Announcer (00:01): Highlighting the amazing stories from inside the North Clackamas school district. This is the Proud To Be NCSD podcast, hosted by longtime principal and current community relations director, Curtis Long,

Curtis Long (00:14): It's lunchtime at Oak Grove Elementary School. And what better place to push your tray along into season number two of the Proud To Be N C S D podcast than an N C S D cafeteria where these hungry second graders are excitedly realizing it's breakfast for lunch today with a main entree of chicken and waffles.

Student (00:33): Put syrup on the waffle here and kethup right here

Paraeducator (00:37): I can do that.

Curtis Long (00:38): And just like last year, we're not chicken about asking the biggest name in our school district to join our first podcast of the school year superintendent, Dr. Shay James, will you sit down with us to talk about how this school year has started and preview what's coming up, please??

Paraeducator (00:52): Thank you for the please. I really appreciate that.

Curtis Long (00:55): Well, you're welcome. Dr. James is here and she's as excited as those Oak Grove lunch eaters drowning their waffles in syrup. But we all know it takes more than chicken strips and lunch trays overflowing with syrup to keep N C S D students from all communities connected to their neighborhood school. That's why today's guest menu also includes three special staff members who never waffle when it comes to making strong connections with student and families to help keep them informed, engaged, and invested in our schools. We also welcome NCSD's, Senior Director of Equity Engagement and Enrollment, Dr. Khaliyah Williams Rodriguez, along with two of our district Student and Community Engagement Specialists, Ed Villa and Raquel de Jesus Mendoza.

Student (01:34): Can I have some ketchup please?

Paraeducator (01:36): You may. And thank you again for the Please

Curtis Long (01:39): And Breaking news here on the Proud To Be NCSD podcast. We have an additional guest, another of our fabulous student and community engagement specialists. Welcome Cheryl Shane, and thank you to superintendent Dr. Shay James, Dr. Khaliyah Williams Rodriguez, Ed Villa, Raquel de Jesus Mendoza and Cheryl Shane, thanks so much for being the first guest on season number two of the Proud to be N C S D podcast. How are each of you today?

Guests (02:01): Great. Yay. Great, great.

Curtis Long (02:03): Look at the enthusiasm in the room as we start season number two. Now, in order to make sure our listeners can identify each of you based on your voice, let's have each of you introduce yourselves and tell us a little bit about your role in the North Clackamas School District. Dr. James, we'll have you go first. Everyone knows your voice though. Yes.

Dr. Shay James (02:18): Yes well thank you for having us. Shay James, superintendent of North Clackamas School District. And I should say proud superintendent.

Curtis Long (02:25): That's right.

Raquel de Jesus-Mendoza (02:27): Raquel de Jesus Mendoza. I am the Student and Community Engagement Specialist at Nelson High School and at Happy Valley Middle School.

Ed Villa (02:33): My name is Edward Villa. I'm the Spanish Engagement and Community Engagement Specialist.

Cheryl Shane (02:38): My name is Cheryl Shane. I'm the Native American Alaska Native student and community engagement specialist for the district.

Dr. Khaliyah Williams Rodriguez (02:45): And my name is Khaliyah Williams Rodriguez and I support our school district as a senior director for equity, engagement and enrollment.

Curtis Long (02:53): It's so great to have all of you here at one time. We're gonna get into all of your roles a little bit deeper as we move along. But Dr. James, I wanna start with you, but before we do, you heard those Oak Grove second graders in the cafeteria at the beginning of the show now in between pouring syrup on their waffles and squirting ketchup on their trays. I had some fun with them by asking them a simple question. Do you know what a superintendent is? Any guesses what these seven and eight year olds came up with?

Dr. Shay James (03:16): Well, I'm not sure what they came up with, but I always tell students, I'm kind of like the principal of the school district.

Curtis Long (03:24): Ooh, you are right on track with what one of these Oak Grove students said. Let's listen in.

Curtis Long (03:31): Do you happen to know what a superintendent is?

Multiple Students (03:34): A Boss? I don't know. <laugh>. Isn't it like a Super Nintendo switch? A secret Nin intend is a tendon that is a secret. Think a super attendant is someone that just works, a company that helps other people. I don't know. I forgot what I was gonna say. Like are you talking about like an attendant on a plane?

Curtis Long (03:59): Oh, like a flight attendant. So you think a superintendent might be like a flight attendant,

Multiple Students (04:04): Maybe someone who helps out other people. I think it's somebody important. Well, I think a superintendent is a somebody who helps someone with something when they're going on the way through it. Just like a helper. It's like a principal that's a charge of the principal.

Curtis Long (04:25): So Shay, a principal in charge of the principles. I kind of like the one where they thought you were maybe a Super Nintendo switch. Mm-hmm. Is that what they were talking about? Like that? Or maybe, maybe a flight attendant, a super flight attendant. How do you think they did?

Dr. Shay James (04:36): I think they did pretty awesome. Some fun answers in there and gave me some new ways to describe myself.

Curtis Long (04:41): Principally speaking. Since you're the principal of all the principals, Shay, what are you most focused on as this school year starts to roll out?

Dr. Shay James (04:48): Yeah thank you for asking that question. I think we've been laser focused on aligning our arrows within our strategic plan and making that document come alive and that it's actionable and that we're also being held accountable for what we say we're going to do. So one of the things that we've been doing this year is really defining what our core values are, which is care, relationship, integrity, empowerment and equity. So that we're all working off of the same definitions. And then how are we implementing that? And we've spent a lot of time with our students and staff defining relationships and starting in that place this year. And it's been really fun to see what our students believe that our core values mean to them as we saw in our convocation. And we'll continue to hear as the year goes on.

Curtis Long (05:34): Well, let's talk to someone who has been a building principal. She's also helped supervise all of the elementary principals at one time, now, finds herself in a new role this year. Dr. Williams Rodriguez, tell us about your new exciting role and what it entails.

Dr. Khaliyah Williams Rodriguez (05:46): Thank you. I'm excited to work with a team that supports our students and family in schools in our community. We are focusing on how we can execute parts of our strategic plan and of course supporting our students' kindergarten through 12th grade.

Curtis Long (06:00): Okay. So Cheryl, Ed, Raquel, tell us about a day in the life of a student and a community engagement specialist. You're headquartered in a specific school, right? But you work with families throughout the whole district?

Raquel de Jesus-Mendoza (06:11): Yes, that's correct. Uh, what I personally do is I work more hands-on with the students, either if they need help organizing their day or their week with assignments. That's kind of like what I do. If sometimes they come in just for support, they have stuff, you know, and sometimes there's things that they go through that like we can help out with. And then connecting them with other resources if I can't personally help them.

Cheryl Shane (06:30): Yeah. A typical day might be me starting at Rowe Middle School where my office is responding back to emails from parents or students, particularly high school students who have questions for me. If they're going in the right direction with their plans toward graduation, what do I suggest? So they kind of look to me as somebody who can advise them since I'm native and they're native and maybe I've been there and done that before. So maybe I have some good feedback to give them. So I'll do that. I might do a flyer, make up a flyer for an event that's coming up. Have some virtual meetings with community partners and different organizations that we partner with to help put on cultural events for the N C S D community. Lots of planning there. I may have a parent drop in to pick up some school supplies from our back to school supply distribution. I prepped for an affinity group. So yesterday I was at Milwaukie High School for our first indigenous student association club meeting for the school year. And the ones who came were pretty psyched about it and had some good feedback for me. And I do that with another teacher in the district who is also native. And that will close out my day because that goes from three 30 to four 30 right now. And usually we stay longer at the high school just chatting with the kids and catching up. So that's a typical day.

Dr. Shay James (07:50): Curtis, can I ask a follow up question?

Curtis Long (07:52): Of course you can. I always love having a co-host.

Dr. Shay James (07:54): So last year you had the opportunity to plan for some pretty important cultural events that were not just within North Clackamas School District, but that also extended outside of our school district to our community. Can you talk a little bit about what that was and what you took on in planning that?

Cheryl Shane (08:10): Yeah. It was just happened to be some additional grant funds that came into Clackamas Education Service District. So the lady there who was in charge of that grant and spending down those funds for native families and students in Clackamas County, was looking for someone who dealt with native students in education and worked in a school district. The only one she could find in Clackamas County was me. Mm. So she reached out to me. We got together and she wanted to know what I knew about how we could spend these funds to bring community and build presence of natives in Clackamas County. And I told her about the Native Wellness Institute and how they are experts at putting on cultural events. They know how to to do things. Maybe we should all meet and see if this happens. And so that's how it started in February of last year.

Cheryl Shane (09:01): And we came up with the idea of a powwow and a coastal jam to get students involved, families involved, meet, connect, and do something on the land that hasn't been done for a long time. And there had been a call for powwow in this part of the Portland area, happy Valley Clackamas for many years. So people were getting pretty excited about it and everyone wanted to pitch in and help. And so a powwow that was planned started being planned like end of March and only had two months to put on, which normally would take a year of planning <laugh>. But the Native Wellness Institute ladies, they really know their stuff. So they were able to get it accomplished. But it was a big deal. And we're hoping that more funding comes through somehow and we can continue the pow wow tradition or the coastal jam something and a large turnout as well. And a large turnout. They were both huge successes and it was very exciting for us as a community here and natives to be like we are here.

Curtis Long (09:59): So Cheryl, a big name and presence with our native students and families. Ed, I know you a well-known name and presence for our Hispanic students and families. Tell us a little bit about your day and the role you play with those students.

Ed Villa (10:12): Yes. My day, uh, consists of me going to Duncan Elementary, which is one of the best schools I think in the entire state, probably entire district

Curtis Long (10:19): Now you do know that people from all different schools listen, you're gonna hear about that comment.

Ed Villa (10:24): It's the best 'cause I'm there. Yep. <laugh> <laugh>. No, I I'm pretty much the person that Spanish speakers across the district reach out to each morning when one of their kids is sick or if they want to communicate with a teacher. We have a Spanish hotline that I answered the calls live most of the day. So we, if, if a Spanish speaker wants to talk to one of their schools, they get a response, uh, if not instantly within the hour at two hours max. And that includes everything that has to do with education and making sure that the school district works for our Spanish speakers. That includes, uh, Facebook, uh mm-hmm. <affirmative>, social media, emails, everything. So my, my mornings are pretty busy. I have to really look at what's going on in my calendar too, so I can plan it. Right. But the most important thing is that I send out communication to each of the student's, teachers, the elementary school teachers and the teachers and the, and the uh, secretaries and the principals so that they know who's out or what's, if there's any concerns for the family. To me, all the other stuff is secondary to me. The education system, our schools, our kids, and their families and parents, they need to have somebody to talk to, somebody that can provide service for them. And that's essential for me.

Curtis Long (11:36): So what I think people don't realize is, so we have Spanish speaking or native speaking or any language you name, that's not easy for them sometimes to navigate the school system or call the office and and communicate with them. That's where really you guys come in.

Ed Villa (11:50): Yes at least uh, for my role it is, it looks different. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> <affirmative> for other engagement specialists since they're more in, in a school building and mm-hmm. <affirmative> and they're really focused on and the same thing, but running that school and making sure that each of their kids is being taken care of, that they have their essential needs, somebody to listen to. So what I do is more centered with the whole community and the parents and then I can help the student. That's my role. And it looks a little bit different 'cause I work for mainly elementary schools. That's the plan. Although I, we do take calls from the entire school district regardless if it's elementary, middle school, high school, it doesn't matter. We're here to service them and we have a working system and it's working really well. And it's worked for the parents, not just for us.

Curtis Long (12:29): And Raquel, you're out at Nelson High School, which is probably the furthest we could get away from this recording studio right here. So thank you for taking time to get all the way over here for that. Tell us a little bit about what it's like working in a high school and how using that as your home base works for you.

Raquel de Jesus-Mendoza (12:43): It works out really well as a home base because usually it's the high schoolers, the older siblings and then I can meet the parents like that and then meet the younger siblings at our other schools. Same goes like for towards the middle school. I'm there once a week, meet some of the students, uh, siblings that I work with at the high school. And it's just great connecting with those families. Kind of like what Ed said, helping them get services they need or just calling or sending me a message that, hey, my kid is sick. They can't make it in 'cause there's no one else they can communicate with.

Curtis Long (13:09): So Shay and Khaliyah, I want to hear from both of you. The student engagement and community specialists, these are jobs that maybe a lot of our community members don't even know that we have within our district. In your opinion, how vital are these people to our district and the way our district runs?

Dr. Khaliyah Williams Rodriguez (13:23): So from our perspective, I would say I see the value our engagement specialists include that is not represented here. Black, African American, Russian families and support for Russian speaking families and in addition Hawaiian Pacific Island as well. So families who need support in those areas. We have connectors for those. And the primary role or objective I would see is engaging families and students who may not be connected to the school in any particular way. So of course academics is the primary and important piece, but some basic needs that need to be met would be vital in this role.

Curtis Long (13:57): And Dr. James, your thoughts on how important and how vital these people are in our education system in North Clackamas?

Dr. Shay James (14:03): Yeah. These are key roles in our school district and as you've heard them talk about serving not only our community, our parents, but also our students. They have big roles in coming in to help us problem solve when there are barriers that are in the way for our families and our students. And as you heard Ed say, that is first and foremost for us so that we can remove those barriers for them so that they can flourish and education becomes the priority. So I can tell you we could not do what we do here without our engagement specialists. And not only are they working with our students from day to day, but you heard Cheryl talk about some of the cultural events that have been put on. And I can say that that's the case with each and every single one of them. They're all putting on events that bring our community together and that is what we wanna see. We wanna see us coming together for our students so that they can flourish.

Curtis Long (14:57): And N C S D students from many different cultures are flourishing thanks to countless hours put in by our student and community engagement specialists. As you heard in part one of our conversation, these problem solving professionals, make sure that despite language or cultural barriers, lines of communication are always open between families and schools. But how do parents benefit from this open communication?

Raquel de Jesus-Mendoza (15:20): And sometimes they just call to see, Hey, how's my student doing? Is he in class? Is he not in class? How are their grades? And just having that connection with the families as well is really great because they'll have questions or they'll be like, Hey, can you help me set up a meeting with the teacher?

Curtis Long (15:33): Don't miss the rest of our meeting with superintendent, Dr. Shay James, Dr. Khaliyah Williams Rodriguez and our three amazing student and community engagement specialists right after this,

Commercial Announcer (15:44): Are you looking for a job right now? Looking to work in a fun and supportive environment with great pay and a rewarding career? The North Clackamas School district is hiring. We're currently filling full and part-time positions. You can work and make a difference in young lives and education as a classroom assistant or substitute teacher apply to work in one of our school cafeterias where our lunch staff serves up big smiles with great food every day. We're also looking to hire before and after school caretakers, custodians, and bus drivers in North Clackamas. We promise it won't take you long to learn why our employees say they're proud to be in N C S D apply today on the North Clackamas school district website or call 5 0 3 3 5 3 6,000. That's 5 0 3 3 5 3 6,000.

Curtis Long (16:39): And Dr. James mentioned coming together and I'm sure all of you, and I'm kind of a sucker for these kind of stories. I have stories yourselves about maybe a family or a student who was really disengaged and didn't know who to talk to or didn't have anyone to connect to. Do you have a story like that where you've met up with a student or family and what's happened since then?

Cheryl Shane (16:57): I think last Springs Powwow and Coastal Jam, the main goal of it, the events, putting on the events was to bring out more Clackamas County natives to have more of a presence and be more engaged in the community. And I think it did with several students got really involved in volunteering and getting ready for the events and helping out. And some of them at the powwow received their first pieces of regalia, whereas before they had not been really connected to their native background. But then they're seen as one of my Milwaukie students put yesterday that sometimes people might think it's lame to go to the native club, but he's like, no, it's straight up we got it all. Or whatever. Love that. So he was excited to be in the native club yesterday. And I think getting the kids excited about being native and letting other people know and having a purpose and a plan, I think it just, that's what we wanted to achieve. So we're on the right track

Curtis Long (17:57): For sure. Uhhuh, <affirmative> and Ed. I, I've worked with you before at the elementary level, me being a former elementary principal and you get right in there with those kids and we participated in some pretty deep discussions with kids. There were some kids concerned about what they were being called at school or referred to their race. And you get right in there and help explain that to 'em and give them an avenue of how to express themselves. That's a big part of your job.

Ed Villa (18:19): Yeah absolutely. I want to recognize too, that is Latino Heritage Month this month. That started September 15th. Why I mentioned that is because one of the things that we have been doing, Raquel and I, we've been working on videos for the Latino Heritage Month. Raquel presented to her school at Nelson High School, stood up there nerve wracking and presented about Latino heritage. Why is it that we start Latino heritage on September 15th, which, and I'm doing the same thing. I'm doing a Latino heritage presentation, but from El Salvador. My family's from El Salvador. And although I was born in the United States and lived in Los Angeles most of my life, and then here I do have my nephews, my, I got two nephews and my sister who lived here and they've been here for about, uh, like 15, 20 years. The reason why I'm mentioning this is 'cause yes, it's important for Latino students to see role models and people who are very proud of their heritage and that we can speak multiple languages.

Ed Villa (19:12): And the education piece about Latino heritage and Independence Day being for eight Latin American countries on September 15th, Mexico being on September 16th, versus what we celebrate here in the United States for Cinco de Mayo, which is a single battle in the little, it's a little town named Puebla. And that's what we celebrate here. And people, it's almost like a Hallmark holiday. Um, people, it's, it's a way to get people to spend money and, and, and we love it. It's, it's great they got great tacos that day, but that is not a day. That is one of our proudest moments, proudest moments is that we're here and that we celebrate our culture, embrace our differences, and also recognize there's a lot of similarities. A lot of the, I work with Curtis for a while doing that. Having students learn about identity. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, what, what it is to be Latino, what is it to be Latino American for Mexican American.

Ed Villa (20:01): And those are all different ways that people or students that are Latino can identify with either their parents' homeland or some of their roots, but also embrace their Americanism here as well. So those are the finest moments that I've had. I I, I've only done one presentation live, it was for uh, Mrs. Welch's class at Duncan. It was my first one and we did a video. The video's about 15 minutes. The presentation took about almost an hour because the students are so hungry for education and to learn something that is culturally relevant versus why is it that they see, well why are we celebrating it now? How come they had a festival in downtown for the Cinco de Mayo, but we're not having no festivals now. Yeah. So those things are very, very important for me because the love that comes out, especially when they're so small and they haven't been programmed with other stuff too. This is our time to program students and give them why is it that everybody's special and why everybody brings a different precinct and enriches the classroom.

Curtis Long (20:57): And Dr. James, you had mentioned off the top of our five core values, empowerment is one of them. And this is certainly a way that students feel empowered to feel proud of who they are. And that's what you three do. You help them feel proud of who they are and to show to other students why they are so special. I think that's fantastic.

Dr. Shay James (21:12): You can see why they're so successful with students. I will tell you, when I'm with counselors and I'm with administrators in the building and they're talking about some of the barriers and the things students are facing, I hear the stories about engagement specialists coming in and turning that around through these mechanisms of relationship, connection, empowerment, learning about culture and digging deeper. And just the relationship of having somebody you can go to when sometimes you're the only one you know that makes a difference. And so these stories matter and we hear the work and the impact that's happening.

Dr. Khaliyah Williams Rodriguez (21:47): I will add, it's been a joy so far as the school year has started to see our engagement specialists in action. Those who are here and those who are not with us right now. When I see the conversations they're having with students and families, it is been validating, I'll use that word to say how they're affirming their identity and how they're actually listening. 'cause it takes time in a school day to actually listen and understand what the pieces are that are necessary. Because things happen in a social context in a school building that when they enter a classroom they might be dysregulated or not able to really focus on what the core content area is. But it takes time to build relationships, trust and to listen. So in the time that I've been able to see them in action, it's been immeasurable.

Dr. Shay James (22:29): I'm gonna ask the question of Dr. Williams Rodriguez. Dr. Williams Rodriguez, you've joined this team recently this year and you will be leading them. So you've been working as a team together to envision what the work looks like this year and what the priorities are. Can you talk a little bit about how you see leading this team and moving forward?

Dr. Khaliyah Williams Rodriguez (22:50): I would say it's a "and" and not a "or" what we've been having conversations is about, I'm listening, I'm learning and seeing what has been a strength of the community and the strength of the team. And it's sort of like we start with the strategic plan and figure out how to weave that into the work that matters with people. So of course we're looking at how are we centering the work around language, around race, around gender and any parts of an identity that affirms people. And we're looking at what are the barriers that was mentioned earlier, what are the barriers to preventing success? However that's defined by the person from happening. If I see the strategic plan being woven in to what's happening in practice in schools and in communities and something that's near and dear to our team and and particularly with me is sometimes it's not about inviting families to the schools, but it's about going into the school community to see what we need to do to support families because it's bidirectional and not necessarily you come to see me so I can give you information that I think you need to hear.

Dr. Shay James (23:56): I'm excited for the work that's to come this year.

Curtis Long (23:58): As we start to run out of time. Tell me what's the best part about being a school and community engagement specialist?

Cheryl Shane (24:03): Yeah, the best part of being a student and community engagement specialist would be the relationships and looking forward to connecting with individuals who are seeking connection and making bridges for people to access what they are looking for. Some examples of connecting or supporting staff would be, I've met quite a few teachers in the district, so they may reach out to me to ask what do I recommend about literature or is this an appropriate book? Kind of like a consultation about is this appropriate or is this appropriation? Or they want to show respect, especially the individuals who are seeking my feedback on what they plan on doing to celebrate Native American Heritage Month or a unit they have. And they wanna know if that unit is culturally appropriate. And so I'll give them my feedback and, and come into the classroom and and help where I can.

Curtis Long (25:07): Ed how about for you? What's the best thing about being a school and community engagement specialist?

Ed Villa (25:10): Yeah, I was gonna mention that uh, there's a lot of services that we provide here as community and student specialist engagement specialists, especially the Spanish speaking team. Uh, every week we put on Saturday night the calendar for the next following school week, it's posted. So parents know if we have school all week, if we don't, right beneath it. On the common section we put the K five and also the sixth grade to eighth grader. So we have all three calendars besides the main one that goes up. We are also doing a weekly recap of, uh, community events that are happening here in the North Ackerman school district. Not just in our schools but in the community. What I wanted to say is that we are providing resources, we're providing information. And I wanted to mention it just so that if our staff is listening and, and if they wanted to get their students more engaged or their family's more engaged, please send them to the North Clackamas School.

Ed Villa (25:58): Espanol number 12 on Facebook we have about eight Facebook pages in Spanish, four middle schools and all four high schools. And the main one, the Nor Lamel and Espanol, we use it for the elementary schools information's going out. Each one of us posts different things. We're gonna start parent meetings. We usually do 'em in elementary school once a week. Uh, middle schools and high school do we do it every third Thursday of the month. So there's a lot of stuff that we do to engage families. Our numbers are huge anyway, but we want more families. We want the ones that have not been engaged or don't know that we provide these services to know, Hey, we're here. We want to help. And again, if you can please send them to North Clackamas schools, Espanol, and that way they can be serviced.

Curtis Long (26:39): Raquel, how about for you? Best part about being a student and community engagement specialist?

Raquel de Jesus-Mendoza (26:44): The best part for me is building the relationships with the students specifically. 'cause up there that's very far away from here. There's not really a lot of representation for um, Latino, Hispanic identifying students. And it's just great seeing those students just coming into my office be like, oh, I'm glad you're here today. And then they proceed to say, are you gonna be here for the rest of the day? <laugh>, sometimes I am, sometimes I have to run to meetings which they don't like, but they understand that it's part of my job. And also reaching out and connecting with families. 'cause a lot of those families like do need that support. And sometimes they just call to see, Hey, how's my student doing? Is he in class? Is he not in class? How are their grades? And just having that connection with the families as well is really great because they'll have questions or they'll be like, Hey, can you help me set up a meeting with the teacher? I need support with this teacher and or my student needs support in this classroom. So we collaborate a lot with the teachers and the, and the families and we, I just try to bridge that gap.

Curtis Long (27:33): Well the purpose of this podcast is to introduce our staff and our community members to people like you who you know, a lot of times go under the radar as people that we don't really realize that we have. We don't realize we have these great people working in our district and the wonderful things that you do. So I really appreciate you coming on today. Now one person who they do know, Dr. James, now remember at the beginning before we let you go, I thought you might enjoy this. Remember at the beginning I had those Oak Grove kids and I asked them, what do you think a superintendent is? Yes you did. Well I also asked them a follow-up question. Oh goodness. What do you suppose a superintendent does? You get ready to hear this.

Dr. Shay James (28:10): I am ready to hear this.

Curtis Long (28:15): What kinds of things do you think a superintendent does?

Mulitple Students (28:18): Boss people around <laugh>, I don't know. Play Mario Kart. Encourages, make sure that everyone's doing their job. I think they like get to decide like the rules of the school and like some things that they wanna do. I think a lot of fun stuff. The super principal always supports us, like the supports them on the way.

Curtis Long (28:40): So the superintendent is like a super principal.

Multiple Students (28:43): Yeah, maybe it's the one that founded the school and they hired somebody to be like the principal or the school that does the stuff. Fulled up because they're tired. Probably helps the environment and makes sure that everybody stays safe.

Curtis Long (29:02): Okay, breaking news. Did you build a school then hire a principal in that school to do the work for you because you were tired?

Dr. Shay James (29:10): I gotta go play Mario Kart. I don't know. <laugh>.

Curtis Long (29:13): Now go pla. Mario Kart. Well, superintendent Dr. Shay James, Dr. Khaliyah Williams. Rodriguez, Ed Villa, Raquel de Jesus Mendoza, Cheryl. Shane, thanks so much for being the first guest on season number two of the Proud to be N C S D podcast. I want each of you to know what an honor it's been to speak with you today. And I know we have lots of students and families who are listening to this with big smiles on their faces. And I just wanna say, as a colleague, on behalf of every staff member of the North Clackamas School District, how proud we are of each of you and how thankful we are for the work that you do each and every day. Like the title of our podcast says, it's people like you who truly make us proud to be...NCSD. Thanks so much for joining us today.

Ed Villa (29:49): Thank you, thank you. Thank you for having us. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>.

Curtis Long (29:53): Thanks for listening to The Proud To Be NCSD podcast in North Clackamas, we know that education is a community effort and we're so thankful that you and your family are a part of our community. Until next time, remember, there are always great things to see wherever you go in N C S D.