Episode 03: Beau Rees – The Home of the Kangaroos

[00:00:00] Andrew: Schooling is one of the few experiences majority of Americans share. Yet, how much do we really know what goes on behind the scene? And what’s up with cafeteria lunches? I team up with developmental psychologist David Yeager to explore the personal side of education by speaking with superintendents.

I’m Andrew Kim, and I consider myself an accidental superintendent for the past 15 years. So grab your lunch money. And welcome to lunch duty

All right, Beau Rees How are you, man? You doing all right? I’m

[00:00:44] Beau: good. I’m doing good. How about

[00:00:46] Andrew: you? I’m great. I’m great. Thanks for asking. Listen, I appreciate it very much. I’ve been a fan of your work when you were in the, the Houston area, of course, in Montgomery County, and of course, now you’ve been there at Weatherford ISD for some time now.

How long have you been at Weatherford now?

[00:01:01] Beau: Yes. It’ll be four years in June, four years. Yep. You know, I never had great timing. I moved there, June of 2020, right in the middle of, COVID the pandemic. And so I don’t know if that year counts or if it counts double,

[00:01:18] Andrew: but, it ought to count double. It ought to count on that, bro.

There’s no doubt. now you are a, of course you’ve been in the superintendency a lot longer than I think I have. Yeah. how many total years of superintendency?

[00:01:32] Beau: In April, it’ll be 22 years of superintendency.

[00:01:36] Andrew: Man, 22 years.

[00:01:38] Beau: Yeah, I think that you should count them like dog years. Each one’s equal to seven real years.

So 150 plus. Now, where,

[00:01:48] Andrew: where all you been as a superintendent in

[00:01:51] Beau: 22 years? My first superintendency was in Graham, Texas. And I was there in Graham as superintendent for eight years. And then I was superintendent in Montgomery, and they’re just, north of Conroe and Lake Conroe. for eight years and then,well, for 12 years in Graham, eight years, there, there’s been about fourth year starting.

So it’s like, this is 24 years. I can’t remember how long I’ve been superintendent.

[00:02:21] Andrew: They do say the memory phase when you’re in the superintendency. So maybe that’s why

[00:02:25] Beau: there’s, you know, it’s, one year’s like a minute.

[00:02:28] Andrew: Yeah. You know, I didn’t realize you were in Graham. That’s the home of the steers, right?

[00:02:33] Beau: Yes, over of the steers.

[00:02:35] Andrew: And, is that where you’re from originally? Or, how did you, how’d you wind up in

[00:02:39] Beau: Graham? No, I was actually a high school principal out in Sweetwater, Texas. And, I was working on my doctorate and I, the Graham High school principal job, popped up on the TA job board, you know, back, way back in the day.

you know, I knew that any job had to be a better job of being a high school assistant principal. That was the hardest job I’ve ever had. And so I’ve sent a resume up there and, ended up at that time, Dr. Jenny Preston was. Superintendent and Graham and Dr. Greg Gibson was her assistant superintendent.

Oh, and, I had a, a, a good relationship with the superintendent at Abilene at that time. His name was Charles Hundley and he called Greg and said, Hey, you need to talk to this young kid. He’s worth an interview. And it opened that door. I think they took me out of the coal pile of resumes and put me in the let’s talk to this guy.

And the rest is history.

[00:03:42] Andrew: So now, you know, it’s interesting about all of our, sort of our jobs and how we came about. to where we are, but it really took someone like Charles to kind of, sponsor you or really advocate for you, right?

[00:03:58] Beau: It really did help. I’m sure I was just, you know, a nameless,resume, a bunch of assistant principals, in a pile.

I’ve looked at so many countless resumes. I’m sure you have too.Greg Gibson tells the story better than I do, but he’s. He says, you know, he gets this call from Charles Hudley at that time. This was, 1999. So Y2K, right? and he says, and Hudley was actually the Texas superintendent of the year that year.

Wow. And so Greg’s like, Oh, I’ll take that call. And he’s like, Hey, where do you have this Reese guy? He’s like, Oh, he’s. You know, he, yeah, we saw his resume. So now you have moving over here and talk to him. So it’s amazing how, there’s those small doors that open up for

[00:04:44] Andrew: you. Now, how’d you know Charles?

Because you were in Sweetwater. Now Sweetwater is some, distance from Abilene. So how’s that connection?

[00:04:51] Beau: It’s not too far, but I was actually taking the, superintendency course at, Abilene Christian university. And Dr. Hundley was a professor, adjunct prof who was teaching it. So that’s where I got to know it.

[00:05:06] Andrew: You know, it’s the same story with me. if it wasn’t for a guy named Dr. Ron Klos. Yeah, yeah, I know Ron. Yeah. You know him. Great guy. Yeah, great guy. And, I took a superintendency certification course at, UT Arlington, and that’s how, I got to know him. Okay. just like Charles, Dr. Huntley, Dr.

Kloss sort of pushed my name out there. And that’s, that’s how I got my jobs.

[00:05:31] Beau: Back in the day, those guys are, you know, legends, both of them. And it’s, it’s funny how, they took the time to take some, some young guys under their wings or, you know, and, and kind of help about and, and, I sure am appreciative of Dr.

Hundley for that.

[00:05:49] Andrew: You know, how, how is that, is it the same today for you now with you helping, paying it forward for others or, or do you see differences today? I mean, or is it about the same, you think?

[00:06:02] Beau: you know, I, I’d like to think that I try to pay it forward for people. And I have a few people that I’ve worked with that would have gone on to be.

I learned a long time ago to always try to hire people that were a lot smarter than I am. And so they figured out they didn’t want to be a superintendent. And they’re maybe an assistant superintendent or a deputy or a finance person here or there. But I think it’s still the same. You know, it’s a, I think it may be much more competitive now, but, you know, when you talk to people who, are doing different searches and search firm folks and they say that the, the, the applicant pools are smaller, but, it was been my experience that there’s a lot of really good.

Young administrators out there who I think will be in good hands when they take over.

[00:06:56] Andrew: Yeah. And by the way, a lot of folks speak highly of you. I know you do a great job of, you know, not only, recommending folks, but, really, taking care of folks under your leadership there. And, you got a good one over there that I know.

Maria Mendez, for example, and others. So, you do a great job with that, Bo.

[00:07:15] Beau: Well, thank you. She’s she’s terrific. She makes me look good for sure.

[00:07:20] Andrew: So, you know, the other thing that, you know, I think sometimes people have a hard time knowing is how does superintendents go about. Making decisions for working with, you know, your level, senior level of leadership.

what’s your process or how do you go about making that work? Cause you know, I think a lot of people think that we do our jobs by ourselves, but we have a lot of help.

[00:07:44] Beau: Oh, definitely. You know, I found that in this role as a superintendent, the decision making process is it, it ebbs and flows. There’s certain decisions that certainly the buck just.

You know, rise with you and you’ve got to make that call, but, in making some long term decisions and certainly decisions that impact the system, I believe the first thing that you have to do is gather all the facts. And really take the time, to go, to the, the campuses and talk to people and find out, you know, how does this program impact kids, how do teachers, how receptive are they to, the impact that this has, and, you know, the implementation of it, and a lot of the things that, the practical side of implementing programs and projects and ideas, Really, the comes the best ideas come from, the lowest, at the lowest level, but from the campus level from the classroom, and so I like to talk to a lot of folks that are, you know, on the front lines with it and then, get some different perspectives from the various, you know, administrators where it’s the principal or the assistant superintendent for curriculum.

to kind of get their ideas and I think then it’s the superintendent’s role to, work through the board and through the community to kind of ensure that whatever that decision is that it does reflect the values and beliefs of that community. And, then you kind of have that job of helping mills, milled all the different perspectives into, making that best decision.

Yeah. And, but like I said, that’s a, that’s not a, a, perfect scenario. As you know, there’s, those calls that just end up on your desk that day and you’ve got to rely on, policy and, and legal and some wisdom or, lack thereof, I guess, sometimes, What’s the best call to make,

[00:09:41] Andrew: you know, you know, I think that a lot of people don’t, I think it’s easier to explain the process as you just done there and it sounds easy, but you know, it’s not.

And, I’m wondering like. How do you go about or what’s your influence about making tough decisions or hard decisions, you know, I mean, whatever that might be, you know, what’s your, do you have a trick or you have some insight or you have something that you do that, Hey, this is what Bo Reese does to make the hardest decision that you have to make sometimes.

[00:10:14] Beau: Oh, I don’t know that there’s a trick to it. you know, and I, in the years of being an administrator, I’ve made the wrong call sometimes. And so I think of reflecting sometimes when you, when you don’t make the right decision on how you got there. And, helps just as well, but, I do like to talk to other colleagues and reach out and talk to superintendents and other districts or mentors and people that have dealt with that situation.

And I certainly believe that part of the role of the superintendent is to make sure that the board has some voice and that they, you know, or certainly. Aware and comfortable and have had an opportunity at least to, to weigh in their, their thoughts about where you need to go or what decision you need to make.

And, but that does, ultimately that decision weighs on you and it lays, you know, at your feet and you have to make the right call. And I, I believe that you always make the best call when you make it. And what’s the best side, best for kids, the best for teachers. And, you can’t go wrong there if you really factor in the two biggest reasons why we’re here.

And how it’s going to make a positive difference in your community.

[00:11:29] Andrew: You know, you know, what you’re telling me in some sense is that you have to consider so many people when you make a decision, you know, your board, your staff, teachers, students, of course, parents. And, but I’m wondering though, if, if it’s, if it’s a bad decision though, there’s only one person to blame, isn’t there

[00:11:47] Beau: always, if it’s a good decision, it was somebody else gets the credit.

If it’s a bad decision. The superintendent made that call.

[00:11:57] Andrew: Is that true? You think? I mean, seriously, I know we joke

[00:11:59] Beau: about it. You know, I do believe that that’s true. I think that that’s part of good leadership. you know, if you, yeah, even if perhaps that decision was not yours to make, but you supported your principal or somebody in making it, then I think good leaders step up and say, Hey, you know, that’s on me.

And, and you take that and, and, hopefully you’ve made enough right decisions that you’ve built up some trust and, and, collateral would have you with the community that they, they can move on. And you know, nothing like a snow day to make you look bad, right?

[00:12:38] Andrew: You know, Ron Kalos used to tell me that a superintendency is like a, you’re like a brand new car.

As soon as you drop off the log, you’re losing value, you know, as a superintendent. So, you know, talk about, yeah. Talk about that snow day. Was it a hard decision this year or last year? I think I recall you guys had some tough ones.

[00:12:55] Beau: You know, there’s, there have been a few over the years up here in North Texas seems to be a few more, opportunities to make that call than when I was down in the Houston area.

It’s the first time I ever had to call school because of rain. It’s so much rain, you know, but,it’s always a tough one. I would say that, you know, we always joke about it, but it is one of the more. I guess public decisions, it’s an immediate decision that really, you’re taking in a tremendous amount of information, but the final decision really is yours to make and there’s no one else to, to, to blame or hide behind if you make the wrong call.

I learned early on when I was in Graham, you know, it was projected to snow and be bad, but our buses rolled, you know, at five 45. And so at that time it was not bad. It was just barely below freezing, but by eight o’clock at drop off, it was 26 and snowing sideways, like a blizzard in Michigan and right now, boy, my phone’s blowing up and everybody’s upset.

I’m, in the, in the pickup, you know, kind of driving around and I hear the local radio. I’m listening to local radio and the guy, the radio guy says, Hey, quit calling me if you’re upset about the store. You need to call the superintendent. And he gave my cell phone over the radio. No, it’s so that’s what I knew.

I mean, I was all alone that that decision was mine, but We did go ahead and call it and send kids home before lunch. And, and we survived, but, anyway, it’s, it’s always

[00:14:41] Andrew: fun times. You know, it’s, it’s hard to satisfy anybody and everybody altogether with any decision. and I think maybe more so today, maybe harder today.

And, you know, does it, does it frustrate you when you. have to take a blame for decisions that maybe, you know, like you, like you and I talked about, we got to take the blame for decisions that we don’t have any control over sometimes, you know, does it frustrate you? Does it wear on you? How do you deal with that?

[00:15:10] Beau: You know, I, I think that the longer that I’ve been in it, the more it frustrates me. And that, that seems counter intuitive, but I know when I was, you know, younger and just getting started and, you know, I was like, Hey, those are just excuses. We’re going to work through that. We’re going to make this work or whatever.

And now, there’s so many. Opportunities that I see that are missed sometimes with publication education and what we could do and some of the, the opportunities we have to impact kids and, and make such a positive difference that we’re not able to that. I do get a little more frustrated now with.

Things, whether it’s politics or whether it’s funding and some of those things where, I think that I used to just kind of let that roll like water off the duck’s back and, you know, roll up my sleeves and go to work and, and try to make the best of it. For now, I lament a little more about what it could have been.

Yeah,

[00:16:11] Andrew: but why do you think that is? Because I noticed that too in my, You know, I did it 15 years, not as long as you, but, I did it 10 years straight in one district, and I mean, I have to admit, you know, I, you know, there was, there were a lot of things that were frustrating me. and I’m not blaming anybody for it, but why do you think that is?

You know, I mean, I, I’ve been thinking about that question.

[00:16:31] Beau: Yeah. I don’t know. It’s a good question. Maybe it’s, maybe it’s age. I I’d like to think that maybe it’s wisdom, right? That we’ve done it long enough that we could see. How good it can be and what a true difference we can make. And, there’s no real good reason for why some of the things that happened that make it more difficult.

or happening. And so I think that to me, I’m going to, I’m going to chalk it up to wisdom, but, I just, I just so see the potential and I, I want, I want to make

[00:17:12] Andrew: it happen. I do remember, back in the day when you had like a jet black hair. So I noticed, I understand what you’re talking about. you know, Bo, it’s interesting.

You mentioned earlier about. What, what do you think, how much percentage would you say you firefighter on a day to day basis for making hard decisions? I mean, how would you separate that? I mean, you know, the little things you got to do every day because you’re making, you know, I mean, there’s research that says principals are making, you know, somewhere around 500 decisions a day.

I think superintendents probably is making a lot more than that. You know what I mean?

[00:17:45] Beau: Sure. you know, I, I do believe it and I remember those days as high school principal and I, Felt like before 7. 30 I had already, you know, made 10, 15 big decisions for that day. I think that it, it doesn’t always come at you as rapidly in the superintendency as it does at the campus level, but the impact of those decisions is greater in terms of the number of folks it affects, I think.

I just, I never really stopped to think about it as far as what you’re. You know, you walk in the door and you walk into the workplace and it just kind of comes naturally to you that you’re, it’s a fast paced environment and you’re moving from one meeting to another or from one campus to another and trying to, to help people really.

philosophy is to empower others and help them to make those decisions. But, when you’re having to make the rapid fire difficult decisions, you certainly want to get their input as well, but sometimes you, you know, have to kind of go back and rely on what you know is going to be best for that district and that community.

And, there’s so many factors that pile up as far as, you know, whether it’s finances or his history of. Some decisions that have been made or other issues that go into it, that seem to kind of help point you in the direction of what’s going to be the best call for you in that, in that school district.

[00:19:22] Andrew: Yeah. You know, though, as a superintendent, you know, you’re one of the most accessible decision makers in the community, you know, compared to any other political decision makers or I mean, you’re, you’re all, you know, you’re at Friday night football games. You’re visible. you know, do you, how do you separate, your work with personal?

I mean, are you able to get away a little bit, you know, separate that you, you get a, you got some time to yourself. And what does that look like

[00:19:49] Beau: for Bo Reese?I think it’s very important that you find some way that you can decompress it. is out of the limelight, if you will. and for me, I, you know, I have a credible wife of 30 years and a great family and, by girls are, two have graduated college and I’ve got a junior in high school and so.

you know, I’ve always taken a great, great sense of satisfaction and been able to kind of tune out the work when I was there with my family. And so that’s been great. I, I like to try to get outside, whether it’s working in the yard or in the garden or playing golf or throwing a, you know, a fishing line in the water, just to being outside seems to help be recharged by.

So I’m always sunburned or, you know, if I’m not sunburned, I’m going to get sunburned, but I do wear a hat and all this stuff, but still, but those things are, are what kind of, what helps me and, you know, with having, grown up, it didn’t really, I, my first principal ship, I took it, age 26. Wow. Yeah, so I’m just trying to it’s it’s part of my DNA and my wife is An angel and so we you know Tuesday night Friday night, but that’s date night All right, we’re gonna go to the basketball game or the volleyball game Friday night lights or what have you.

And so, my kids kind of grew up, in a gym or on a play field or whatever is, it was just kind of part of the lifestyle, if you will, of the superintendency and I wouldn’t trade it for anything else, but I always tell people who are interested in, you know, becoming a superintendent or looking at that as a.

you know, an avenue for their career that, you know, you, you’re always on and like you said, you’re always in the spotlight in the community and, it’s, it can weigh on you. And so if you’re, if you’re not prepared for that, or you don’t have, an avenue to kind of recharge your batteries, you certainly want to rethink it or find a way.

[00:22:01] Andrew: Now, did you, 26. I didn’t know that, Bob. So did you grow up, wanting to be an educator or something Now? How, how in the world? A no. I mean, I think I was trying to figure out, you know, how to drive maybe when I’m 25 or whatever, but, how in the world did you decide that that’s what you’re gonna do?

I mean, did you grow up thinking like that or, I mean, how

[00:22:20] Beau: in the world? No, I, you know, I grew up thinking that I was gonna be Gordon Gecko in Wall Street, , you know, I was gonna be stock broker and. Money agrees good. You know, I was all in, I watched that show. And so I, I, my first job at a college I took was in,finance with the equitable company and, selling, some mutual funds and trying to sell insurance.

And, you know, I, I did that for about a year or six months to a year and decided that, you know, I, I was not going to be Gordon Gekko and that, trying to push whole life insurance is probably not my, forte either. And so I went back to, to school while I was working and started on a master’s degree in education, Adelaide Christian.

And so, and I finished up that first year I was certified to teach and I took a teaching and coaching job in Sweetwater. And I taught and coached for three years there. And then, there was an elementary principal job in my hometown, Colorado city, Colorado ISD. Really? And I put my name in the hat and, actually I interviewed with the school board for this job.

So, and I, you know, half of them had known me when I was. In school there and, my mother had taught at that campus for 20 years and just retired. Wow. And I knew nothing about elementary education, other than, in fact, I hadn’t been in an elementary classroom since, you know, I’d been in elementary.

And they hired me and, well, I wanted to make sure that that was, I learned a lot really fast and I had some, incredible master teachers that had been there. And, out of the 27 staff members, 13 of them had taught me when I was in school. That’s not right. So.and I, you know, it was a title one campus and our, our scores were low on the toss back then.

And so, you know, we were just rolling up our sleeves, going to work, trying to see what we could do. It was great, great experience.

[00:24:37] Andrew: it was, I TBS for me and I missed those days, but wow, that’s, that’s fantastic. I mean, that’s a great story really is Colorado city. I see a lot of people don’t know where that is, but it’s on that I 20 corridor going towards big springs and sweet water in that area.

[00:24:53] Beau: Yes, that’s right. So home of the wolves,

[00:24:56] Andrew: home of the wolves. That’s right. you know, Bo, how would you characterize now with all the, you know, just looking backwards now and, you know, look forward a little bit, you know, what, what’s the, I don’t know, what’s the state of superintendency for you? What does that looking like?

You think, you know, if you were to describe it to your own kids who might want to become superintendent or something?

[00:25:17] Beau: Yeah, I, I would say the job undoubtedly has gotten more difficult during the, you know, my time in doing it. when I first took the superintendency in Graham, you know, we didn’t, we, we had cell phones, but you couldn’t text without doing the numbers, you know, but you’ve been waiting in three.

and so, just the amount of communication and information and, immediacy, has, has really made the job more difficult. you know, that was back, you still have back phone calls and people would come to your office to see you if they had a concern. And of course, now they just blow you up on social media and those types of things.

So those, I guess external factors have made the job more difficult without doubt. at the same time. What I find is that it’s still really about relationships and particularly building relationships with your board of trustees and, being, very transparent with them and up front, they understand that, you know, you’re going to have to make some tough calls and they have the confidence and trust that you’re going to make.

The right call. And if you, if you don’t make the call that they want that, you know, your door is open to talk to them and explain, and here are the criteria I used to make that decision. And here’s the reasons. And, you know, I stand by that. I understand your side of things, but it’s really still about relationships in that regard.

And I think juggling those, seven board members, or I guess in some of the, You know, the big, big districts, maybe nine board members would have, is still a huge key component of this position. And then I would expand that relationship to your, you know, your leadership teams and your campus principals and.

Everybody that is a part of the making those decisions and you want to make sure that you’re setting that tone and vision and really, I think the, the energy level and the direction of positivity and we’re going to take care of kids and we’re going to support teachers and. And we’re always going to do the right thing, no matter what happens, good or bad, we could defend the doing the right thing, following board policies and, and making sure.

That we’re creating an environment that’s great for kids. And it’s a place where you want your own kids to go. I really think that boils down to relationships and being able to. To have people, that are not like you at all, really, but that are like minded with you and can buy into that vision and want to be a part of it.

and so I, I think that, that sometimes in the day and age of, social media and technology, I wonder if, our future leaders, Or, able to, to sit down across from somebody face to face and kind of make sure that that bond and that relationship is strong because I think that’s what it all boils down to.

[00:28:27] Andrew: Well said. Well said. I, I wonder about the same question, you know, just from my own kids growing up. you know, I think, in, in some sense, maybe I think you would agree with me. I think we grew up in a time, maybe we’re lucky, you know, to have not had that, you know,

[00:28:42] Beau: I would agree. I’m definitely glad we didn’t have phones with cameras.

Yeah. No

[00:28:47] Andrew: camera. I know. I, I, I second that for sure. you know, certainly, over the years now you’ve, you know, we’re, we’re, our podcast is called lunch duty because, I just think that, great administrators or all administrators for that matter, worth their, you know, worth their weight has probably done a good number of lunch duties.

and I know I’ve done my fair share. So, any fond memories of, doing some lunch duties out there when you, whether you’re in Graham or Colorado city or Montgomery County, or, whether you’re in Weatherford.

[00:29:18] Beau: Yes, I, I, I think that the lunch duty is a rite of passage, man, it’s, it’s important. I, when I was first teaching and coaching, I, working on my administrative, certification, I had a, my principal was Kent Ruffin.

And Kent was, we were having some issues at Sweetwater Middle School at lunch. Kids would be a little rowdy, and so he’s like, Hey, you know, this period, this conference period, you really don’t have that thing. You need, I need you in here. And so I would, that was my first lunch duties. And, I would kind of make rounds and, and, you know, make sure we were Our kids were, well behaved and then I was in charge of taking the lunch trays across the street to the D.

A. P. We had just, that was when D. A. P. s just started, you know, and I, we made their lunches there at the middle school cafeteria. I’d take the lunches over and then I would relieve the D. A. P. teachers so they could go and have lunch and. That was my first taste of it. And then as an assistant principal at Sweetwater, Terry Pittman was the principal at that time.

Yeah, great guy. Oh yeah, great guy. Terry, we, well he was, there were two of us that were assistant principals at that time. He was really big on you, you guys, I want you in that cafeteria, you know, the entire time and, and up and very visible and moving around. And so, we were always up and working it.

And, we had an incident where we had a few kids that, you know, they’d sink off around the corner and go smoke cigarette or whatever. And so. I remember Terry going, Hey, we’re not going to have this. You need to, you need to get out there. You know, so I’m kind of hiding in the bushes out there waiting for him to come around the corner, you know, pop out, get back into the lunch line, the cafeteria.

But yeah, that’s a rite of passage. I love that. Yeah.

[00:31:19] Andrew: Terry became the superintendent of Sweetwater subsequently. I think

[00:31:23] Beau: he sure did. He obviously did. He was, when I first started was teaching, coaching, he was a girl’s basketball coach there. And then he became the assistant principal, principal of the high school, super, assistant superintendent and superintendent.

And I always say, I think it’s harder, to have, you know, grow up in a system and continue to move up and stay there for that long. I think you have to, really have the faith of the community. to be able to do that in one place for a long time like that. And he certainly did a good job

[00:31:57] Andrew: with it. You know, Terry did a great job.

I, you know, I, I know, I know of Sweetwater because of Terry Pittman. And now of course you, I didn’t know that you were with him. So that’s fantastic. That tells you a lot about you guys. You know, I didn’t realize that. And you know, for our listeners, DAP is, disciplinary alternative education placement.

so, you took the trays over there. I mean, during lunch, you’re

[00:32:20] Beau: kidding. Nope. I take the trays over there. we, they, when they finished eating, they were supposed to read a motivational book and this is way back like Zig Ziggler, you know what I’m saying? I know this is like in the nineties. And so, you know, I, I would say, Hey, let me read some of the Zig Ziggler you guys and girls.

We’re, You’ll be motivated and the things it was the things we do,

[00:32:46] Andrew: you know, you know, that that’s some of that stuff is not bad. Zig Ziglar or the, oh yeah, and friends and all that. That’s I think still that’s appropriate to this

[00:32:56] Beau: day. Oh, I think so too. I think it can certainly, help with a lot of the, the things that kids are dealing with to, to just, you know, but to think that kids are going to sit there and read that book today, I, we probably need to show a video or some type of a TikTok, a vignette or something.

something. So they keep their attention.

[00:33:17] Andrew: Well, I tell you what, I know I’ve taken a long time of your day. I mean, or I really do appreciate you carving out some time. I know you got a lot of things going on this, this time of the year for superintendents with budget process and things. I know it’s a busy time.

To not only, not only try to figure out how to close out the school year, but really work on next school year in many ways. So, so thank you for making the time for me and that’s, that’s great lunch, lunch duty story. that’s gonna,you know, I’m going to have to, talk to some of the others about that.

And, you know, Well, thank you for

[00:33:53] Beau: having me on and thank you for making this,available and lunch duty and doing it this way. I think that. There’s so much to, for folks to gain just from hearing stories and different perspectives of, of what it’s like to sit in that superintendent’s chair.

And I know you did it a long time and you did it really well, and, and you’re still making a positive contribution to public ed with through the FUSE program. So I really appreciate you and I’m happy to be on. Thank you. Well,

[00:34:26] Andrew: I appreciate it very much. You’re a true gentleman, scholar, and you know, I certainly look up to you.

And, man, I’ll tell you what, you’re doing some great things out there in weather for ISD. Home of the kangaroos. And, you guys, are fantastic. And I think, certainly, you know, due to your leadership there. So I really appreciate it. And, thanks for joining in and, you know, say hello to your family.

And, man, if I could do anything for you, just give me a call.

[00:34:47] Beau: Okay. I’ll do it. Thank you very much. All right. Listen,

[00:34:51] Andrew: you take care. All right. See you soon. Okay. Bye bye.

Lunch Duty is produced by David Yeager and me, Andrew Kim. We thank the Lates Development Studio and the Texas Behavioral Science and Policy Institute at the University of Texas at Austin for their support. Thank you for listening and please join us for our next episode of Lunch Duty.