Addison Davis [00:00:03]:

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the inaugural episode of Superintendents Unplugged, In-depth with Davis, the podcast where we will dive deep into the world of educational leadership. I'm your host, Addison Davis, and I'm Thrilled to have you join me as we embark on the inspiring journey together. As a superintendent once myself, I understand the challenges and complexities these that come with leading the school district. But what I've come to realize is that there's abundance of amazing work being done by superintendents all across our country. This podcast is a platform to shine a spotlight on their incredible accomplishments and innovative approaches. Each episode will bring you exclusive interviews and superintendents from various districts across our country, both big and small, urban and rural, as they share their personal stories, triumphs, and even their moments of vulnerability. We will explore the strategies they employ to tackle the ever evolving landscape of education, from fostering equity and inclusivity to embracing technology and preparing students for their future. But this podcast isn't just about showcase and success.

Addison Davis [00:01:09]:

It's about fostering a community of educational leaders who can learn from one another, share their experiences, and collectively navigate the complexities of our role. We'll discuss the tough topics as well, the difficult decisions, and the innovative solutions that are transforming education for the better. So while you're an educator, a parent, As students are simply someone who's passionate about education, this podcast is for you. Superintendents Unplugged is your behind the scenes pass as to the world of educational leadership where we uncover the stories that inspire, motivate, and empower every one of us. Get ready to be inspired, challenge, and entertain as we embark on this incredible journey together. I can't wait to introduce you to the remarkable superintendent who are change in the educational landscape 1 district at a time. Welcome to our podcast, which is Superintendents Unplugged. I'm Addison Davis, the host.

Addison Davis [00:02:10]:

I'm here today with Kyla Johnson Fromell, the Oakland Unified School Superintendent. Welcome, Kyla. Thank you for

Addison Davis [00:02:17]:

being here today. We really appreciate it.

Dr. Kyla Johnson-Trammell [00:02:19]:

Oh, it's my pleasure. Happy to be here.

Addison Davis [00:02:21]:

Awesome. Well, you you know, we we talk about being able to, you know, find superintendents that have had great success and longevity in their positions. For you, you get a place we call home. We call Oaktown in Oakland Unified School District.

Dr. Kyla Johnson-Trammell [00:02:34]:

That's right.

Addison Davis [00:02:35]:

So, you know, talk about a little bit about how it has been to be able to lead a location where you once grew up and giving back to your community.

Dr. Kyla Johnson-Trammell [00:02:43]:

Oh, yeah. I feel like it's been such a gift, and it's been such a blessing, to be able to lead in a city that, I call home That in many ways raised me. I was a student there. I'm all the way through middle school. I spent my teaching career. I actually have the pleasure of teaching A block, above where I grew up. Wow.

Addison Davis [00:03:06]:

So

Dr. Kyla Johnson-Trammell [00:03:07]:

yeah. Cool. Yes. It was just very like a homecoming being able to come back and leave. And I always say it's it's the good with the bad. When people ask me how it is being superintendent, I always say it's crazy good because it's Crazy. There's always something that you're like, I gotta jot that down because no one will believe it. And then there's just so many, you know, beautiful moments Just being able to, do good, right, for your community.

Addison Davis [00:03:33]:

You know what? What it's all about is being able to create magical moments for students every single day. Exactly. And you

Addison Davis [00:03:38]:

and you look at the superintendency, and and I'm fresh out

Addison Davis [00:03:40]:

of 90 days out of superintendent role. And

Dr. Kyla Johnson-Trammell [00:03:42]:

we Recovery.

Addison Davis [00:03:43]:

Yeah. Recovery

Addison Davis [00:03:44]:

superintendent. We talk about how, you know, it's it's really hard to lead in the we're dealing with

Addison Davis [00:03:50]:

the current complexities in this role. You know, wanna know more about How you've been able to kinda create longevity in this position going into your 8th year as superintendent. You know? When when All the superintendents across the nations we see are popping in, popping out, new faces everywhere. Some of

Addison Davis [00:04:07]:

the ones that we looked at as mentors are are retired and transition Now due

Addison Davis [00:04:10]:

to the social and political complexities, what have you done really well to make certain there's great stability in your community because our communities need us the most?

Dr. Kyla Johnson-Trammell [00:04:20]:

Yeah. That's totally right. And I think coming out of the pandemic, that that need is even greater, right, for stability. And I think the it first starts with you, as a leader, I'm really being clear around what is it that you're trying to get done. Right? Whether you wanna call it your north star, whether you wanna call it your vision. Because so much in leading a complex public school system is there's crisis all the time. Right? And you You have to hit this drive where you don't let that become your north star in your vision, and you learn to deal with it, but not to consume, you know, every part of your cognitive being, so that you have time to really focus on the long game of what you're trying to do. I'd say that's 1.

Dr. Kyla Johnson-Trammell [00:05:04]:

The other thing is really people hear it all the time, but it's so true, like, really developing your self care routine. Absolutely.

Addison Davis [00:05:13]:

Yeah. You know, it's

Addison Davis [00:05:14]:

2 things you mentioned really important, COVID.

Addison Davis [00:05:16]:

COVID really exacerbated and and exposed

Addison Davis [00:05:19]:

a lot of deficiencies, a lot of areas, a lot of gaps with

Addison Davis [00:05:22]:

an education, not only from an equipment perspective, but a mental health perspective. And it also kinda created, you know, A focus where has been somewhat, I would say, not a area of focus, but, you know, there's not an action behind it. You've taken tremendous action in Oaktown. When you look at Oakland Undivided, you know, one of the your greatest stories that you have brought to the educational space. Talk about what that looked like in the future.

Dr. Kyla Johnson-Trammell [00:05:52]:

You know, I would say, it really came down to you know, I think The moment I I've seen some of the early text messages, right, with the pandemic hit. Right? Maybe it's just a clue. Okay. Now we're not gonna have to close schools, make sure people know, and then it just quickly ballooned into, okay, we're leading the pandemic. And the first thing that I, that I heard from my schools, my principals, was they were like, well, everyone's gonna be at home. How are the kids And I learned just hearing the stories of this kid goes to the library, and this kid's doing their research on the phone. And then as I started to look at my team, and I was just observing their thinking and the tools we had. I said, oh, this is gonna be way insufficient in terms of meeting this moment, in, like, 3 weeks.

Dr. Kyla Johnson-Trammell [00:06:44]:

Right? So, I luckily am a big believer, a huge vision and or a mission of our district is in a full service community district. I'm a big believer in long standing meaningful partnerships, and that really is how you can accelerate your systems and ultimately student achievement. So I always met with my mayor Prior to this month Sure. And so because we had a relationship, because there was working work that we were doing together, I said, I need your help in order to make sure that my students have devices. So we just started working, and sometimes right. That's what crisis does. I feel like maybe outside of the crisis, there would have been more we can't because of this, because of that. The people saw the need.

Dr. Kyla Johnson-Trammell [00:07:32]:

I came with an ask. I was very specific about what I wanted. I was very specific, and I wanted to be able to have data Because I was really looking for my most vulnerable students. Right? My black students, Latino students, my immigrant students, My unhoused off street youth, I knew those were the places and spaces in my city where there weren't computers Or Wi Fi Right. Or support, right, in order to use the devices. So it was bringing together the mayor. It was bringing together a community based organization that had been doing this work on a small scale for a while because they knew they already kind of had the, the blueprint. And then bringing my research and assessment team.

Dr. Kyla Johnson-Trammell [00:08:15]:

So we developed the infrastructure together. With the mayor's help, Right. We were able to get, like, huge donors, the owner of Twitter at the time Wow. Who basically donated the first 10,000,000, and then we just Unraised together, and we were able to put the devices. We took the, the lack of connectivity from twelve percent to about 99%. Wow. It's led to, yes, city policy. It's led to state policy, and we just now landed a federal grant, so we've been able to sustain, what we actually invested with philanthropy and COVID funds.

Addison Davis [00:08:55]:

You know what?

Addison Davis [00:08:55]:

That that is so remarkable. When we talk about this work, you know, one thing we have

Addison Davis [00:09:00]:

to understand is that we need stability, our children, and what you did with Oakland, you know, Undivided is really took addressed it not only addressed, you know, the digital gap, Being able to look at the, you know, technology poverty gap in in the digital literacy that you focus on as well. And and I think the the beauty that you've become a national model Or it's a community schools approach. It's understanding through your work in this process is that it takes the local delegations, the faith based partners, communities, Parents, caregivers, everyone that wrap their arms around education, you do some really special and cool things. And, you know, thank you for being that Trailblazer, thank you for being able to to be that champion. One of the things that

Addison Davis [00:09:43]:

we look in your strategic

Addison Davis [00:09:44]:

plan that many need to be able to understand as superintendents out there. In your strategic plan, you want to create a joyful environment.

Addison Davis [00:09:51]:

And you're talking about self care.

Addison Davis [00:09:53]:

Yeah. And we wanna build a psychologically safe life Everyone, every single day. So talk about what that means and the importance of it, especially now that we deal with most pandemic implementation to be able to accelerate student achievement, We're also to be able to create a longer, stronger bench of highly qualified skilled educators.

Dr. Kyla Johnson-Trammell [00:10:10]:

Yeah. Joy really, is about 4 components. 1, Facility. Yeah. Right? And I think it's you know, many urban places, our facilities, they're drab, they're dismal. They don't really you know, from an emotional place, like, students and families and staff feel like, I wanna be Here at the law.

Addison Davis [00:10:30]:

Wanted. Right? Exactly.

Dr. Kyla Johnson-Trammell [00:10:32]:

And we know that that has an impact on student engagement and learning. So I was really looking at we want choice Facilities is really looking at the school culture, particularly coming out of the pandemic, just some mental health. Most of our urban cities, we're seeing a spike in violence. So really thinking about safety as the basis of a joyful environment, Thinking about inclusivity, a lot of our work around equity, and what it means to make sure that all of our parents, regardless of race, Ethnicity, socioeconomic status, right, that everyone feels like I belong here, so that belonging, piece about it. And then the final thing is, like, the programming. Right? Most kids don't get excited about going to health for class. Right? It's the sports. It's the chess club.

Dr. Kyla Johnson-Trammell [00:11:21]:

Right? It's the debate club. And so how we're looking at adding More of that programming to really spark creativity, curiosity, all these 21st century skills that we're talking Yeah.

Addison Davis [00:11:33]:

Beautiful. It's all about developing the whole child. And and as we grow and in your mentality, you went further to develop the whole family. Yeah. And that's exactly what we're looking for. And, You know, $66,000,000 grant. I mean, wow. You know, how does that happen? And for those who are watching, how can they create a safe space that you have done every single day in Oakland.

Dr. Kyla Johnson-Trammell [00:11:54]:

Yeah. Well, I think it first comes down to, again, that North Star. Right. This wasn't something that, oh, the state's getting ready to do this. It sounds like a great idea. We've been just dredging along Over a 10, 12 year period. You know, I'm vague around systemic change takes time. It's one of the reasons why having leaders and systems for a while It's important.

Dr. Kyla Johnson-Trammell [00:12:17]:

You know, research says it takes at least 3 to 5 years to actually make that change. And so The fact that we have been focusing on community schools, we have been developing, the infrastructure. We had long standing partnerships like Kaiser Permanente that have helped us to develop models, school based health centers, being able to bring on other partners such as Salesforce. Recently, we've had just tremendous partnership with Eat Learn Play. They now have given us over $10,000,000 To just rebuild our playgrounds, to have that joyful space. And so the the foundation, our long standing meaningful partnerships Is when you get brilliant people together from different sectors That's right. You can make magic happen.

Addison Davis [00:13:05]:

Absolutely. Well, you You know what? Thank you for your time today,

Dr. Kyla Johnson-Trammell [00:13:08]:

and thank you, though. You're a

Addison Davis [00:13:09]:

really awesome space, and,

Addison Davis [00:13:11]:

you know, Oakland is so lucky to have you as their educational leader.

Dr. Kyla Johnson-Trammell [00:13:14]:

Thank you.

Addison Davis [00:13:14]:

For those of y'all watching, You'll continue to be able to be as innovative as you can as you actively engage your communities. Until next

Addison Davis [00:13:22]:

time, I look forward

Addison Davis [00:13:23]:

to seeing you at

Addison Davis [00:13:24]:

Superintendents Unplugged.