Latest / Voices of the Albemarle / Ep. 29: Superhero Educators with ECPPS

Transcript

Ep. 29: Superhero Educators with ECPPS · Voices of the Albemarle

• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome to Voices of the Album Moral.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Izzy Kelly Goss, and I'm going solo today.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: However, I will be holding our producer, Cold Twifer, hostage at the mic, so we can do our news segment.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: Today's episode is the very exciting start of a series we will be doing called Superhero Educators.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: This series is a partnership with Park Siegler Law Firm, Hoffer Flow, and Elizabeth City State University.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: We're very grateful for their support as we take the time to highlight one of the most valuable assets in Northeastern North Carolina, educators.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: We are going to be joined by Elizabeth City, Pasquatine Public School Superintendent, Dr.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: Keith Parker, and the District Teacher of the Year, Dr.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: Ronald Boykins of Northeastern High School.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: But first, Cole, Jerry Tillett has been appointed to fill Senator Bobby Hanick's Senate seat following his retirement last week.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you heard that.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_03: No, I did I did see uh Senator Bobby Hanick just step down.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yeah, he did.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: He was suddenly he announced his retirement, yeah.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: And um, they had to fill the seat.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: So on Saturday, they appointed Jerry Tillett.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: He was appointed by the North Carolina First Congressional District Republican Party on August 29th.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: Tillett's actually the Republican nominee for the seat during the general election in November on November 3rd this year.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: So um Bobby Hanig was stepping away from the seat because he was hoping to run for Congress.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: And until it decided to try and take up the Republican nomination, he won it.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, if you missed our last episode, Hanick announced his retirement on August 24th, leaving the seat that represents 10 counties vacant.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: So they had to fill that as quickly as possible.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: They had 30 days to do it.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: They did it in six.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, Jerry Tillett will be holding the seat until the election, and then either uh he or Melissa Zenner will be uh winning the election and taking the seat.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_03: Interesting.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_03: Where is he from?
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Is he from She is from I believe he's from Kuratuck.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, okay.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, so that's where they that they swore him in at the Kuratuck County Courthouse.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: So he is he is from the area.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: He was the superior court judge for this district and he retired from that position in May.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: Nice.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, secondly, the open door food pantry in Perquimans County will be hosting its fifth annual Walk for Hunger fundraiser on September 19th.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the event starts at 9 a.m.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: with registration beginning at eight.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's at the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: They do it to raise funds so that they can continue filling their pantry with food for those in need in the area.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: If there are any interested in participating, you can visit their website, perquomen'sopendoor.com.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_03: So is that how are they how how do you raise money with that?
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: So I believe there are sponsors.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: So you get like a sponsor, and I believe the walk takes around two hours, according to the article written by our very own Keisha Williams.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: And basically you have a sponsor for your walk, and you you get as many sponsors as you can.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: They held a similar event, I think in April or May.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: The article has more information, but they raised a decent amount of money.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's a it's a great cause, and everyone should definitely be sure to check it out.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_03: Well, if there was someone that just kept walking, that infinite money.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_03: The Kindle guy, the walker that's walking across America.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I don't uh I don't know if they I think there's probably a limit at some point.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: You know, people's wallets can only go so far.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: But finally, uh Cole has a new segment for us, but my third is going to revolve around 91-year-old Dale Greybeard Sanders.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: He is officially, I know, he is 91 years old and has officially reclaimed his title as the oldest person to hype hike the Appalachian Trail.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: He um, according to Associated Press, he set the record at the age of 82 in 2017.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: He hiked the full 2,193 miles from Georgia to Maine at 82 years old.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: And then his friend, MJ Eberhart, took the record from him at the age of 83, and he decided that just won't do.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: And at 91 years old, he did it again.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, his successful attempt to reclaim, apparently he fell 71 times.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: I guess he was keeping count.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: He, yeah, six of them were what he considered hard falls.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: One of them landed him in the hospital, and as soon as he got out, he went straight back on the trail and continued his hike.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_03: That is how how many miles is he hiking?
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's two 2,193 miles.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's the full trail, which is just insane.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: I know people my age who will do that, but they will only do part of the trail.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's so long.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_03: That's that it's incredible.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_03: That's an awesome year.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_03: Rivalry though, right?
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_03: Take it away from your buddy.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: You know, maybe maybe MJ Eberhardt is gonna go at 92.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: I guess we'll we'll see in a few in a year or so, right?
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, now Cole, please enlighten us with your news segment.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_03: In crazy story.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_03: There is this guy who has been faking as a NFL player and has gathered, I don't know, I don't know the prop proper terminology, okay, but he's acquired$1.3 million from over 23 women by faking that he is a wide receiver for the San Francisco 49ers.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_04: What?
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_03: He was on on Instagram and everything, doing fake workouts and doing fake donations and everything.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_03: And he had he was he's been talking to these girls.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_04: Oh my god.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_03: Like 23 of them, and then he would get them to give him money, which he's an he's apparently NFL player, and they're giving him money.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_03: NFL player talking about these long-term investments.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_03: Oh wow, he's got 1.3 and it's no return on that investment.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: It is so funny.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_03: It is so funny because it's also awful.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_03: But yes, yes, it's it's definitely awful, but it's to not be able to kind of like see like that this person is clearly fake.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_03: Fake.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_03: However, I will give the credit that when you would Google him, because he would pump out so much content and everything that he was a wide receiver.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_03: When you googled him, it would pop up as one.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, that is that is a very well thought out con.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_03: And there's not, it's not just one, there's another one.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_03: There's another one.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_03: There's another one pretending to be a Dallas Cowboys wide receiver.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_03: And yeah, it is insane.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: That is insane.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody, make sure you triple check your your sources before you send money.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: That is the the biggest catfish scam in the book.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_03: Do background checks before the first date.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: NFL players are the new, what was it?
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: Persian prince.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, NFL players are the new Persian prince.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, with that, I think we should just hike.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: And that is that works three ways because I wrote that for for the hike for Tail Sanders, but also because you hike in football.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: I think we're gonna hike on over to our interview with Keith Parker and Ron Boykins.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: Hello again, and thank you to Drs.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: Parker and Boykins for joining us today.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: We are very excited to have you on to talk about ECPPS and the upcoming school year and all of the superhero educating that you do in our school system here in Pasquatank County.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so just so our audience knows, can I have each of you just say hello?
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: That way everybody can have a differential in your voices, Dr.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: Boykins.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_02: Uh thank you.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I'm Dr.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_02: Ron Boykins, and uh I'm excited about being here.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_02: I'm a teacher at ECPPS, and this is going on my fourth year, and I'm excited about the work that we're doing.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_02: I'm excited about the leadership, I'm excited about the direction, and I'm excited about the growth that I see with our students.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: And we are excited to have you here and to hear all about it.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: And Dr.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: Parker.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_01: Well, Izzy, thank you for having both of us here today.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's a pleasure to join you again and looking forward to uh chatting with Ron and uh recognizing some of the exceptional work that he's doing along with his students.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_01: So we couldn't be more excited to be here today.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: Looking forward to it.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: And yes, welcome back.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we've heard a little bit about your background for anyone who missed it.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: That was episode four.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: So you might have to scroll a little bit on our Buzz Sprout page, but I promise the episode is worth the listen if you missed it.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: But because of that, I'm gonna hop on over to Dr.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: Boykins and I'm hoping you gave us a little glimpse, but I'm hoping you can kind of take point on this question and give us some information.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: You said you've been a teacher with ECPPS for four years.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: But how long has your career in education been?
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: How did you end up teaching at Northeastern High School?
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_02: Well, my journey started actually in the military, and I spent eight years as an officer in the Army.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_02: My last tour, the Army sent me to the University of Arizona, where I had the privilege to teach college students.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_02: From there, I got a doctorate degree in education and then went to Atlanta.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_02: And I spent um 18 years in Atlanta, but a total of about 24 years as an administrator.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_02: But one of the things that you would always find with Ron Boykins is that he's always in the classroom.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_02: And so I had a conversation with Dr.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_02: Parker at the end of my first year as a principal of JC Sawyer about the idea of this next chapter going back to the classroom and being a full-time teacher because that's really where my love is.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_02: That's my excitement.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_02: I'm so hands-on that I want to be with the students.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_02: And so Dr.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_02: Parker gave me the opportunity to go to Northeastern High School, the Eagles.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_02: And um that's where I've been for the last three years.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_02: And this is going on my fourth year, and every year is just filled with new excitement and new energy that uh I want to bring to the classroom.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: That's amazing.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: I love to hear such passion from teachers.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and like you said, it's the start of your fourth year.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's the start of a new school year.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm wondering if you can just give us a quick overview, not a quick overview.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: I actually have heard a little bit before we started recording.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: I would like for you to go in depth a little bit about any new methods and programs that you have developed and that you are excited about diving into this school year.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I think one of the things that we've we have to do as teachers or as educators is to keep looking at the new things that that excite us and keep looking at how can we bring those kinds of things to the classroom.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_02: Last year I had the opportunity to be a part of the mock trial competition and we prepared our students for that.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_02: And then my wife and I over the summer had a chance to go to the national debate conference, which was held in Richmond, about 7,000 students.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_02: And so one of the things that I kept wrestling with is looking at that opportunity that was being afforded to a lot of the really high-end students at that conference and trying to think of how we can create similar kinds of opportunities for not just the high-end kids, but the average students.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_02: And so I've spent some time this summer trying to create something that I'm hoping will roll out nicely that I call a debate fest.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_02: But it's just trying to figure out how can we bring kids together?
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_02: How can we be more inclusive?
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_02: How can we push our kids to grow and be able to gain advantages from programs like debate?
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm hoping that because you've brought it up, you can give us a little bit of insight on debate fest, because it's not just about debate.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: You told me this a few minutes ago.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: There's there's gonna be, first of all, it's not just North Carolina, it's not just ECPPS.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: You're hoping to take this through multiple states and multiple subjects.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_02: True, true, because the the other subject includes math, but the focus for me right now is North Carolina.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_02: And so trying to figure out how can we bring other kids together, whether it's kids from Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia together.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_02: And we've got an event set up in Asheville where we're trying to do just that with students from third grade to twelfth grade who would focus in third through eighth, focusing in math and doing more focus on critical thinking and how we can push students to do more.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_02: Again, focusing on average students, not just the high end.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_02: And then doing a similar thing for debate, which focused from fourth to eighth team focusing and teamwork, and then trying to give students more opportunities, trying to build on what we learned at the national event that was being held in Richmond, and trying to figure out how we can change that and make it more inclusive for average students.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_02: Because if we're ever going to make a real change in education, anything that we create can't just be for the high-end kids.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_02: And unfortunately, when you think about most of our academic events, most of our academic events are for the high-end kids.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_02: But who's focusing on programs and initiatives for students who are average?
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_02: And that's what this really is.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: So I have one more question for you before I kind of go on over to Dr.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: Parker.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: And it's based off of what you said about focusing on the average students.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: Do you feel focusing on those average students and giving them those opportunities is a pathway to making them high-end students?
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_02: I I I think so, because they're the ones who've been left behind.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_02: Because when we have throughout traditionally, when you think about how we've set up academic events, we've set up academic events with a high threshold to be able to enter.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_02: And then we've uh we've combined that with uh competitions that are very restrictive.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_02: You don't have many students who are able to be a part of it.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_02: And then so by the time you look at all of that and you try to figure out who are the students who are going to participate, who are going to um grow as a result of that, it's the kids who are already getting those experiences in in the high school or in the elementary or middle school.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_02: And we've got to keep focusing on how can we push kids.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_02: And that's the thing that I'm excited about, even as I see some of the things that we're doing with ECPBS.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_02: It's not just trying to focus on kids at the high end, but trying to figure out how can we bring higher order thinking and higher order initiatives and higher order programs to all of the students so that everybody benefits.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_02: Because when we can do that, now we're really talking about changing education across the country.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's such a wonderful perspective.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that's also a great segue into my question for you, Dr.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: Parker.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like we've touched on, this is a start of a brand new school year.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I actually had the opportunity to speak not that long ago with Northeastern High School's principal, Sharon Bell.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: I got to go and take a walk with her as they're starting their courtyard classroom initiative, which is such, such a wonderful idea.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I cannot wait to see it when it's finished.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: And what she mentioned to me is that a huge focus of the whole district this year is innovation.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm hoping you can talk to me about um a few of the initiatives that you guys have this year district-wide, and you know, kind of what was observed last year that went into that decision.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's some exciting things there.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_01: We're really excited about Northeastern this year.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, as Ron said, he's a teacher there.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: But um, with Miss Bell um beginning her first year as principal there, we're really excited to build on the successes that the school has had and then think about what is the next chapter.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_01: And as we sit here uh recording this uh podcast today on the 31st, um, I'm not able to share some of those successes officially.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna be announcing those on Wednesday of this week.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: This will come out on Friday if you want to give us a speech.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, yeah.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: I will be there on Wednesday covering the event as well.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_01: Nice, yeah.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that's actually so this is technically embargoed till the scores come out, but we're excited on that press conference uh that's gonna be occurring on Wednesday to release the academic growth that Northeastern's had.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, you know, what I am excited to share is that Northeastern um has become this year one of the higher performing schools in the entire region of the state.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: And uh that is part of what Ron was hitting on a minute ago is um taking students and pushing them into high academic achievement and measuring that through um standardized measures is one way, but we all know that a measurement like a test doesn't capture everything you've learned for every kid.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_01: And so there are kids that lose opportunities in school because they may not have the right metrics on paper, but they are hugely intelligent and gifted and capable.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_01: So two things we're working on.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_01: One let's remove those barriers by increasing the students' academic performance.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um and let's start at younger grades and let's build up foundational skills most of the time.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um when students read on grade level, they perform higher on standardized measurements.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_01: So if nothing else, these assessments, if they give us nothing at a minimum, they do give us some indication when we can help students read at a higher level and comprehend at a higher level.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_01: And we have to start at a young age to be able to teach reading uh the right way.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that's one thing.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then secondly, we have to engage kids in school in a way where they find relevance.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_01: And we have been losing our relevance as a public institution, particularly over the past five to ten years, and we run the risk of becoming increasingly more irrelevant if we don't systematically change how school works because of the innovations that have been talked about on this podcast that are throughout society right now with artificial intelligence and emerging technologies.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_01: And so we have to become an inclusive place where young people come to school, they learn things, but they also gain tremendous experiences, real life experiences with other human beings that lead them to be better people.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_01: Along the way, they're gonna learn things too.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_01: The traditional model of school has been you come to school to learn things first, and by doing that, then you become a better person.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_01: But you actually don't have to come to school to learn anything anymore.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: You could do it at home, you could do it um on a cruise ship going around the world as long as that cruise ship had internet.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: So there was a Disney Channel show about that called Sweet Life on Deck.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, all right.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: It was the Sweet Life of Zach and Cody spinoff.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: My generation will understand that.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: I just had to throw that reference in there.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: Nice.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: I missed that one, Ron.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_01: I'll go just gonna look that up and see if it's streaming.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um so you know, that's some of the work that we're embedded in in a lot of the programs that we have launched and we're thinking about launching is creating these in-depth experiences for young people where yes, they learn things, but they also um gain experiences that they otherwise would not have gotten had they not been in school.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: And there's a lot of potential, I think, for our school system to keep moving into that space.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: I 100% agree.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: There is something that you said.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: I have I have a question that I already came into this knowing I wanted to ask.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I was planning on asking it a little bit later, but you gave me the perfect segue.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: I want to talk about literacy.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, there are a lot of people who think or know or are worried that, you know, as a whole, as a society, but especially with our younger generation, there is at least becoming somewhat of a literacy crisis.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_00: Some people think that it's because of the accessibility of AI being able to do things for them, or like social media prevalence in formative years.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: But a lot of schools, especially public schools, are taking steps, and it sounds like you guys are, to try and prevent that and to try and keep it at bay.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: I hoping that you can talk a little bit about you touched briefly on it already, what you guys are doing to try and shift things away from that.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's an extremely important question.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: And the United States, as compared to other major industrialized countries, and particularly compared to some of the um top performing countries in the world on the Global standardized assessments.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_01: We rank um we rank low compared to industrialized countries on literacy rates.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: And our measure, our first real major measurement of literacy is in third grade in North Carolina, but that's pretty consistent across the nation.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: And we could do a lot better on literacy.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that is one thing.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_01: North Carolina is improving literacy rates, though.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_01: And so there's reason to be optimistic and proud of some of the work that's going on.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_01: The science of reading work that happened has been happening in our state over the past um five years, is producing some results.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: We've adopted in ECPS a framework for lower grades elementary that teaches phonics and it teaches comprehension.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_01: It's a program that's called based on Haggarty and UFLY is the name of the program.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_01: And it's a structure and a framework for K2 teachers to teach phonics awareness.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_01: And we've seen a lot of promising results with that.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_01: I will share this that our English literacy rates for students that score proficient on the reading test in grades three through 12 high school has increased uh over 20 points since 2022.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_01: So we've seen a huge gain.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um we're right now at all three major tested subjects, English, math, and science.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_01: We are moving just over the 50% threshold in most of those subjects.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_01: So what it means is in 2022, about 25, 30% of our students were proficient on these assessments on average in the district.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_01: We're now moving above 50%.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_01: So we're we're trending 20 and 30 points up on proficiency.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_01: If we continue to trend on that marker and we move into the 70% proficiency rates on these assessments, particularly reading, we will be much above the national average.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_01: And if we can get those thresholds to increase in third grade, it will mean that if you read on grade level by third grade, you will you to you are on track to perform much higher up till graduation.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_01: But if you get to third grade and you're not reading on grade level, you're gonna have a much harder time to excel academically.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_01: And so that third grade marker is huge.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and we're making progress there.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_01: We want to continue um to do that, and we're gonna be able to share uh in our press conference some markers of some of our schools.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_01: Some of our schools in third grade went well beyond 50% of our kids were proficient on reading um in our elementary schools.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_01: So we're we're hitting some markers there, and I think it goes through K2, early phonics, and comprehension.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_01: That's key.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_01: And that's one part.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_01: And then the second part is we have to engage kids in a culture of reading, and um that means that in the school day we have to anchor ourselves in this reality that if you want to learn something at a deep level, you have to grapple with it and think about it more than in a class lesson.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, you think about it, PhDs and college professors and professionals, um, they think about their craft for decades before they become great at it.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_01: We've got to continue to work on a when a in a culture where there's instant gratification, you can access something in a second.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_01: We've got to embrace that that's our reality, but we gotta teach kids to say, grapple with something for more than a minute.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_01: Like think about it.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_01: Keep thinking about it, go home thinking about it, read a little bit more about it, think about it this way.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_01: And we've got to really get inside kids' heads and start pushing them with deep questions.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Ron does a great job of this in his social studies classes, but when we present our kids with deep philosophical questions that can't be answered in one class period, some of the questions that our best teachers are asking right now across the district can't be answered in a semester.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_01: They can't be answered by the time you graduate.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_01: They're lifelong questions that you're gonna have to grapple with to be able to scratch the surface of what they mean, the deep meaning of learning.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_01: And the more we embed those deep learning experiences, we're gonna force kids to have to read to be able to think about it.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_01: But if you can get the answer in 10 minutes, you haven't learned in a deep level.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_01: We got to push our kids to think.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_01: And that really is a culture of reading.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_01: And the truth is we love AI, we love emerging technologies, but the real secrets of life, of the universe, they're embedded in the pages of that book.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_01: That's where you find the answers.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_01: And we've gotta, we've got to build this culture throughout the school day.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I think we're making progress toward that.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: That was a phenomenal answer.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_00: I really appreciate you um answering that question so eloquently.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I can tell you're very passionate about it.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's what sets great educators and administrators apart from the average is passion.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and passion for learning, passion for teaching, passion for teaching.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_00: I want to talk to you, Dr.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_00: Boykins, again about your passion for teaching.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's obvious just from the short answers that we've gotten so far, how passionate you are about teaching and about furthering the next generation.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I'm hoping you can kind of tell us what drives that passion, especially what drives that passion to become someone who's been in administration for 24 years to say, I want to step back into that classroom for the remainder of my career and be right there in that room.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I look at it from two perspectives.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_02: The one, which is probably the most important, when you think about what's at stake.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_02: And when you see our students and you realize the potential that they could have, and you see some of the challenges that we see on the news and some of the other things that are going on with our youth across the country, and we start to say, where are the real answers to real change?
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_04: Absolutely.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_02: And we a lot of that starts in school and how we can change their focus and their drive to want to be something or to want to do something different.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_02: And so I want to be a part of that.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_02: I want to be a part of making that change with our youth.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_02: But I'm just so excited about everything that I see now.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_02: I see it in terms of educating our children.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_02: For example, Dr.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_02: Parker talked about AI.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_02: And in my class, we embrace it because I try to explain to my students there are certain things that we want to be able to do, but we still want to be fiscally responsible for the content of what and the thinking that we have.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_02: But there are certain things that I no longer accept.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_02: Now I need professional level graphics.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_02: So when we're doing different things and they're doing presentations and things like that, I want professional graphics because AI can give us those things.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_02: But it doesn't change the thinking.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_02: See, I think part of the problem that we have is when we let AI change the thinking and it starts to do the thinking for us.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_02: What I want to do is to say to the students, you can use that to accent the work that you have, but you still have to be able to explain it.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_04: Absolutely.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_02: And so when you start thinking about what's at stake and then how we can utilize all of these things that are in our environment to really push kids to learn more and to learn differently, how can you not be excited about that?
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_01: Someone shared with me here recently, I thought this was a good way of thinking about it, to what Ron's saying here.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_01: I I saw recently on a masterclass uh video on AI, the instructor was saying that think about AI as like the bicycle for your mind.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you're you're pedaling, you're in charge, but the bicycle makes you move far faster than if you walked.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_01: But it's a bicycle for your mind.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_01: It's not a replacement for your mind.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I think the more we think about how to use AI in schools as a bicycle for your mind, that doesn't take away the thinking.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_02: Correct.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_01: It just makes us move faster in the thinking if we can figure out how to keep doing that.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_01: That's the ticket, I think.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: So kind of shifting away from that and towards, I guess, not the entire reason we're here, but part of the reason that we're here.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um basically, we are here to celebrate in a way the the greatness of education as a whole, but specifically, Dr.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_00: Boykins, you are here because you are the district's teacher of the year.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, to me, the answer is very clear as to why you were selected.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_00: But Dr.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_00: Parker, I want to know what goes into the process for the district selecting the teacher of the year.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so we're one, I'll say we're extremely proud of Dr.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_01: Boykins and his commitment to the district.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_01: And as he shared, he began in the district uh the same year I was here, um, came here, which was in 2022, as a principal at Sheep, excuse me, I said sheep party, but uh meant to say JC Sawyer.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um Sheep Party's on my mind right now.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_01: But became as uh principal at JC Sawyer and then um wanted to go back and have a direct impact with young people.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that says a lot.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_01: One of the things that um the viewers may not know is uh when the day starts uh in the morning, Ron uh gets up in the morning before he even walks into a classroom to teach, he drives a school bus route.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um and so he is transporting kids to and from school before he even goes and teaches high school.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_01: I believe you're driving an elementary uh route.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_01: So he's driving young people, um, elementary age kids, dropping them off at 7:30, parking his bus, and then he's going to Northeastern and he starts teaching um at 8:30 when his high schoolers come in.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_01: So uh that's an example of the commitment he has to invest in um the school system at large and the community.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he takes his kids to college trips that's built into his courses.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_01: Oftentimes he drives the school bus so he'll take the kids to the college visit.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think that's an example of the dedication.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, most of the time he's doing things with kids after hours, getting debate ready, um, getting them prep for a visit they're going to.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_01: And he extends the learning past the school day.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and our best teachers that have the biggest impact, our best coaches.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, they find ways to keep kids engaged even when that school day ends.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_01: The bell rings, but they continue going oftentimes through clubs, activities, other things to keep kids engaged.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_01: And Ron, Ron does that, so we're extremely proud of all the work he's done.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_01: But um, our schools select every year uh their school teachers of the year.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_01: And uh our staff vote and they select uh their peers.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_01: So um each of our teachers get to vote for one of their colleagues.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_01: Ron was selected at Northeastern, and we have a district selection and evaluation process that we conduct that includes site visits where a team of ours goes into the classroom of all 12 of our school teachers of the year.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_01: We have an interview process, we have a selection committee, and that selection committee reviews all of our teachers of the year, and they select the district teacher of the year.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_01: And so Ron um was selected um by the committee to serve as the district teacher of the year, in addition to also being the Northeastern Teacher of the Year.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_01: And he is moving on, will move on to the regional competition, and then we're cheering him on and going ahead and claim that he's going to move on to uh then the semifinalist and then state finalist.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_01: And uh we'll go ahead with fingers crossed.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we'd be, you know, that's what we want is a state teacher of the year right here from Pastor Tank County.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_00: I see the potential personally.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_00: I can see it.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_00: I can see it.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we've talked so much about all of the great things that you guys do for others and will continue to do for others, but I want to take a step back into the past, I guess.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_00: This is more of a feel-good question, but just because I have heard things like this from teachers and from administrators, and I'm curious to know each of your answers whether or not you have a special moment that when you've had a rough day or when things get a little bit jumbled.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_00: And and Ron, we talked briefly earlier about um teacher burnout before we started.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_00: But, you know, when when you start to feel like that, I'm wondering if either of you have a specific moment from your teaching career, from your administration career that you're able to look back on and say, okay, that's why I do this and that's why I'm going to keep going.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_02: Well, first of all, let me say that I'm honored to have been selected to be the teacher either for the district because there are some really good teachers in DC PPS and some really good teachers at Northeastern.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_02: And when I first came to Northeastern when I when I first went there, and I got an opportunity to see the teachers, my first hope was to be that good.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_02: You know, as I walked around with some of the classes to see the level of proficiency of some of the teachers, especially some of those in the social studies department.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, Lord, let me live long enough to be that good.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_02: And so that was that was my challenge.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_02: But um I sometimes have to go back to the source.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's one of the things that as educators we can do to keep it from being burned down.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_02: When I was younger, we used to have a little kerosene heater, and uh I don't know why, but it didn't have an electric start, you know, the little igniter.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_02: And so you always had to roll up the paper.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_02: I'm going way back.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_02: You roll up the paper and you would go to the stove and you would light the paper, and then you would try to move fast enough so that it wouldn't burn out before you could light the stove.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_02: And then sometimes you push the button and it wouldn't work, and you have to go back and you keep going back.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_02: And I think about that.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_02: Sometimes when we start feeling burnout, we've got to go back to the source.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_02: And for everybody, the source is different.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_02: You know, the source might be getting on your knees and praying.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_02: For some people, it might be focusing again around of students.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_02: For me, I've got to be in the environment of kids.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_02: And so whether it's going to the football field or to see, you know, some of the groups that are prepared, I've got to be around kids.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_02: To me, that is a source that helps me when I start feeling burnout.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_02: But my advice to anybody who starts feeling burnout, you've got to figure out number one, what is my source?
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_02: And you got to go back to the source.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_02: Because if you can go back, like we used to go back to the stove and you light the paper again, you have another chance to reignite your passion for education.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_02: And sometimes you got to go back more than once.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_02: Sometimes you got to go back before Labor Day.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_02: But that's okay.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_02: It's okay to go to me, it's okay to go back to the source as long as you go back.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_04: Absolutely.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_02: Because if you don't do it, you start getting burnt out.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_02: And then when you start feeling burnout, the next thing you know, the instruction, the delivery, all of that starts feeling burned.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_02: And then the kids respond, and then it just leads to a cycle that we don't want.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_04: Absolutely.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_02: And so again, we've got to go back to the source.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_02: And so for me, that's what I choose to do.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_02: Go back to the source, remind yourself why you do what you do.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_00: That's a great answer.
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I love loved, loved, loved your little story about the paper.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's the best way that anybody could ever put that.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_02: But it's amazing that we didn't get burned.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, because we're carrying kerosene and it's highly flammable.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_02: But uh, you know, praise God we we didn't.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um then Dr.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_00: Parker.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah, I love that.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_01: Go back to the source.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_01: I think we'll have to we'll have to say that tell them people go back to the source.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think one thing that comes to my mind is I was able to join your podcast with Erica Moore and Ruby and Brandon.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_01: And one of the things that is a source of inspiration to me is when I first came to Elizabeth City in 2022 and then in 2023, um, we took teams to over 40 inspiration visits to learn about places around the country.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_01: And one of the visits we took in 23, Erica went, she was a sophomore at Northeastern, I think, in 23.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_01: We went to Guildford County schools, and we looked at some high schools.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we looked at some internship and apprenticeship programs at some of Guildford's high schools, and we put 50 people in a bus, students, principals, family members, elected officials, spent the night, went to UNCG, and the next day we went and visited an elementary school in Guildford and saw a full Spanish dual language immersion program.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_01: And Erica, um Sean, Joel, a whole group of Northeastern and P Tank students that were there were currently in Spanish one.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_01: And we went into a kindergarten and first grade classroom and saw these kindergarten and first graders speaking at a higher level of fluency than our high schoolers were in Spanish one.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_01: And Erica, as a sophomore, um, left and came and was just so energized about seeing those kindergartners speak Spanish.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_01: And we then the next year launched the Spanish program, the dual language immersion program.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_01: Erica was selected by the board in her senior year to serve as a student board member.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_01: And in one of the last presentations that we had before the Board of Ed, before uh Erica graduated, we brought the JC Sawyer full immersion cohort, which at this time were students going into almost their second grade year, and they did a presentation for the board.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember um afterwards Erica kind of teared up.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_01: And uh she said, you know, it means a lot that we went and saw something.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_01: And then before she graduated, we implemented and she got to see some of our own kids here, first graders at JC Sawyer, um, speaking Spanish.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that is a reminder to me um that you know, even on our darkest days, we do make an impact.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_01: And we really can do a lot of things.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we can make a big impact on this community, um, even in the simple things, but we collectively, as teachers, the press, our leaders in the city, we just have a lot of opportunity to pretty significantly change outcomes for the residents of this county for the next decades to come.
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_01: And we're doing a lot of that in the county and the city right now.
• 42:28
  SPEAKER_01: And it does feel like the things that should be coming together for our community are coming together.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I think we're just at an incredible moment right here in Elizabeth City and Paso Tank County where we need to continue to invest like we are teachers, our educators, our community, our civic leaders.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then decades down the road, wherever we are, we'll know that we really made an impact here.
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I think Erica's story uh of seeing change happen just in two years is a reminder to me that sometimes change takes a long time.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it can happen really quickly.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_01: And that's a source of encouragement for me.
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_00: Gentlemen, it has been such an honor to have you here and to hear about the great things that you are doing for our next generation and for our community.
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_00: I really appreciate both of you taking the time to come on, especially it's the second week of school.
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_00: So I know you both have your hands full, but we really appreciate you taking the time to be here and to give us this insight.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for having us.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_00: And thank you so much to all of our listeners for tuning in to another episode.
• 43:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, just in case you guys missed our last episode, this is going to be a series called Superhero Educators.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_00: In addition to podcasts with the District Teacher of the Year and superintendents of a few of the districts in the area, there will also be written profiles online and in the paper copies of the Daily Advance under Superhero Educators.
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_00: So please make sure you keep an eye out for that.
• 43:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you will be seeing some insight from the wonderful super not superintendent, school teacher of the years.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, as we mentioned earlier, there are lots of amazing teachers in the Arch District right here in Pasquatink County, and you'll be hearing from them in print as well.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said, thanks so much for listening, and we hope to catch you on the next one.