AURORA, Colo. — The Aurora Public Schools Board of Education named 3 finalists for the next Superintendent. Michael Giles is currently an assistant superintendent in Cherry Creek Schools. Andre Wright is a former Chief Academic Officer of APS. Dr. Nia Campbell is the current Chief Academic Officer for APS.
Denver7 morning anchor and education reporter Nicole Brady talked to Dr. Campbell about issues facing the district. Please note: The following is a transcript of that interview, which has been edited for length and clarity.
Nicole Brady: Dr. Campbell, thanks so much for sitting down with me today. The first thing I wanted to talk about is just a little about your background. You're the only finalist for the superintendent that is currently working in APS schools. But you're also the newest to Colorado, having come here last summer. What brought you to Colorado from Florida?
Dr. Nia Campbell: A shift in just educational focus. Florida has been in the news quite a bit for education. And I really wanted to be able to be in an environment where I could really do the good work for students, specifically around diversity, equity and inclusion, and I didn't want any limitations. Aurora public schools, the diversity here was the biggest attractor. I'm originally from New York City, and so I just wanted to work in a diverse environment.
NB: So I understand you were a principal, and then in more of an administrative role as well. Tell me a little bit about what you've done in the field of education
NC: I've come up through being a math teacher, assistant principal, principal, assistant superintendent. My work is really about instruction, academic programming opportunities for students, really staying close to ensuring that marginalized groups really have opportunities. My work has really centered around lifting the capacity of the adults in the system to better serve students. That's my passion work. I've been able to get results in doing that work. And so I'm really committed to that.
NB: What are the challenges facing Aurora schools coming out of the pandemic, in terms of closing achievement gaps between students of color, students from different backgrounds in this community students who are not native English speakers? And what have you observed so far?
NC: There are several disparities and approaches to closing the opportunity gap for students in being able to access their learning. First and foremost, is that word differentiation that we hear a lot, but it's difficult for teachers to do, it requires in depth training. It requires really a deep knowledge of what students need, and then being able to respond to those needs instructionally . I also want to say that representation matters. And so when I look at our workforce, it isn't as diverse as our student population. And that representation doesn't only matter at face value, but also the diversity of life experience at the decision-making table is really important, be that at the school level or at the system level, because it gives you a more holistic approach. Every decision we make is in service to students. So that diversity is really, really important. When I think about being a finalist for superintendent, leadership matters. Having the ability to use data to have those courageous conversations and openly have transparent conversations about what our system is missing, and where we're not reaching students and really designing a system where all students have access.
NB: So, what I'm hearing is you want to expand these opportunities and trainings for teachers to help them understand the different needs of students?
NC: Absolutely, I would say our system currently doesn't provide the prioritization for professional learning. So we need the time, we need to intentionally create spaces for that learning, and really collaborate in professional learning communities to really build upon the expertise that probably already exists here. But we have to scale up across our entire system.
NB: And then when you talk about a workforce that represents the community, what does that mean? We know that hiring is not easy right now, in education.
NC: We have to get creative. We have to create pipelines of growing our own. But we also have to reach further than the net in Colorado. I mean, I'm here from Florida. So we really just have to design a system where we're communicating that we want you, and we have a diverse population. And there's an opportunity to do the, I would say, the heart and passion work of uplifting kids that look like you, or that have the diverse background, whose families are immigrants or even seeking refuge here. So there's some opportunity with creativity with respect to recruiting and retaining a diverse staff. If your upbringing didn't expose you to different cultures, that's not a bad thing. But I do think that if you're going to serve in education, especially in Aurora public schools with our diverse student population, you have to have a learned experience to make sure that you're not a part of the barrier to access and or the way we respond to student behavior and all those other things that we know exist.
NB: I love that, lived and learned experience. Do you have both?
NC: I do, so growing up in New York City, I say it was a training ground that was preparing me for something that I didn't realize I was being prepared for. That was an upbringing that really just helped me identify with so many different cultures.
NB: Dr. Jill Biden was here in Colorado this week talking about workforce training,. We know that the needs of our economy are changing. How as superintendent would you focus on matching the education that Aurora students receive with what's needed in the workforce?
NC: With respect to Career and Technical Education, there are gaps. We have Pickens Technical College which offers a myriad of experiences, but the waitlist is always very long. Our high schools want to do more. So we're in conversation with partnerships and creating learning opportunities that provide exposure. I want to settle in on exposure as superintendent. My commitment is to making sure that early exposure to what's out there for students is ingrained in the core learning for our students, recognizing that some of our students a 20 block or 30, block radius is their world. And so we have to use our public school system to really open up that world and provide them options. We're educating students for jobs that don't even exist yet. And so I'm going to lean into the core value of philosophy that I have about education. I do not believe educational systems teach students everything that they need to know. But we are charged with building a curiosity for learning, perseverance, that growth mindset that builds confidence that says, you know, if something is difficult, I can keep working at it and have success. We're charged with creating that desire to think critically, to persevere, to collaborate, to debate, all of these skills that are absolutely relevant in whatever the field is. As a former math teacher, I used to hear, when am I ever going to use this again? And honestly, sometimes the answer was never, right? Depending on what you're doing, or what you choose to do in life, you may never use this specific skill, but your ability to look at this problem with these variables — that's a little different than this one that's completely different from another one, your ability to assess the best approach, find the formula and solve it. Those are skills that you need in whatever career you choose. The ability to strategically approach problem solving and to think critically and collaborate with a group to problem solve around big system issues. Any company would want that.
NB: The big issue in the news in the last couple of weeks has been school safety. Sadly, we have too many instances here and around the country where schools become targets or bullying continues to happen in schools and I worry, as a parent, that that is going to be the biggest distraction to my own children's education. So where do where do you start? As you start addressing the community, when, perhaps one of their most basic worries is just if their kids are going to come home that day from school? How do you start talking to the community about that?
NC: School tragedy has a ripple effect that is never ending. I think that there are layers, when we approach school safety, there's the physical and then the psychological part of that. I think it's important that we're engaging in monthly walks, academically we do learning walks of the educational environment, we need to make sure that we're doing security walks with the Division of Safety and Security with school leadership, or building leadership, to make sure doors are latching — that we're just checking to make sure that it is a physically safe environment. I think the next layer of that is just our protocols and our procedures, are we consistently reviewing them to make sure they are at the standard and learning unfortunately, from other instances where there might have been something lacking. Another layer for that is training. I know that sometimes it's like, we don't want to train on these things. It's the unfortunate reality of our society that we do need to be very well trained so that when the body's natural response, fear or stress comes in our training can override so that the adults can work quickly to keep our students safe. Culture is very important, culture for students, culture for adults, making sure that adults feel that their considerations around safety are valued by the leadership, and that they see swift implementation of anything that is a concern. I think student culture, the relationships we build that allow them to feel comfortable telling us things. A lot of times they know before adults know. And so we just have to ensure that we're building relationships where they have that trusted adult, and they understand that we want to keep everyone safe. We've dedicated quite a bit of fiscal resources towards mental health. We know that we serve an environment, a population of students that have trauma. And so how are we making sure that they're making use of these services, so that they're less likely to participate in any of that at risk behaviors that might be stemming from the neighborhood into the school.
NB: Obviously, if you are named the selection for superintendent, you'll be the first woman superintendent for the district? Is that important? And will that be a selling point as you meet with parents and students and leaders?
NC: I wouldn't say I'd use it as a selling point. But it would be huge. This isn't the first time there is a possibility for me to be the first in my career, I've either been the first woman or first minority. There are beautiful things that come with breaking that glass ceiling. But there are also other things that come with that as well. And so I'm well versed in both. In my day in the district I'm hoping for questions. I really want to be transparent. What do you want to know about me as a leader, about my vision, what I believe we can do in a Aurora Public Schools. I want to be able to communicate to give anyone who interacts with me a solid understanding of what they're going to get when they get me.
NB: Obviously, you work very closely with the school board. They are the person who the body that chooses the leader for the district. We've seen infighting in multiple school boards, their elected officials, they don't always get along with each other. How do you keep politics perhaps out of education?
NC: I think I want to be able to ground in a common vision and students being that common vision. We're all here because we have students that require us to do the right work to serve them well. And so I want to ground there. If we can ground in why we're here and what we want our students to experience as part of our PK-12 system, I think that that would be a quick win, that I would continually refer back to so that if there's disagreement on the how we get there, right, at least we can ground on the why. I would also say I think my way of work is to really be transparent, to build that trust that I'm always going to explain my why or even my why not in decision making. I also think it's important to remember we're being watched with respect to our interactions, right? I think we model how we expect our internal stakeholders to communicate with our external stakeholders and vice versa. And so really just making sure that we are holding ourselves accountable — ought to be productive. And in service of students is what I would really want to just ground our relationship in.
Denver7 invited all 3 finalists for superintendent to sit down for an interview. Michael Giles declined and Andre Wright did not respond to requests.
