I do any of that, it doesn't sound sincere.
Speaker 1:It doesn't come across sincere.
Speaker 2:But then sometimes you get hung up a little more. But there's the sincerity of anything we do is important to me too, so I try and do thank you cards to our staff members, but it has to be something specific. It has to be something I see, because otherwise it just becomes just another. Oh, he's just going through the motion. Thank, you.
Speaker 2:If you get it specific, man, the connections you make with people, are real huge, yeah, very real, and it's, I think, talking or getting and mingling in a crowd. The politics of this position are still a big challenge for me and it's gonna it's going to be tough. I'll still get in a room and kind of stand off in the corner and kind of freak out. It's just how it is when we go to a social. If you put a social in the front of anything, it freaks me out.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Because, oh yeah, come to this social or come to this, there's different ones that we have with the community. I had to challenge myself, so I put myself as a chamber ambassador for the chamber of commerce, and that is literally one of the things that we, that you're supposed to do right. Everything you do is about like recruiting or talking to people that you don't know if they want to talk to you and you just go up and gradually I try and make it like, okay, I'm gonna talk to one person today.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna.
Speaker 2:no, I'm gonna talk to two and then gradually get in no people and that helps. But man, that's it. Does not give me energy. Like an extrovert gets energy off of that, it gives the opposite.
Speaker 1:I'll go in and just be gone.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's not. It's not easy. That's a struggle. What gives me energy is sitting and knocking out, you know, another like a video, or knocking out something that highlights staff member. You know I get that. Like this pride factor that goes at just like off the chart, I can't get you pumped up.
Speaker 3:Cause you chills.
Speaker 2:Huh, yeah, I've got a few different things going right now. In the background, I'm like I'm gonna see how I can highlight this person or put this in there or do that or build up this program within our district or those kinds of things. That's all that work.
Speaker 2:But then when he but I have to remember, wait, I've got a multifaceted position now, which is not just that. Before I was able to kind of live off of that and live off of other people's like off other people's successes. Now it's me having to go out and try and build our district through the lens of our community and trying to figure out what the best way to do that one of them is to be there and be visible.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Well, thank you, david. We're lucky, we're grateful to have you Leading our school district and being a leader, a key figure in our community. Yeah, it's hard to pin the words, I guess how lucky we are to have somebody you know, a great role model to look up to and for our kids to look up to, business leaders to look up to, because it's good for our community, it's good for our educators, our students, our families, and know that you know we have someone we could trust that is going to lead us in the right direction. So thank you Again, thank you for taking the time to come on today. A lot of people are gonna get a lot of not just a leadership out of this, but I guess just whether it's families that listen to this, other educators in our district. You know we have a ton of student athletes that listen to this, people that from other states, other countries that tune in. So you know they're gonna take a lot away from this and we're grateful for that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and it gave you a little bit of closure. You nailed it, you did a good job, yeah, you did good, man. It was awesome to have you here. I really appreciate it. I learned a lot.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you can always edit, though right A little bit.
Speaker 3:Something went wrong. It was good you can edit out the fly. I think he buzzed a little bit on this.
Speaker 1:It's the characteristics.
Speaker 3:The character of the whole.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you battle through the fly, battle through a little bit of sunlight. At the beginning, you showed us why you're a true leader. Yeah, adversity.
Speaker 2:Perseverance, that's another word.
Speaker 3:There you go persevere, yeah, so but yeah, thank you, it was fun talking to shopmen.
Speaker 2:That was great. Thank you for making the time. Thank you for having me here today. I'm hoping we can continue to well. The next step is me.
Speaker 1:I'm trying to start a podcast.
Speaker 2:This gives me some inspiration, makes me want to kick it into another gear because that's a hard one to get going for our district. But we're trying to start a little bit of a podcast that highlights the Burton experiences with our kids and with our students and our teachers and our staff members, and finding those nuggets of amazingness that's happening now in our Burton experience, so thank you.
Speaker 1:It'll be great. Anything you touch. I know it'll be top notch, it'll make it happen.
Speaker 2:All right, thank you guys. Thank you, david. Thank you guys MUSIC.