Episode 10: Sylvia Ibarra – Superintendent of Valley View ISD! Welcome to RGV.

[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 And welcome to Lunch Duty.

Today at Lunch Duty, we have Dr. Sylvia Ibarra with the Valley View Independent School District down in the Region, gosh, what is that, Region 1?

[00:00:46] Sylvia: Region 1. Rio Grande Valley. Rio

[00:00:50] Andrew: Grande Valley. RGV. That’s right. And Sylvia, I really appreciate you joining. I know you’re busy. I know there’s a lot of things going on.

It’s also Friday afternoon, but I’ve been wanting to talk with you, learn from you, and so this is really a treat, an opportunity for me. I really appreciate it in for our listeners to know, I think it’s all public out there. So let me know if I’m, miss, miss, just taking turn here, speaking out of turn, but you are also announced to retire me here shortly, right?

[00:01:28] Sylvia: Yes. Yes. this is, well, first of all, thank you for the invitation. I really appreciate it. It’s a pleasure to be here, to learn from you as well. I know you’re a retired superintendent. But yes, this is my 35th year in education. And so I’m contemplating retirement. I haven’t submitted any paperwork. but again, after 35 years, but I’m really seriously considering it.

So, and that’s okay for you to announce it. Cause I’ve been telling people, I just haven’t officially announced it or submitted my resignation or my paperwork to TRS, but I’m, I’m in the process of doing that.

[00:02:03] Andrew: Okay. Well, then I definitely spoke out of turn. I know that you and I talked about this. Yes. And so, but, but you know, we will have by the time hopefully when this podcast gets aired.

maybe you have a more of a firm decision, whether you stay further and whether you decided to go ahead and not retire. But you know, this is an interesting conversation then, what is your thinking process about retiring? What’s driving that? And what are you, what’s, what’s giving you that indication after 35 years?

And I mean, obviously there’s obvious reasons, but what is your, what’s your thoughts?

[00:02:44] Sylvia: No, definitely. That’s, that’s a valid question. because I’m, I mean, as educators, we retire fairly young and obviously we’re not going to retire to just sit at home because that’s, that’s not what we do. But, after 35 years in education, like I said, and I’ve been pretty much, I’ve had all different, warrants, different hats from teacher, counselor, director, principal, assistant superintendent, superintendent.

So I’ve done a little bit of everything. And it’s, I’ve enjoyed it immensely, but I, I feel that right now is a good time to, to stop, take a break for a year, and just reflect on what else is out there, what else I want to do to, because I do want to continue to work, perhaps come back to education after a year or in a different capacity, or maybe, pursue something in the private workforce, but it’ll be on my terms.

And I really do want to spend more time with my family. my daughter just had a baby as a matter of fact her third, so i’m a grandmother for the third time Yes, very happy. So I have a Three, three year old one and a half year old. And now one week old. And so I don’t get to see them very much because they live in temple.

And so this will give me a little bit more time to spend with them. And like I said, just, slow down for a bit. For a while, and then come back after that, my daughter tells me that I’ll be back in two weeks. She says, mom, there’s no way too much energy. You’ll be bored in two weeks, and I don’t believe you’re going to stay out for a year, but that that’s my plan.

[00:04:17] Andrew: But, I think, and I appreciate you sharing that. And, I think, but that’s the thing, right? I mean, I, I think those of us who’ve been in the position of the superintendent, And I don’t want to sound like it’s so special or unique in any way, but at the same time, the job is not just one thing, but multiple things.

And I think that you can only do this job at one speed, which is at warp speed, supersonic speed. And so, as a result of that, you do have to make a lot of sacrifices. I think I’ve seen more of my students. performances than my own kids, for example. and I think that they’re the, people always talk to me about balancing life and I was horrible at it and trying to figure out how to do the job really well.

And so I can see in some sense where your daughter is speaking to you in that regard, to spend some more time with them and so forth. And it’s just, there’s a tug, I think in many ways.

[00:05:23] Sylvia: No, I agree. and I’m like you, when my children they’re now grown, but when they were in school, and I was younger, I miss many, many activities, many games and performances.

my parents took my place, thankfully they were always there to fill in when I couldn’t be there. Because like you’re saying, I was at my own event as a principal or as an assistant sup or now as a sup. So absolutely, you, you do make sacrifices and, I, I regret some of those things that I missed out on and there’s no taking it back.

And now of course, again, now I have the grandchildren, in the picture and, so I want to be there for them as much as I can. but also, like you mentioned, being a superintendent is, is a fast and furious job. And it’s interesting, I worked at a larger school district where I was an assistant sup and I had multiple directors under me.

And, there was a, a lot of specialty positions and so dedicated positions in a small district like Valley View, we don’t have that luxury. So we wear many hats and I’m always working, just to, right to the point I was out. I called in and took three days, but I was working the entire time because the work doesn’t end.

And so you have to continue whether you’re at the office or not. And so, but again, like I mentioned, people don’t realize what the job entails. So, again, it’s just a time just to give, step back a little bit.

[00:07:00] Andrew: Yup. It’s interesting what you say because, whenever we did have like spring break or Christmas, I, I couldn’t stop working or thinking about the job or getting things prepared.

I used to always say that, as a superintendent, I need to be at least a semester ahead of my principals and principals need to be at least a month ahead of my teachers And teachers need to be at least a week ahead of the students.

[00:07:28] Sylvia: Absolutely,

[00:07:30] Andrew: and so So you’re constantly not only are you firefighting?

Current things, but you’re also a month out, two month out, three months out in terms of your thinking, constantly. And I think it’s just, I don’t think, try to figure that out. It’s very difficult. I think.

[00:07:48] Sylvia: And it’s so funny you say that because like my phone is always with me because I have.

It’s my little computer, everything that’s on my computer is on my phone, but, one of those features that I have is notes, right? So I’ll be at home and I remember something I added to my notes in the middle of the night. Oh my God, just so that I don’t forget things and it’s constant. It’s like, my goodness, I said, we can never just detach completely because again, our job doesn’t allow it.

I mean, we, when you sign up to be a superintendent. You have to know that, that you’re never going to be, it’s a 24 seven type of job and that’s okay. That’s okay. If you’re, if it’s, you’re in the right place at the right time, why not? and again, these past three years, cause I’ve only been a superintendent for three years.

They’ve been very rewarding. Believe me. I mean, I’ve enjoyed every minute, well, not every minute, but most of it, there are some, Incidents that I wish, that I could erase, but for the most part, it’s been a very rewarding experience, and so I don’t regret it. no, maybe after a year I’ll come back.

I don’t know. We’ll see.

[00:08:54] Andrew: You can’t, you can’t. I know many of our friends, colleagues or who are doing that. let me ask you this. So did you know that going into the job profession that it’s going to be 24 hours, seven days a week? Did you know that? And, and, and if you knew that, well, what drove you to that job?

I mean, what, what was the spark in your life, in your career? And I mean, were you growing up as a young? a child, saying that, Oh, I want to be a superintendent. is that, what was it? I mean, how did it come about?

[00:09:26] Sylvia: It’s so interesting that you asked that because my goal, to be honest, when I went into education was to be a counselor, I had wonderful, wonderful counselors when I was in school.

And so I really wanted to do that. I said, I want to be a counselor and be able to help. So I knew that I had to teach. And so, yes, I went into teaching. I enjoyed my, my, my years as a teacher. I taught for five years and then I went into counseling for 10 years. what happened is I had good mentors and, people always encouraged me to keep going for something else.

So when I was a counselor, I was a lead counselor. My principal at the time would tell me, you need to be an administrator. You need to go and be an administrator, go back to school. So he planted that seed. And so I said, you’re right. I should, because he would give you a lot of administrative duties.

And so. I went into principalship when I was a principal, then I had assistants who would tell me, you need to go into administration. You need to go to central office. We need you over there and this and this and that. And I said, I should do that. And so every job I had, there was always someone planting that seed to go to the next level.

And, when I was assistant sup, same thing, you need to keep going and you need to become a superintendent. so yes, it was, It wasn’t the initial goal, but those were goals that came about as I was in one position and just moving on to the next level. and coming from a bigger district, the work never bothered me, because it was a large district and we had to be available 24 7.

That’s one thing that anybody, director and above, we were told. You 24 7, weekends. During COVID, it didn’t matter, so I knew that coming in, so I was already doing it. And so it was, it was a transition. It just, it was, it’s from assistant sup to superintendent. Obviously it’s more responsibility. The work is the same, but the responsibility is much greater.

[00:11:29] Andrew: Was there a certain comment that was made to you by your mentors along the way that, that gave you a lot more, oh wow, I need to do that. Was there some something that was said to you that you recall that was more impactful than perhaps other comments?

[00:11:46] Sylvia: Yes, when I was a principal, in McAllen, I was a principal there at an elementary school and back then, back in the day, we used to do, executive presentations to the administrative team, because instead of the superintendent, the assistant supes and so forth, so they would go to each campus and so we would present our action plan.

And so, when they were leaving, one of the assistant sups came up to me and she says, Sylvia, you need to be a superintendent. And what you’re doing here, Needs to be done at all schools. And so that was very impactful. Yeah. And I said, wow. And then she, she repeated that to other people that she was very impressed with the work that I was doing and that I needed to go on to central office.

So it, it really, lifted me obviously. And I said, well, maybe I should go to central office and, and, lead other, other principals. Why not? and then she can tell me that, but other assistant soups also, and, and, and the superintendent at the time, Hey, go back to school, go get your doctorate.

That’s when I went actually back to school to get my doctorate because they also encouraged me. You need to go get your doctorate, keep, keep moving up, keep working hard. I’ve always had a very strong work ethic and I, I think that stands out when people do me. And so that’s why they encourage me.

Yeah, I’m assuming. So there’s, like I said, there’s always been people, that have encouraged me and I planted that seed and then I reflect on it. I said, why not? And so again, comments like that really make a difference, made a difference for me. And I’m sure, for others when they hear those things.

So I tried to do the same. With others, encourage them to also continue, in their education or their career path.

[00:13:33] Andrew: Yeah. I actually, funny thing is I actually blamed my mentor, God named Dr. Ron K. Laws for all my ills and troubles. Cause he pushed me to this job and I said, why did you do that?

why did you not stop me? Why, why would you, why would you have me doing this? Oh my gosh. But,

[00:13:52] Sylvia: I

[00:13:55] Andrew: know. Right. It’s really amazing to hear that you’ve had all these folks along the way, I encourage you. And, I think, of course, going from the principal shift to central office to superintendent, your decision making style changes over the time period, the decisions that you make as a principal.

Is, what is sort of program decisions or routine decisions, perhaps got it by policy of the district and so forth at the superintendent level, though it’s a whole unknown frontier. There is no like set schedule or a set routine decisions. You make every decision is uniquely your own. or do you feel that way that decisions are different?

And a super, and a principal would make a decision versus a superintendent making decisions.

[00:14:46] Sylvia: Well, I agree and disagree because I think that, for one, for one thing, all the decisions that I make are student centered. In other words, what is the impact on students? cause I always have to put the students first.

And I did that when I was a principal and I also do that now as a superintendent. So sometimes. adults may get upset, whether it be the staff or the parents, but I always, always place the students first, what do we need to do? and of course, follow the policy, because you’re right, if there’s policy, it’s black and white, you just follow it.

It’s when there is no policy, then you have to create your own, administrative regulation or your own systems. That it gets a little tricky, but, for the most part for me has been the same, when I was a principal and now that I’m a superintendent, it’s always been about students. what I tell my, my principals now is that I make decisions globally for the entire district, right?

Because sometimes they don’t agree or, or, or, they’re unhappy with the decision that perhaps I made, but again, I think I have to see, the impact on the entire school district globally. And yes, sometimes you have some groups. They’re unhappy, because that’s the, the challenging part about being an educator that sometimes you have space situations where one group is going to be unhappy and one group is going to be happy and unfortunately, you have to do what’s in the best interest of most of the students, the majority of the students, if all preferably, but sometimes you do have situations where one group is unhappy and, but you just got to move forward.

And you let policy drive your decision making but also what’s in the best interest of the students,

[00:16:28] Andrew: and that’s really a good comment And I appreciate you saying that and and of course, it’s even like, you know pushing back on a little on that question in Have you thought about, like, what is your sort of routine and how you go about making the decisions?

Like, obviously, you talk about a student first. I’m wondering if there’s also, like, other influences. Is there, like, a, a trusted, colleague or a, obviously, your staff, your senior staff, or your cabinet, as we might call it. how, where do you rely to really give yourself that, the hardest decisions.

I mean, obviously the hardest decisions are the ones that we lose sleep over. how do you go about making that decision work for You

[00:17:15] Sylvia: I think we all need to have someone who we can call a mentor. someone who we trust that’s going to be objective and, it’s going to give us a, an unbiased decision, right?

So I have two individuals that I call and they’re both former superintendents and I don’t mind saying their name cause I respect them. Very much. And I’m sure a lot of people know him. So whenever I, I’m, in, in, just not sure how to proceed with something and I need some advice, I could Dr.

King, he, he was, he’s a retired superintendent, very, very experienced. He was my former boss many years ago, in a school district. And so you talk about Danny

[00:17:56] Andrew: King, you talk about Daniel King, Daniel.

[00:17:59] Sylvia: Executive director as region one now. And so,

[00:18:02] Andrew: no, he’s fantastic. I looked up to him for many, many years.

[00:18:06] Sylvia: Yes. And so he’s one that I will call whenever I have some questions or I ask him for advice. What would you do? And he always gives me very good advice. and then the other person is, Dr. Cavazos, Dr. Cavazos. I recently started working with him, for a short while at Hulseworth. And so he was my mentor there.

And so I haven’t called him lately, but he was a very good mentor. And so I feel like art is a

[00:18:33] Andrew: great guy.

[00:18:33] Sylvia: Yes. So those are two gentlemen. Absolutely. Absolutely. So really, I mean, thankfully I haven’t had to call him very often, but the times that I’ve had to share, just concerns or give you some advice, they’ve come through for me.

So those two individuals really are people that I trust and that I know that if I turn to them, they’re going to give me some good recommendations and good advice.

[00:18:59] Andrew: Sylvia, when you talk with art or Danny, because though, by the way, two fantastic mentors, you’re very fortunate. what do you look, what are you seeking from them?

Are you seeking like technical advice? Or are you, I used to always want some spiritual advice, if that makes sense, almost like a blessing that, I’m going to be okay. I mean, I don’t, I don’t want to lead you into that, but what do you look for when you are seeking advice? Some advice. All

[00:19:26] Sylvia: of the above.

[00:19:26] Andrew: It

[00:19:29] Sylvia: depends. Sometimes you need technical advice. Sometimes you need spiritual advice or someone to cry with like vent because, as the superintendent, I mean, you have, we have to be very careful and we can’t, even, even here within our district, we have our Our subordinates and our trusted team to get the work done.

But we also have to be very careful how what we say sometimes, we have political challenges and so it’s just best to keep it out of the school district. And so when you go outside with someone who you trust, they’re not gonna, they don’t have any contact here. It’s just best. It’s been my experience.

But Yeah. I mean, I’ve had, I’ve called them, like I said, not often. I mean, maybe like two or three times, throughout my past three years or different situations. and sometimes I, you do, you feel down and, and yes, lean on your, on your, on your faith and, and so they’ll tell me it’s like, it’s going to be okay, but a lot of times it’s just advice, what did I want to know, how would you handle this situation?

Did you ever experience something like this? And. I mean, they were both of them were superintendent for years. And so, oh yeah, they experienced everything. So this is what I did. This is what I recommend, right. It, because they were in the profession for so long, they have so many experiences that they can share with others that have been, haven’t been in the profession as long as them.

[00:21:03] Andrew: Fantastic. I really is. And I remember, I’m not, I will admit that, I think I have, Cried in front of my mentor just because the job was so hard. I remember that my first few years when I first began. So I definitely, resonate with you on that. when you talked about earlier about, different groups, trying to make a decision that benefits our kids.

But at the same time, you recognize that there are unfortunately multiple groups. Do you think that there are multiple groups? in your experience so far, are you seeing a change in those groups? I mean, is that gotten harder to, figure that out or is it, do you think it’s more easier because they’re more announced in some sense?

I don’t know. What’s your thoughts? I think it’s just, I don’t know. I don’t want to hear your talk about that.

[00:21:53] Sylvia: Well, I think that, when you have different interest groups, and they’re passionate about their, whatever it is that they’re advocating it’s very meaningful to them. And I think that if you, if, if I, as a superintendent show them and first of all, listen to them.

So I always try to give, time to the different groups, whether it be parents or whether it be students or whether it be, employees, hear them out. First of all, but then what has worked for me is talking to them and explaining why sometimes we make the decisions that we make. So for instance, if we don’t give a race.

And I have the teacher organizations here with me. I sit down and I take the time to explain budget. And the constraints and the challenges they were facing and so explaining to them and just letting them know that we’re working very hard to give them a race. But this is why we can’t, this is what we’re going to do instead, and so always, talking to them and explaining the why has worked for me.

that it doesn’t always work, but I think they appreciate for the most part when you take the time because it’s okay. Now we understand. And so then they become your voice. They become your advocate with others because I know it’s not that she doesn’t want to. This is the reason why. But she’s going to try to answer that, and, and I talk about the race because the race, everybody wants a race and, and understandably so, with cost of living and so forth.

so in our school district, that was the point of contention. So we gave them extra bonuses, for, for two, three years and they were happy. Now we’re going to work towards getting the races. So that’s what the board and I are working on. so that, because we do understand that there is a real need.

And that’s our goal at the end of the day, we want to take care of ourself, but when you don’t give them the time and you’re going to explain why they get upset, right? And so then you don’t, you lose it. So that has always worked for me, just listening to them and then telling them the why and giving them the details and a good explanation.

And then they’re, for the most part, they’re, they’re okay.

[00:24:04] Andrew: Yeah. So, as you think about certainly now in the future. is there a certain decisions that you thought that, gosh, I wish if you had a do over, is there a certain do over when you in your career? I mean, I certainly have a lot of do overs, but, what’s your do-overs, if you have any?

[00:24:24] Sylvia: Oh my goodness. I’m sure we all have ’em. . I think one, dual. Open communication and, communicate, just to keep people informed. I think that, they don’t like to be surprised. And so there were, situations probably in my career where I didn’t effectively communicate or in a timely manner and so forth.

So, that, that, that comes back to, to bite us. So. Yes, I think that that’s the one thing now, even more experience is send out the communication, let them know what’s happening so that, get ahead of it. In other words, with, with everybody, all the stakeholders, because, if you take, for instance, safety, parents want to know immediately there’s a safety constraint.

As soon as it happens, it has to be timely and it has to be out there in multiple ways, whether it’s social media, emails to parents, texts and so forth. And if you tell them, they’ll, okay, they understand. And the more details, I mean, there’s, you can’t give them everything, but the more information that you can provide, the better.

Because when you don’t do it, you start to dream it. We’re never, Oh, they’re hiding things. And so that’s one, one lesson that I learned, like give them the information as quickly as possible. so that, so they don’t make up something or they don’t create their own story. Right. And because then they make up states that are not, so,

[00:25:56] Andrew: which, which goes back to what we said earlier that, the job is 24 hours, seven days a week, as a result of that.

recently I had a pleasure of, having on our podcast, to female superintendents who are, by the way, twin sisters

[00:26:15] Sylvia: and

[00:26:15] Andrew: they’re super intense here in Texas, in small, in rural districts in Texas. And, you can miss that episode, but, they were talking, they, shared a lot about as female superintendents.

First of all, how difficult it was for them to become superintendents coming out of West Texas. they weren’t critical, but they were very, they, they recognized and understood that they had a uphill challenge and that both, of course, are superintendents today doing great jobs. have you had that same, experience you think in terms of like, as a female superintendent, obviously we know the numbers percentage, at least in the state of Texas, And the fact that, here you are, doing a great job coming out of a big system in a, smaller district than what you’re used to.

yeah. What’s the status of your view on that in terms of, obviously promoting others, especially female superintendents.

[00:27:18] Sylvia: I think it’s wonderful that we’re seeing more female superintendents. It’s now, because I, I, I’m in, I’m part of a group, I don’t even remember the name of it, but it’s all female superintendents, and every time that a new female superintendent gets named, we all celebrate it, and there’s like 200, over 200 now.

out of 1200. So we’re still in the minority. So I’m glad that more and more female superintendents are coming, up to upscale leadership of a superintendent position, because I mean, why not? I don’t know why it took so long to be honest with you. I am glad I D I really didn’t face any challenges I did, prior to this job.

I did apply, in two other school districts, and I was a finalist, and the individuals who, who got the position were male, so I, I don’t know if it means anything, but I think that, I think that boards are now more open minded, and because female superintendents are doing very well, for the most part, I think there’s a trust, and they’re more open.

To hiring a female superintendent. So I really don’t think that’s an issue anymore. At least I hope not, but I’m definitely always supporting and cheering on female superintendents or any, any administrator going up to the ladder. and I, and actually we’re very happy here in our school district because my two assistant superintendents just recently, finished their doctoral program.

So we’re very happy because the, the administrative team, all of us have doctorates now, and so they’re also wanting to become female superintendent. And I’m sure they will. They’re very, both, both of them are very intelligent. Ladies. Very, very capable. So, I think it was more and more superintendent.

So personally, I haven’t experienced, I don’t think so. anyone say, no, we’re not going to hire you because you’re a female. I think that our work speaks for us. And, that’s, I, I would encourage females in leadership roles to, to pursue it and let their work speak for them because they’re, they’re doing great things, systems soups and as directors and, and, as long as they have that to show for them, then they’ll be fine.

[00:29:34] Andrew: It’s interesting. You point out something that perhaps the rest of the public may not know is that. school boards do the hiring of superintendents and you have typically seven or more in some cases, super school board members. And as elected officials, obviously they’re reflection of their community.

the values of the community and so forth. So you’re not just doing an interview with one person, one boss, you got an interview with seven bosses with equal, say so, and that’s, that’s a very difficult thing to do.

[00:30:10] Sylvia: Absolutely. Absolutely. And, and sometimes they don’t all agree. I think that’s the biggest challenge for our school boards that, that, they, they don’t agree.

They want different things. Which is normal. I mean, they they’re entitled to their opinion. And so, but because there are seven, during executive sessions, that’s where the magic happens, as they say, because they have their discussions and they try to sway each other back and forth. So my role is really just to present the information.

I am objective and I stand for it and let them decide. But I do present the information here it is and then they, they make the final decision. But yeah, I think that, many people don’t realize that a lot of times there is, they, they don’t agree and sometimes there is even some conflict because they want certain things and it doesn’t go their way and so forth.

But I think at the end of the day, most school boards are In it for the right reasons, which is, to, to do think kids. So as long as we have that, I think we should be okay.

[00:31:15] Andrew: Yeah. So, our, our podcast is called lunch duty because. I think that any administrator, or educator for that matter, teacher, we’ve all done our time as in lunch duties

[00:31:31] Sylvia: and I’m

[00:31:31] Andrew: sure you have as well and, and, it’s one of those unknown stories that we all do.

So is there one that sticks in your mind, a particular lunch duty story, a lunch duty event that occurred that you just was like, oh my gosh. For me. Maybe, maybe not the inappropriate ones in some sense, maybe, but, is there any one, is there any one incident in the past or event that you can remember that you can share with, share with all of us?

[00:31:58] Sylvia: Well, yeah, definitely. I mean, lunch duty was always fun, and eventful. the kids enjoy lunch duty and, at their time to, to talk and so forth. And, administrators are the last ones to eat if they even eat, because sometimes you don’t. And so they’re always eating 1 30, 2 o’clock, poor thing.

Right. that, that’s the life of a school principal or an assistant principal. But I do recall one time that, we had a fire drill and it was, it was unannounced. I mean, something happened. The fire alarm went off and we had, the cafeteria was full of kids. So of course we had to take out all the kids, take them out to the playground.

And then, and then we all came back and I said, Oh my God, they’re not gonna know. Where to sit. They all came back to exactly the same thing, to exactly their same spot and continue to eat. I was more worried than they were. I’m like, Oh, okay. This is not an issue. So my concern was they’re not going to eat their food and now, we’re going to have to serve them again.

but that was not a good time, obviously, to have a fire drill because, again, we have, we’re feeding 300, 400 kids in the cafeteria at a time. But no, it worked out fine. So that stands out. That is

[00:33:09] Andrew: funny. Day to day. You know what? That, that is, it’s making me smile and laugh because you’re exactly right.

Kids know exactly where they’re going to go back to in the cafeteria where they sit. Oh, I mean, exactly. Right.

[00:33:27] Sylvia: Yeah.

[00:33:27] Andrew: Yeah. You’re right about that by

[00:33:30] Sylvia: then, but it didn’t bother them. So,

[00:33:34] Andrew: No, it never did. You’re right. You’re so, that is a very, very, really good observation and it’s making me smile because I, I’ve seen that myself and you’re exactly right.

[00:33:46] Sylvia: You want to share one other story? When I was a student back in the day, we used to have food fights. I don’t know if you ever experienced one of those, but oh, yeah. I mean, those food, and I always prayed. I hope that I never have a food fight. I never did. Thank God. I think that happens where at the secondary.

But when I was a student in high school, they were food fights all the time. And it was such a mess. So I think we’re past that. I don’t count those things anymore. Thank God. But, so I know. Me

[00:34:13] Andrew: too. So I was a middle school principal at Dallas ISD years ago. And, we have, that’s, that’s middle school, which is a great middle school, but, they were known to have food fights.

And I remember, when it occurred, I was so upset. I was so upset because, just wasteful food, food. And, and also all the custodial staff had to do all the cleanup. And I was like, that is, so I actually made all the students stay behind and clean, clean the, clean the cafeteria. And I was so not happy about that, but, you’re right.

I’m going to knock on wood because you don’t really hear about food fights anymore, you know what I mean? So hopefully that doesn’t come back.

[00:34:59] Sylvia: That’s true. So we better keep it very quiet. Not don’t let people hear us. Yeah.

[00:35:06] Andrew: Well, Sylvia, it’s been, I’ve taken up a lot of your time. I know you’re busy. are you guys getting ready for the, solar eclipse?

That’s going to take place here.

[00:35:15] Sylvia: Yes. Yes. We’re really excited. We’re not getting a full eclipse. We have a partial eclipse, but we’re still, taking time to allow all our students, all their staff go out there and experience the solar eclipse. this magnificent event. So we’re looking forward to it. so yeah, we have all, everything squared away.

Permissions have been fine and glasses have been ordered. So it’ll be exciting for us. I’m sure that you’re, you’re going to see it even, in a, at another level. So I’m sure you’re going to have a lot of fun out up there in Austin as well.

[00:35:46] Andrew: Yeah, we’re, we’re, yeah, we’re supposed to have a, full eclipse and the weather looks like it’s going to be pretty good.

so, so we’ll see how it goes on Monday, but I’m going to go ahead and go grab a. Go grab all the water and all different things. I’m sure there’s a pandemonium at the grocery stores, but,

[00:36:04] Sylvia: listen,

[00:36:05] Andrew: I appreciate, yeah, I appreciate your time. I’d been, I think I told you this, some time ago when we first met.

That I was a bit, I’ve always been a fan of Valley view. I stayed, you guys always do well in growth data, the performance of growing students and performance. And so I always wanted to kind of just almost camp myself down there and see what you do on a day to day basis that makes that work,

[00:36:32] Sylvia: you’re more than welcome to come anytime that I’m really proud of my school district, where we are doing some great things.

Instructionally speaking. So anytime you want to come down and, and just, visit our classrooms and learn about our instructional practice, I’ll be happy to share, but thank you so much again for giving me this opportunity to share a little bit about myself. It was, it was a lot of fun. The pleasure.

[00:36:54] Andrew: Yeah, no, no. And, once again, I appreciate it very much. And if there’s anything I can do for you, just always give me a call. All right. All right. Thanks for jogging. You take care of it. All right. Have a good weekend. Bye bye. Lunch duty is produced by David Yeager and me, Andrew Kim. We thank the latest 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. Next episode of Lunch Duty.