Empowering Educators: Fostering Creativity and Risk-Taking

Dr. Jim: [: 00:00:00

Of the key aspects of district health that is often ignored is the level of commitment that exists at the building level in moving the district forward. So how do you build a galvanizing point of view for the district that connects and motivates the team to move forward?

He was hired in the spring of: 2022

Previously, Dana served as the superintendent of Norton City Schools for five years. And then prior to that time, he served as the principal of Highland High School in Medina [00:01:00] for six years. And he's also been an assistant principal and an athletic director in previous roles. He began his educational career as an English teacher at Copley High back in 94, where he served as the head basketball coach.

He facilitates an aspiring superintendent's cohort during the Summit County Educational Service Center, is a member of the Northeast Ohio Dream Team Innovation Leadership Team, and a graduate of the Ohio School of Leadership Institute program, a collaborative effort Of state superintendents. Dana is an active member of the Buckeye association of school administrators, the school superintendents association and Dana earned his bachelor of science in education and a bachelor of arts in telecommunications from Kent state university go golden flashes and his master's degree and his master's degree is in educational administration from the university of Akron.

Go Rockets or the Zips. Zips. Okay.

in America according to the [: 00:02:00

Dr. Jim: Yeah. If you didn't already know, Dana is a big fan of all things Ohio and especially the Cleveland sports teams and he enjoys attending sporting events. He and his wife, Laura, have been married for 25 years and proud parents of three grown children. Dana, welcome to the show.

Thanks, Jim. Thanks for the invite to come on and talk.

Before we actually move into the big discussion that we're going to have about how you can get your building leaders more effective.

Dr. Jim: I think it's important for us to get line of sight into some more detail about your background and experience, and I'm particularly interested. In some of those defining moments in your career that helped shaped your perspective as a leader.

recognize when you're doing [: 00:03:00

And when things aren't going well you can't run and hide. You have to accept that you're part of that as well. And just the whole idea of expect, accepting the responsibility. For what you're engaged in and how you're leading. That was a coaching lesson probably back in 2005 that I've carried with me to this day.

Dr. Jim: So digging in a little bit more on how leaders need to show up regardless of what the situation is on the ground. What's your advice to new leaders or aspiring leaders on how you build that capability to Productively confront things and confront situations that you might not want to confront.

What were the things that you learned in your experience that might be valuable for those emerging leaders?

o lead, there's a separation [: 00:04:00

or your plan. And that's pretty dangerous way of approaching things. You really have to lean into if you're choosing to do this, if you're choosing the lead, whatever result people are seeing, you are a part of that. You're not just working with people and having them go do the work. You are a vital cog.

If it is seen on film, it is either taught or allowed. So you are either, Allowing something that you don't want to happen or you're demonstrating that. So the whole idea of leaning in to what you're trying to accomplish is really important.

in speaking to that emerging [: 00:05:00

What were the things that you did that helped you build that discipline so you wouldn't be jumping into the fray?

Dana Addis: Yeah I go back to, coaching as foundation and still to this day as a superintendent people rely on you for a vision of some things and what it's eventually going to look like. What product are you putting out there? But if you're going to rely on people for that there has to be this enthusiasm and this energy that you're truly going to listen and you're truly going to allow them to lead you to that vision.

rom a leadership standpoint, [: 00:06:00

You're there to serve them and, guide them and really, quite frankly, Jim, just allow them to be the ones to earn the credit. And they're the ones that are getting this done, and that's the way that it should be.

Dr. Jim: Really interesting perspective. And I appreciate you sharing that. I want to switch gears a little bit and get line of sight into your district. So you've been in this space in this district for three years. Paint us a picture of what the district looked like as you were stepping into the role.

Dana Addis: First of all, this district, Hudson City Schools, has been accomplishing so many things for students for decades. It is a school community and full of graduates that are so proud that they went to school here. It's a district that has accomplished a lot in the arts. In academics and in athletics. So the district has always been in a really good place.

When I came here, it was a [: 00:07:00

And continuing to recognize the great things that our kids and our staff members, and quite frankly, our school community, we're getting done together.

Dr. Jim: So it's an interesting time that you're describing taking over a district. So you had just navigated, if I'm getting my timing right, you had navigated your role in your previous district through COVID. And then you're taking over Hudson the Hudson district after COVID. So when you're dealing with really traumatic times across those two.

is new district? Because you [: 00:08:00

Dana Addis: The original process really was one of healing the administrative team some of the staff members were really impacted by some of the negative voices Because of their thoughts of how COVID was handled here in the district, whether it was related to remote learning or masking requirements, all of that just thrown into the chaos that.

oming out of a board meeting [: 00:09:00

So that was really the beginning standpoint was for me to try and get us to see, let's not forget, this is a high achieving district that is doing so many amazing things for kids. And that needs to be our focus. It was really the primary starting point.

Dr. Jim: I like building that primary starting point, but I want to wind this back a little bit and dig into something that you did, which was emphasize your effort behind listening and really getting a finger on the pulse of what's going on in the district now, given the circumstances of what you walked into, especially where you're coming out of a pandemic, people are going to be less forthcoming in that sort of setting.

n some of those barriers and [: 00:10:00

Dana Addis: I think one of the things is, some of the voices that had some pretty strong opinions on how the district was handling things. I invited them to come in as a group and meet with me. And work through some of their thoughts about what had happened and some of our plans and moving forward.

And then really with the cabinet, our administrative team here who was hit really hard it was just to be with them and guide them and show them there is a way for us to come out of a challenging board meeting. And get back to our kids and get back to the support that is needed and not to focus on a couple of negative thoughts that surface the night before.

Both of those, I would say were really important parts of that, those steps.

oming into a high performing [: 00:11:00

So walk us through what you did to paint a different picture of what the future could look like that included what you're already good at.

Dana Addis: The district has always had a really open mind about student opportunities. Our students at Hudson have the ability and the desire to be really creative learners, and they're very accepting of unique opportunities. And so one of our thoughts. Could be to discover how these unique opportunities are leading to the academic success.

unity groups, staff members, [: 00:12:00

And perhaps even demonstrating them on a regular basis, whether it's an engaged collaborator, critical thinker, lifelong learner, all of these attributes. And began a program in year one where we committed one day out of our school year to each of those six attributes. That included the unification of a yearly theme t shirt that we would wear on those six days.

eir They're not too far away [: 00:13:00

Dr. Jim: So you mentioned that some of the components of the portrait of the explorer was developed prior to you getting there, how did you move that forward so that it was more cohesive?

Dana Addis: One of the application points of the job was a presentation on how portrait of an explorer could be implemented. And I had done this as a building principle where we determined it was important for us to have theme years. And I had done it. As a superintendent in my prior district.

Just to get our kids to connect on what we felt they needed as a group of young citizens heading into that school year. We tried continuously to get away from, let's just come back and have another school year. But instead, let's do this in addition to the school year that we're about to have.

a building principal. And we [: 00:14:00

So that your potential is a key one. And so just presenting that to the board in the community. And then I felt fortunate to be offered the position. And then one of the first things that I did was gather our kids here and ask them what we needed. And that began our Portrait of an Explorer implementation.

Our theme this year is right here, right now. And the goal of our kids this year was to is to soak in every moment they have. Whether it is an athletic moment, a moment with friends at lunch, a moment in a lecture based course room. a moment when they're learning outside of the classroom. So that's really a brief picture of how all of this is happening.

d I want to wind this back a [: 00:15:00

Dana Addis: This was finalized and board approved in 2019, and we all know what happened in 2020. And then, the board and the administration, and quite frankly, the district. Really had a a challenging time during COVID not from the amount of work that they did or how they did incredible things for kids but just the challenges that everyone dealt with.

Again, we were coming out of this and the board felt like. We want this to be an everyday thing in our students lives.

ystems and all of that stuff [: 00:16:00

So how did you navigate that potential internal challenge and move forward from there?

Dana Addis: Yeah, I've been local for my entire career. So I've worked, with the Hudson School District basically for all 30 years. I've been in the same conference in them in all of my roles. So we're talking about a top 10 school district in the state. So to come in and think that wholesale changes were needed was incorrect.

Even during a challenging time period of COVID. It is still a top flight school district. The goal anywhere anytime I've made a change is to go in and listen. And what I started to realize is. The unique opportunities that our kids have here directly correlated and, during the studying to consider candidacy here, I saw the six attributes and I felt as if we could get all of these into the kids of our lives, we were doing something really positive for our student body.

antastic. So I didn't feel a [: 00:17:00

When we spin this forward this was developed, then COVID hit, you came into the district. Now you're putting it in action. So when you look at that. Execution plan or that action plan to bring this to life. Walk us through what you did and how you mobilize various constituencies to bring this to life.

Dana Addis: I had mentioned just bringing in a small student group really before I had met all of them just to reflect on what they needed. And they felt as if despite all of the accomplishments of the school district, they lacked a unified spirit and purpose. They were really proud of where they went to school.

some of the top colleges or [: 00:18:00

I tell people I'm not a t shirt salesman. But in every single place that I've gone, I've seen the benefits of kids getting off of a school bus, all wearing the same color themed t shirt for that particular day. It's a, it is a separator for what kind of day you're going to have celebrating that school district.

rait of an explorer and they [: 00:19:00

We're having a pep assembly that day This is what the math department is doing And the building principals got excited about the potentials of this day, that excitement spread to their staff, and really at this point, even though the building principals are leading it, our staff has taken over and has a full understanding of what we want to accomplish in these days, and they've accepted the responsibility for that.

Dr. Jim: So digging in that area a little bit You've mapped all of this out. The building leadership and the district leadership is behind it, and you're starting to put this into action. You also have buy in from the students in terms of how it connects thematically with things that you're going to do throughout the course of the year.

l, or the student level that [: 00:20:00

Dana Addis: I think that there was a the level of excitement from our high school kids who wanted to see this. And they're the challenges they dealt with for the high school student who didn't want to put a t shirt on or didn't care about a theme day. Our elementary kids were laying these t shirts out on their beds the night before, they were super excited.

But I think that was the big challenge is four of our buildings were really seeing the energy of this and the activities. And our high school had to be creative. To see the same energy. And so just working with that student population and getting them to understand things like guilting the students who weren't participating wouldn't help and just demonstrating your own enthusiasm for the project and the days and having your conversations.

f the students would talk to [: 00:21:00

And those were some of the early challenges we dealt with. I think our high school has remedied it because each department. has now taken on one of these days. And but that was an early battle that we had with our kids.

Dr. Jim: So when you think about. The challenge of lack of adoption in certain pockets within the organization of this new initiative that you're rolling out, and this can apply to any initiative. What were the steps that you took to overcome that resistance so that you had more momentum across?

More groups and especially those pockets of resistance that you encounter.

implemented this at our high [: 00:22:00

And we had a theme year, how did the best get better? And again, it was this idea of pushing kids and we had arrived at November, December, and we felt this theme that year dripping away from us and quite frankly, by March, we could hardly remember what we had even, established in August.

u have to just continue down [: 00:23:00

We have done that. We have a strong social media presence. We have great connections with our school community. And so they share these days with us.

Dr. Jim: Got it. So switching gears a little bit. I think one of the things that I'm always interested in hearing about is whenever you roll out a new initiative, there's obviously the adoption challenge that can come up, which we talked about. But there's also a capabilities challenge that might exist across the leadership team in terms of putting this into action.

So there may be a capacity issue or a skill issue that you need to deal with. So what did you notice from a capacity or skill perspective? And how did you solve for that as this new initiative was rolled out?

king. Every single employee. [: 00:24:00

And they have a high skill set in where we are heading as a school district and what we're trying to accomplish. They're going to give their best effort. So I think the challenge there from a capacity standpoint was just to provide clarity on exactly what we're trying to do. I didn't want them to have to try and guess what we are trying to accomplish here.

ge of what we were trying to [: 00:25:00

And they have.

Dr. Jim: So let's dig into that a little bit. You said one of the challenges that you encountered was, making sure that you have as much clarity built into what you're trying to accomplish as possible. So what did that work look like? What did that effort of developing clarity and communicate communicating clarity look like?

Dana Addis: I think I don't know if it's sadly or unfortunately for the administrative team that included enduring what this looked like in previous stops and how I saw it impacting the lives of our kids and our community. So being able to share. Those experiences is something that, they had to sit and listen but then it really just became, what can we do here?

eve a group of middle school [: 00:26:00

And I think them seeing this. Occur in other places provided all the clarity that they need because they are such a talented group. And, I could take you to our middle school for one of these days now and you could say that these, that this group, that all of the staff members definitely see the clarity of what we want to accomplish.

Dr. Jim: Really interesting conversation so far. And I think one of the pieces that I'd like you to flesh out a little bit more is what this looks like from a student perspective.

So if we're building a district that's moving beyond the test score, And creating really creative learning opportunities for students. What does that look like within your districts from a student perspective?

xpectations. I'll go back to [: 00:27:00

We have a program here called Helping Hands. We have a service learning. class at our middle school. And what I'm about to tell you is true and it's pretty amazing. I'm not allowed to have a favorite item, but I talk about this one a lot. So we have a service learning class that works with an organization that, that provides amputees in other countries with limbs.

rning class, with these case [: 00:28:00

And our students use 3d printers. We. And our kids build limbs for these other students. This year, our target is Tanzania and so Matt brings pictures of kids who need it. The kids put the pictures right on their desk. They build the limb, and then Matt takes those, flies back to Tanzania, and outfits these kids, videos that, and brings it back to our kids.

You talk about a unique lesson for an eighth grader to experience providing that for another student. The last one I'll talk about, we have a service learning program at our high school that is application based. We have about 90 seniors. Who leave school during the course of their week and they volunteer in the local area, Akron area and they provide free services.

know by the end of the year, [: 00:29:00

And we always want to know how those things are contributing to the academic success of our kids as well, and we think it's really strong.

Dr. Jim: What I really like about what you just described is it reminds me of a story that I had somebody tell me before is that if we relied on schools to help teach kids how to ride a bike. Kids would never end up riding a bike because the classroom would be focused on the history of a bike and the mechanics of a bike.

king the concepts of what is [: 00:30:00

And the reason why it's important is that, I'm one of those folks that. I don't learn by sitting around and like reading, I learn to a certain degree, but for me to get better at something, I gotta go do the thing that that we're focused on. So I really like that practical example that you shared.

Dana Addis: there are so many more. It's crazy.

Dr. Jim: One of the other things that I'm wondering about now when you talk about moving beyond just the test score in building a high performance district and you spin this forward from the time that you took over to now, what's been the impact?

tems, and certainly the most [: 00:31:00

It's released every September, and whether or not it is a proponent of a school district or a critic of a school district they can't wait for the results, and that is outside of all of the other incredible things that our school districts do and so this year I can say, we're in year three of Portrait and we're coming off our best report card ever from a performance index score.

And how Ohio judges at schools on the state report card. This is a district that has many things to be thankful for from an academic achievement standpoint. So when I say our kids are coming off their best report card ever it's simply that their push has continued. Our staff's push, our staff's ability to decide where it is we still need to get better.

at I've already described in [: 00:32:00

Dr. Jim: So it's interesting that you've had that leap. Achievement from an already high performing district to the next level. What I'm curious about is when you look at that leap of of achievement. Have you seen any indicators of specific elements of this program that you launched that's been having an outsized impact on that performance increase?

or really what this district [: 00:33:00

They don't feel As if we're looking over their shoulders. They feel like we're supporting them as educators and, I just mentioned it. They just go for it. They do so enthusiastically. They do so with talent. I don't think that they're afraid to fail. And I think that is one of the reasons that the district has been successful for decades.

And right now continues to be a really successful group of people and students and families.

mething similar What are the [: 00:34:00

Dana Addis: I think a key to a leader is to be himself or herself, first of all, but also if you're going somewhere new. You need to be wide open to the mentality of that location and how you can serve that location and also be felt as a leader. And I'll explain it this way. I traditionally have been a celebrator.

For most of my career as an educator when I love being able to celebrate our kids accomplishments and probably self accused maybe of celebrating too much but I'm in a place now that has a high achievement mentality. And so that high achievement allows for and it's not a negative thing at all, but it allows for that celebration, but a continued push to what's next.

And I think a [: 00:35:00

So being able to recognize that as a leader, I think is key. And it's taken a little time. But I'm really understanding that high achiever mentality more so than ever before because I'm feeling that here.

Dr. Jim: Great stuff. Dana if people want to continue the conversation, what's the best way for them to get in touch with you?

Dana Addis: I would say the best way is just to contact me via email. We're Hudson City Schools in Northeast Ohio. You can find us all over the Internet.

in order to drive that leap [: 00:36:00

And I think the reason why it stands out to me is that In a lot of ways by taking that approach, you're also building a more inclusive learning environment And incorporating all the different ways that you can learn into the curriculum So I think that probably played a fairly decent factor in that leap of innovation or leap of performance So I appreciate you sharing that for those of you who have been listening to this conversation If you like the discussion make sure you leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform if you haven't already done so make sure you join our community. And then tune in next time where we'll have another great leader hanging out with us and sharing with us the game changing insights that help them build a high performing team.