Community Engagement and Transparent Leadership in School Districts

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How do you In today's conversation, we'll look at how to navigate this challenge and how to build an actionable playbook that reframes the discussion into one that's focused on the common good. Today, we have Eric Russell, Superintendent of the Baldwin Woodville Area School District, joining us today to share his experience.

umber of different sports. In: 2005

In 2013, he became the [00:01:00] superintendent of schools for the district and as superintendent, he was able to navigate two successful referenda initiatives and served on the W. I. A. Board of Control, including the presidency for six years. That's a mouthful. Eric, welcome to the show.

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I appreciate it.

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[00:01:38] Eric Russell: Yeah, so I was, I started as a teacher and a coach and throughout that time, it was all about relationships for me. I spent quite a few years in an alternative setting at the high school level, which I really enjoyed. Those kids truly needed you and, that bond even at this time to still have connections with some of those kids.

And that kind of has [: 00:02:00

And so then it transitioned more and more high school principals still had to be about staff, but it was still about kids as a superintendent. It really had to be about the community and the staff and building those connections and relationships with them.

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Where did that come from? What's the root of that emphasis on relationships as a leadership practice?

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I think it's about relationships The baldwin woodville school district is two small communities outside of the twin cities and hudson area which are bigger districts and so Financially, we don't have the same resources to pay people So we have to have different things that we prioritize You And make it important for them to want to be here.

As a parent I felt this was a great size school district for my kids We had plenty of opportunities from AP exams and AP classes to different sports And my kids never had to specialize in one sport They could pick and choose and they weren't great athletes But they were good athletes and they had they were able to experience all those things And so I think we have to sell that And you can't sell that without having connections with people.

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You have, you're well aware of some of the competitive disadvantages that you might have as the [00:04:00] district of your size. But what I'm curious about when we're thinking about convincing people. Are giving them reasons to stay how does that show up from a day to day perspective as a principal and as a superintendent?

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And when that happens and when you're doing that, you're always going to have issues. And so if you've spent some time ahead of time those issues aren't as big when they're truly an issue because They know that you still are interested in them that you're not just trying to put the hammer down And I think that carries over with staff your administration team you have to get to know them.

lding. Yeah, it's important. [: 00:05:00

And, I consider a lot of my administration team friends and that's important. That we're not just coming to work and so that's the same with, staff and carry over and the community. Getting involved in the community is truly important. As part of the Lions Club I've served on that WA board as part of the community foundation and the community foundation and the Lions Club, basically what we're doing is we're raising money to give back to the community.

And so then people see you out and about. And I think that's very important. You have to a lot of superintendents in particular aren't as visible. It was easy being visible as a principle, but a lot of superintendents aren't as visible. And I think that's very important to be visible for people to know who you are, because otherwise it's going to be easy to bash.

re figurehead, it's a little [: 00:06:00

[00:06:09] Dr. Jim: No, that's a good point I guess one of the things that i'm curious about is when you when you talk about taking the time to get to know people on a one on one basis that makes sense I would imagine as a small or midsize district you're operating pretty lean, and everybody's calendar is full of all sorts of stuff that you need to get done in a day, and the higher up you go in an organization, the worse that gets.

So what were the things that you intentionally put into place to build that discipline and focus on relationship building and the people side of running a district or running a K through 12 organization? Walk us through what you did there.

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And so that I would wish those people happy birthday on their birthday. And so you do have to make some intentional steps in there. Also, when I was getting in the classrooms, I could. Kept track of the date and the time of day. So it wasn't always going in the same classroom at the same time of day that I was spreading it out to see different kids, see different staff, but then also utilizing that time before school and after school so that I wasn't.

I would intentionally get some of my work done after school hours or even before school hours so that I had that time to be out and about and talk to people when they may be coming in or transitioning and so that you could see them. And I think it can't, it's easy to go in your office and get all that work done because you know you have a lot to do, but you have to be out there and intentionally meet and greet people.

t to somebody or sit next to [: 00:08:00

[00:08:07] Dr. Jim: Now, those are good points. When I when I opened the conversation, I talked about navigating the. Budgeting and and resource process, and specifically, I was referencing the referenda process that many districts have to go through. And when you look at that process and think back on your experience as the leader within this district.

How did you leverage your emphasis on relationship building to set the stage on what the priorities for the district were going to be and where you were going to be strategic and asking for additional resources in the form of a referendum?

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We, we knew we had a need. We were, our space was getting limited each year, more and more limited. We had tried to. Before I was a superintendent, a referendum was tried to build an [00:09:00] additional building. So we are 3 buildings in elementary, middle and high school. We tried to go for a 4th building before I was superintendent in that field.

So when we know the need was still there for space. We had to reevaluate a whole plan. And we also knew that our community is close enough to the Twin Cities and on I 94 that we weren't going to necessarily shrink because this is a growing county in our states. And so we're close enough to the cities and all that.

So we knew those things were going to change. So there had to be a plan. And so that's where we re evaluated everything and we came down to the idea that if we take the 5th graders out of our middle school, which was 5, 6, 7, and 8, they're a better fit elementary over at the K through K 5, it makes that building a lot bigger, but it also puts our kids where they're a better fit, and then we're consolidating the construction.

reasonable. And so then that [: 00:10:00

And then that we're consolidating the construction. So we're trying to show that we're not only thinking about the kids, but we're also thinking about them financially. And taxes, so that we're prepared now. Anybody can refute that and that's where again, hopefully earning some of their trust along the way before you try to sell a referendum.

Helped to sell that, but then it was getting out there and building some of that support. I was Alliance member, so meeting with the Alliance Club, trying to get their support. Meeting with the Chamber people Community Foundation, and different town boards. And getting out there and going to them.

thinking about the kids. And [: 00:11:00

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So let's talk a little bit about. That communication plan before you actually got to the the point where we're putting this on referendum, you mentioned that you did a lot or attempted to do a lot of open houses or open forums to get the word of word out about what's happening in the district.

One of the things that I'm curious about is that when you notice that the open forums or open houses where you're trying to get this information out, Weren't well attended. How did you get around that roadblock?

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You're not the only one doing it. And so did I have to go to some places that I wasn't as familiar with? Sure. But I also made sure I went to a lot of places that I was familiar with. My local church that I, I attended, making sure that it was [00:13:00] in those kinds of environments that I hit the people I also knew.

It made them a priority, but then you had to get it out to other people, but you also had to be ready to answer the tough questions, and that's where I mentioned the whole tax impact. Sometimes it's easy to flush that out that, your taxes are only going up this much, but that's not the true tax impact.

And I think that honesty helped help the trust. And so then I really think it came about. Do they trust the district in this referendum?

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If we don't get this passed here, the consequences that we're staring down because of a lack of funds. What was that process? What did that process look like? How did you communicate that and get that out as well?

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We [00:14:00] didn't have the space So your class size is going to continue to go up your hallway is going to continue to be more and more crowded And so that was the piece that you had to also make sure that you articulated we didn't go overboard In, saying, oh, we got to cut this, or we got to cut that, or, we got to do this.

We truly, really did try to focus in on the positives. That this is what it will do for kids. And this is what the tax impact would be. And this is why we're looking and doing it this way. Did we have to highlight that? Yeah, these are some of the negatives if it doesn't pass, but we've really tried to focus on the positives as opposed to the negative impact.

If you don't want it to be a positive solution, not Oh, this is worst case scenario. If you don't, Passes referent.

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Instructive for you in future efforts to get referendum passed. Was there anything that stands out?

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And in either of our referendums, we didn't put out vote yes signs. We didn't we didn't have a lot of that. We just targeted those groups and the people that are key players and then reminded our yes votes to to vote. As opposed to having a lot of different sides and trying to get into this, the no versus the yeses.

And we were able to avoid that. And I think that was again, trying to target those key areas that we knew were more likely to be positive.

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[00:15:52] Eric Russell: I again, I think it goes back to the whole relationship trust of the district from the people I talked to it was more about [00:16:00] trusting the district in that and then they did not get out to all the Different areas. I put it out there and let the people decide. And whereas I was more positive or proactive trying to go out and search out those positive supporters.

And if they weren't positive then I didn't go back to them. But if they were positive, then I would remind them, Hey, you got this coming up. That kind of thing. And it wasn't just me. It was a group effort.

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You focused on the ones that were more aligned and focus your efforts there. Tell me a little bit more about why you took that particular strategy versus converting folks over to your side that might've been resistant.

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And if they were maybe on the fence, I'd spend a little more time trying to show them the positives and the effects of this. But if they weren't, you're always [00:17:00] going to have your no votes. You're always going to have that people aren't going to be supportive and they have their reasons and rightfully so again, it was more about. Making sure the people who were positive or were likely to be positive knew about it. And get out to vote the ones that knew that they were going to have, it was going to be a positive thing for them and the community, and it wasn't just positive, it wasn't just positives for the kids.

Some of these remodels and stuff were positive for the whole community, not just, so businesses included.

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And then you had another go at it. Where you had some different sort of spend requirements that come up. So tell us a little bit about what changed in that second, in that third go around and how that ask was different and what you did to navigate that process.

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We're going to build a pool. And so in the first referendum, It was a needs for the kids. It was space for education in this referendum. It was about a community pool. It was about turf fields. And so we had a football field that was going to either need to be re crowned and done a track that was wearing out.

And so we could redo this whole stadium with turf and then a whole new baseball field with turf that could encompass also the softball team. And so these are what I consider luxuries. And so we made it very clear that this is these aren't necessarily needs, but this is what people are asking for.

also made again Showed them [: 00:19:00

So people really like the idea of a outdoor pool. Here in Wisconsin, we only get a couple months where we can be out there. And so nobody wants to be in a pool in the, in the middle of the summer. So that don't have to come out. And it was also a little cheaper than a hard fully enclosed brick building.

our kids your football team, [: 00:20:00

And it's a large following. They perform field shows out on the turf, and they'd much rather have turf. So it was eliciting all these different groups. That we're going to benefit from these sites. We had small groups of pool, big time pool sports. We, so we made, we got them involved and got them out there talking to people and got them on the forefront also to get that support.

And again, it was trying to make sure we were getting the people who were likely to be positive for this, as opposed to necessarily, cause there was going to be people that were going to be against it because it was going to make the taxes go up. They probably weren't going to benefit from it at all.

But the chamber it's been a very positive thing for our community. You were hosting more events those kinds of things. So it's bringing more people into town. So you have all those things that we wanted to make sure they were highlighting because it truly was a want as opposed to a need.

And so you really [: 00:21:00

[00:21:03] Dr. Jim: One of the things that I'm curious about is that. Obviously there's a segment of the population that's going to benefit from this because they have students that are in the district but there's a whole nother segment that has Probably no kids that go to school or anything like that and won't see any benefit.

What was your messaging to that segment of the population when it comes to, maybe getting them away from the no category into the maybe or yes category? How did you communicate to that segment? To build additional buy in for this quote unquote luxury spend.

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One was the whole idea of the community who's going to move to the community who's coming here? Who do we want here? It's not picking and choosing but it's if we have these nice facilities people are going to come And we've seen that benefit. And so families, and so that's going to, in the end, you're going to have some nicer houses in the community.

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We also are offering a water aerobics at the pool, and that's been a big hit. And so we talked about some of those things that would also drive some of the other community members that you, that don't have. But then there's the idea of grandkids, what are your grandkids going to be doing?

It, it was very interesting because, a lot of people were very supportive really wanted us because, as we know, a lot of people are more interested in the sports stuff than they are, your academics. And so we really utilize those people to kind You know get out and market this and encourage their neighbors to vote.

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What was the lead time to get everybody mobilized before the referendum hit the ballot? How long did you have to prepare to get your ducks in a row so that you had a shot at being successful?

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Potentially doing surveys putting your numbers together, making your adjustments. Because in each of these situations, we had multiple scenarios and designs. And then so getting it down to that, design that you really feel good about from, and that was talking to people, try and narrow down what are your thoughts here and there?

board finally decided, yep, [: 00:24:00

This is the tax impact. Having those different meetings and driving, eliciting the groups that are going to help support you and help drive this. And so I would say it's a good 6 month process. I think you got to have at least that 3 months of legwork. And then the last 3 months are prepping for the boat.

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for having me.

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Before you can get there. They all have to solve your direct needs. In the 1st referendum, our space was our biggest need. And so whether we build another building, whether we remodel at both places, whether we remodel at 1, we had to make sure we looked at what those financial impacts are.

Why? What's the pros and cons of each of those? Same with the second, referendum. Do we do an indoor year-round pool? Do we why would we want the outdoor do we do multiple turf fields? Do we, do, soccer, turf football turf, or they combined in one? Do we do baseball and softball?

Are they combined in one, the, laying out those different scenarios? So that you can really start to figure out this is solving the problem and it seems to be the best value. It doesn't necessarily mean it was the cheapest. It was the best value. And so I think it was exploring all those things to get down to what's your best value.

e to do that as a group, Now [: 00:26:00

[00:26:09] Dr. Jim: Great stuff, Eric. I appreciate you sharing your experience with us and I think it's going to be really useful for those folks who are listening to the conversation. What I'm curious about is when you break down what you did across your multiple successful referenda processes.

What are the key elements that other district leaders need to keep in mind so that they can have similar results as you when they're going through this process?

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And You can't just build that at the last minute for a referendum. I think that starts from day one. I think that starts from being visible in the community. I think that starts from people believing what you say you're going to do. You do. And that may not always make [00:27:00] them happy. It shows that your follow through with what you're going to do.

And that starts from day 1. And my goal again has always been that I want people to want to be here in our district. And that requires a balance because not everybody wants the same thing. Kids want something different than staff and parents want something different than kids. And so we have to find that balance.

And if we can do that, people want to be here, they're more likely to trust you. But that's you have to get to know them. You have to be in front of them. You have to take the good with the bad. If you screw up, you have to say you screwed up. And so that's building that whole trust and that starts again from day 1 when you walk in and to turn around and pass a referendum on day 2 is very challenging because you haven't had that time to be with people.

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[00:27:49] Eric Russell: I guess probably the easiest would be either on LinkedIn or The Boulder Woodville area school district has my email and so you can find it there.

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You mentioned this early in, in our conversation that you were deliberate about being visible, both inside your district and also in the community. And I think that's an important thing to call out because oftentimes leaders. We'll get stuck behind spreadsheets and think that's an effective way to manage managing the task.

We wheel versus managing the actual community and people who report into you. So that visibility component is important and then obviously visibility with an emphasis on being transparent talking about where we are, where we want to be. What's keeping us from getting there? Having those conversations is important in mobilizing the support and building the relationships that you need.

So when you think [: 00:29:00

That's going to better serve the community. For the common good. So I appreciate you sharing all of that in terms of your experience in navigating this process. For those of you who've been listening to this conversation, if you liked the discussion, make sure you leave us a review on your favorite podcast player.

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