Creating a Destination District: How to Attract and Retain Top Educators

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That's true in most cases and is especially true in small organizations. When you're in a small K 12 district, how do you build a culture of teamwork, community, and coaching so you can build a stable workforce and staff? That's one of the questions that we're going to look at in our K 12 education special feature today.

rintendent of the district in: 2022

Danni comes from a family of teachers and is a raving fan of students and educators. She, believes that the [00:01:00] key to a vibrant school culture is finding and illuminating the gifts within each child in each adult. Danny, welcome to the show.

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[00:01:09] Dr. Jim: Yeah, I'm a, I'm looking forward to this conversation. And I think it's going to be a pretty interesting perspective that you bring to the table, especially given some of the unique dynamics of the district that you're coming from. And I think one of the first orders of business is for you to share with us a little bit more about.

Your experience and background and some of the unique things about your district that you uncovered when you first became superintendent and how that shaped your talent strategy

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[00:02:00] It has a long standing reputation for having A close knit community and a lot of community support. We are a K 12 building. All of our students are in one place. And there are 215 students district wide. So we have a very unique opportunity and really it's a gift that every adult in this building knows every child.

And it really leads to a warm, welcoming, just fun place to be.

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Larger districts not be, facing when it comes to their overall talent strategy.

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So you really have to, I think you have to have a very open, humble growth mindset because no one is going to be an expert in everything, and yet we all have to work together and juggle different roles that. That you typically wouldn't in a large district. And so there are good things that come from that, but also it can lead to a lot more on our plates.

And we all know in education, we've got enough to begin with.

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[00:03:44] Dani Mikula: There are two Two prongs to the approach that we have found to be effective here. On one hand, we're very focused on making our policies and procedures and our, the way that we function as an organization, much more streamlined and efficient.

, some small examples of how [: 00:04:00

So we made some changes from a leadership perspective to. Get those things off of teachers plates. That's ridiculous. They shouldn't be having to worry about that. From policies and using technology to make things more efficient. And then on the other side of that approach is really the human aspect of creating a culture where We can lean on each other.

Everyone goes through, times where they're performing at high levels and other times where they might be carrying something, and we try to build a culture within our staff where we feel safe to lean on each other if we need a little help and there's not judgment. And it can be things as simple as just the other day, I passed one of our teachers in the office and.

king at her, she just didn't [: 00:05:00

[00:05:20] Dr. Jim: One of the things that I'd like a little bit more detail on is you're in a small district. Give us some more insight into some of the constraints that are driven by the geography of where you're located and how that impacts not only your ability to attract talent, but retain that talent over the long run and develop them.

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There is not a, a fitness center, anything like [00:06:00] that. So, the school really is the beacon of the community. We have a number of surrounding communities that feed into the school as well. And. Some of it being on Lake Superior's vacation homes. So we've got really a mix of people who live up here, but not, it's not an area that on its own draws people who are in the working years of their life with families, typically you have to be motivated to come up here because it's going to be a drive to work no matter where you work.

So we have to be very thoughtful about. The image that we project as a district, that's something that I, have really focused on since I started here. I would say that the district long going far back has had such a strong reputation of being. Very supportive, very unified. And a lot of credit for that goes to the previous superintendent who was here before me.

rs, and staff. To look to it [: 00:07:00

And that can happen with community events. We make a really big deal out of Veterans Day, for example, and we bring in all of the veterans from around the area and we put on a beautiful show for them and we try to really honor what they give to our community. And, in big ways and small ways, just continuing to build a reputation for our district that attracts people.

When, young people come up here. young teachers in their first years. And we've actually got multiple on our staff right now. They have stayed and they have found a place to be. And I think part of the reason they stay from what they've told me is the sense of community and belonging that they feel in this building and in the community.

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Give us a little bit more detail. On, on not only what the responses are, but how those responses informed your overall strategy from maybe a policy perspective or a talent attraction perspective, or even a development perspective. How did all that get tied in together so you're maximizing that feedback to keep those educators?

In and also attract that next generation of educators into the district.

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And so getting ideas and really honoring the fact that. No matter the age or place in the career that our employees are, they do bring valuable expertise to the table. And, I think we have a really good system in place with mentoring as well, where our more veterans staff take, take our newer staff under their wing and support them.

We've got multiple layers of coaching and support that happen on, a couple of different levels for them so that they can hopefully get what they need. We know from the research that new teachers leave the field at alarming levels. And so one of the most impactful things we can do from a leadership perspective is support those, newer early career teachers and make sure they stay.

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So how are you providing additional mentoring and coaching support without overstretching whatever budget that you have for those resources? Tell us a little bit more about that.

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So it is totally confidential. I don't ask about what they talk about. It's just a place where they can completely be vulnerable, and just get support from someone who's been in the field for a long time. On top of that, we also do invest a portion of our budget in additional instructional coaching focused on mathematics or literacy instruction.

r teachers based on what our [: 00:11:00

So there are really multiple layers of it. And the intent is to make sure that. The whole person is supported, just like we support the whole child. When we are trying to give them an outstanding education, we have to do that for our adults too. And I'm not going to pretend that we have the exact formula.

We do everything perfectly, but I think looking at our newer educators as being so, easily influenced by what they're surrounded by early on, we need to make sure there are problems. There is a positive culture that they're surrounded by other colleagues who believe in kids, who come with an optimistic attitude, who promote a culture of belonging, all of those things.

r staff and not just our new [: 00:12:00

[00:12:11] Dr. Jim: So good stuff. There was something you mentioned the role that your principal plays in providing additional support for coaching and mentoring. Give us a little bit more detail about how that shows up, because I'm sure we're going to have listeners. I equate the principal's role as a first line level manager in like the private sector.

So if you're dealing with any sort of turnover issue, which is one of the problems that we're looking to solve in these conversations, a lot of it is driven by the relationship of that employee with their immediate manager. You mentioned the role that your principal plays in providing that additional coaching and mentoring support.

Share with us some of the best practices that you've noticed that have been working really well in supporting those educators and keeping them in the job.

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We'll do that every year with every batch that we bring, because we need to show as leaders, and she does a great job of showing that. We also are constantly learning and growing and we're right there beside our teachers. That's number one. And then coming back and making sure that we're following through on what we say we're doing.

rs so that they have time to [: 00:14:00

And because one of the things we heard when we came in was we both were hired in the same year. We heard that teachers just don't have enough time, okay? I'm a, science teacher in a K 12 district. I teach six different classes from chemistry to biology to earth science. You have to prep for all of those.

You have to there's a lot that goes into it. So having the time to do your job well is an essential structural piece that has to be in place. You know what I mean? Before we can push our teachers to do more and more. Attending training alongside our teachers, seeing the expertise that they bring to the table as well, and then putting into action structures based on their feedback that can help them do their job better.

And then she attends and I use the example of the PLCs and collaboration. So I'll keep going with that one. She attends on a weekly basis, most weeks, all of our collaborative team meetings started off really facilitating and supporting them, but then handed off that leadership. to the teams themselves.

So [: 00:15:00

[00:15:11] Dr. Jim: So one of the other things that you've mentioned when we were talking about the overall talent strategy is how involved the broader community and parents were in the school. What are some of the ways that shows up you attribute to your ability to not only attract into the district, but also keep them there?

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We have a wonderful parent teacher organization that does a lot for our teachers directly. For example, during our parent teacher conferences, they hold community events.

harvest dinner in the fall, [: 00:16:00

So they're involved through more formal structures with the board. Like I said, the strategic planning process, the PTO, we also have Parents who volunteer and come in and read in classes. We have parents who are involved in various ways with outside activities, like the last day of school, they come and volunteer and help us create fun things for our students.

So they're, really a part of the fiber of our district. And based on parent feedback surveys, you can see the relationship. That exists between families and teachers in the feedback that they give. Almost a hundred percent of our parents, I think it was 96 percent in our, most recent survey said that they have an adult in this building who they feel comfortable going to with any type of concern.

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[00:17:04] Dr. Jim: The, thing that I'm wondering about is when you look at that level of collaboration between the educator and administrative staff and the community and parents. A certain amount of it you inherited, but what were some of the things that you've done to continue that and carry that forward so it, remains or at least improves from where it already is?

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We've added a number of those things since in the last two years. The veterans day celebration is one of them. We've gotten so much positive feedback from that. Starting a kindergarten, graduation is another one where we bring the families in [00:18:00] and they really want to be in the building.

I have learned that if you get parents inside the building as much as possible, seeing what's happening, and sometimes that's through me putting little videos from classroom walks out too, because you can't have parents in the building all the time, but if you show them the greatness that is happening within these walls, they're not forced to make up what they think is happening in the absence of information.

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So they understand and have input if if relevant, so that it can shape the direction. And it sounds like that's a version of what you're doing. I want to take this one step further. And I think when I think about. Some of the challenges that a small organization that might be in a geographically remote location would deal with is the issue of people feeling isolated and particularly members your team and your educators feeling isolated.

me of the things that you've [: 00:19:00

[00:19:03] Dani Mikula: Feelings of isolation definitely happen here. Especially being in a very cold climate too. It is during the months of winter. We are very conscious, even in how we structure our professional learning days of, really, Intentionally putting time into our calendar of connection with one another within this building.

And we've done that with a number of different activities, going into the shop and making signs together, or having a small amount of time for board games and copying conversation with our teachers to try to build that, community within the building, in terms of. Of the community itself and how isolation can happen.

n impact than I ever thought [: 00:20:00

I get to visit with parents on a Sunday and just watch them play basketball with their kids. And maybe I'll even jump in and play too. We get to have very relaxed, comfortable, friendly conversations. They have a place to come. They have a place to look forward to seeing their neighbors. And that's what sort of happened over the school year.

With that one example, we started getting. It repeated people who would come together and it was almost like a social event for the parents too. And all of those opportunities where we can open up the school and just bring people together, I have found it is the simple small things that make the biggest difference.

It's not the grand events or over complicated gestures that really make an impact. It's the repeated small things consistently over time.

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It's a, series of small ones that that lead to really positive outcomes. Now a lot of what we've talked about has been focused on In school year stuff. So how do [00:21:00] you carry this forward when it's the school year is over? You're still dealing with roughly three months where, yeah, those needs still exist within the environment.

So what's been the formula for the off season when school isn't in session.

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There's just a different feeling in the summer where we can bring people together. We've had to budget for that. We have to provide transportation for everything here because if we don't, Families just can't make it. We're so rural that we have to plan for a little bit different approach. It's different if you're in Madison and you're trying to get to school versus up here where maybe you live 40 miles [00:22:00] away.

Down dirt roads and you need some help. So we try to prioritize those big things within our budget and our big commitments to our kids, to keep them engaged, from, a talent development perspective, summer is when we go into. Major overdrive when it comes to learning. So we're developing our teachers.

We're paying them to take those summer months if they're willing and they have the time, depending on what strategic goals we're working on. They are learning. This summer. We have. A big group of teachers who are going to be going through very intensive science of reading instruction so that they can come back during the school year and be ready to rock with that.

Summer is actually the time where it may look like things are slower, and that's not the case at all. That's when we really work hard.

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Unless you're talking about somebody that's in the community. So one of the things that I'm curious about is when you're looking at bringing new educators into the district, how do you get that message across so that it's meaningful? And actually present something compelling to potentially an educator that is from a bigger district and is considering a move.

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The high expectations of excellence, but also a lot of warmth and support from the very beginning, because there is a certain kind of candidate we are looking for and hiring is the single most important thing we do. It really is. It, every new human being you bring into a building has a [00:24:00] huge impact on the culture and especially in a small district that, that's That impact is even more pronounced.

So it is really making sure that we're keeping that high standard amongst the current reality, which is that we have fewer applicants than we did across the state of Wisconsin, we do across the country we do. So we have to make sure that our values are clear to the candidates and that it's a good match. And so it's being open and honest. It's having multiple conversations, inviting them up for visits. I, have to get pretty scrappy with, recruitment. So I'm calling. Universities sending emails and reaching out to contacts and just networking constantly looking for the right fit.

And I would say that it, I haven't figured it out completely yet, but so far, knock on wood, we really have had, especially given how small we are, we've had a lot of applicants for positions. And I think we are a destination district for many teachers.

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To not only better attract talent, but also retain them. What are the, biggest things that has been impactful in your experience in helping build the district that you've built?

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Number one is having a culture of optimism. Shining the positive light on what's happening, treating colleagues in ways that are bringing out the best in people and really believing in kids and people. The second is that culture of belonging. So making sure that our structures and policies are supporting human beings and not just budgets and procedures, like really making sure that belonging is central to what we're [00:26:00] doing for kids and for.

For our staff, having a sense of pride. So for, other leaders, making sure that whatever's special about your place, about your South shore, your district, really building that pride within everyone who works in the building so that they are your brand ambassadors going out and talking about what a great place it is to be not only your employees, but your families, your kids, that sense of pride is huge.

And finally. So this all is it feels great to say, but do, outcomes reflect a level of excellence that we need it to for our kids and, making sure that all of our employees have that sense of purpose in what they're doing, that you are focused with your strategic plan. Plan, you're monitoring what is important to you and that everybody within the district can say in a couple sentences, what the biggest goals are and what your collective purpose is as, a staff,

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[00:27:03] Dani Mikula: Yes. If you don't want to take a drive all the way up to Northern Wisconsin by Lake Superior. Although it is beautiful here. My email address is a good way to get in touch with me. It's listed on our district website. All of my contact info is listed there. I would just say I love connecting with other leaders. I'm learning every day too, so I would love to hear from anyone.

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And especially for those organizations or leaders who are in small or and or rural districts. You talked about how your principal was deeply involved in the day to day development and support of your educators. And, I think that's, might be an underrated [00:28:00] practice. When I, Link this to what typically happens in the private sector. Most people are going make their decisions to join or leave an organization based on how they connect with their immediate manager. And in a school environment, your principal for an educator is often your immediate manager. So if your principal is somebody who is. What I call managing by spreadsheets, you're probably going to have a disconnected workforce and it's probably going to lead to some isolation among those troops.

And what I particularly like about what you described was that your leadership is leading and learning from the front. So it's not. And it's not an environment where this is above or below my pay grade. Everybody is in it together. And that actually helps build that culture of collaboration and extends it so that you have better outcomes from a retention perspective and development perspective.

son or drawing a key element [: 00:29:00

I appreciate you sharing that with us. For those of you who have been listening to the conversation, we appreciate you hanging out. If you liked the discussion, leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. If you haven't already done so make sure you join the community.

And you can find that at www engage rocket. co slash HR impact. And then tune in next time where we'll have another leader joining us and sharing with us the game changing insights that help them build a high performing team.