Latest / Aired Out / Adam Heroth, Superintendent OESJ CSD, NY, & OESJ School Resource Officer Mike Lewis

Transcript

Adam Heroth, Superintendent OESJ CSD, NY, & OESJ School Resource Officer Mike Lewis · Aired Out

0:22
Speaker 1: Seis S S S S S, S S S.
1:00
Speaker 2: Holday time, Monday, Sunday, just launchday.
1:45
Speaker 3: It is Wednesday, Happy Humpday, everybody. Five dollars Wednesdays are back.
1:55
Speaker 3: Paramount Theater. Yesterday was a five dollars Tuesdays at the
2:00
Speaker 3: Capitol Theater and Monpiliar. But yeah, it's the Paramount Twin
2:05
Speaker 3: Theater right here in the Granite City, So skip the line.
2:09
Speaker 3: Get your tickets online if you want. FGB Theaters dot com,
2:13
Speaker 3: FGB Theaters on Facebook and Instagram for updates, showtimes, all
2:17
Speaker 3: that good stuff. Special events too. And yes, the weather
2:22
Speaker 3: forecast is perfect for a movie. It really is a
2:29
Speaker 3: National Weather Services saying more clouds, more rain, showers, off
2:33
Speaker 3: and on today. It was nice to see that steady
2:39
Speaker 3: rain yesterday. It really was house like. I'll bring it,
2:43
Speaker 3: just let it go, let it soak into the ground
2:47
Speaker 3: as long as you can. Good morning to you if
2:51
Speaker 3: you're just joining Flying the Wall Productions bringing you the
2:55
Speaker 3: aired out podcast this morning, streamed everywhere you get your
2:58
Speaker 3: podcasts and on the web and aired out VT dot Com. Wednesday,
3:06
Speaker 3: the twenty fourth. Deb Phillips is with us from the
3:11
Speaker 3: World newspaper. Good morning, Deb, how are you.
3:17
Speaker 4: Just looking through today's paper.
3:20
Speaker 3: To say, what the heck is going on in today's paper.
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Speaker 3: There's so much. Yeah, yeah, there's so much. And we
3:27
Speaker 3: you and I were chatting a little bit about that
3:31
Speaker 3: shift in how busy we are with the events calendar
3:35
Speaker 3: and everything that's going on this time of year. I
3:38
Speaker 3: mean there are pumpkin festivals and craft festivals and fall festivals. Oh,
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Speaker 3: carving for k is something that you guys have been
3:52
Speaker 3: promoting too as well.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, yes, yes, that's that's It was so successful last year.
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Speaker 4: I think they ended up with over one hundred pumpkins
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Speaker 4: that people were carved and donated. I mean it was impressive,
4:07
Speaker 4: it really was.
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Speaker 3: I knew, and I know that you're not surprised either.
4:12
Speaker 3: I just knew that it was going to turn into
4:16
Speaker 3: an annual thing, at least at least one more year,
4:19
Speaker 3: if not forever.
4:20
Speaker 4: I mean, how could we not, Oh, I know, I
4:23
Speaker 4: mean everyone still still talks about her, still still missing
4:28
Speaker 4: her a big time, you know. Yeah, so it's pay
4:32
Speaker 4: in her honor more all the better.
4:36
Speaker 3: Keep your eye on the world for that event and
4:41
Speaker 3: so many others. What can we what can we find
4:45
Speaker 3: in the world Today's depth.
4:47
Speaker 4: Well, national Hunting and Fishing Day is this Saturday, and
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Speaker 4: it's a day that's a recognition for the contributions that
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Speaker 4: hunters and anglers make to the conservation of natural resources.
5:00
Speaker 4: It's it's a big deal, you know. I mean, it's
5:03
Speaker 4: we need to recognize that, you know, all the efforts
5:08
Speaker 4: that you know, hunters and fishers and everybody put into
5:12
Speaker 4: into you know, into our natural resources and our sporting heritage.
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Speaker 5: Yeah. Yeah.
5:19
Speaker 4: Also this week we have the Bridal Directory, the Pet
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Speaker 4: Care Corner, and like you said, we have the autumn
5:25
Speaker 4: outings which you know, our craft fars, chicken pie suppers,
5:31
Speaker 4: you know, all that fun stuff, and that's just really
5:35
Speaker 4: really ranking, you know, building up quite a bit. Also
5:41
Speaker 4: right now ongoing is the kits Miller Memorial Coat Drive.
5:45
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, yes, So they have started accepting donations. They
5:50
Speaker 4: will accept donations through Friday, October twenty fourth at Community
5:55
Speaker 4: National Bank on ninety nine State Street and Malepiliar and
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Speaker 4: Community Nation No Bank at three sixteen North Main Street.
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Speaker 4: The distribution day when people can get coats is Saturday,
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Speaker 4: October twenty fifth, so they'll be at the Berry Community
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Speaker 4: National Bank and the Mountpelier City Hall. That's where the
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Speaker 4: distribution is in Mountpillier.
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Speaker 3: How long has that been going on? Depth that's been
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Speaker 3: going on forever?
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Speaker 4: Oh my gosh, I mean, I, oh gosh.
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Speaker 3: Is it like isn't it like thirty years or something
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Speaker 3: like that.
6:32
Speaker 4: I'm going to think it is. It's it's been a
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Speaker 4: long long time and it's such a wonderful project that
6:40
Speaker 4: they do. You know, there's people donating coats and people
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Speaker 4: getting nice winter coats. I mean, I think it's it's
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Speaker 4: amazing and it's lasted this long.
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Speaker 3: I utilize the world every single week to find out
6:58
Speaker 3: not just for myself what's happening in the community, but
7:01
Speaker 3: also things that I think my listeners would love to
7:06
Speaker 3: know about. And it is just always chock full with
7:09
Speaker 3: so much going on. The Veterans Place Ride is another
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Speaker 3: thing that you guys have been promoting that's coming up
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Speaker 3: this coming Saturday at the Masonic Lodge in Williamstown at
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Speaker 3: nine am. The check and ride starts at ten. They're
7:23
Speaker 3: can serve up a great meal afterwards. But yeah, that's
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Speaker 3: in my community calendar because of you guys.
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Speaker 4: Well, are you going to be there this year?
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Speaker 5: I'm not.
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Speaker 3: I'm not going to be riding in it this year.
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Speaker 4: Okay, but yeah, I know you've been past ones.
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Speaker 3: Oh yeah, oh yeah, and it is a big, big
7:45
Speaker 3: deal I know. Also the Montpilier Fall festivals coming up
7:49
Speaker 3: on the October fourth, and the State House Lawn. We
7:53
Speaker 3: got Octoberfest in Northfield that's on October fourth. Also, I
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Speaker 3: learned that from the world.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, so not so much good stuff and fall absolutely
8:04
Speaker 4: my favorite time of year, you know.
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Speaker 3: So yeah, mine too. I love it. Paper comes out today.
8:12
Speaker 4: Yes, look for it.
8:14
Speaker 3: Thank you so much, Step, Thank you, JD. Appreciate appreciate
8:18
Speaker 3: your partnership with me too. And it's VT dashworld dot
8:23
Speaker 3: com if you want to check them out. Sales at
8:26
Speaker 3: vt dashworld dot com as well. Uh, if you would
8:30
Speaker 3: like to get in touch and learn about some of
8:34
Speaker 3: the opportunities that you might have for you know, doing
8:40
Speaker 3: some advertising. Just wonderful people over there. We appreciate Gary
8:44
Speaker 3: as well. I don't get to chat with Gary as
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Speaker 3: much as I would like to. October third, glancing here
8:53
Speaker 3: at the community calendar, the Freezing Fund for Families annual
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Speaker 3: golf tournament at the Country Club of Barry. Lots of
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Speaker 3: fun in the fair waves, fair ways, I should say,
9:04
Speaker 3: the power of community is immense and that is going
9:09
Speaker 3: to be another perfect example. Trunk or Treat October seventeenth
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Speaker 3: that mont Pilier, Voltswagen and Mazda from four to seven,
9:19
Speaker 3: free fun for the entire family. And they are just
9:22
Speaker 3: adding stuff to that. It is going to be incredible.
9:28
Speaker 3: Mark that on your calendar. Mont Pilier, Volkswagen, mont Pilier
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Speaker 3: Mazda on October seventeenth. They're gigantic, I might even say
9:38
Speaker 3: gargantuan trunk or treat. It's from four to seven adults.
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Speaker 3: Please dress up. I'll be there. I'll be dressed up.
9:50
Speaker 3: I've got some ideas. Got to keep them appropriate. Maulaween.
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Speaker 3: That's the other one at the Berlin Mall Central from
10:02
Speaker 3: Marketplace October twenty fourth. That's another one to get on
10:09
Speaker 3: your calendar, no matter what it is, something not to miss.
10:15
Speaker 3: Those are just some of the items that are going on.
10:19
Speaker 3: Berlin Elementary School's got their Spooktober on the nineteenth. I'm
10:24
Speaker 3: seeing here. I know I'm jumping ahead here, but I'm
10:26
Speaker 3: getting excited about October. How could you not? This time
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Speaker 3: of year is just I love it, man, I just
10:37
Speaker 3: love it. Hey, this is a as we said, a
10:42
Speaker 3: busy time of year, and if you're like me, if
10:45
Speaker 3: you're a mom or dad, you're running around, you're too
10:50
Speaker 3: frankly too busy maybe to stay home and slave in
10:55
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10:58
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11:01
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11:07
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11:09
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11:12
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11:18
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11:22
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11:32
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11:45
Speaker 4: Hope.
11:46
Speaker 3: David Fry is, Okay, did you see that last night
11:52
Speaker 3: hit by a ninety nine mile an hour pitch hospitalized? Unbelievable?
12:04
Speaker 3: Saw that once and I was like, yep, I don't
12:08
Speaker 3: think I need to just see that again. Wednesdays is
12:13
Speaker 3: when we need to shift gears and give you a
12:17
Speaker 3: whole lot of just good old, hearty goodness as we
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Speaker 3: talk about the world's number one youth leadership team Sweethearts
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Speaker 3: and Heroes. This morning we are taking you to Saint Johnsville,
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Speaker 3: New York. The Oe SJ Central School District has really
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Speaker 3: taken advantage of Sweethearts and Heroes, and Adam Harris, the
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Speaker 3: superintendent there of the entire school district, is our guest
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Speaker 3: this morning. Good morning, sir, how are you.
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Speaker 6: Good morning, JD. I'm doing well.
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Speaker 3: I'm so glad. I am so glad to have you,
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Speaker 3: my man. I have heard so much about you from
13:01
Speaker 3: from Tom and from Rick. These guys say that you
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Speaker 3: are the example superintendent of all of their schools who
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Speaker 3: really gets it more than anyone else. You are dialed
13:20
Speaker 3: in to well. As we said, the world's number one
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Speaker 3: youth leadership team. I mean, uh, kudos to you and
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Speaker 3: your and your your staff everywhere at all your schools
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Speaker 3: for for getting involved with them.
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Speaker 6: I appreciate that, JD.
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Speaker 7: And it's high praise coming from from the team at
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Speaker 7: Sweetheart Scenarios, particularly Tom.
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Speaker 6: But I think you just hit the nail on the head.
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Speaker 7: The credit goes to my staff and my students and
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Speaker 7: the community here is really embraced the Sweethearts and Heroes program.
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Speaker 7: And you know, my job as superintendent is to you know,
13:51
Speaker 7: find good programs to to provide to our students to
13:55
Speaker 7: have the best experience possible.
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Speaker 6: But once I do my job to provide the program,
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Speaker 6: I really rely on my.
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Speaker 7: Staff and my students to embrace it. And they've they've
14:04
Speaker 7: done so, so you know, kudos to them. And then
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Speaker 7: I honestly all the credit goes to them for doing it.
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Speaker 7: And then I'm here with Mike Lewis, my school resource officer,
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Speaker 7: and kudos to him too, and I give him a
14:15
Speaker 7: ton of credit because he's really, without being asked to
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Speaker 7: do so, jumped on board and really embraced the program
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Speaker 7: and really helped the spearhead it in the district. And
14:23
Speaker 7: we couldn't be any more grateful for the relationship that
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Speaker 7: we have with Tom and the team as Sweethearts and Heroes.
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Speaker 6: It is a game changing program. I've been doing this
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Speaker 6: for twenty four years.
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Speaker 7: I'd like to still consider myself a fairly young man,
14:35
Speaker 7: but old school at the same time. And in my
14:38
Speaker 7: twenty four years, and it's not even close, I have
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Speaker 7: not found a program that I think reaches the hearts
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Speaker 7: and minds of kids and staff alike over my time
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Speaker 7: in the business, and couldn't be any more grateful to
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Speaker 7: have them.
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Speaker 6: As a partner.
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Speaker 3: I want you to tell us about the Superintendent's conference
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Speaker 3: day on at the beginning of September. What happened, What
15:02
Speaker 3: was that all about?
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Speaker 6: So and I'm glad you brought that up.
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Speaker 7: You know, we traditionally, and I'll be honest, going back
15:10
Speaker 7: to my time as a teacher and my time as
15:13
Speaker 7: a building level administrator and now was superintendent, Superintendent's conference
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Speaker 7: days are kind of boring, if I'm being honest. You know,
15:20
Speaker 7: you do your standard things that you kind of have
15:22
Speaker 7: to do, which I think everybody understands, like trainings and
15:25
Speaker 7: you know, the welcome back message that at times I've
15:28
Speaker 7: taken that hour and filled it with whatever I needed
15:30
Speaker 7: to fill it with. I'd like to think I was
15:32
Speaker 7: motivational JD. But I'm sure that's in the eyes of
15:37
Speaker 7: the beholder, the people listening to me. But we really
15:39
Speaker 7: wanted to do something different. We're really focusing on three
15:43
Speaker 7: three words I focused on in my more brief opening
15:46
Speaker 7: day message before we kind of got into our event
15:48
Speaker 7: with Sweethearts and heroes, and that was teamwork, trust and relationships.
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Speaker 7: And you know, ultimately the involvement of sweethearts and heroes
15:58
Speaker 7: was to really show my team that we do trust
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Speaker 7: them and we are willing to work as a team
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Speaker 7: and we want the same from them.
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Speaker 6: And really focused on building those relationships.
16:07
Speaker 7: And you know, we after my brief opening day message,
16:11
Speaker 7: we went outside and did some fun things. I mean,
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Speaker 7: having you know, one hundred and eighty staff members outside
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Speaker 7: in a big circle, all running around honestly acting like kids,
16:20
Speaker 7: which was the purpose and the point, laughing, having fun, smiling.
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Speaker 7: You saw people partnering with each other that normally probably
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Speaker 7: wouldn't whether it's an elementary or high school teacher, a
16:31
Speaker 7: bus monitor and a teacher, a bus monitor and administrator.
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Speaker 6: I mean, it was really a.
16:35
Speaker 7: Unique situation to allow people to build those relationships and
16:39
Speaker 7: get to trust each other.
16:41
Speaker 6: That was the fun part.
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Speaker 7: Tom and the Great rick Yarrish gave a wonderful keynote
16:47
Speaker 7: presentation in our auditorium that I think really touched our staff.
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Speaker 7: And then Tom and his team broke down into circles
16:54
Speaker 7: with our staff, particularly our teaching staff, and the only
16:58
Speaker 7: word I could use there was powerful you know, people
17:02
Speaker 7: coming out of those those circles really moved. And then
17:05
Speaker 7: the momentum you see after that. I mean, I have
17:07
Speaker 7: teachers knocking down my door begging me for more circle
17:10
Speaker 7: and begging me for more Sweethearts and Heroes because they
17:12
Speaker 7: see the benefit. So really, my intention was to just
17:16
Speaker 7: provide a day that was was different, you know, And
17:18
Speaker 7: I would even use the word unorthodox intentionally to prove
17:22
Speaker 7: to my team that you know, we're in this together.
17:25
Speaker 6: You know, we're doing this together.
17:26
Speaker 7: And I do consider Tom and the Sweethearts and Heroes
17:29
Speaker 7: team to be part of our team. They're not a
17:31
Speaker 7: they're not a third party contractor to me, they're not
17:33
Speaker 7: a group of people that come in here on an
17:36
Speaker 7: occasional basis and do some cool stuff. They're one hundred
17:39
Speaker 7: percent part of the OSJA family and they always will be.
17:43
Speaker 6: And it's like I said, it's been a game changer for.
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Speaker 3: Us, and Sweethearts and Heroes is going to be with
17:49
Speaker 3: you guys for the entire school year.
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Speaker 6: Yeah.
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Speaker 7: So the Computer Community Ambassador program we really jumped into
17:56
Speaker 7: this year, and we're lucky to have Josiah McKeon with
17:59
Speaker 7: us one day a week. He's here on Fridays pretty
18:02
Speaker 7: much every week the entire school year in both our
18:05
Speaker 7: elementary and our high school. In our elementary, this is
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Speaker 7: a merged district, So the seven twelve building is down
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Speaker 7: in Saint John's Oll, where my office is located, but
18:14
Speaker 7: we then have our pre K through six elementary building
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Speaker 7: is up in Oppenheim, which is about seven eight minute drive,
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Speaker 7: so certainly connected, but definitely you know that you have
18:24
Speaker 7: that obstacle of the distance between the two buildings.
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Speaker 6: But Josiah does go up.
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Speaker 7: She was up there last Friday and spent a substantial
18:31
Speaker 7: amount of time in our elementary school working with our
18:34
Speaker 7: elementary students. So it's just one of the many things
18:36
Speaker 7: that we're doing. And having them here every day to
18:39
Speaker 7: help us drive the message to avoid what Tom likes
18:42
Speaker 7: to call voltage drop is going to be a key
18:46
Speaker 7: component and continue to move.
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Speaker 3: This forward, you know, And I don't need to tell
18:52
Speaker 3: you because not only do you know, but the gentleman
18:56
Speaker 3: sitting next to you knows that hopelessness and bullying and
19:02
Speaker 3: suicide is real, and it's right under your nose every
19:10
Speaker 3: single day.
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Speaker 6: Yep.
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Speaker 7: And you know, we talk a lot, you know, in education,
19:16
Speaker 7: whether it be from the state Education Department down to
19:18
Speaker 7: individual school districts about the plight that we have with
19:21
Speaker 7: dealing with mental health issues.
19:23
Speaker 6: And you couldn't be any.
19:24
Speaker 5: More right, JD.
19:25
Speaker 7: It's a reality that is very difficult to deal with,
19:28
Speaker 7: but something that can absolutely not be ignored. And districts
19:31
Speaker 7: have tried a multitude of things very successfully, mind you,
19:36
Speaker 7: to combat that crisis, because it is nothing short of
19:39
Speaker 7: a crisis.
19:40
Speaker 6: And we're doing a multitude of things here as well.
19:42
Speaker 7: But again I speak to the relationships that are being
19:47
Speaker 7: built and the impact that the Sweethearts and Heroes program
19:50
Speaker 7: is having. We've just found it to be the thing
19:52
Speaker 7: that really works for us and is allowing kids to
19:56
Speaker 7: open those doors to having conversations. Because again I go
19:58
Speaker 7: back to that word relationships I talked about it opening day.
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Speaker 7: It could be something as simple as a bus driver
20:04
Speaker 7: telling a kid that's getting off a bus, have a
20:06
Speaker 7: good day, kiddo. Or you know, a kid coming through
20:08
Speaker 7: the lunch line to punch their four digit code in
20:11
Speaker 7: the system to buy their lunch and have the lunch
20:13
Speaker 7: ladies sitting on the stool that says how are you
20:15
Speaker 7: doing today?
20:17
Speaker 6: Or have a great day.
20:17
Speaker 7: When they walk away, little moments like that could be
20:20
Speaker 7: all that kid needed to have that bright spot that
20:23
Speaker 7: they were looking for and to pull them out of
20:25
Speaker 7: that dark spot. And you know, that's why I continuously
20:28
Speaker 7: in the district focus on those relationships and those small moments.
20:31
Speaker 6: They don't have to be those big, you know, sit
20:34
Speaker 6: downs or conversations.
20:35
Speaker 7: Sometimes it's those tiny little things in those small moments
20:39
Speaker 7: that make all the difference in the life of a
20:40
Speaker 7: kid on a daily basis. And I think this program
20:44
Speaker 7: and what it's teaching not just our students but our adults,
20:48
Speaker 7: is really allowing them to understand the importance of those moments.
20:51
Speaker 6: And I think those are the big difference makers because
20:54
Speaker 6: there are.
20:54
Speaker 7: Crises right around the corner every single day with a
20:57
Speaker 7: number of kids, and those are the moms that matter.
21:00
Speaker 8: JD.
21:02
Speaker 3: What's in the budget for resource officers? Do you have
21:07
Speaker 3: enough of them? Can you not get enough of them?
21:09
Speaker 3: Can you have you figured out how to clone? Mike Lewis,
21:16
Speaker 3: That's that's.
21:16
Speaker 7: A wonderful thought a scary thought at the same time,
21:21
Speaker 7: but we in this district. I'll answer your question first,
21:25
Speaker 7: the budget's unlimited. There there was no there's no amount
21:28
Speaker 7: of money that any school district can ever put on safety,
21:32
Speaker 7: and and any school district that feels the need to
21:35
Speaker 7: put a budget budgetary item on safety in their schools
21:39
Speaker 7: is missing the point in my opinion. But it doesn't
21:44
Speaker 7: matter to me, like the budget, to me is irrelevant.
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Speaker 7: We we have two wonderful, experienced, respected leaders in the
21:52
Speaker 7: law enforcement community that that walk our halls every day.
21:55
Speaker 7: Officer Lewis is here with us in the Junior Senior
21:58
Speaker 7: High School on a daily basis, and we have Off
22:00
Speaker 7: Barnes at the elementary school. And again, they both bring
22:03
Speaker 7: a litany of law enforcement experience with them to the table.
22:08
Speaker 7: But again I go back, and I'm probably gonna keep
22:10
Speaker 7: revisiting it because it's it's what matters to me. But
22:14
Speaker 7: if you watch what our school resource officers do on
22:17
Speaker 7: a daily basis, they're not just walking around checking doors.
22:20
Speaker 6: They do, don't get me wrong, They're focusing on safety.
22:23
Speaker 7: But if you watch these two gentlemen in action, their
22:26
Speaker 7: goal and our focus every day is reaching kids and
22:28
Speaker 7: building relationships.
22:29
Speaker 6: And you know you can't you can't put a budgetary
22:32
Speaker 6: line item on that. You just can't. There's some things
22:34
Speaker 6: we have to in our world, JD.
22:36
Speaker 7: But that is not one thing that I'm ever interested
22:38
Speaker 7: in in trying to make a tough decision on a
22:41
Speaker 7: budgetary item that is a priority of mine. And I
22:45
Speaker 7: will commend our county here in Montgomery County, Sheriff Jeff
22:49
Speaker 7: Smith has done an amazing job of supporting school resource officers.
22:53
Speaker 7: Are ours happen to be employed by our local Saint
22:55
Speaker 7: John's the police department that works closely with the Montgomery
22:57
Speaker 7: County Sheriff's Department, But if you look throughout the region,
23:01
Speaker 7: there are Montgomery County sheriffs posted and found a Fultonville, Amsterdam,
23:06
Speaker 7: and Fort Plain and then Canada Harry and oeesj used
23:10
Speaker 7: their local PD to put their resource officers in their schools.
23:14
Speaker 7: So it's great to work in a county where it's
23:16
Speaker 7: supported and my elementary schools in Fulton County, and I
23:19
Speaker 7: commend Sheriffridge Giardino in Fulton County for supporting us and
23:23
Speaker 7: allowing a Saint John's PD officer for Montgomery County to
23:26
Speaker 7: actually be posted in a school in his county. In
23:29
Speaker 7: Fulton County, He's been a wonderful resource and ally in
23:32
Speaker 7: this program as well. So having that support from our
23:35
Speaker 7: law enforcement agencies is is invaluable and that's something that
23:39
Speaker 7: we take very seriously at OSJA.
23:41
Speaker 3: Officer Lewis, good morning to you. I don't want to
23:45
Speaker 3: put words in your mouth, but I'm guessing that you
23:49
Speaker 3: would feel very strongly that your post. And I'm curious
23:56
Speaker 3: to know how long you've been at it, but you're
23:59
Speaker 3: what you're doing every single day is light years beyond
24:03
Speaker 3: a job, light years beyond a paycheck.
24:09
Speaker 8: It is in I mean, you've got a couple of
24:13
Speaker 8: different things there. So we got I've been in law
24:15
Speaker 8: enforcement going on twenty five years now. I've I've left
24:19
Speaker 8: one agency, joined joined Saint John's Police Department, and Superintendent
24:25
Speaker 8: Herith here in school, and you know, and I often joke,
24:29
Speaker 8: you know, I don't know what I do every day,
24:31
Speaker 8: and I don't know why they keep asking me to
24:33
Speaker 8: come back, because I come to work and I have
24:35
Speaker 8: fun and I look forward to coming in here and
24:36
Speaker 8: seeing the kids. And I realized that it's it's probably
24:41
Speaker 8: even deeper and beyond what I could imagine. So and again,
24:48
Speaker 8: you know, what what do I do all day? I'll
24:51
Speaker 8: be honest with you, I don't know. I haven't figured
24:53
Speaker 8: out yet what I do all day, but I I
24:55
Speaker 8: do come into the school, I do interact with the kids.
24:57
Speaker 8: I think communication is key, assisting the kids in talking
25:05
Speaker 8: with one another and understanding one another and you know,
25:10
Speaker 8: finding different avenues to to heal their wounds, so to speak.
25:15
Speaker 5: So it is a.
25:20
Speaker 8: It's been an eye opening experience and I'll go so
25:24
Speaker 8: far as to say it's probably the most rewarding time
25:27
Speaker 8: of my career seeing a different side of the world.
25:32
Speaker 6: We'll call it that way.
25:33
Speaker 3: When you say rewarding, I'm guessing that in your tenure
25:40
Speaker 3: you've had a couple of students who maybe look at
25:45
Speaker 3: you as or have looked at you as their enemy,
25:48
Speaker 3: and maybe that's been flipped around at some point. Is
25:53
Speaker 3: there an example of that at all?
25:56
Speaker 5: Well, and I'll tell you there's been.
25:59
Speaker 7: Uh.
26:00
Speaker 5: I just I just started the school resource officer role.
26:05
Speaker 8: Retiring from another agency and then coming to work in
26:09
Speaker 8: this role.
26:11
Speaker 5: Is uh was probably never on my radar.
26:17
Speaker 8: And I don't know if that's Superintendent Herrits that saw
26:20
Speaker 8: something years back when I wasn't working in the school
26:23
Speaker 8: and was you know, ending my road life, and he's convinced.
26:28
Speaker 5: Me to give this a try.
26:29
Speaker 8: And that's the most rewarding thing, is seeing the change,
26:33
Speaker 8: and you know, it's one of those and I'll say
26:40
Speaker 8: everybody in everybody in law enforcement probably gets into this
26:44
Speaker 8: job for, you know, to feel like they can make
26:47
Speaker 8: a change and feel like they're going to be the difference.
26:50
Speaker 8: I think that's what drives us to be in this
26:52
Speaker 8: law enforcement first responder world.
26:55
Speaker 5: And burnout is real. And until I got.
27:00
Speaker 8: Into the school, I realized that actually what I was
27:04
Speaker 8: craving and working for my entire career that change. I'm
27:09
Speaker 8: able to do it at this level instead of waiting
27:11
Speaker 8: for something to happen and respond like I've done, is
27:16
Speaker 8: to try and get in front of it and build
27:20
Speaker 8: the relationships with those students that quite frankly may or
27:25
Speaker 8: may not have, you know, law enforcements connections, positive law
27:30
Speaker 8: enforcement connections in their life. And you know, there's there's
27:35
Speaker 8: a couple examples, and it would be foolish of me
27:38
Speaker 8: and wrong of me to even give you names, but
27:41
Speaker 8: there's two or three that stand out in my in
27:47
Speaker 8: my tenure here that I'd like to think that we
27:50
Speaker 8: may have flipped them one hundred and eighty degrees.
27:54
Speaker 5: To think that there actually is hope.
27:56
Speaker 8: And it's one of those things that again That's the
28:02
Speaker 8: rewarding part, is realizing that I didn't realize what I
28:06
Speaker 8: needed until I got it, and didn't realize I needed it.
28:09
Speaker 5: If that makes any sense.
28:10
Speaker 3: To you, it makes a whole hell of a lot
28:13
Speaker 3: of sense. I can completely relate to what you're what
28:16
Speaker 3: you're saying. You know, these kids a lot of the time,
28:20
Speaker 3: you know, the first face that they're seeing in their
28:25
Speaker 3: in their day is that school bus driver as an adult,
28:31
Speaker 3: and after that it's probably you, before maybe even before
28:36
Speaker 3: an administrator.
28:39
Speaker 6: Correct.
28:43
Speaker 5: Correct, and there in starting that day off right is.
28:51
Speaker 8: Paramount to these students having a successful day anything from
28:57
Speaker 8: I mean, I know a lot of a lot of
28:59
Speaker 8: the kids here in school. They they'll see me in
29:01
Speaker 8: the hallway now, and I currently don't have it with me,
29:04
Speaker 8: So I'm worried about walking back to my office and
29:06
Speaker 8: not having a tennis ball in my hand, because that's lately,
29:10
Speaker 8: lately it's been a tennis ball, and it's amazing the
29:14
Speaker 8: connections you can make with something as simple as a
29:16
Speaker 8: tennis ball. They are they are expecting me to have
29:20
Speaker 8: a tennis ball.
29:21
Speaker 5: Whenever I see them, and.
29:24
Speaker 8: It may or may not be tossed in the hallway
29:26
Speaker 8: back and forth. Understand we're going back and forth, and
29:31
Speaker 8: you know, to them it's just a tennis ball. To me,
29:33
Speaker 8: it's a tool that reaches no other interesting.
29:38
Speaker 3: That's that's so cool.
29:40
Speaker 5: Different what different avenues that start the conversation piece.
29:44
Speaker 3: You know, what do you think of Sweethearts and Heroes
29:48
Speaker 3: the impact that they've had.
29:51
Speaker 8: Yeh, I can't speak highly enough about it. I wish
29:56
Speaker 8: I was qualified enough to speak on what time can do.
30:00
Speaker 8: But until you experience Tom and his staffs giving that
30:05
Speaker 8: hope and giving the students an outlet to communicate, it's communication.
30:13
Speaker 8: You know, it's the root of all evils, whether it's
30:18
Speaker 8: in the school, in the education system, quite frankly, in
30:21
Speaker 8: law enforcement, in the real world. If you can't communicate,
30:25
Speaker 8: that's ninety nine percent of our problems can be alleviated
30:28
Speaker 8: as people would communicate. And I think that's to me,
30:33
Speaker 8: what I see Sweethearts and Heroes is doing is teaching,
30:38
Speaker 8: teaching our future to communicate with one another and talk
30:43
Speaker 8: and understand.
30:45
Speaker 3: You know, there is a ton of stuff here that
30:52
Speaker 3: we're unpacking that is light years, light years beyond your
30:59
Speaker 3: badge m hm. And you're bringing that every single day,
31:06
Speaker 3: and that is remarkable, Adam, What's what's on the menu
31:14
Speaker 3: there at your school? What's what can we expect throughout
31:19
Speaker 3: the year? I know that you've you said you've got
31:21
Speaker 3: Josiah every Friday, which man, you guys are so lucky.
31:26
Speaker 3: That guy, I think he walks on water. I mean,
31:30
Speaker 3: I just adore Josiah and his brother. I mean, my god,
31:35
Speaker 3: these guys are just incredible. But what what can we expect?
31:40
Speaker 3: You got a guy that's right next to you, Mike,
31:44
Speaker 3: who has to be the good guy the bad guy,
31:51
Speaker 3: but regardless of either one enforcing the rules, he has
31:57
Speaker 3: to earn respect. And also really where empathy on the
32:09
Speaker 3: shirt sleeve every hour of the day, every minute of
32:13
Speaker 3: the day.
32:16
Speaker 7: And that's the key word you just just use. That
32:18
Speaker 7: was just thinking it a minute ago. And I think
32:20
Speaker 7: it's a big component of of the Sweethearts and Hero's
32:25
Speaker 7: program is teaching empathy. And Tom says it all the time.
32:29
Speaker 7: It's it's one skill that we have really failed to
32:33
Speaker 7: focus on. Uh, you know, with a newer generation of
32:37
Speaker 7: kids that are just dealing with things that I mean,
32:40
Speaker 7: Mike and I when I was in high school, I
32:42
Speaker 7: think there are only social media communication tool was aol
32:45
Speaker 7: instant messenger.
32:47
Speaker 6: Yeah, and I don't even think I ever really got
32:49
Speaker 6: good at using that. I did, but you guys get
32:53
Speaker 6: at it.
32:53
Speaker 7: But there are there are some these phones and and
32:58
Speaker 7: the stuff kids are dealing with it.
33:00
Speaker 6: It's really difficult. And I still say it, like a
33:03
Speaker 6: lot of times.
33:04
Speaker 7: I'll send an email and follow up at an immediate
33:06
Speaker 7: phone call, and sometimes a person's perplexed, like you.
33:08
Speaker 6: Just email me, why are you calling me?
33:09
Speaker 7: And I'm like, because you can't judge tone in an email,
33:12
Speaker 7: like I may I mean to that person's reading that email,
33:15
Speaker 7: and there's about seventeen different ways they can interpret what
33:18
Speaker 7: I just wrote. And a lot of times if it
33:21
Speaker 7: deals with something that I believe, there should be a
33:23
Speaker 7: certain level of sympathy or empathy behind.
33:27
Speaker 6: I want to make sure they feel it and hear
33:29
Speaker 6: it from me. I prefer ey to I.
33:31
Speaker 7: I mean, I if we could have all of our
33:33
Speaker 7: conversations face to face, an eye to eye, we as
33:36
Speaker 7: a as a school district, as a community, as a country,
33:39
Speaker 7: we'd be better off. But unfortunately that in today's day
33:44
Speaker 7: and age, a lot of stuff is happening electronically. But
33:46
Speaker 7: teaching that empathy is such an important component to what
33:51
Speaker 7: we do here and going back to the menu. You know,
33:56
Speaker 7: having Josiah here is really jump starting the future. And
34:00
Speaker 7: and again I use that term voltage drop. I don't
34:03
Speaker 7: know if you've had a chance to read Tom's article
34:06
Speaker 7: that he wrote on voltage drop, but it really spoke
34:08
Speaker 7: to me. And it happens so often in so many places,
34:13
Speaker 7: but education in particular. You know, we hit teachers with
34:17
Speaker 7: something that they find exciting and that they find appealing and.
34:20
Speaker 6: They want to be a part of. But then we
34:22
Speaker 6: as the.
34:22
Speaker 7: Leaders in the district, failed to deliver that to them
34:25
Speaker 7: on a regular enough basis, and innately, that's going to
34:29
Speaker 7: drop off and it's going to lose its steam, and
34:31
Speaker 7: then people are going to become uninterested. And I think
34:34
Speaker 7: that's the point of the to me. Anyways, the Computer
34:37
Speaker 7: Community Ambassador program is to have somebody from their team
34:40
Speaker 7: here to assist us because we are busy doing a
34:43
Speaker 7: lot of different things to keep that energy up and
34:46
Speaker 7: to reach as many students and staff as possible, and
34:49
Speaker 7: you know, we want to just continue to expand upon that.
34:51
Speaker 7: We're offering a credit bearing course this year, you know,
34:55
Speaker 7: and I'm not going to hit them all, but I
34:57
Speaker 7: say it all the time.
34:58
Speaker 6: You know, I'm I'm envious of the work that's been
35:00
Speaker 6: done in Peru.
35:01
Speaker 7: I think Matt Berry is an amazing building leader and
35:05
Speaker 7: an amazing administrator. That is, they can't put a price
35:09
Speaker 7: on what Matt Berry means to Peru. In some other
35:13
Speaker 7: districts like like Tae Konderroga for example, and our involvement
35:16
Speaker 7: in the summit in Vermont last summer just before the
35:20
Speaker 7: school year was really a game changer for I think
35:23
Speaker 7: us to be a part of and seeing what some
35:26
Speaker 7: other school districts were doing in the few years that
35:28
Speaker 7: they were ahead of us. And you know, imitation is
35:30
Speaker 7: the greatest form of flattery, right, we say it all
35:32
Speaker 7: the time. And I've said to Tom repeatedly, I want
35:36
Speaker 7: to do what Peru is doing. I want to do
35:38
Speaker 7: what Taekwonderoga is doing, and then I want to build
35:40
Speaker 7: that program. So now we have this credit bearing course,
35:44
Speaker 7: the Brave Leadership Course, and we have kids in that course,
35:46
Speaker 7: and they're being taught by two wonderful educators here that
35:49
Speaker 7: are working closely with Tom and his team to build
35:51
Speaker 7: that class up. And I think the expansion we want
35:55
Speaker 7: to see is, you know, multiple levers levels and layers
35:58
Speaker 7: of that class. Moving forward, we want those high school
36:01
Speaker 7: students to be able to be in our elementary school,
36:03
Speaker 7: meeting with our elementary students, leading assemblies, eventually leading circles
36:08
Speaker 7: where you have high school students being the facilitator and
36:11
Speaker 7: the leader of that circle, because the young kids look
36:14
Speaker 7: up to these kids. And the great thing about the
36:16
Speaker 7: program is we're not handpicking necessarily.
36:20
Speaker 6: You know, your your athletes all the time.
36:22
Speaker 7: It's nice because you know they have, you know, just
36:25
Speaker 7: natural leadership capabilities that they're instilled in them.
36:27
Speaker 6: But you're finding kids that maybe you'd never thought in.
36:30
Speaker 7: A million years that you looked at a student and
36:32
Speaker 7: thought that kid has it in them to be that leader,
36:35
Speaker 7: to be that role model to kids in our elementary school.
36:38
Speaker 7: And you're seeing those kids develop, and I think you're
36:40
Speaker 7: giving them an opportunity to do something they never saw
36:43
Speaker 7: in front of them, and I think that's powerful. So really,
36:48
Speaker 7: I just you know, I don't have the whole certainly
36:51
Speaker 7: not going to act like I have the whole Sweethearts
36:52
Speaker 7: and Things Heroes program figured out, And that's why I
36:55
Speaker 7: rely so heavily on people like Tom and Wynton and
36:58
Speaker 7: Josiah and Pat and the whole team. I mean, you
37:01
Speaker 7: started mentioning some people. Every single person that I come
37:05
Speaker 7: across that wears a Free Hug shirt or wears a
37:08
Speaker 7: Sweethearts and hero shirt turns out to just be an
37:10
Speaker 7: amazing human being that I wouldn't I would love to
37:14
Speaker 7: have in my personal life, I would love to have
37:15
Speaker 7: in my professional life.
37:17
Speaker 6: And it just it never ends. And I think that's
37:19
Speaker 6: the beauty in it.
37:20
Speaker 7: And if you need something, there's always somebody there to
37:22
Speaker 7: answer your questions. But you know, I've always said too,
37:25
Speaker 7: one of the things about Tom, if you really want
37:29
Speaker 7: to be part of the Sweethearts and Heroes program and
37:31
Speaker 7: part of the team, the beauty in it is their
37:34
Speaker 7: goal is to make you as self sufficient as possible
37:37
Speaker 7: and to really teach you the program and allow you
37:39
Speaker 7: to go do the program. So that and the beauty
37:41
Speaker 7: and that is Tom can be outreaching as many students
37:44
Speaker 7: and staff as he can, understanding that he has given
37:48
Speaker 7: us the tools to put in our toolbox to be
37:50
Speaker 7: able to successfully implement the program here without him always
37:55
Speaker 7: having to be here and having him always have his
37:57
Speaker 7: hands on it. That's the beauty of it. And as
37:59
Speaker 7: a sooper intend it, you know you talk about budgets.
38:03
Speaker 7: The beautiful thing is you can start doing this as
38:05
Speaker 7: much as you can on your own and bring in
38:07
Speaker 7: their team to support you when needed. It doesn't become
38:10
Speaker 7: a budgetary hardship. You know, it's something that you can
38:12
Speaker 7: sustain and never felt like it was a money grab.
38:15
Speaker 6: Ever, it's never even in consideration. So sure you know,
38:19
Speaker 6: the menu to me is is endless.
38:23
Speaker 7: You know, there's there's so many things we can do
38:25
Speaker 7: with this, and I just want to keep leaning on
38:27
Speaker 7: Tom and his team and Joe's Iiah in particular for
38:29
Speaker 7: being here once a week to continue to expand the
38:31
Speaker 7: program and reach as many of our students and staff
38:33
Speaker 7: as we can.
38:34
Speaker 3: Yeah, how about these powerhouse books Thirteen Pillows for Effective Teachers,
38:41
Speaker 3: A bridge named Amos Boredom School, which you've read. We're
38:49
Speaker 3: showing a picture of you right now holding that book.
38:53
Speaker 3: I mean, these guys, if you haven't picked up one
38:57
Speaker 3: of these books, especially if you're a teacher and you
39:01
Speaker 3: haven't read Thirteen Pillows yet, it's a must.
39:07
Speaker 6: Yeah. I couldn't agree more. And Tom.
39:09
Speaker 7: Tom is gracious enough to make these things, if not free,
39:14
Speaker 7: extremely easy to purchase, to get in the hands but
39:19
Speaker 7: you know, he makes the ebook free. I know a
39:21
Speaker 7: lot of our staff have read it. We've sent it
39:23
Speaker 7: out multiple times, and I've had people reaching out to
39:26
Speaker 7: me and you know, saying how powerful it was for
39:29
Speaker 7: them to experience that as well. Tom's offered book studies
39:32
Speaker 7: that we haven't yet taken him up on, but I
39:35
Speaker 7: think with the momentum that we're seeing, especially now after
39:38
Speaker 7: our opening day program, I think the time is ripe
39:42
Speaker 7: to start offering those opportunities for.
39:44
Speaker 6: Tom to jump on and do book studies with our staff.
39:49
Speaker 6: You know, Rick came here last year.
39:51
Speaker 7: We were lucky enough we have a wonderful art teacher,
39:54
Speaker 7: Kevin Cannon, that did an unbelievable job illustrating Bridge name
39:59
Speaker 7: NamUs and Rick and Kevin kind of sat in front
40:02
Speaker 7: of our students last year. That was actually the day
40:04
Speaker 7: I took the picture and kind of read the book
40:07
Speaker 7: and went through the book, and the kids loved it.
40:10
Speaker 7: I mean, they just they ate it up and having
40:12
Speaker 7: it available to them is really powerful.
40:14
Speaker 6: So it's just you can go on and on, right,
40:17
Speaker 6: I mean, we could sit.
40:18
Speaker 7: Here literally all day long and talk about what this
40:22
Speaker 7: program has to offer and the dedication that all of
40:25
Speaker 7: this Tom's team shows to the districts that are willing
40:29
Speaker 7: to work with them. You know, you could go on
40:32
Speaker 7: and on because their menu is whatever you want it
40:35
Speaker 7: to be. And that's one of the things I love
40:38
Speaker 7: about working with them is there's a lot of what
40:39
Speaker 7: do you want?
40:40
Speaker 6: Not here, here's what we do, and here's what you
40:43
Speaker 6: have to do for us. It's what do you need
40:45
Speaker 6: from us? What do you want from us? And what
40:47
Speaker 6: else do you want from a partner right.
40:51
Speaker 3: Right next to you, Mike lewis your resource officer there
40:55
Speaker 3: at one of your schools. And I want to ask
40:58
Speaker 3: you both this and we'll we'll close out with the
41:03
Speaker 3: B word this morning, which is so huge. And you
41:08
Speaker 3: know you mentioned social media earlier, and I mean, yeah,
41:16
Speaker 3: we could sit and talk about all the great things
41:19
Speaker 3: that social media do with in terms of connectivity.
41:25
Speaker 6: Ye.
41:26
Speaker 3: But I'm sure the three of us can't imagine uh
41:35
Speaker 3: being in school, middle school, high school and having a
41:42
Speaker 3: phone that can be can and emphasizing the word can
41:49
Speaker 3: be so destructive. Two the messages that we read when
41:55
Speaker 3: you when you guys and I were in school. Uh,
41:59
Speaker 3: maybe we can picked on a little bit, but maybe
42:02
Speaker 3: we settled it there. Maybe we had some adults in
42:04
Speaker 3: our lives that got involved. But now there's some under
42:09
Speaker 3: the radars stuff that's going on, and it's huge and sometimes,
42:17
Speaker 3: probably more often than not, you can't see bullying. You
42:21
Speaker 3: can't even smell bullying. It's well disguised in some instances.
42:29
Speaker 3: Tom's got his stop Drop and Roll of Bullying. He's
42:33
Speaker 3: presented this to almost three million students in school districts
42:38
Speaker 3: across New England, Hawaii, even into Canada. How are you
42:44
Speaker 3: guys dealing both of you with bullying? Is it an epidemic?
42:55
Speaker 7: Well, I think I'll go first. I think you hit
42:58
Speaker 7: the nail on the head. I mean my biggest And
43:01
Speaker 7: you mentioned like us being back in middle school. I
43:03
Speaker 7: went to Johnstown School District and just right around the
43:07
Speaker 7: corner from here, and I remember.
43:09
Speaker 6: Being in middle school.
43:09
Speaker 7: And I don't mean this as it makes it sound violent,
43:12
Speaker 7: but your problems in middle school were often solved on
43:15
Speaker 7: the tennis courts at recess.
43:16
Speaker 3: Sure like.
43:18
Speaker 6: Ninety nine percent of the time. I'll be honest. It's
43:20
Speaker 6: a great school district.
43:21
Speaker 7: It was involved talking those problems out and here, I
43:25
Speaker 7: would say during the day, particularly now that they don't
43:27
Speaker 7: have their hands their cell phones in their hands during
43:29
Speaker 7: the day, they're coming to us, and I think those
43:33
Speaker 7: relationships that we're building and the trust the kids are
43:36
Speaker 7: willing to come to us during the day to allow
43:39
Speaker 7: us to get involved and to intervene when it comes
43:42
Speaker 7: to those types of situations. What concerns me is the
43:45
Speaker 7: kids sitting home in their bedroom by themselves at seven o'clock,
43:48
Speaker 7: eight o'clock, ten o'clock at night exactly, and they get
43:51
Speaker 7: a message on their phone that basically tells them something terrible,
43:55
Speaker 7: tells them that they should kill themselves, and the resource
43:59
Speaker 7: meeting us we're not readily available to them.
44:01
Speaker 6: They don't think we are anyways right at that time.
44:04
Speaker 7: And how do we how do we as school districts
44:07
Speaker 7: bridge that gap, whether it be the superintendent of the principal,
44:09
Speaker 7: the sro, the teachers, the parents, which play a huge
44:13
Speaker 7: factor in this, how do you bridge that gap to
44:17
Speaker 7: make sure that that kid feels like they have the
44:19
Speaker 7: same resources available to them sitting alone in their bedroom
44:23
Speaker 7: at night when they get this message that they do
44:26
Speaker 7: if they receive it at ten o'clock in the morning
44:27
Speaker 7: when they're here at school, you know, And we talk
44:31
Speaker 7: a lot here about eventually I want to expose this
44:34
Speaker 7: as much as possible to our parents and the power
44:37
Speaker 7: of circle. And yet that circle might be really small.
44:39
Speaker 7: It might be a mom and a dad, or a grandparent,
44:43
Speaker 7: or you know, an aunt or uncle, or a brother
44:45
Speaker 7: and sister. But how do we make sure that those
44:48
Speaker 7: kids understand that the power of circle and the impact
44:51
Speaker 7: of having those conversations as might you know, spoke to
44:54
Speaker 7: the importance of communication. How do we get them to
44:57
Speaker 7: feel comfortable to go to someone and to talk about
45:00
Speaker 7: that with them, no matter where they are, so that
45:03
Speaker 7: they don't feel alone, they don't feel trapped, and then
45:05
Speaker 7: they don't do something horrific that that then causes a tragedy,
45:09
Speaker 7: you know.
45:10
Speaker 6: I think that's the gap we need to bridge.
45:11
Speaker 7: It's a very difficult, you know, thing to accomplish, but
45:16
Speaker 7: I think that's that has to be part of our
45:18
Speaker 7: teaching because if we look at it as we have
45:20
Speaker 7: a wonderful program that we're partners in and we do
45:23
Speaker 7: a really good job of it between seven thirty and
45:25
Speaker 7: three thirty, and it just stops there, I think we're
45:27
Speaker 7: missing something. I think it's how do we how do
45:29
Speaker 7: we expand this message and this feeling of communication and
45:33
Speaker 7: empathy to make sure that those kids always feel they
45:36
Speaker 7: have an outlet, because I think that's going to be
45:38
Speaker 7: their savior. And just knowing that they have someone at
45:41
Speaker 7: all times that is going to be there for them
45:43
Speaker 7: to answer those questions.
45:44
Speaker 6: I think that's the key.
45:46
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean here it is National Suicide Prevention Month.
45:50
Speaker 3: Still Mike Lewis, what say you about about bullying?
45:59
Speaker 8: Well, I came, you know, and again I started this,
46:05
Speaker 8: we'll say, phase two of my career about the same
46:07
Speaker 8: time Sweethearts and Heroes started to come in. So it
46:10
Speaker 8: would be foolish of me to tell you what it
46:12
Speaker 8: was like prior to me, because I honestly don't know.
46:15
Speaker 8: And it would also be foolish of me to tell
46:17
Speaker 8: you that I don't believe that there's bullying going on.
46:22
Speaker 8: I'm sure there's bullying going on, you know, it's it
46:27
Speaker 8: may not always like Super says, it may not always
46:30
Speaker 8: get to us.
46:32
Speaker 5: It's that outreach that we're trying to get to.
46:37
Speaker 7: Phones.
46:39
Speaker 8: I was, you know, I've gone one hundred and eighty
46:42
Speaker 8: degrees on phones in the last you know, fifteen twenty years.
46:48
Speaker 8: You know, I was flat out against them, and then
46:51
Speaker 8: I was all for them and now I'm going back.
46:53
Speaker 5: The other way.
46:56
Speaker 8: Until New York State came through and said no phones
46:59
Speaker 8: in schools. I guess I didn't realize how big of
47:02
Speaker 8: a problem it was until until it wasn't. I'd like
47:06
Speaker 8: to think a lot of our problems, and I truly
47:09
Speaker 8: believe this, a lot of our problems have died down
47:11
Speaker 8: this year. So maybe it was a phone issue more
47:14
Speaker 8: so than I ever believed in. But it's it's it's
47:20
Speaker 8: a Sweethearts and Heroes program. That's that's twofold, you know.
47:25
Speaker 8: And and again I go back, and I don't want
47:28
Speaker 8: to keep circling back to communication.
47:29
Speaker 5: But it's Sweethearts and Heroes teaching.
47:33
Speaker 8: Teaching us to communicate, and teaching students to communicate, and
47:36
Speaker 8: teaching adults to communicate.
47:38
Speaker 5: And it's it's helping. And I just thought of this
47:45
Speaker 5: sitting here listening.
47:47
Speaker 8: I think what it's teaching is it's helping us understand
47:50
Speaker 8: why in the power of why.
47:53
Speaker 5: And it's.
47:56
Speaker 8: When we have a problem and you look at an issue,
48:00
Speaker 8: whether you know, regardless of where it is, I think
48:03
Speaker 8: you need to understand why it's a problem and how
48:07
Speaker 8: it's caused before you can truly fix it, you know,
48:11
Speaker 8: trying to you know, trying to address an issue without
48:17
Speaker 8: fixing it from happening again. You know, are you really
48:20
Speaker 8: fixing something or you're just kicking a can down the road? So,
48:25
Speaker 8: you know, I think the Sweethearts a Hero's program teaching
48:28
Speaker 8: kids to communicate and relearning I guess how to communicate
48:34
Speaker 8: is helping us understand the whys in the world.
48:38
Speaker 5: And it's you know, why is Adam doing this? And
48:41
Speaker 5: why is Mike doing this?
48:44
Speaker 8: If we don't if we don't help the student battle
48:47
Speaker 8: the why, what are we really doing if we're going
48:51
Speaker 8: to keep letting it reoccur? You know, that's I think
48:55
Speaker 8: that's what it's doing. It's it's teaching teaching our youth
48:59
Speaker 8: to to tell us why they're having the problems now,
49:03
Speaker 8: so what's what the problem is, but what's causing the
49:05
Speaker 8: problem so we can fix the cause as well.
49:09
Speaker 6: In JD, if you don't mind, I'm listening to Mike talk.
49:11
Speaker 7: He's Mike does a wonderful job, and it's because of
49:15
Speaker 7: the kind of man he is, of downplaying how important
49:18
Speaker 7: his role is both in title and and the person
49:22
Speaker 7: behind the work being done. But you know, I've been
49:25
Speaker 7: here ten years and I remember, you know what before
49:28
Speaker 7: we had an so program, before Sweethearts and heroes.
49:31
Speaker 6: You know, you always have those few kids.
49:33
Speaker 7: And we're a small district, roughly seven hundred students district wide,
49:37
Speaker 7: you know, about three hundred and fifty three hundred and
49:38
Speaker 7: seventy five and our seven through twelve building, you would
49:41
Speaker 7: get those kids that would come through that were your
49:43
Speaker 7: tough kids, right, they're they're they're just not making good decisions.
49:47
Speaker 7: They're not making good choices. And what is the typical
49:50
Speaker 7: reaction of a school district. You focus on that kid,
49:54
Speaker 7: you put your thumb down on that kid, and what
49:55
Speaker 7: usually ends up happening is that kid is suspended or
49:58
Speaker 7: that kid is sent to alternative school or something along
50:02
Speaker 7: those lines, because you know, you feel overwhelmed as administrators.
50:05
Speaker 7: You've got a bunch of problems you're dealing and it's
50:06
Speaker 7: almost like, you know, Jesus, kid's just difficult. He can't
50:10
Speaker 7: be reached, she can't be reached, and you just come up,
50:12
Speaker 7: you know, you get to that perspective. And I think
50:14
Speaker 7: that's a big word that Tom uses all the time,
50:16
Speaker 7: is putting things in perspective. But the thing that Mike
50:19
Speaker 7: has been able to do here is to actually build
50:21
Speaker 7: relationships with those kids. And now you're seeing those kids
50:25
Speaker 7: start to be good influencers in some ways in the building,
50:27
Speaker 7: and they're they might not always make good decisions, but
50:30
Speaker 7: they're talking to Officer Lewis and they're talking to their administration.
50:33
Speaker 7: And the beauty of him is he's not a suit
50:36
Speaker 7: like I often you know, a superintendent and principle, you know,
50:39
Speaker 7: we're the suit. You know, w'ere the w'ere the punishers.
50:42
Speaker 7: He's there to lend an ear and to listen to kids.
50:45
Speaker 7: And I'm watching him not only build relationships with these kids,
50:48
Speaker 7: but to watch these kids have that belief and the
50:51
Speaker 7: feeling in them that they have a chance and that
50:53
Speaker 7: the district is not just going to treat them as
50:56
Speaker 7: you know, a problem child, that they're just going to
50:58
Speaker 7: throw punitive action at were giving them outlets to do things.
51:02
Speaker 7: So I certainly don't want to see him downplay his role,
51:06
Speaker 7: and you know, I focus on the impact of that.
51:09
Speaker 6: We had a student.
51:12
Speaker 7: Week ago, two weeks ago that you know, fell in
51:14
Speaker 7: the hallway, she falls down, books go fly, And I'll
51:17
Speaker 7: be honest with you, in my time in this district
51:20
Speaker 7: years ago, I would see a lot of different things
51:23
Speaker 7: in the video that replay on that. I would see laughter,
51:25
Speaker 7: I would see finger pointing. I would see kids, you know,
51:28
Speaker 7: chuckle and just keep walking. You wouldn't believe what we
51:32
Speaker 7: saw on video. The reaction was when I say, one
51:35
Speaker 7: hundred percent, every single kid that was in the vicinity stopped, helped,
51:41
Speaker 7: showed concerns, showed compassion, showed empathy for that child, and
51:45
Speaker 7: not only helped them back to their feet, help them
51:47
Speaker 7: pick their stuff up. And then you watch the players
51:49
Speaker 7: in the video, you see the certain amount of kids
51:52
Speaker 7: that you would have expected to at the very minimum
51:54
Speaker 7: ignore the situation and just kind of chuckle and keep walking.
51:58
Speaker 6: Didn't happen. They stopped, they helped, they showed empathy, and
52:02
Speaker 6: you know, you hope.
52:03
Speaker 7: That small situations like that are just proof that we're
52:07
Speaker 7: making a difference.
52:08
Speaker 6: And I think a lot of that has to do
52:10
Speaker 6: with with the program, and a lot of that has
52:12
Speaker 6: to do with what Officer Lewis is doing.
52:14
Speaker 7: You know, even if something as simple as the tennis ball,
52:17
Speaker 7: you know, you show enough to kid enough time to
52:19
Speaker 7: toss the tennis ball with him, that kid might be
52:21
Speaker 7: just willing to help to take his time to help
52:23
Speaker 7: pick up the kid's books that just fall on the grounds.
52:26
Speaker 6: It's pretty powerful.
52:28
Speaker 3: Thank you both ever so much for joining me this morning.
52:31
Speaker 3: We appreciate you.
52:33
Speaker 6: We appreciate you having us. We're honored to be on