Ep 15 | United: Real Stories

SPEAKER_02 0:00

We will not give up and we will explore our our opportunities and expand our our energies to move our whole district forward and and look at the various aspects of early literacy, of kindergarten readiness, of extra time for students who are in in need of time for intervention specialists and these different activities that we can do to connect our kids to our system where they can experience success.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

Welcome to the Voices United in Education podcast. Each week we showcase the teachers, administrators, and community members who go the extra mile to contribute to the success of every student in Escambia County. You'll meet the real people behind the titles and learn about the amazing resources to support every student's success. When it comes to our schools, we may hear about improvement initiatives, but we rarely get to hear the real account of how they play out. My next guests are the deputy superintendent and superintendent of Escambia County Public Schools. And today they're gonna give a peek inside the schools as they share the real stories of commitment and support from the real people who show up every day. United in Mission and Vision, Escambia County Public School Super Duo, Dr. Tim Smith and Miss Sheena Payne. Thanks for being here.

SPEAKER_02 1:33

We're glad to be here. Thank you for having us.

SPEAKER_01 1:36

Dr. P and Dr. T and Miss P. I feel like it's your music video alter egos. That'll be the next episode we do together. I like that. I like that. It could be great. It could be frightening.

SPEAKER_02 1:48

If I ever sing, you will never forget it.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

Well, it will be memorable.

SPEAKER_02 1:53

It would be memorable, not in a positive way.

SPEAKER_01 1:56

Well, Miss Ping, you are a Pensacola high school proud graduate, which I'm pretty sure qualifies you as a local. What made you want to work in this school system?

SPEAKER_00 2:08

Her name was Dr. Ann Agnew, and the other name is Eddie May Lane. So grandmother and professor at the University of West Florida. I was actually working in this building many years ago when it was Gulf Power Company. Answered a phone call. It just happened to be my grandmother. How she got through, I don't know. But she said to me, Hey, you want to be a teacher? She's found an article in a newspaper for teachers they were soliciting needed minority teachers and they were offering scholarships. So I called, I followed the instructions. I called. I walked into the classroom of Dr. Ann Agnew that night at a on a course that I thought would be easy to take. And she actually read a story her first night to the class. I cannot tell you what she read. I don't remember. I just remember that at the end of it, I was in tears, and I thought, this is what I'm supposed to be doing. And so about 25 years later, still here. So those two ladies knew something that I didn't know, and I was fortunate to say yes and do exactly as I was told, which is always smart when you're dealing with. So it's that really is my story.

SPEAKER_01 3:10

I can't say that was anything I expected, but I do have goosebumps from hearing that because when you know, you know. Yep. That's amazing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:19

So I've I've never, I have not regretted one day it has made. And you know, you get into this because you want to inspire. I had no idea I would be so inspired by the many people and children other and were other employees that I've met along the way. My best friend I met along the way this journey. So it's been wonderful.

SPEAKER_01 3:37

That's so cool. You know, the initiative to become um united for the success of every child is such, I mean, it's a beautiful one, right? But it's a big one. It's one that can feel like wishing for world peace when you don't see the progress that is being made or the real people that go with it. Can you give me a real life example of how you see that happening?

SPEAKER_00 4:00

I see it happening because just like you said, I understand that this is this is hard work, but this is powerful work. This is life-changing, this is altering work. And so there are so many people every day. When you think of the thousands of employees of employees that work each day in this district, it's hard to pull out, you know, any number. But if I had to pull one, then one certainly would be David Gardner, who is our new warehouse manager for Scammy County Public Schools. He is a phenomenal new person in his role. And one of the things he did initially coming into the role, you think about all the things that housed are that happened in a warehouse. So he's got everything from food services to supplies, you name it, he has to get those out to the schools. And so in this particular time, we were trying to put together our stuff the bus campaign, which happens every year in partnership with Channel 3 and United Way. He opened up his facility, his team, his people, everything from the people to trucks to make sure that the bus drivers had what they needed to get supplies back and forth. He offered his space to come back with volunteers like Navy Federal to come back and set up a spot where they could put the supplies together. He and his team make sure that those things were delivered to students so that no student would start the first day of school who needed resources and didn't have resources. He houses inside of that warehouse a clothing store for another school. He just, whatever they can do, he has been such an asset to our district. Um and there are other people, but he comes to mind. He's getting ready now, November's coming, so he helps with Mana Food Bank. And he and his team meet every morning at 6.20 in the morning to encourage one another and do what they do, the work for the district. And he also this year participated in our principal's meeting. Now imagine that he went through the meeting, the rotations, because he wanted to hear and learn about those things that might be able to assist him and his team in the work they do for kids every day. So he's just one example. Um, and then of course, I could think of another one. Casey Teal is our um athletic director for the district. Wonderful, wonderful guy who got his start because his grandmother taught in a one-room schoolhouse in Nebraska where he was raised.

SPEAKER_01 6:16

No, stop. I'm from Nebraska. My grandmother taught in a one-room schoolhouse.

SPEAKER_00 6:20

Well, it goes. Here we go. Here we go. Buckle up. And his grandfather was interested in athletics. He was a football player, and so that's what he knew. And so it inspired him. And he is now our district. He's come through, he's got quite the journey. But what he has done for us in our district as a new athletic director for us has been great. He has implemented such things as middle school athletic directors, if you will. We look for them in high school. You have ADs, but middle school has a lot of athletics and they need a lot of support and help. And so he was one of those. So when you talk about making a positive difference, you don't have time to talk about 5,000, I understand, but those are two that come to mind and the things that they are done. And when you when you see people working that hard, you know it is because uh David Gardner said to me, it takes courage to do this work for kids and for the community. And I agree with that. And so they're committed and we're unified, and that's what makes the difference each day.

SPEAKER_01 7:18

That's some serious internal motivation to do all the things that you just said those two individuals have done. I'm thinking, wow, I don't I don't have the energy for all of that. But when you believe very passionately for something, the energy comes from the inside out. So that is amazing. Dr. Smith, in our last episode, we learned together that, uh, or I learned about you that you have over three decades of experience teaching in or in Florida schools. Uh, what have you seen in Escambia County that makes you feel like uniting together is not just an important thing, but a possible thing?

SPEAKER_02 7:58

Well, I think you see our community that cares about education and cares about children, from our children's trust that was approved by over 60% of the voters, to the day-to-day operations in our schools. People care. And that is a critical part of the equation to having a school district grow and reach new heights of learning. One of our biggest challenges and uh the biggest to-do item on our list is making our system connected with every kid, every student who comes to our schools. That's one of the things I love about our vision that we are united for every student to succeed. And if we're not connecting with our students and they're not learning and growing, then we have to figure that out and turn that experience around. An example that comes to mind for me is working with the US Navy and the new star base program that we have out at the National Flight Center. And that started last February through uh Captain Kinsilla. He's the one who really brought that whole initiative, and we were ready to embrace that with open arms, and so we work together on that, and Captain Shishadi has has stepped right into that and been enthusiastic about it as well. So I I really tip my hat to those two gentlemen and and their leadership, but it exemplifies working together for the benefit of kids. And what that experience is is for our fifth grade students, we have a rotation from one school to the next. Those fifth grade students have five full days of STEM activities on the Naval Air Station. Wow. At the mu uh at the flight center. And so they're learning experiences that are related to eventually careers and and job opportunities. So we're very excited about that. And it and it really uh it really symbolizes that unity and working together for our kids. I know as a kid, when I was a long time ago, but when I think back, I would have loved to have that type of experience. And the kids are really lucky if they're there on a day when the blue angels are are practicing, because you don't you don't miss that. That building will rumble and it's a great experience, but it really speaks to providing kids hope and and confidence that you can do these things when they're working on a robotics uh exercise or a coding exercise. These are these are activities that are job career related. And and fifth grade was uh selected to really have kids start thinking about those possibilities at an early age and build confidence. So so that's that's an example of where we we see unity in action and people coming together and resourcing together for for our kids.

SPEAKER_01 11:14

That's a pretty cool example. I wish I had that when I was fifth grader. I might dress up like a fifth grader. That might be creepy. Maybe I won't do that. But I would definitely be, if I was invited, I would definitely not turn down that invitation. I want to um visit something you said right before you shared that example. Was the reason that you feel like unity is not just important, but it's possible in Escambie County specifically, is because we have this incredible foundation of people who actually care. And I really like that um sentiment because you can always rebuild a system, you can change a system, but if the people inside the system are uh you know checked out, quiet quit, you know, as they say, then it you can't teach them to care. And so from a system point of view, can you give any examples of changes that have been made since this um united initiative has begun that have come from the top down that would be meaningful to a parent?

SPEAKER_02 12:19

What comes to mind for me is looking at our transportation system, where we we have experienced a tremendous shortage of bus drivers. And over the years, uh our um our our human resources team and our transportation department, they've worked very hard on pulling in more bus drivers and hiring more bus drivers. And so there has been forward movement there, which is great. So our our routes are being covered, and that just does not happen in the midst of a labor shortage as we have experienced. What our transportation director, Darlene Hart, and our assistant superintendent over operations, Sean Dennis, what what they have done is they came up with a uh alternate uh bus route system. So now we have some elementary schools that start a bit earlier so that a bus driver can run two elementary routes, a high school route and a middle school route. And so you see immediately right there the the increase in efficiency and and cost savings in doing that. For that to happen though, our parents had to help us out. And they did. Many of our parents started driving their students to school to help mitigate the the complexities with bus routes and times, but they had to adjust their whole schedules too, their their routines. And our parents did that. They made they made it happen. And I I I'm so thankful for our parents connecting all of those pieces and getting their students to school on time and and and home as as well. So with a combination of parents driving, students walking, bike riders and bus riders, all of that becomes a very intricate uh web of of transportation to and from. But it speaks to the ingenuity that uh our our leaders had in overcoming this problem and and taking steps forward to try to mitigate the impact of the labor shortage. So we're very grateful. And you see it just permeates throughout our organization. Keith Leonard is our assistant superintendent over human resources, he and his team have worked tirelessly to to find employees for our our transportation department, but not just our transportation department for for all of our departments and our teachers in our schools. And and the list goes on.

SPEAKER_01 14:59

Wow. Yeah. Are there any initiatives, changes that haven't happened yet that you're allowed to tell us about that we can look forward to, that parents can look forward to?

SPEAKER_02 15:12

Well, I think we're always looking for what's on the cutting edge for instruction, for there's a technological aspect that we our our students all have Chromebooks. We want to keep that progressing forward and enabling students to access uh materials from their Chromebooks and and capitalize on those resources that we have. I the the reaching every student is is not easy. We have some students who who struggle in school, and some students come to kindergarten and they're not ready. So it takes a it it takes a heavy lift, but it is so important and worthwhile for us to do that. So to circle back to your question, I think it's a relentless attitude that we will not give up and we will explore our our opportunities and expand our our energies to move our whole district forward and and look at the various aspects of early literacy, of kindergarten readiness, of extra time for students who are in in need of time for intervention specialists and and these different activities that we can do to connect our kids to our system where they can experience success.

SPEAKER_01 16:33

If 2020 taught us anything, it was how to think and look outside the box to be solution-oriented. So I look forward to hearing about more ways that the the public school system will move forward with that sort of thing. As we wrap up, um, Sheena, I wanted to ask you, what would you want people to know about Escambia County schools? Pretend there's a listener and uh they're a parent, but they just moved here and they they want to, if they could look uh at you and sit across from you and say, What should I know about Escambia County schools? What makes it special? What would you say?

SPEAKER_00 17:14

I would say to them that this is a place, Escambia County Public Schools is a place where we have real people doing real work for real children that we really love. And it makes a difference. They are people every day making a difference in the lives of children. We see it from early ages, from pre-K to students that have graduated, gone on to do things, and have come back to work in Escambia County Public Schools. So they, you know, every area has a story in it. And there's real people doing real work for real kids that we really love. And so that's what I would say to them. This is where you want your student to be. Escambia County Public Schools is where you want your student to be.

SPEAKER_01 18:01

I can't think of a more perfect note to wrap on. Thank you so much for being here.

SPEAKER_02 18:06

Thank you. We appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 18:10

Voices United in Education is a production of Escambia County School District. Special thanks to Pine Forest High School for their recording studio facilities and hospitality.