Why Curriculum Rollouts Fail When Teachers Don't Own the Change ft. Melanie Matta | Transformational Educators Ep. 37

Science of Reading implementation stalls when principals treat curriculum adoption as a rollout instead of a staff-owned decision.

Superintendent Melanie Matta moved Hope Elementary School District from the 20th percentile to over 50 percent in both ELA and mathematics, serving a 74 percent high-poverty rural population, by letting teachers believe the Science of Reading switch was their own idea. Practicing school leaders who want that kind of implementation intensity will hear exactly how Matta structured staff voice so buy-in wasn't a step in the process but the engine of the whole change.

Matta arrived at Hope Elementary after the district had appeared in local news for administrative problems, so she spent her first months interviewing every staff member individually rather than announcing priorities. By the end of year one she placed a staff member on paid administrative leave, a move she says the community accepted because ten months of consistent relationship-building had established enough credibility to absorb the disruption. Data transparency came next: every teacher could see every colleague's assessment results, and Matta deliberately framed low scores as instructional information rather than performance judgment. She also identified the Science of Reading during COVID, but withheld the decision until teachers arrived at the same conclusion through shared reading and direct dialogue with the program developer.

For leaders managing a struggling campus, the sequence Matta describes matters as much as the tactics themselves: credibility has to precede accountability, and accountability has to precede curriculum change. Walking into classrooms without a clipboard and sitting on a desk instead of summoning teachers to an office are the kinds of physical choices that signal psychological safety faster than any policy statement. The episode also surfaces a quieter argument about rural districts specifically: operational costs like well testing and bottled water shipments quietly erode the instructional budget, and Matta's performance gains happened despite those constraints, not after solving them.

Connect with Melanie:
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Hope Elementary School District | A Message From Our Superintendent
AASA
ACSA Region 11
Innovator of the Year Award by Parsec Education

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Transcript

Coming up...

Melanie Matta 0:32

If you don't have time for buy-in, imagine yourself in a new job in a couple of years. I don't say that to be harsh, but if you're truly in the business of serving kids and the school community, you must listen to their voices and give them choice. If you don't, you start to break down that trust and you start to work in a silo.

Dr. Matthew Flippen 0:57

That is Melanie Mata, superintendent and principal of Hope Elementary School District in California. She believes one of the biggest mistakes school leaders make is rolling out change before building ownership. When teachers feel like initiatives are being done to them instead of with them, trust erodes. Buy-in disappears, and even good ideas struggle to succeed.

Melanie Matta 1:20

And so because I allowed them to have that voice, because I allowed them to drive where I knew we needed to go, it made it seem like it was their decision to switch to the science of reading and ditch our other reading program because they had a voice and a choice in it.

Dr. Matthew Flippen 1:36

In this episode, Melanie explains why ownership matters more than mandates, how to gain meaningful teacher buy-in and what leaders can do to create lasting change without creating resistance. I'm Dr. Matthew Flippin, and this is Transformational Educators.

About Hope Elementary School District

Dr. Matthew Flippen 1:52

So tell us a little bit about the district that you serve in. We'd love to hear about the students, the faculty, and then I think how you've long you've been in that role.

Melanie Matta 2:00

So this is my ending my eighth year in the role. So about to start my ninth year as superintendent and principal at Hope Elementary School District in Porterville, California, which is in the Central Valley, kind of centrally located in between Fresno and Bakersfield. And my district is surrounded by Orange Grove. So we're in a rural setting. I serve about 230 wonderful, amazing students. About 74% of them sit at that high poverty level. I've got about 25% English language learners. And it's just been an amazing community. When I first took over the school, we were one of the lowest performing schools in our area in the state of California. And now we're one of the highest. And so we know that hard work, positive relationships, and all the other things that it takes to build strong schools actually is achievable and has happened here. And we get the privilege of sharing that with other districts across the state. So we actually invite other districts across the state to come and learn from us. We have a group of kids that bring those leaders around to all of the classrooms and really describe what our learning looks like around here and how we continue to serve our community in the best ways. And so that's probably one of the most rewarding things for me is to share our knowledge with other districts so that every student can be successful.

Dr. Matthew Flippen 3:39

Hey, thanks for joining us today. One of the things I love about these conversations is how they remind us your work in education matters and your commitment to growth can ripple out to change entire communities. At Graceland University, we support educators on that journey through degree programs and partnerships rooted in purpose, not just credentials. For more information, see the QR code on screen or follow the link in the show notes. Now back to the episode. Yeah, outstanding. I love to hear that. I mean, you've got a uh a population that's diverse and lots of lots of challenges, and so not not unique in that standpoint, but yet you have have uh obviously led a transformational journey along the way. Now you mentioned earlier before we hopped on that this was your first principalship, so in superintendency.

Melanie Matta 4:30

This is my first superintendency, not my first principalship, but my first yeah, superintendent principal combination role.

Dr. Matthew Flippen 4:39

Okay, which is not very common. Uh I mean, maybe in the more rural school districts it is probably. Um, but uh but definitely um definitely want to learn more about that as we move forward.

Why relationships were the first investment

Dr. Matthew Flippen 4:49

So when you when you arrived, I mean, there were I'm sure you saw lots of things that you could have addressed or wanted to wanted to tackle, but what was the first thing that you invested your time in?

Melanie Matta 5:01

The very first thing I invested my time in was relationships. I before I took over the role, I had the opportunity to kind of peruse the internet, which a lot of people do, and saw that this district was in the newspaper. People were talking about it online, people were talking about the previous administration and how things had had kind of gone awry. And so I really wanted to find out, not just from the people that were willing to talk, but everybody in the school district on how they felt things went before, how they wanted things to go now, um, and how they could be a part of the change. And so I really just invested my very first months of being in the role in listening, in building relationships. That is so critical to new leaders in understanding who it is that you serve, understanding the why behind why they're there, right? Because we have a lot of people who are here for not a paycheck. They're here because they want to be here. They want to serve in this community. And so, really finding out the underlying reasons on what keeps them here, because really, I mean, in my community, they could go elsewhere. We have two neighboring districts that pay far more than we do, but they stay for a reason, right? And so before I came, there was quite a bit of turnover, but finding out the reasons why those that stayed stayed. And now I hardly have any turnover. I hardly have anyone that leaves. If they're leaving, they're leaving out of state or they're retiring. Um, but it doesn't happen very often around here, which I'm pretty grateful for. Um, but just the relational piece, right? And that just can't be in the first couple of months. That has to be ongoing. The investment has to be real too. Like you can't just fake it till you make it with these people, right? Like you have to walk into their spaces every day and say, hey, how's your mom doing today? Or how's your, you know, something, how's your son's baseball championship? Did they win the game? You know, so all of those little things are important to people, right? I mean, they're important to you when someone remembers your birthday, or when someone remembers that your mom was ill last week and checks in on that this week. That's genuine, authentic relationships. And that's really what we're about here at Hope School.

Dr. Matthew Flippen 7:40

I love that. I love that. Yes, it's really starts with this heart of caring for other people. I mean, a sincere, I care about other people, I love other people, and I want to see them, I want to see them do well. Ultimately, that will come back to serve you well, but it does start with other people first. And uh, and that's and that is a mistake I think that that leaders, young leaders make at times is jumping right into wow, we've got so many things to fix that we skip the trust foundation that must be established before any real work can get done.

Melanie Matta 8:13

And people will work far harder for you if you have an invested relationship with them than if you don't, because they they don't want to let you down. And because they know that you value their work, they're going to work far harder for you. Like I'll give you an example. We are very data-driven here at my school. Our kids are data driven, our staff is data driven, and I'm super data-driven. And when our data starts coming in, like I just had a teacher come in this morning and say, Hey, our I've got my data in, but how's the rest of the school looking? And so they're very invested in what happens in the school overall, not just their scores, but in the school's overall scores. And as we continue to kind of discuss as a team, like what our data is looking like, they are far harder on themselves. Like she said, I know I had a couple of kids drop out of proficiency, and I'm just like, I'm torn up about that. So next year I want to, you know, A, B, and C. Now I didn't even have to go to her and say, hey, these couple of kids dropped out. No, she came to me. And that's what typically happens, right? And it's because we have that good relationship that they can be very vulnerable and saying, I kind of missed the mark this year, but here's what I'm gonna do to fix it. I was hands-off. I had nothing to do with that conversation. She came to me, right? And so that's far more powerful because we have that relationship than me going in there and having a more formal conversation with her about it.

Dr. Matthew Flippen 9:53

I would say that is not typical. It may be typical in your building, but I would challenge anyone listening to this to say, how often do your teachers come to you and share on their own initiative, um, how they did and where their gaps were. And that's a good check to see what kind of culture do you have? Uh so yeah, thank you. Thank you for sharing that and for building that kind of culture.

How do you make data transparent without making it punitive?

Dr. Matthew Flippen 10:15

So let's let's skip forward to you've you spent this time investing in in trust and culture, uh, you know, first couple of months and then ongoing. But but then when you got to the point of, okay, let's start to tackle some of the things that will move the needle for children. What did you identify as the areas you wanted to focus on?

Melanie Matta 10:36

So one of the biggest areas is that we didn't have any sort of data measurement in place. People were teaching, and that was going okay, not really, but you know, it was going. Um, so we really just needed to build the structures and put in place the systems that allowed for us to look at data and objectively. And I'm gonna challenge other people out there because most people don't do this, is we made our data transparent with the entire school community. Our teachers knew everybody else's data that, in addition to their own, they could see everybody else's. And we made it so that data wasn't punitive. Like your bad data isn't really bad data. That's just information for us to be able to capitalize on and grow from. Um, and so we really had to put that energy out that and make it safe for people to that's really hard to do.

Dr. Matthew Flippen 11:42

How did you do that?

Melanie Matta 11:43

It is, it is, but I just had to remind them that we all have the same goal, right? We all sat down at the beginning of the year and decided what our mission and vision were going to be together. I didn't decide it. We all decided together. Like, what do we want to make sure that we do for kids every single day? We want all kids to have every single access all day, every day. Not just one, not just a few, not just, you know, your top kids. We want all kids to have all the access every single day. And so as we continued to build upon that, we all decided collectively that if we were going to move the needle for kids, we had to be vulnerable enough to be raw and real. And they also had to trust in me, which I had already started building the relationships, right? Like they had to trust in me that this was not going to be a punitive process, that all data was good data, whether it was, you know, red or green, it's all good data. And what we now need to do is we need to understand where our teaching gaps lie and start attacking those. And so as I walked into classrooms, I don't walk in with a pen and paper or I don't walk in with an iPad. I just walk in with a smile. And I sit down next to a kid and I'm learning right along with them. And when I'm done learning, I go back to the teacher in the afternoon or I give a two thumbs up at the end of the day or at the end of the lesson. And if we need to discuss something further, then I just go into their classroom. I don't invite them into my office because that who wants to come to the principal's office. But I go into their classroom and I sit on top of a desk so that it's casual and it's non-threatening. And the more I did that, the more they discovered that they could trust the process of being transparent and open and raw and vulnerable and all the things. And so we continued to do that. And as we continued to do that, they continued to take more risks. And that was so beautiful to watch. Some were great and some flopped, and that's okay. Because what do we want our kids to do? We want our kids to take risks and for it to be okay. All of it is okay. So as they got used to me, they were able to discover that all of these things are okay. And now because I allowed them to be okay, then they in turn are like, okay, kids, like it's all right to be wrong. And it's all right to challenge our thinking as well, right? Like we've got kids challenging each other's thinking, and it's just become a beautiful, um, really kind of 360 of what our school used to be. Um, and now we're able to share our data with our students. Our students are able to see their data in real time and make real-time decisions on how much effort they need to put in to their learning. And some need to dial it up quite a bit, right? And they they see that about themselves. And some are like, oh, okay, I can coast this week. And some are like, no, I'm not okay with with green. I want to be, you know, dark green or you know, whatever. Um, and so yeah, it just it took a while, but going back to just being my authentic self and knowing that when I was in their role, all I wanted was someone to just come and sit alongside me and just say, either you're doing a good job, or let me talk this through with you. Or have you thought about this? And just given me the grace as I was a newer teacher to kind of learn by doing and refining and revising as I went along, and that knowing that there wasn't going to be some punitive outcome from that.

Dr. Matthew Flippen 15:58

So important. Psychological safety, right, is a prerequisite for learn for learning, for growth, for you know, for all of that. So um, so you and I also am picturing that they they your staff must have felt that they weren't on their own to figure out how to move forward with their data. How did you communicate that?

Melanie Matta 16:19

So we had data meetings pretty often and just kind of discuss like what is this looking like for you, this cluster of students that maybe aren't performing well. And then the questions were, well, how can I help you navigate, you know, what's happening here? Or do you need any further supports? Or can I can I push in some professional development your way? Like, and it was all kind of hands-off at the time, right? Like, you can take it, you don't have to take it. Um, but I really spent that first year

Giving teachers choice in their own professional growth

Melanie Matta 16:51

building all of the trust and building the supports so that as they continue to be more comfortable, they're like, Yeah, I will take that professional development. You start to make it think like it's their idea. Because if you push it down their throats and they see it as something that that they're being forced to do, I can guarantee you that they're gonna get nothing out of it. But once you start making it their idea and they're driving the decisions, how much more are they invested in that learning and growth? Exponentially, right?

Dr. Matthew Flippen 17:28

Right, right. Melody, well, you're such an incredible leader. I'm listening to all these things. I hope our audience is picking up on how important these very specific strategies are. It's not that you said, hey, we're all going to go through this one training course and we all have to grow in the same area. The idea of I'll give you a menu, which one would you like to choose to help? Well, now you're like, oh, well, then I get to pick, right? I have control over that. So that is so important when we're teaching children and when we're working, working with adults. I really love that.

Melanie Matta 17:58

Yes. Now, some will say, you know what, like you have to know that you've got some, you know, teachers who are not very effective on your campus. And have I had them? Absolutely, I have. And let me tell you that the way I interact with them is far different than the way I interact with the rest of my population. So the way I interact with a teacher that's really struggling is I'm in their classroom all the time. I'm helping them, I'm giving them feedback daily. I'm sitting down with them and helping them with lesson plans. And if they still can't get it right after all of the help and support, well, then we kind of just come to a determination like this might not be the role for you. And let me help you find something else that's better, right? But in a dignified way.

Dr. Matthew Flippen 18:45

Because nobody wants with dignity, with dignity.

Melanie Matta 18:52

Critical.

Dr. Matthew Flippen 18:53

One of my early uh mentors said, you know, uh Matthew, when you uh when you hire someone, if they're not successful, most of the time it's going to be your fault. And I'm like, well, why is it my fault? And he said, Well, one, you made the decision to add them to the team. So that was the starting place. You're supposed to assess whether they fit or not. And then two, it's your job to coach them and train them. And and I think if we really take that seriously, and it sounds like you pour in so much time to ensure they have every opportunity to be successful. Now that takes time, so you need to be able to identify back to data, giving you where do I focus my energy and which which teachers need the most help. Uh yeah, really, really amazing. So, and I would assume that those first couple of years, you did have some, uh, you did have some turnover, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

Melanie Matta 19:40

Correct. I did. Um, one, I actually had to let go. Like I had to put on paid administrative leave and let go. Um, and that was hard, right? In your first year, when you're putting someone on paid admin leave because of something that occurred, that's tough. And that kind of rocks the community. Um, but the the relationships that I had built up until then, because it was at the end of my first year, like I had built enough trust at that point that the community and the rest of the staff trusted that I had the best interests of students at heart based on the, you know, the 10 months that they had known about me by then, that I was able to successfully kind of navigate that situation and um see it through. Um, it wasn't easy. Um, but at the end of the day, if you are not right in this role and right for kids, then I I really challenge, you know, whether this is the this is the exact spot for you, and I will help you find where your passion is, or I will help you um be on to the next role.

Dr. Matthew Flippen 20:59

Yes, absolutely. I love that. So you so you you you gather data, you train everybody on how to uh how to how to view it, and you work together to develop that. Then everyone developed their own somewhat strategies of how they would advance forward, and then you rolled out plans, and then you had to adjust course at some

What does it look like when a change initiative needs a course correction?

Dr. Matthew Flippen 21:19

point. What's an example of identifying that, how you handled the, okay, that was that didn't do what we wanted, and then lead to the adjustment.

Melanie Matta 21:30

So one of those areas was in reading instruction, and I just noticed that our upper grade kids, like our fifth through eighth grade kids, and even kind of down in the more middle grades, I noticed the same holes. Like we've got this phenomenal reading teacher, we've we've got teachers that are teaching reading great in the primary grades. So why are all these kids experiencing these huge holes? And they're all the same. And so, what's happening in our reading program? And so I really had to take a look at that and and kind of figure out what our next steps were gonna be. And at the time, COVID had just hit. And so I was able to step back and I was able to kind of do a lot of reading in the science of reading at that time. That's when science of reading um materials had just come out, or the the philosophy and all of that. And my gosh, I need to dig into this more. And I'm thinking, Oh, this, like these are the areas where we're missing. And so I reached out to my staff and I said, Hey, I really want us to look into the science of reading. I want us to read more about it. I want us to really come together on why we need to switch gears in in our reading program because it was kind of successful. But then what we noticed in our in our upper grade kids were there there were holes. And so, how can we stop the bleed there and then really do what's best for kids? And so we just kind of put a halt on our reading program. We all kind of dug deep into the science of reading. And that year I found somebody who um had developed a comprehensive reading program and reached out to her and said, Hey, I'd like to pick your brain a little bit more, and got my reading teacher involved and got the rest of my teachers involved. And we just had some conversation with her. And then from there, the consensus was. I mean, I had already come to my own consensus, but again, remember, we're bringing people along so that it's everybody's idea. It's not just mine. And so as I continued to bring the people into the conversation, they were like, Yeah, we do need to change our reading program. And yeah, I would like to try this. And so that next year, we started the new reading program. And it's been the biggest blessing and the best change for our students as we are now in year, I think, four or five of implementation.

Dr. Matthew Flippen 24:04

Wow. Yeah, that's a beautiful example, Melanie. Thank you for sharing that. Because, you know, because I think the more common approach is uh less collaborative in the decision making, right? I mean, sometimes as leaders, we can fear the decision that we don't want made, right? And so if I bring people in and they don't agree or they're, you know, they we need to do this, and so let's just let's just do it. But you took an approach of, hey, let's learn together. And in the process of learning, you trust the process that you would come to a decision that would help children because everyone, again, can see the data. We can see with their holes. You're not the only one that saw the holes. And so, and we care about children and we care about each other. And so that process of, hey, let's learn together what might be solutions. And then someone said, I want to try it, and then that let you have some evidence of how that was working. And now you build building consensus, but not in a manipulative way. It really was a true, let's find a better way together.

Melanie Matta 25:16

Correct. Um, and I know that, you know, people just want to be heard. People want to be understood, but they also want a stake in the game. If they feel like they don't have a stake in the game, they're probably not going to be the best implementers of whatever change you've got coming. Um, and so I really needed to make sure that everybody was involved in the decision-making process, that everybody was involved in hearing um all about the science of reading or anything else that we've decided to change around here, right? Like they have to have a part, and their part is huge in the decision making. I just recently read, I was scrolling um, I don't know, Instagram or something the other day, and a neighboring school district, not here in this area, but just further north of us, was making huge decisions and restructuring their administrative teams, moving them all around in other schools. And one school had kind of put together a letter to say, hey, like nobody asked our opinion. You're taking our amazing administrator, and because that administrator is so amazing, you're moving them to another school that maybe needs more support or help, but nobody asked us for our opinion. And nobody asked these other schools for their opinion. And so just allowing people to have a voice in the process and listening to that voice is critical. And so, because I allowed them to have that voice, because I allowed them to kind of drive where I knew we needed to go, it made it seem like it was their decision to switch to the science of reading and ditch uh ditch our other um our reading program because they had a voice and a choice in it. I'm like, well, if if you guys want to do this, you know, and I'm I'm just yep, if you got, yep.

Dr. Matthew Flippen 27:26

If you don't want to, well, and of course, you know it's gonna succeed at that point because they put their name on it. And so now their their buy-in and yeah, their investment in it is gonna ensure, at least they're gonna give it their best effort for sure.

Melanie Matta 27:40

Absolutely.

Dr. Matthew Flippen 27:41

I love that. I love that.

What to say to leaders who think they don't have time for buy-in

Dr. Matthew Flippen 27:42

Yeah, you know, I can imagine, you know, Melanie, someone's listening to this thinking, I don't have time for that. I don't have time to get buy-in. How would you respond to that?

Melanie Matta 27:51

If you don't have time for buy for buy-in, imagine yourself in a new job in a couple of years. And I I I don't say that to be harsh, but if you're truly in the business of serving kids and the school community, you must, must listen to their voices and give them choice and give them that critical, critical time. It's critical that you give them voice in this space. If you don't, you start to break down that trust and you start to work in a silo. And when we start to work in silos, we see that that communication breaks down, that trust breaks down, that that all of these other critical pieces of leadership break down. And then what happens is people will start to have parking lot chats about you, people will start to have side conversations on social media about you. And little by little the the trust and the likability, the um ability to lead your district and the people that you serve starts to break down. And then when those things start to break down, I mean, you should probably start looking for another job because it's so much harder to then try to get things back on track and and serve your people well.

Dr. Matthew Flippen 29:34

Trust is one of those things that it takes an incredible amount of investment to to gain it. It takes a couple bad decisions to lose it all.

Melanie Matta 29:41

And you can't get it back after you lose it, or it's it's so hard.

Dr. Matthew Flippen 29:46

Even harder than it was to build it the first time. So, yes, I think that is I think that is great

The real numbers: how far the district has come

Dr. Matthew Flippen 29:51

counsel. So, Melly, we didn't talk about the specific numbers. You you mentioned that the the the district was one of the lowest in the valley. As you implemented these processes, what happened? What'd it look like? What's it look like now?

Melanie Matta 30:04

Oh well, we were in the 20 percentages in ELA and mathematics. And as we worked together as a team, we're over 50% in ELA, and we're at about 56% in mathematics. Now, are we at the top? No. We're, you know, in in the state of California, no. Um, but we are continuing to move the needle for kids. And um, with our population, right? Like we're getting kids all of the time from other districts that that move into ours that maybe haven't been served as well, or they've had some different family dynamics and they move quite a bit. And so they're just struggling learners, right? Um, and we have we have a critical, critical need to ensure that we're giving our best to our kids every single day, no matter if they've been with us from kindergarten or if they come in as their first day this first year. Um, and so what I have asked of our teachers is wherever they come in at, and because usually when they don't start with us, when they come in from other districts, they're very low. Um, but I don't expect you to have them at rock star status by the end of the year. I just expect you to move the needle. So what that looks like is maybe 50 points, 100 points, you know, whatever it is. Um, I don't expect miracles to happen because we can't expect that of each other overnight, right? Like that that's just not reasonable. Um, but all I ask of you is to just ensure that they're making at minimum a year's growth or more.

The personal why behind the work

Dr. Matthew Flippen 31:47

Often when I think about my why for this work, I picture one specific child uh as the persona of who who am I really trying to serve and what what does their outcome look like? For you, what's the story there? A child or or a staff member that is your that is your why?

Melanie Matta 32:05

I've got kind of two things. I've got I've got a child. Um, I won't tell you his name because it's a pretty unique name. I met him in my second principalship at a district foster student. Um, I mean, he's probably graduated by now, but struggled. Struggle with behavior, struggled with academics, just struggled. And I took a picture of him one day and it's in my phone now, and I constantly talk about him as I talk about my why. I bring it up. My husband brings his name up quite often as I continue to remind myself why I do this work every day. I do it so that he can have a better future, that his sister can have a better future, that every single child we serve that comes in in poverty, that comes in starving, that comes in, they've moved five different schools in in two years so that they could have a better future. Um, but I also do it because I serve in a small and rural district. And in my small and rural district, we're fighting right now for clean drinking water. We're having to pay from our local funding to pay for well testing, to pay for drinking water to be um shipped in to our school site every week. We do have a grant now, but originally we paid for drinking water. I mean, we live in California. Why are we paying for drinking water? Students should have access, students and staff should have access to clean drinking water. But yet we were paying for that drinking water. The state of California now pays for the drinking water. We pay for well testing, we pay for our fire pump to be tested. Um and all of that money comes out of the bottom line of what we can give for kids. That is another one of my whys. Another reason. We don't have we live in a very hot climate here. It gets to be 112 degrees here in the summer. Right now, my kids don't have a facility that they can go into, an air-conditioned facility, not besides their classroom, but we don't have a gymnasium. We don't have a way to house our kids in a large open space when it gets hot here over the summer. We've applied for funding, but guess what? When we get funded, we're not even going to get funded for the bare minimum amount that it's going to cost us to build this gymnasium. So then what? We can't pass a bond. We are we could go out and try to get funding from a bank, but then again, that's money coming out of our pocket that we just don't have as a small school district. And so my mission is to really allow lawmakers to see what it's like in small rural communities like mine that really move the needle for kids, but lack the minimum essential facilities to operate. I mean, my school is pretty old and it's starting to be run down. Um, I've got these nasty old bathrooms that I wouldn't even want to go to the bathroom in. Um, but yet the state of California says they're okay for now until, you know, we release the next round of funding, and then you can upgrade your bathrooms. And I'm like, but kids shouldn't have to live like that. You know, they they should be able to go to their school site and be proud of every single facility and have super clean, modern facilities to learn and grow in because we know that we they may not have that at home. So they should be able to have that at the school that they go to school at.

Dr. Matthew Flippen 36:10

Yeah, Melly, thank you for thank you for sharing that. There are definitely unique challenges that rural schools face that not not many people know about. So I appreciate that and being able to share that, you know, with our with our audience. Um, I also think about when you layer in that uh those challenges, how incredible it is that you still are having the performance and the retention and all the other positive, positive outcomes. So, you know, back to the power of relationships and trust that even though your facilities and circumstances, you're drinking water, I mean, these are some real things. Um, yeah, you can still be a team that cares about each other, cares about children, and and moves the needle in their in their growth. So I really just hats off to you for all that you're all that you're doing there. So um, yeah, just appreciate the opportunity to share this. So we'll we'll wrap up for today. So if you found today's episode valuable, please share it with a colleague or educator who would benefit. And if you haven't already, please follow Transformational Educators so you never miss an episode. And until next time, keep leading with purpose and transforming schools into places where everyone thrives. If today's conversation gave you fresh insight or inspired you to lead with purpose, please follow the show and tell a friend. It helps us reach more educators who want to make a difference. For more stories, resources, and tools to support your leadership journey, visit Graceland.edu. Until next time, keep leading with courage and care.