This episode features Dr. Kenneth Baca, Superintendent of the Madison School District. Dr. Baca discusses the last few years and the importance of social-emotional wellness in the Madison School District.
This episode features Dr. Kenneth Baca, Superintendent of the Madison School District. Dr. Baca discusses the last few years and the importance of social-emotional wellness in the Madison School District.
Nicole Rodriguez: Welcome to Parenting Future Focused Kids. Today, we are talking with Superintendent Dr. Baca to discuss the last few years and the importance of social emotional wellness in the Madison school district. Welcome to the podcast, Dr. Baca.
Superintendent Kenneth Baca: Well, thank you for having me. It's an honor to be here.
NR: Thank you. So tell us about how you began your career in public education. How did you become superintendent?
KB: Well, I can tell you that I come from a family of educators and but I think the first memory I have of knowing I wanted to be a teacher was as a result of my favorite teacher Ms. Sanchez, she was my third grade teacher back in Albuquerque, New Mexico. And I just was inspired by her kindness and her ability to motivate students and and me to do my very best. And so I would say that, you know, I began my career by first being a student of public education. So knowing that that's what I wanted to do. I even started prior to graduating from high school some courses so that I could graduate early from the university in order to go into teaching. And so I started my career as a kindergarten teacher. I was also a middle school teacher and I think I didn't choose to be a superintendent from the get go. I think that as a teacher, you see that you have a level of influence among your classroom and a small number of students. And I really felt that I wanted to expand that influence beyond just my classroom. I wanted to create an environment where all students, regardless of grade level ability background, could thrive. And it afforded me the opportunity as a principal to then also be able to influence adults, those that impact students directly. And so I think just over time, I saw that in various positions of district administration, and then as superintendent, I had the ability to do my very best, to give my very best in order to try to make the conditions where students could thrive. Teachers and and administrators and staff could succeed, and where parents could entrust their kids to us, knowing that we were doing our very best to make sure that they weren't only prepared academically, but they were prepared socially and emotionally to do their very best and contributing back to much that's been given to all of us. And so I think that was pretty much my pathway into it and choosing to be a superintendent really was was a matter of just wanting to be able to share what had been shared with me from other superintendents who I've admired so much throughout my career.
NR: Absolutely. And along those same lines, you were talking about the social emotional support. Since becoming superintendent of the Madison School District it has been your focus to integrate those supports for both students and staff. And what has been implemented in your time here at Madison to help support this important initiative?
KB: Sure. And let me first start by saying that I think for me, I know the reason why that was such a high priority when coming to Madison. That is because my prior district, I was a superintendent of seven High Schools, and I knew the importance of making sure when students are in high school, the number of stressors and the number of pressures and just a number of things that created an environment for them that didn't always make that allow them to reach their full potential. I knew that it had to start early. And in order to ensure that students at an early age could have the foundation by which to thrive and have the support, because unless their basic needs unless their social emotional needs are met, that their academic achievements are going to be very limited. And so for me, you know, I was fortunate to come to a district that had a few social workers, but I knew that that needed to be expanded so that every school had a social worker and a counselor. And so I'm proud that we were able to increase the number of social workers in each one of our schools, along with counselors in our middle schools. And I also knew it was important to have a curriculum that was integrated into our academic curriculum in order to ensure that the teachers had the proper tools by which to address the social well-being of their students. You know, it was making sure that we had an employee wellness program. Because if our students are to be healthy, our staff needs to be healthy, especially our classroom teachers. And so for me, it was important to make sure that they had the supports in order to be able to meet the needs of their kids. And I think in today's world, it's, you know, the stresses we know are there for adults. We know they are there for our children. And we just know that they're there for everyone. And the more we're able to ensure that we have the proper resources by which to meet the needs of everyone, that's a high priority. And the other thing I'm very proud of is that we've been able to include what used to be called Parent Universities, but are our THRIVE sessions because I know our families are asking those very same questions as to how do I deal with this? How do I deal with that? And so for me, it was important to ensure that we allowed our parents and families to be a part of this initiative so that what we do in schools are able to do at home when we open the communication between the school and home so that we work together as we raise our kids.
NR: Right. And that two way communication is so important. And I think that these supports, you know, they were they were extremely important then, when you started a superintendent here, but we know the last few years have been extremely challenging. None of us, you know, saw this pandemic coming or had a playbook on how to navigate this. But we have this social emotional framework in place. So what are the benefits of having the social emotional supports for our students and staff during this time and into the future? Because our world has completely changed?
KB: Well, you know, as I've said on many different occasions, that when we're faced with adversity, we're faced with difficulties and challenges, a lot is revealed: our hearts revealed, what we're able to cope with or not cope with is revealed. Our grit, our determination, our level of stress that all gets revealed. And so, yes, I think with these extremely challenging times, beyond just the pandemic as well. It is important that we I'm very I feel very fortunate that we already had established a social emotional initiative so that it was able to meet the needs of so many in this challenging time. Obviously, we needed to pivot and we needed to adjust, but the basic framework was there. The people such as our social workers and counselors were already in place. Our staff had already gone through professional learning on resiliency and grit, on how you lift up students and how you address their needs. And it was very well known in terms of what we were able to have for our staff to be able to address their social and emotional needs as well. And so I just think having that framework to support our students and staff was so key to be able to address and get through and continue to get through this most difficult time and not just in Madison, but in society as a whole.
NR: Right. And I know we've seen some challenges, you know, present themselves in the classroom and, you know, with our students and staff. Right. We're all facing these challenges. And how have we been supporting our students and staff through these challenges with this social emotional framework?
KB: Well, I think the ways in which we've been addressing it first and foremost, is to make it normal, to be able to talk and express ourselves and reflect on the challenges we have. I think we've been able to support our students and staff by saying look, it's not an individual that is alone in this, that everyone goes through these challenging times. Is life a struggle? Yes. The struggle may look different. The struggle may be different depending on our background and what we're facing. But I think what is common to all of us is that we struggle. We struggle through life. We struggle in our families with our friends and our schools and our places of employment. In our world. It's that's just human nature. And that's always been the case throughout humanity. And so I think, you know, the support that we have in place first and foremost is just to say and it's okay because we're going to get through this together. And then again, you know, going back to the curriculum, we have in place, going back to being able to assess where students are and their needs, you know, prior to this pandemic. And the studies have shown that students were already under stress. Adults were already under stress. I think when I said it, you know, when we were facing challenges, that a lot is revealed I think it just revealed a lot of the stress that we were already under. Of course, it increased it. There are more challenges but I think, you know, to be able to support our student and staff, it's first the acknowledgment that we all and are under an enormous amount of stress and a lot of challenges that we're facing, but that we're in it together and we're going to get through that. And we're just going to we're going to be just fine.
NR: Right. And I think it's, like you said, creating that space to talk about our experiences, to understand and name our emotions and talk about them. I know that's very much involved in our curriculum for our staff and for our students. That's what we focus on. And I think through that, we find our strengths. So what are some of the strengths we've been able to focus on despite the challenges?
KB: And as I said before, it's the strengths that we have found, despite it has been our resiliency to be able to adapt, to be able to understand, to be able to show empathy, to be able to show grace and forgiveness, to be able to understand that we can behave in a certain way. It's our choice to behave in a certain way when we're faced with that. I think that despite these challenges, the strength has been that we've really shown that we truly are a community and that we really do care about ourselves and others. And we understand that as we all go through this, we need to be at times that person to lift up others and that person who accepts others trying to lift our spirits and you know, that's just the strength of our community and our care and our empathy. Our compassion has been revealed ten times, and it's been revealed over a long period of time where it's easy in the beginning, but it gets challenging as we start disagreeing on certain aspects of our approach, but understanding that we have something in common, we're trying to raise healthy, productive, productive and loving children. And they're our first priority.
NR: I know a big concern for our parents is learning loss. And I think maybe you could talk a little bit about how the social emotional supports actually help with that. Like you said, it's it's the foundation of of learning Do you mind talking?
KB: Sure. Here's what I would say is I want to approach it, too, from a different point of view. And I want to approach it by saying, boy, there was so much opportunity for learning loss that we avoided because we have such excellent teachers who were able to adapt to under extraordinary circumstances and challenges. So what we lost was the potential to do even more to fulfill even more academic success as a needs and address that. But I would say that I want to emphasize how proud I am that we minimized the learning loss that did take place. And so I think what's important as we have transitioned back into in-person learning and trying to make things as normal as we can, whatever normal might be, in whatever way we define it as for our students, but also for our families and for our staff, where, you know, as I've shared with our staff, we didn't return to the same school environment and classrooms that we left. And to think that we can ever get that back is it's just going to frustrate us even more. What we have to do is just to look at the reality of what we have, the opportunity that's there to make sure that we address any learning gaps that took place as a result. We start from saying, here's where each student is and here's where we're going to get them to go It challenges our teachers to be able to adapt to what they've always done so brilliantly, which is high quality instruction as we make sure that our students feel as though they're still in a safe place, that they're going to be okay, that they have the opportunity to express their feelings so that they're able to focus in on what school is all about. The academics, but as well as learning about others and appreciating others and seeing various points of view through the lens of various different aspects of what children bring with them to the classrooms each and every day. And so, you know, I just think focusing on the social emotional well-being helps our students to thrive even more so than if we weren't addressing that and focusing solely on academics and narrowing that gap.
NR: Right. And I know that you evaluate all challenges that we're facing together using a strengths based approach, which I know we're teaching our students in the classroom as well. Why is this so important?
KB: I think it just says that I've always believed that each person has a value, they have worth regardless of where they are that they bring with them value, they bring with them strengths they bring with them something that others don't have. Every person has worth. Every student has worth. And let's look at the strengths that they bring rather than their deficits. So that we can build upon that. I truly believe that regardless of circumstance, I can learn from people that don't have the same background that I have. They have worth. They have value. And that's why I've always stressed that we want our schools and we want our classrooms to be places where students and adults feel as though they belong, not that they have to fit in, because to fit in means that we conform to whatever is the norm. But a sense of belonging says, regardless of who you are, what you are, what you believe, how you behave, you have a sense of worth and you have a sense of belonging. There's a place for you in every single one of our classrooms. And you do that by focusing on the strengths and the value that every human has within them and that they can share with others.
NR: Absolutely. And I think when you create that sense of belonging in that safe space, it just lends right to the, you know, ability to talk about and express your feelings and process everything that's going on so that you can be successful. Speaking of strengths, we talked a lot about strengths there. One of the things that makes Madison strong is that we prioritize collaboration, right? So for our listeners who don't know Dr. Baca will actually be retiring at the end of the school year. However, I know that he's been collaborating with Dr. Guerin our new superintendent, who will be starting this summer. So, Dr. Baca, can you tell us about how this transition is going?
KB: Sure. You know, Madison is so fortunate to be having a person come in to be their next superintendent who is so well qualified, who is so dedicated, so personable, so approachable. She really brings that collaborative spirit that Madison is known for. And the transition has been going phenomenally. We talk regularly we meet regularly. I think that sharing where we are and where we want to go, I think being able to talk about what the priorities are and talk about what the needs are, that's that's the open communication that we have. You know, my heart goes out to Dr. Guerin and trying to continue to do the job that she has while she's transitioning to the job that she'll have but that whole transition time that we are spending together is so collaborative and so positive it's going to just be a very smooth transition over to a leadership style that Dr. Guerin fits and compliments the Madison way so beautifully, while also bringing you know, we talk about people who have strengths while also bringing a very strong background especially in curriculum and instruction, to be able to bring that knowledge that she has to be able to have an outside point of view in different way. A different way of looking things is so valuable. And so, you know, I just do appreciate her so much. And I also appreciate the staff that she's been meeting once on an individual and collective basis that have opened themselves up to to help her transition into Madison. And that for that transition to go smoothly. And so I just want to thank all of the staff and parents that have been meeting with Dr. Guerin and opening themselves up to make sure that she is ready for success. And we know her success is Madison's success and is the success of our Madison community. And it's being done in a very collaborative, open and honest way. And it's just been a very a great honor of mine to be able to meet such a dynamic person.
NR: Well, thank you for sharing that with our listeners. Dr. Baca I know that the Madison community will miss you, but we we are excited to be left in such good hands with Dr. Guerin and we're excited to start working and learning with her. Dr. Baca, is there anything else you'd like to add before I get to the most important question?
KB: Well, I'm looking forward to that most important question. I just want to say that Madison has given me so much. And, you know, my heart will always be in Madison. I'm going to still be a resident of Madison. So I'll still be a neighbor. But I just want to take this opportunity to thank our staff, our students, our families, our community, our leaders and our governing board for being so good to me and so good to my family. I truly do appreciate that.
NR: Well, thank you for that. As I said before, we are going to miss you but I know that you will still be an active part of our community, and I'm sure you'll still be looking forward to the Madison Scene that goes out. You'll be reading that, of course. Also, you won't be too far and you'll still be a support to the Madison community.
KB: Most definitely.
NR: I don't want to keep our listeners waiting any longer. The most important question is here and the real reason why everyone is listening to the podcast right now, what are you going to do with all of your free time?
KB: Well, I hope that's not the reason they're listening to the podcast. I would hope that it was on all those other topics that we covered! But I'm not one just to be idle. It's going to give me a great opportunity to be able to spend time with family, especially my parents who are aging, to be able to spend time with them because they have sacrificed so much for me to be able to have had my career and I want to be able to give back to them. It gives me an opportunity to volunteer and to be able to give back to organizations that have been so supportive of not just me, but the students and public education. And so my time is probably going to look different, but it's going to be just as busy. That's the only way in which I can function is to make sure that I'm not just sitting at home watching TV and hopefully I can sneak in travel from time to time and to see the world. But mainly it's going to be focused in on my family and being able to volunteer and give back to a community that's given so much to me.
NR: Well, that sounds wonderful. And we wish you the best retirement. And we thank you so much for being here today.
KB: My pleasure. And thank you so much, Nicole. I truly do appreciate your work and the value that you have brought to Madison.
NR: Oh, thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you for listening to Parenting Future Focused Kids. To listen to our latest episodes, visit our website at Madisonaz.org/podcast or search Madison School District on Spotify.