A longhorn in maroon? How does that work in Texas. Listen to Richard Wright on being a rural superintendent and learn how many people he has on his staff. Learn how he manages local politics and listen carefully to his lessons learned.
Guests
- Richard WrightSuperintendent of Schools for Agua Dulce ISD
Hosts
- Andrew Kim Director of Research Programs at Texas Behavioral Science and Policy Institute
[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 let’s go. And welcome to lunch duty,
[00:00:35] Richard: Richard.
[00:00:37] Andrew: Thanks for joining. I appreciate you taking the time to join me at this podcast called lunch duty.
[00:00:44] Richard: Well, I appreciate you having me, down here in Aguadulce, Texas, South Texas day on, what is it? Super Tuesday, they tell me. So, everybody’s out voting. I almost got run over in the fog down here.
So it’s entertaining. Is your schools,
[00:00:56] Andrew: a election
[00:00:57] Richard: site? No, sir. it’s down the road over here. So everybody was rocking and rolling, man. I think we’ve got a whole 12 percent coming out to vote this time. So we’re knocking it dead.
[00:01:10] Andrew: So how important are these elections or local elections to you as a superintendent?
[00:01:15] Richard: Well, it always comes down to the issues, you know, specifically about that. But this year, The push that’s been put out for the voucher system and everybody that, governor Abbott is backing for the vouchers and trying to get out of office.
Now we don’t have any local races going on, but it’s always important to get out and vote. Just making sure that we’re participating and getting everything done, you know, and, I want to make sure that. Our, even our students, you know, we push for the, the fact that they get their registration done and go out there and take care of their business.
So it’s important, man. I don’t, there’s always something that comes back later on and you just didn’t realize it was going to be that big a deal. And then there it is, you
[00:01:54] Andrew: know, as a superintendent, do you spend a lot of time worrying about it or, you know, you’re not a, you’re not, you’re not a politician in some sense.
You’re an educator, but.
[00:02:05] Richard: I don’t know. Here’s the deal. I control what I control. And if I cast my single vote or I can talk to a legislature, you know, you were in the superintendency chair. You probably had legislators that called you up from time to time and said, Hey, give me some guidance on this bill.
This is what we’re looking at. But other than that, that’s not my job. You know, I’m going to exercise my rights as a citizen and go out and do what I can do. But I want to make sure that I’m taking care of my kids first. So if a controversial law or something that I’ve got to adapt to, I’ve got to adapt to it.
The rules change all the time and we just have to move forward and keep going to do what’s best for kids. I mean, that’s where we’re at.
[00:02:44] Andrew: Well, I’ll go Dulce is a. Relatively a smaller district then, I mean, describe algo Dulce to the listeners
[00:02:52] Richard: out there, 400 students over here. you know, I, I had schools that had twice as many as students that I have in the whole district, but the great part about it is.
You get to know everybody, everybody wants to talk about, you know, they write country songs about towns like this and, the newspaper and everything. Everybody knows what’s going on before you know what’s going on. It’s, it’s incredible. And the other thing is everybody’s related. So we enjoy that aspect of everything.
You know, it, it, it always helps as a superintendent, we don’t disparage anybody because you might be talking to their kinfolk. So we want to make sure that we stay on the good side of everybody and move forward in a positive way. So. We’re a small town, but they’ve got a lot of,pride down here. And I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of Robert, the, the front porch saw, but, Aguadulce, Texas has mentioned in the front porch song.
So that’s pretty good stuff down here. If you, if you make it into a song, you’re doing what you need to do.
[00:03:47] Andrew: No, you are. So how does one Richard Wright gets to, the superintendency of
[00:03:55] Richard: Aguadulce? Well, I actually moved up from being a principal and, you know, this being a, a superintendent as well as such what I put in 47 applications before I got my first, first interview and as was anything else, school boards are extremely, how should I put this unique bodies.
And so they’re going to be looking for somebody who fits their personality. And, I was very fortunate. It was one of those situations. I ended up getting an interview here in Iwa Dulce. It was the first interview I received and it was the first superintendent job I received. So, it was one of those things.
I come from Wyoming, which is basically a rural state. We only have 400, 500, 000 people in the entire state. So I kind of understand rural communities and what it’s like to kind of be on your own. And I think that translated when I took the. When I got into the interview with my school board and they understood that this is a guy that can relate to folks and, a lot less.
About the bureaucracy and a lot more about the people in the community and the kids in the school. And so that, that makes a big difference when you’re looking for a job, putting everything together. So
[00:05:05] Andrew: Richard, going back to 47 applications, did you really, I mean, you were like death set
[00:05:10] Richard: on being a superintendent?
Well, that, that was the whole situation. I got my, I got my certification. I was like, shoot, I got to use this thing. So we need to get out there and see what we can do. And it was all about wanting to affect. and was all wanting to be a part of the situation where I could come in and help as many kids as I possibly could.
you know, in every level of administration, you have a great effort and you’re able to put things together. But when you’re the superintendent, you’re, you’re the person who is in charge of everything and you get to put your, for lack of a better term, your stamp of approval or your fingerprint. On everything.
And as we all rock and roll out there, we always think we can do it better than everybody else. So I just thought if I could affect that much change, maybe we could build something that’s pretty awesome. And so far we’re moving in that direction. So
[00:06:00] Andrew: coming from the cowboy state of the United States, Wyoming,
[00:06:04] Richard: where you’re looking
[00:06:05] Andrew: for School district, these 47 districts that you’re applying to, were they all similar in size and
[00:06:13] Richard: demographics?
I’ll be real honest with you. I went for, the smaller school districts. I was looking for three a below just simply because that’s kind of my wheelhouse. and I’m not knocking folks that are in big school districts. I mean, it’s, they, they, they serve their purpose and they take care of everything. But just my personality, I fit a lot better.
When, I’m dealing with a smaller community and everything of that nature. So I was looking for school districts that were smaller so I could get in and affect change. And I learned that as a principal, I, I kind of did, I came into superintendency a little bit different. I was a high school. I was a principal for 27 years, middle school and high school.
And so, a lot of people said I had maybe some mental illness staying in the profession that long, but, it was one of those situations that if you like the job and you enjoy what you were doing. I just, it, it never dawned on me that there could be a possibility that could affect more change and, and move on up.
So, I principled for a long time and those were the schools that I principled in and enjoyed. And, it’s been a great fit here.
[00:07:13] Andrew: You know, in a small school district, do you have a lot of people that you get to work with on a day-to-Day basis, or you know, what they call the central office or
[00:07:22] Richard: a cabinet?
Many people. Well, my central office is how many is three people? That’s it. That it, it is myself, my business manager. And they would call her the administrative assistant, but she also does our payroll and takes care of everything else. So. That’s it. I have two principals and an athletic director and a technology coordinator.
And so I don’t necessarily have to have a staff meeting. I just walk across the sidewalk and say, Hey, this is what we got to do. What do you think? And away we go. That’s our collaboration. And it’s funny that you call, your, your podcast lunch duty, because I get a lot of work done during lunch duty.
They’ll, they’ll come up, Hey, Richard, what’s going on? And I’ll be like, well, we need to do this, this, this, and this. What do you think about that? And you’re like, Hey, sounds great. I go, you need to have a meeting. I go, no, I think we’re pretty good. We, we got it taken care of. So it’s, it’s one of those situations that the small district actually, you don’t have to go anywhere.
I mean, it’s, you stumble across the sidewalk and there you are. You’re, you’re at your meeting. So it, in effect, it’s very nice. You know,
[00:08:21] Andrew: Richard, one of the things I’ve, I discovered regardless of school district size, you as a superintendent have. Tremendous amount of problems and challenges that you got to think about in a larger district, you do have some others that you can bounce some ideas.
So I guess, you know, team of three that you’re talking about. Is that who you rely on to
[00:08:48] Richard: figure things out? Well, I’ll be honest with you. It depends on the problem, but ultimately when it comes to school business, school business, when there’s not, when there’s not a resource on campus, one of the things you’re going to find with rural superintendents is we have a very close knit network.
And so it’s a phone call away. If I’ve got to call somebody down the road, who’s in a similar situation, you know, they’re, they’re trying to find a bus driver or something like this. And, All you got to do is pick up the telephone and I’ve built some very good relationships with the neighboring superintendents.
And so we’re all in the same boat. We all have the same types of problems and that’s kind of your sounding board. And it, it really, you know, you build some very quick, intense relationships with those people, because it’s not an issue of, do they know what you’re going through? They are going through what you’re going through.
And so that’s been our support group. And, you’ve got a whole different kind of set of folks. That work together in a real school districts because they have a similar problems.
[00:09:47] Andrew: that’s really a very insightful comment about really working with your neighbors. Talk to me about the fact that now, you know, you’re always in some sense competing for kids.
is that hard
[00:10:02] Richard: on the relationship? In a sense, we’re competing for kids, but I’ll be real frank with you. If your school district, and this is something that, I learned more so in South Texas than I did working on the Gulf Coast up further in Victoria in that area up there. People move their kids around from school district to school district all the time around here.
It’s kind of an amazing deal. We have a lot of open stuff. And the one thing that I’ve found is the court of public opinion is very, very strong, whether you believe that or not. And so if you build your school district and put out positive for lack of a better term, vibes out there, you’re going to get those students.
it’s one of those situations that, you know, we have neighboring districts and that we, we have lots of kids that come to here. In fact, one third of our population is transfer students. I mean, that, that’s a big deal. And we’re able to bring those students in because of the reputation that we have. And so, you know, the old coaching me is one of those situations you got to coach him up, man.
You got, you got to put a better product on the field than the guy next to you. And so that’s your responsibility, man. It’s not, it’s not my responsibility for you to stop me. It’s your responsibility to play different defense and stop me. So it’s one of those situations I, I don’t want it to be competitive.
But on the flip side of that, that is the nature of education right now, with school choice, vouchers, charters, whatever you want to talk about, you have to make sure that your school district is meeting the needs of all students. And if you’re doing that, the word’s going to get out. And people are going to come to your district.
I mean, that’s just the way it is. And so, for lack of a better term, you got to coach them up, man. You got to be ready to go.
[00:11:43] Andrew: Yeah. Yeah. So there’s a lot of coaching you,
[00:11:47] Richard: how long were you coaching? What kind of coaching, what did you do? The funny part about that is I did not become a coach until I became a principal.
we were sitting there, I was sitting in Louise, Texas and, by athletic director walked in. He goes, Mr. Wright, I don’t have anybody to take the JV basketball team to this tournament up in Giddings. And I go, well, you need me to drive a bus or what situation? Cause I have my CDL, man. We’re ready to go.
He goes, I need you to take him and coach him. And I said, I have no earthly idea about coaching basketball. He goes, doesn’t matter, man. I just need you to go up there and be who you are. So we went up and took our lumps, but I had a great time. I fell in love with it. And then, He taught me how to be a powerlifting coach.
And so, I’ve been very fortunate, coach powerlifting and track and, been a part of some teams who won some state championships, but been able to win four state championships and powerlifting and had a lot of individual state champions. And then, I was at a couple of schools. We were able to win, State championship and track had some individual state championship track.
And so I was never really the head coach. I was always kind of a peripheral rah rah guy, but,that motivation seems to help them out. So it’s a lot of fun. And I still coach today. In fact, we’ll be going to the regional powerlifting on Friday, because you’ve got to have that connection with the kids, man.
I mean, that’s when you, when you get so far removed from them that you don’t understand who you’re, Who you’re taking care of anymore. I think you lose a little something. And so it’s important to me at every level. And in, in administration or whatever you do in a school district, it’s important to have that connection with the kids, because that’s why we’re here.
[00:13:24] Andrew: Now, is it, is education something that you grew up wanting to be in or, well,
[00:13:29] Richard: it was one of those situations I got into, my mother was actually a school librarian back in Wyoming. And so she was already always talking about education and everything like that. But I actually started out in engineering, and I got my math.
A big background in math. And when I was graduating from college, the bottom fell out of, the petroleum industry. And so, all these petroleum engineers came over to electrical engineering and I’m like, you know, I don’t know if I want to be in that doggie dog world. And, so I was like a friend of mine.
He’s like, Hey, come on over to education, man. You got your math. You’ll be able to get a job. And I was like, I don’t like hanging out with kids, man. I’m just an overgrown kid as it is. And then 34 years later here, here I am still doing it. So that’s fantastic.
[00:14:19] Andrew: So, so you didn’t come through education that naturally, like a lot of people that I’ve been talking with same thing, they’re not, Education was not the number one
[00:14:29] Richard: choice.
Well, it’s one of those situations that I, and I hate to say this, but an educational degree, a lot of times was a backup plan for everybody. You understand what I’m saying? I mean, they, they came into it. They, they really wanted to be something else. And then education kind of presented itself. It it’s always going to be a steady paycheck.
It’s not as much as they want to make here and there. But, the thing about it is. A lot of those people get hooked, man. Once you get in and you start talking to the kids, it’s over. I mean, you build that first relationship and you see that first kid can be successful. And at whatever level, whether you’re in first grade and they all of a sudden can read 50 sight words and you’re like, Oh my gosh, I helped them do that.
Or if you’re sitting there at the high school level and you got that kid across the stage. After so many obstacles were put in front of them and you’re like, I helped that kid do that. Or if you’re in middle school and you just help them get from period to period without, having a nervous breakdown about the girlfriend or boyfriend they just broke up with, you’re like, I helped them do that.
And so. You all of a sudden understand that you’re more than you’re, you’re part of a bigger organism and you really can affect change one kid at a time. I mean that the starfish story comes into play quite a bit when you’re in the educational business, it makes a difference to this one. And, that’s kind of always been my motivation.
And I think that’s a lot of what hooks a lot of people now is they didn’t want, they didn’t think they wanted to be an educator. But then they get in it and they love it. And they’re like, Oh my gosh, why didn’t I do this before? Yeah.
[00:16:05] Andrew: So your inspiration then for getting up in the morning is the kids, obviously.
Oh, bottom. But how do you also renew your energy? You know, do you have, I mean, you mentioned about other neighboring superintendents that you talk with that helps I’m sure. But what do you, anchor yourself with?
[00:16:25] Richard: Well, I, first and foremost. You’ve gotta give your faith to God. I mean, he, he wakes me up every morning and I, I am very, very lucky to, to have what I have.
Second part is my family. I have a wonderful wife and two daughters that are both teachers now. and my wife is a teacher, so we’re a family of educators. And so every day we get to come home and, and talk to, talk about our crazy stories. But at the end of the day, if you can’t get excited coming up here.
And seeing a kindergartner tell you the story that they tell you you’re hurting, baby. I’ll tell you what, man, you need a personality transplant or something because doggone it. I, I laughed so hard, just to drop off in the mornings. I get to sit out there and watch all the kids walk across the street or walk into the building.
And the, the love they give to their parents or the things that they’ll do to their parents or the things they’ll do when they see their teacher. There’s nothing better than that, man. I, I, had a little girl the other day, her mom’s hollering out the window. I love you. I love you. I love you. And she just turned around.
She goes and walked off. I was like, Oh my gosh, that was awesome. You know, she threw her mom, the deuces and she was a kindergartner. I was like, you gotta love that, man. You don’t beat a deal like
[00:17:42] Andrew: that.
[00:17:43] Richard: You got to love that and I’ll go Dulce. Absolutely,
[00:17:45] Andrew: bro. So, you know, as a superintendent, then, you know, obviously you have the heart for this job, it comes across, how do you keep up with the latest, you know, instructional stuff, latest, you know, how do you, Improve instruction
[00:18:01] Richard: and all that good stuff that that’s a collaborative effort.
And I’ll be honest with you. We have to lean on our, our, our region service center quite a bit. I mean, it’s, it’s important for them to come in and be able to take care of that stuff for us. And it’s one of those deals. Everybody talks about being a lifelong learner, but when you’re in this position, whatever situation might be.
You’ve got to stay current. I mean, I’m a member in four or five different organizations. And so they’re always sending me updates and things of that nature. And you’ve got to read, I mean, I, I know everybody. Wants to talk about that. Well, you’re not a brain surgeon. I go, man, but I feel like I read like one, because if you talk to a doctor, they’re always reading periodicals, they’re always reading articles about things that are going on.
And I’m constantly looking up educational journals and things of that to see what the newest trends are that are going on. And, so it’s one of those situations. You’ve got to make a conscious effort to be in charge of your education and stay on top of that stuff. So if you’re dedicated to your profession, you’re going to do the work that you have to do in order to stay on top of those things.
[00:19:08] Andrew: You know, I have a great mentor that taught me about this business and I are still rely on him today for life lessons. my guess is that you have someone like that
[00:19:16] Richard: too. Oh, yes, sir. I, there, there are several people. I, There was a principal in Bolton, Texas, man, and God rest his soul. He passed away from cancer, but he walked up to me one day and I was fireball, man.
I was trying to change everything. He goes. You came to a small school, not looking for work, but looking for an occupation, son, you need to slow down and let things come to you. He said, and so I always think about that, but those are the sorts of people that I, that I cling to that were early in my career.
You’re absolutely correct. And now on the flip side of that, I try to pay it forward, Great. It’s kind of nice to have young, young coaches, young administrators, young teachers come to you and say, Hey, Mr. Wright, what do I need to do? And on the flip side of that, you know, I I’ve been very fortunate. A lot of my assistant principals have gone on to be principals.
I’ve had principals go on to be superintendents. in fact, they became superintendents before I came to superintendent. I mean, it’s one of those situations that that’s the case. But they always likened back to certain things that we, we talked about. And one of the things that they always talked about was Mr.
Wright, you were always a safety net in case I failed. And that is one of the things that people don’t understand. They think they’ve got to get it right every time. And the best lessons I’ve learned in my career are not the great successes, but how I rebounded from something that was a tragedy or whatever the situation might be.
Until before that, that’s the things that, that make you a better superintendent, a better teacher, a better custodian, whatever it’s how you adapt. And are we going to overcome some kind of setback we may have encountered? And so, and that was the other thing, you know, my mentors always told me that you’re not going to get it right at every, every day.
You’re going to try, but you’re not going to get it right every day. And. That’s the important thing. If you learn from those mistakes and you’re able to go back and back it up and say, Hey, I really should have done this at this point in this situation. This is what I should have done.
[00:21:19] Andrew: Yeah, man. That’s fantastic.
I can’t end on that note, even though we should, because I need to hear about a, a great lunch duty story. You got, it sounds like you
[00:21:29] Richard: got several. Oh, we, we got great lunch duty stories. Let me, let me, let me talk about what, I want, I want to go kid here. So. I better, I better, better think this up.
[00:21:40] Andrew: I used to have some crazy ones when I was a principal in
[00:21:43] Richard: Dallas.
You, you got, okay, I’ll, I’ll, I’ll give you this one. This is a pretty good one here. And it’s a, it’s a little, it’s very entertaining. I was in a school in Rosenberg. And, for whatever reason, I was the teacher that always drew lunch duty. they, they, they thought I was a better lunch duty monitor than I was a math teacher.
We’ll put it that way. Cause they, they burned it. They burned a period of, of algebra one, just so I could be in the lunchroom. And so, you monitor the restrooms and everything else. And, kids were walking in and all of a sudden I see a bunch of these boys. Going to the restroom. And so I’m like, man, I better check it out, but I don’t hear anything.
And so I walk in there and they’re playing craps in the corner of the restroom, man. They’re all laid out there. They got the money on the ground, the dice are flowing and everything else. And they’re going, come on, whatever the point was, they were shooting dice. in the corner right there, and I’m just standing there and I’m kind of mesmerized watching this go on, you know, I’m standing over their shoulders.
And, one of them, one of them looks, looks back at me and everybody kind of gets quiet, but the kid rolling the dice, man. He’s like, come on, man. Come on. Who’s in on this one. Who’s in on this one. And I go, I’m in on this when he goes, it’s too late to put your money down, sir. Man, come on. It’s too late to put your money down.
I said, well, brother, I think I’m going to have to take all the money. I have to take the dice. And I think you guys are going to have to come with me. Not a one of them got upset. And, and I got to be a part of their, their, their gambling situation there. So that was pretty entertaining. but that was a good one.
They were, they were shooting dice in the restroom, man. And it was, it was an entertaining time. I didn’t know that they had quite that. See, that’s what’s changed these days. They would not play a game that requires some kind of manipulation if it’s not a video game anymore. But that was there. But yes, sir, that just, that was a good one.
Throw a little dice in the, in the restroom there. They were, they were getting after it. And, I, you know, I, it was one of those situations. You always. You’re always looking for fundraisers in school. I was like, well, man, maybe we could run a little casino night. If it was something like that, get that.
[00:23:44] Andrew: Richard, I have a, I have a similar story about a craps game that I broke up. There you go. Principal two in
[00:23:49] Richard: Dallas. Yes, sir. That seems to be universal, man. That’s what’s so fun about it.
[00:23:54] Andrew: You know, in some sense, I thought they were doing some statistics and numbers.
[00:23:58] Richard: Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, I’ll be honest with you.
A couple of more of my students and I was really surprised what, once they did their punishment, took care of their business, I had a higher standard for them in math because they sure could add those numbers with those dollars a lot more quickly, quickly. And they knew that they knew the point on the dice a lot better.
and so, there was no more shine to Mr. Right on about how I couldn’t do my homework because. Maybe I saw you doing your homework in the restroom when you were throwing them dice. It’s just weird operating. Well, I tell you what, on that note, I taken
[00:24:32] Andrew: up a lot of your time. I appreciate it very much.
And by the way, I’m going to come down and see you because I need to get a baseball hat from
[00:24:39] Richard: Aguadulce. Brother, I’ve got one hanging right over there and I’ll also give you a cup, man. I’ll, I will Aguadulce you out. You’ll be ready to rock and roll and see, I see you’ve got your longhorn stuff on. We are the longhorns and I will tell you.
We are Maroon and we’re the Longhorns. And so, one last story when I was walking through the airport in Austin with my Longhorn baseball shirt and Maroon on, it was quite interesting because a lot of people were very, very confused about what was going on with this guy’s shirt and, the AD was real small and so they weren’t making the connection.
And, To see some of those highly educated UT folks, a little bit perplexed, it was pretty awesome. I’ll just be real frank with you. they, they, they, definitely didn’t, they didn’t understand what was going on. There were, there was something wrong with the entire picture, but they weren’t mean to me because when you’re six, four, 300 pounds, they, they.
They, they have a tendency to shy away, but, they, they definitely were giving me some strange looks and a couple of people actually walked up and asked the question, which I was waiting for, because I wasn’t going to volunteer the information, but, it was, it was entertaining. Nope. Well, I’ll tell you
[00:25:47] Andrew: what, you’re a good guy.
I didn’t realize you’re from Wyoming. It just makes you, even better
[00:25:51] Richard: in my book. Well, I appreciate that. Well, if you ever get an opportunity and you need the. You need the travel map. I’ll let you know the places to hit all the out of way places. Yeah. I need to call you about that. so I’ll definitely do that.
I got you. All right. Well, Mr. Kim, I appreciate you 110%. Thank you for this opportunity, man. Richard,
[00:26:08] Andrew: thanks so much. I’ll talk to you soon. I’ll come down soon. Okay. All right.
[00:26:11] Richard: Take care. God bless you.
[00:26:16] Andrew: 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.