Michael Conner: [00:00:00] Morning. Good afternoon, good evening. Welcome to another episode of Voices for Excellence. I am your host, Dr. Michael Conner, CEO, and founder of the Agile Evolutionary Group. Of course, the proud host of VFE and today's guest is beyond a personal. Friend, she is just one of the, I like to say amazing educators, leaders in the state of California as well as across the country.

Michael Conner: I mean, literally we text talk every single day about some type of research, leadership concept, whatever it might be. And again, she is just a personal, personal friend. An educator that's making huge impact to influence. Specifically when we think about her work in the academia area. She's gone for not one.

Michael Conner: She already got her first, uh, doctoral degree, now she's back in [00:01:00] school again. You've never for your second, so the EDD and PhD, and I actually did the percentages of that. It's less than 1% in the world that an individual have both the Ed, d and PhD. So you're about to step into another tier, Dr. Garcia. So. I would like to introduce and bring to VFE Dr.

Michael Conner: Brenda Garcia, who's the proud assistant principal at Century Charter Century Community Charter School in Inglewood, California, as well as professor at Pepperdine University, uh, where she is. So say adjunct professor at Pepper nine University. Yep. Where she is leveraging her research as well as her conceptual model that we're gonna be talking about today.

Michael Conner: Across the country and presenting internationally, which we are going to highlight, but without further ado. Hey friend, how are you? I mean, now we can memorial, we, we can memorialize all of our [00:02:00] conversations, all of our text messages into one episode.

Brenda Garcia Castro: Thank you so much for having me. This is gonna be so much fun.

Brenda Garcia Castro: And you know, as you stated. This is gonna be us geeking out, so I'm excited about it, but thank you so much. I am honored to be here. As I've stated, you know, I've been listening to some of the podcasts just to one amazing, amazing educators, scholars. Researchers, you know, you've had it all. And when you asked me, I was like, oh my God.

Brenda Garcia Castro: Of course. Yes. Because I think it's so important and it's like everyone has so much to offer, as you mentioned, to this ecosystem, right? And we have so much to learn from each other. So I am honored to be here, to have been invited and to share just, you know what, I know who I am. And to be a resource to anyone out there that just wants to, you know, have a sounding board, bounce off ideas.

Brenda Garcia Castro: So here I am.

Michael Conner: Yeah. No. Dr. Garcia, thank you for coming on because a, the reason I asked you to come on VFE was [00:03:00] one, selfishly the conversations that we have, I believe that, you know, the, the, my, my audience would benefit from it because, you know, I think about now. Different strategic ways of bringing, bringing this, this core knowledge around education to a broader, to the broader ecosystem and the depth and breadth of the conversations that we have.

Michael Conner: Um, the messages, text messages with regards to different research. I mean, if you think about it to my audience. Dr. Garcia and I, we just go so much back and forth. We're just like giving each other researchers, giving each other concepts and everything, and I was like, wow, I need to bring this to my platform to VFE so that we can be able to share or disseminate our conversation so that now we can have broader impact for that.

Michael Conner: So are you ready Dr. Garcia?

Brenda Garcia Castro: I am. I am man.

Michael Conner: So now, Dr. Garcia, I consider you a ri, you are a rising star, right? I within the, i, I always say this, within [00:04:00] the next five to seven years, you will be a superintendent. I know you will, and I know unless you go into that vertical with academia having not one but two doctorates by 2026.

Michael Conner: But you're considered one of the rising stars in both academia and education, but your work with families. In community has been lauded by many recognized educators across California as well as researchers in the state. But for those that don't know you, Dr. Garcia, what song defines your leadership signature and the AC stage of education?

Michael Conner: And as you know, the AC stage means after COVID-19.

Brenda Garcia Castro: I love this question, and when I was thinking about it, several things came to mind, but one of 'em was after COVID stage of education. I experienced that as a student, as a mother, and as an educator, myself, an administrator. So for me, there was so many things happening, but one of the songs that really [00:05:00] captures the essence of how my leadership shifted is unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield.

Brenda Garcia Castro: And, and in this song, there is this concept, you know, change, but really leaning into that. Unknown, leading into, you know, what's coming, but also trusting yourself to write your own story, to really engage in your own growth. And I had to do that personally for myself. We know that COVID came to really shed light on a lot of inequities across education, but for a lot of us personally, it was, it was very.

Brenda Garcia Castro: Hard, you know, to transition to be what we were to everyone. And I'll speak for myself in that sense. You know, trying to really be a support again, not only for my staff, my students, but also for my children and the parents. So this is where my love for my research really started and, and [00:06:00] flourish because it really was a healing process that I had to go through in order to be able to stand here and say what, you know, I can talk about in terms of my research.

Brenda Garcia Castro: So that song just really, you know, brings me back to lead by example. Do what do you ask others to do? I remember telling parents like, oh my, you know, if you need professional help, make sure you seek it. These are the resources. But I wasn't doing that myself. You know, it's like I had to like really step back and be, no, you have to do what you're asking them to do.

Brenda Garcia Castro: You can lead in that form. So that is where it shifted. So, and Britain became one of those songs that really, you know, in terms of the signature, I lead with that in mind, like, let's do this. Lean into the discomfort. I'm here to support you. I'm gonna do the same, and we're gonna find this, you know, what's next together.

Brenda Garcia Castro: Um, but because I am bilingual

Michael Conner: mm-hmm.

Brenda Garcia Castro: I also have a song in Spanish,

Michael Conner: not one, but two. So you got, you always do stuff in two. You couldn't get [00:07:00] one, you know, doctoral, you had to get a second. So,

Brenda Garcia Castro: oh, there you go. There you go. Okay. Oh, so in Spanish, a song that's very similar in the, of the essence of the message, it's called Todo Cambia, and it's about everything changes and it talks about how everything, you know, the, the weather even, you know, the how the sun rotates Day and nine.

Brenda Garcia Castro: But it alludes to, if everything changes, why shouldn't I and why can't I? So moving forward into, as we move forward, we have to change. We have to change with the times. You know, we're going to this later on with ai, with innovation, like we as educators, as a parent, as a person, we have to educate and adapt and, and really grow with what's happening, uh, in our surroundings to better serve just those that we work with, our communities, our children.

Michael Conner: So, right. Dr. Gar, uh, Dr. Garcia. But I was writing this down, everything, just capturing everything you're stating. I see these [00:08:00] connected themes, right? And the, I, I love the phrase you said, lean into the discomfort. And these, when I think of the AC stage of education. Specifically these radical transformations that we have to underpin because of the people that we serve, the constituencies, our most important customers, families and students.

Michael Conner: Students. When we break that down generation, alpha, generation, beta, we have to lean into the discomfort because obviously the tivity. Of these changes are unknown, as you stated, but what I love what you stated with both of the songs is that we have to find ways to better service our families, our students and communities, which is absolutely true.

Michael Conner: You broaden the elements of AI and innovation where now we have to change the model. Or I like to say modern, modernize the model so that it be systemically aligned to addressing the [00:09:00] specific needs of our constituents and students and customers. But again, the support, you always bring it back to leaning into the discomfort because we got support our parents and our communities.

Michael Conner: Right. And that's the whole thing around leadership. There's this whole unknown entity that we don't know what we're going into, but we know that we're leaving and making these changes, being experimentive, and also putting our customers at the forefront, our families, students. And then I always love how you always add that element of community, which is gonna be so foundational.

Michael Conner: And the ac sta AC stage of education. But now if you continue to stretch yourself, right from professional and academia type of focus, that acceleration, this kind of goes back to your answers that you were talking about, your impact with students and family. It's just absolutely exceptional, right? It, it's exponential.

Michael Conner: The work that you're doing. I've seen you engage [00:10:00] in high level presentations, whether it be domestically or internationally, right? And then also your leadership work at Century Community Charter School with Principal Dana means, Hey Dana, how are you? Hope all is well with you. Right? And, but for those outside of California, Dr.

Michael Conner: Garcia. Who is Dr. Brenda Garcia and define your definition of students communities. Families specifically around impact within the educational model because again, I consider you, you, you're so intentional on the vitality with your work with students, communities, and families is impactful with that alignment too, the vision and also the articulation of strategies and objectives within Century Community Charter School.

Michael Conner: So who, who are you? And your definition of students, families, and communities? [00:11:00]

Brenda Garcia Castro: When I thought of this question, I thought of several things and, and one of the ideas that came to mind was that sometimes, you know, we can define ourselves, but it's often how people see us and what we do and the impact we have, right?

Brenda Garcia Castro: Like how we need. And I remember a letter that my father gave to me a few years ago, and in Spanish, he said, it is. Which means you're a warrior. Um, and in that sense, I just, in conversations I've had with him and just other people, it's about just moving forward. Like you don't give up. You, you, you move forward.

Brenda Garcia Castro: You know, how do you do all of that? And it's like, you just find a way, you find a way to fulfill that purpose. And again, the purpose is not for me, but for those that we serve. Um, so Dr. Garcia is someone that. She's a long life learner. There's always something next and it's like, oh, I've done this. Then what's next?

Brenda Garcia Castro: Like, how do I keep growing? How do I keep [00:12:00] finding resources? Who do I, where do I need to tap into? I ha I'm not done. I, I don't feel like there's ever that moment where I feel at ease. One, because I feel, one it's learning is, you know, we, we model, we model to our students, our children, like our parents, like we keep learning.

Brenda Garcia Castro: We keep growing. Second, we need to continue to adapt into that. To do that, we need to continue to learn and there are things that are not necessarily the most comfortable, they are not necessarily the our strengths. Right? That's why the whole learning idea of learning happens, and in terms of that definition of that community, it's essential.

Brenda Garcia Castro: I don't, I don't see students thriving without that. Intentionality behind supporting those that support them. Thus, we bring in our community to support parents, to support staff, to support administrators, to support their [00:13:00] siblings. They're they. As we support the Gen Next generations, we can't do it.

Brenda Garcia Castro: Individually, like no one does one thing on their own. It's about like, how do we leverage one, the relationships that's key. So important. It is the intentionality on how do we leverage those relationships We have to foster new ones to fast foster, new, you know, relationships with the community. It is essential for me to, to really be intentional in those moments, in those key moments.

Brenda Garcia Castro: And it's not about going and doing big things, it's the small things that count in my opinion. It is that smile. It is that handshake. It's that hug that sometimes a parent needs in order to understand that I am here for you. And because we do that, sometimes they know how it feels and they go and they do that with their children.

Brenda Garcia Castro: Where words might not always be necessary, but it is that feeling, that trust that you create and that you're able to, I think it resonates. And I [00:14:00] think that's, in terms of my leadership, I've always considered myself a resident leader. Because it's about being in tune and knowing to the best of my ability and continue to learn about those that I serve so that that leadership doesn't stay there.

Brenda Garcia Castro: It continues. It continues because if I work with a group of parents, those resources are now expanded and then sent to their neighbors and their families. So it could, it's like a ripple effect, and it starts with one person, but it has to be very intentional in order for it to have that effect.

Michael Conner: Yeah.

Michael Conner: Yeah. And you know, as you were unpacking the definition of leadership, right? Leadership specifically in the context of, uh, students, families, and communities, what, what was continuously resonating with me was a oppressor that Colin Powell had at the White House, and somebody asked them about leadership.

Michael Conner: He said that his sergeant, and I'm paraphrasing it, his sergeant has stated that, you know you're a leader when people follow you outta curiosity. [00:15:00] And when you think about, when I think about that, you know, and just observing you with, with within your community students, your teachers as well, people just follow you A for trust, right?

Michael Conner: And you highlighted that. And then also, two outta curiosity. You're providing the necessary resources and tools to your families as well as your community in order for them to not just reach this level of excellence, but accelerate. To this level of excellence as well. Uh, really loves your answer with regards to relationships, and these are all skills that I like to say, kind of like this perfect triangulation of relationships, trust, and a curiosity, but.

Michael Conner: To underscore that you, two things. You stated, you are a lifelong learner. I know that for sure. I see that all the time. And trust me to my audience, I know her. She, she has a conceptual [00:16:00] model that is really, we're gonna talk about it, that is really in depth, and you have to be a, a, a continuous learner. To develop and design a conceptual model with the depth and rigor that you did.

Michael Conner: And yes, you are a warrior. You're a warrior for your community, your students, and your families as well. But in 2024, you graduated with your EDD from Pepperdine University. Now you are okay, nerd. Okay, now you're currently on track to complete your PhD. In 2026 from Pepperdine University. So I, I would like to say like, yeah, I would like two doctorate degrees from Pepperdine University.

Michael Conner: Okay. That's a, please wear that hat with, so congratulations on a achieving the EDD and the next year completing your PhD. Under 1% of the world's population can say they can have both the EDD and the PhD. Looking at it now, unpacking it from this research standpoint, the research [00:17:00] threads of each of your dissertations, one that you completed and the one that you are working on now.

Michael Conner: How are you using the themes from your study to impact students within your school community? Then second for my VFE listeners, what is your research, that conceptual model that you designed, and how could they, my audience start to integrate strategies from a site-based standpoint so that now they can be able to implement and integrate these ideologies within their individual practices?

Brenda Garcia Castro: Yes. I can't wait for 2026. It definitely has been a journey and one that. As we talked, I get more excited about every time like I get into these conversations. So my commu, as I mentioned earlier, it, my first study really was a healing process. I interviewed immigrant mothers and I knew coming out of COVID, the toll [00:18:00] that it took on me as an immigrant mother myself, just with the support, the support, the support system.

Brenda Garcia Castro: So I dove right deep into, you know, how are we doing this? How are we doing this? What are the challenges? And because I serve this community, I did a site dissertation, so I, you know, was able to interview participants that self-identified as immigrant, Latina, immigrant mothers, and had a child in this particular school to really explore one.

Brenda Garcia Castro: Res what resources, what best practices, what challenges they face. And with that, you know, at the end of the, that dissertation and that research, I really was able to synthesize everything and learn that they wanted to grow, that they wanted access, that they wanted support. But that very often the systems that we navigate in the US.

Brenda Garcia Castro: Don't [00:19:00] allow for that, don't allow for that because English barriers, because, you know, authorization status, um, there's so many factors that they have to deal with on a daily basis. So for me, understanding and seeing, to be honest, I saw my mother in, in a lot of that, those interviews, you know, it's like her story.

Brenda Garcia Castro: And even though I'm an immigrant mother, I am very privileged in the sense that I am. Here legally. Uh, even though that wasn't always the case, that I do have the supports that I was, that I had, I have access. I have found ways to gain access to some of these systems to really explore and dive deep. But with that I understood like, I need to bring 'em back.

Brenda Garcia Castro: I can't. And it's like I need to, and this is everything that informed my model. So. All of this could not have been done without trust, and trust is gonna be a theme throughout every conversation I have with anyone, because if there is no trust in the relationships within schools, with [00:20:00] community-based organizations, it's gonna be very difficult for us to move forward and really support our community the way that they deserve to be supported.

Brenda Garcia Castro: Along that, that time, I also conducted some participatory action research in which I, you know, really dived into how are we supporting our students? Um, and I really focus in social emotional, which was something that our school was doing way before COVID. So it was not something new for us. But I also learned that, you know, we had gone from this surface level adaptation.

Brenda Garcia Castro: To like a really deep level adaptation. It wasn't just about like, oh, let me check that box. Our, all of our documents are translated, you know, we have all these resources available. Check. It's that checklist simply stated that we were doing something but we weren't doing what we really needed to do, which was really differentiate.

Brenda Garcia Castro: You spoke about modifying for innovation and, and for our students, well, we have to do the same thing for our parents. [00:21:00] It can, it can be just the students. They still, you know, their parents are their first teachers. How do we support them? Preferably since the beginning, right? In terms of having a lot of these sources happen in their, whether it is prenatal, two, third, early childhood, I am at a middle school and we, we noticed how much time, money, and effort goes into intervention into.

Brenda Garcia Castro: At this stage, a lot of the times it's a little bit harder to reach students and families, but if we do a lot of the preventive work, a lot of being proactive in some of the situations that we find ourselves with, you know, mental health concerns rising across the board, but specifically for. Our teenagers, it's so important to really focus on how do we support the parents to support that concept.

Brenda Garcia Castro: So our community partnerships, as we moved into really adapting to a deeper level, it, it was very intentional. And that's another word that I feel is gonna come up. The intentionality of like, who are we looking for? Who, what are they [00:22:00] needing? And it's not just about what I think they need, what do they mean?

Brenda Garcia Castro: How are we listening to them? You know, it's not just about surveys. 'cause that's, I feel that's another check. It's about having those conversations. Outside at the door coming in, having an open door policy. That's how we really engage, create leverage, trust, leverage those relationships. So this model that I created, it's called the Optimal Partnership for Thriving Integration.

Brenda Garcia Castro: And I did it with this particular population. But as I move forward and talk to other people, they're like, that model can be used with any population. Some I have someone that might be using this model with the unhoused population. Why? Because they still need the support. They still need the access. They wanna grow, but they still need to be based on trust.

Brenda Garcia Castro: But the, the idea and the factors that really ga like allow us to reach integration. One, they, they're cyclical. It's not a, we start here and we end there. We have to go back and forth. We have to continue to check in. We need to continue to motivate and [00:23:00] understand the situations because as we know, everything changes so often that it's never stagnant.

Brenda Garcia Castro: So we need to be aware of that. So that was my first, uh, study in terms of that model. Yeah. And just as I move into the second study, one of the findings was access. Access very specifically to the systems and. The special education system was something that came up in which the participants of my study, you know, struggled with.

Brenda Garcia Castro: I had 60% of my participants had a child who was diagnosed with a disability, and they shared that it wasn't easy and it wasn't easy. For obvious reasons in that sense of my research, the language barriers, um, you know, unauthorized status for some of them. But even when we do know, and I speak as a, from my point of view, [00:24:00] as a mother of a child with special needs.

Brenda Garcia Castro: Sometimes even when we know how to read IEPs or know what to expect, it's still hard when we don't have a support system, when we don't know who to turn to, when we don't know where to find resources outside of the school because they exist. It's just, do we know where to look? Has anyone shown us that path?

Brenda Garcia Castro: So I'm diving deeper into how immigrant families, so this time I am going to look into moms and dads. I wanna see both perspectives, but also immigrant families. So I will be looking at families that have migrated from different parts of the world because I feel like there is an intersectionality between culture and access.

Michael Conner: Absolutely. And I wanna expand on that, Dr. Garcia, when we, when you, when you think about your model that you created, right, and, and the variance of your model, I should say, the tenets of your model is multi adaptive. Multifunctional specifically can't be integrated, integrated into any sector of the [00:25:00] education ecosystem.

Michael Conner: Now you talk about the intersectionality of the actual model itself. For my audience. What are the core strategies or approaches that I can use with my immigrant family or my families or my migrant families? But moreover, can there be this interconnection with the general population, quote unquote general population within the education ecosystem?

Brenda Garcia Castro: I definitely think that this is possible with the general, you know, general ecosystem there is. Because again, I, I created this model based on the research with immigrant mothers. However, the more I read about it, the more I engage with it. It doesn't, it's not exclusive. Right, right, right. To them, it really is that there are so many parents, regardless of immigration status, regardless of culture, regardless of socioeconomic status, that can benefit.[00:26:00]

Brenda Garcia Castro: From differentiation, and I think at the end of the day it, it is about how do we differentiate, how do we really dive deep into the needs of the community? And it takes time and it takes relationship building. It takes trust. And I think that that's where sometimes it, it might seem a little bit overwhelming because it's like, this parent needs this and this parent needs that.

Brenda Garcia Castro: Yes, the answer is yes, and they do. So we work with that. So we, we invite them, we, we make sure that we're there. And part of it is like, do we need to hire someone else? Not really. It's like we have the staff that we have and if our staff has that same mentality of, I need five minutes to explain this to this parent, or to, you know, have this phone call, or to, you know, translate for them, for those of us that can, that goes such a long way because they can trust us and when we recommend a service or an agency, they trust that [00:27:00] we are.

Brenda Garcia Castro: We have their best interests and that can be the, it really can be the difference between the services they get, the support they get. To be honest, even it can be life changing.

Michael Conner: Absolutely. Dr. Garcia, you know, one thing that you highlighted, which I consider three, not just meta themes, but mega themes, which is around access culture and the way to different differentiate for the needs of the community.

Michael Conner: I think those are. All essential, essential pillars. I like to say educational imperatives because we do, when we think about it in the context of access, we have to provide more access to our families, right? And specifically with the, the, the, the frames and the themes of your study that's focused on immigrant parents.

Michael Conner: And when we think about. Culture century has that culture. I've seen it firsthand in Englewood and how you're able to differentiate [00:28:00] amongst your families, right, and amongst the community to bring that together. But I, I always say this, Dr. Garcia, that one dimension in education that needs priority attention.

Michael Conner: Our, our migrant families and also immigrant families. Right. Specifically supporting them and rooting them to be involved in the landscape of the schools with e even organizations or networks. Right. I consider your school, like I said, one of the best. I, I just absolutely love and I think it should be modeled and emulated by many schools and districts itself.

Michael Conner: They, and it went to my audience, the triangulation. Of families, schools, and, and, and students. Right? It all impacts culture, Dr. Garcia, right? That takes time to build sustainability. With regards to culture, the intentionality you've been using in the words, right? That that is, that is the, that is the core focus of it.

Michael Conner: But what were your steps or [00:29:00] what are the steps to create such a dynamic model where now there's, I like to say that. Equilibrium or that continuum between culture and community and how you're rooting successful programs to ensure that your families are involved, specifically your migrant and immigrant families, and how you're welcoming them, but moreover how you're impacting them.

Brenda Garcia Castro: As you know, I've been in this school for 20 years and I started as an instructional aide, a teacher every possible. Position between now and then, and assistant principal now, and I've had some of our coworkers, now, our teachers instructional as my students, and I've known some of these parents for many years, and even though I've been in this position for 12 years, my goal was that like, how do we create just what you described that ecosystem [00:30:00] like, but.

Brenda Garcia Castro: But not in just paper. Right? Like, not this, like, oh yeah, we're doing all of this, therefore it should work. And it doesn't work that way. Like you have to really be intentional. I think that the fact that we, the autonomy that our teachers have to create those cultures in their classrooms as well, that we created systems and not by we, I don't, I don't mean like Dana and I, you know, this is, we as a school like.

Brenda Garcia Castro: We sit down as a staff and it's like, this is what's happening. There's gonna be a big change. How do we do this? And part of it, I believe, is the fact that in administration, again, Mrs. Fulton, Ms Means, and myself. We've all been teachers at this school. We all know what it is to say like, oh really? We have to do this.

Brenda Garcia Castro: Okay, how do we implement it? We still have lesson plans. We still have to do this. So we are always kind of shifting our heads. It's like, okay, as a teacher, how are we gonna take this? Let's talk to the lead team. Let's do this. It is that communication, but that honest communication, that transparency, and even with parents, it's like, okay, come in.

Brenda Garcia Castro: We're we're doing this. [00:31:00] Or even parents that come in on, you know, individually and it's like, I heard this, like how are we dealing with this? Like, is this something that we can do? How can we support with that? But I think it is, how do we listen to stakeholders? Because that even goes for students.

Brenda Garcia Castro: Students come in and it's like, Dr. Garcia, I have an idea, and it's like, how do we do this? What about that? And out of those ideas, like things grow, like a new initiative, a new project, a new something. So we're very, we try to be very in tune with those that we serve. We try to, you know, leverage, again, those relationships.

Brenda Garcia Castro: A lot of the times we have new parents and it's like, oh yeah, my aunt and my nephew we're here, you know, 15 years ago and I couldn't wait to come and I couldn't. So when you talk about Century Community Charter School, like it, that's what it has become in the community. We, we, you know, usually have a lottery because we will have more students that we can accept.

Brenda Garcia Castro: We usually have a wait list throughout the year. We have parents [00:32:00] that continue to come, parents that this is their last child, and it's like, can you not take me away from, you know, that, that list of parents, I wanna keep coming, I wanna keep doing this. Like, will you, you. Me if I come back. And I was like, of course.

Brenda Garcia Castro: Like you are just like the students and just like the staff, you know, once a bear, always a bear. So come back, keep, you know, keep us in your life as well because this is what we are, we're not just part of the community, we're part of their life. And a lot of them see us as family. And I feel that when, when you want to create that, that's how you have, that's the mindset you have to have.

Brenda Garcia Castro: If you walk in with. Parents are gonna do that and students are gonna do this, and staff is gonna, and we're gonna do this, then you're not elaborating, you're not really engaging in that dialogue that's necessary to really understand, to really listen. Now, are there disagreements? But of course there are, right?

Brenda Garcia Castro: Like we're not always gonna be on the same page, but it is in those tough moments that you see all that has been built before. [00:33:00] That you are able to really have those discussions and those, you know, moments in, okay, we're still doing this for our students at the end of the day, that they are our why we, none of us would be here if it wasn't for that.

Brenda Garcia Castro: So how do we move forward with that? In mind

Michael Conner: you, you elevate it and promulgated the definition of innovation, right? With one phrase where you said, listening to stakeholders and when you listen to your stakeholders. How intentional you have your teachers and community involved in the decision making process, having that, I like to say structured level of agency and voice, that's where your Es, that creates that dynamic culture that impacts community where your outputs, Dr.

Michael Conner: Garcia is, I always want to be a part of this school beyond. When my child graduates from Century and I I've seen that [00:34:00] firsthand. I'm like, and I remember I said to you, I, I, I, and I quote, I'm like, Brenda, your, they, they, they, they love this school. Your, your families love this school. You, you, the kids love this school.

Michael Conner: You don't really see when you walk into a school where everyone just loves coming, is intentionality of how you built that culture. And it connected those threads of communities, families, your teachers and students. Just an absolutely marvelous job that you and Dana have done. And the teachers there, uh, shout out to them.

Michael Conner: They are great. And to my audience, Dr. Garcia, as well as Ms. Dana means, who's the principal of Century Community Charter School, please go and visit them and just learn about the dynamics of community partnerships programs. And then also to culture, right? I, I really love to assess a schools or organizations, or organization's culture.

Michael Conner: The intentionality of culture behind values and tiered [00:35:00] assumptions or basic assumptions, the underlining genetics that are not visible within a culture. And you have all of those top tiers, Dr. Garcia, that you have. But again, I think the reason and you captured it, is through this phrase of listening to your stakeholders.

Michael Conner: We don't do that a lot in education. We always want to depend on, you know, our academic knowledge, our academic register, and vernacular and concepts where sometimes listening to our stakeholders can be mitigated. But it's intentional what you're doing and within your community, just a marvelous, marvelous job with that.

Michael Conner: But now I wanna take you to this 2030, right? And we've, this is a lot of our conversations that we were talking about, right? What this future of AI looks like, the 22nd century education model, my model, how it integrates with your model to talk about to support families, communities, [00:36:00] specifically immigrant families and migrant families as well.

Michael Conner: But. These conversations that we're having 2030, Dr. Garcia is roughly five years away. That is, that is scary. Right. And that's why we've been talking about the, the 22nd century. But what school considerations, and this is just from your level of expertise. Align it to your framework or your conceptual model, and then also some of the, I like to say meta themes that are highlighted in both your EDD work and PhD work, but what school considerations should be discussed to involve families, students, and communities with regards to transformation focused on AI and workforce development?

Michael Conner: Right, because now when I look at your model and bringing in some of these indicators from the 22nd Century education model, I automatically think about AI and workforce development and how we're [00:37:00] supporting families and students and communities. To be able to accelerate generation alpha and generation beta in this 22nd century focus.

Michael Conner: So moving away from the, I like to say theoretical description of it, what does this co-design look for? Empowerment, to prepare communities and families for this inevitable shift?

Brenda Garcia Castro: I think that we often fear what we don't know. And I feel that this is the case, even as a, as an educator, myself, as a researcher, as a parent, as a community member, when we have, I mean, COVID was a perfect example.

Brenda Garcia Castro: We did not know how that was going to affect us. I think we're still seeing some of those repercussions. So when we know that something is new or new to some of our stakeholders, we need to one. Be informed, like learn like dive deep. How do you, because you're gonna [00:38:00] have questions and you wanna be able to answer them to the best of your ability and be able to say, you know, it's like, let me get back to you on that.

Brenda Garcia Castro: I, we saw this part, but I haven't seen this aspect of it, but really be able to engage in conversation, as I said, based on my model, based on what I've experienced. Parents wanna learn, they wanna grow, they want to like, uh, support their children. That's why they're here specifically, again, this particular group of parents that I work with.

Brenda Garcia Castro: They've sacrificed their lives for their children. One of the themes that kept coming up was they wanted their children to be self-sufficient. They wanted them to be okay when they were no longer there. Some of these parents are already thinking like, I am not gonna be with my child all the time. And that can be for, you know, very various unforeseen reasons.

Brenda Garcia Castro: So if we support them now. To support their children in, in these areas. Artificial intelligence and just technology [00:39:00] as a whole in their own mental health. Like I think that that's important to make sure we highlight they. Are looking for some of these resources, they just dunno how to access them. They are scared of like, what does that look like?

Brenda Garcia Castro: Who is going to judge me? There's a big stigma, and it's not just for me but for my child. So if we normalize those conversations, you know, all of this is tied together, we can really, you know, talk about one thing without talking about the other. If we support them where they are able to be okay with, you know, receiving support.

Brenda Garcia Castro: Then they will be okay with their children receiving support. And this is both in, you know, if it is through a therapist, if it is learning a new skill, if it is having these hard conversations, um, we know that AI is amazing, but when they don't know it, they're just like. Against most of the time. And we've had, and we've had, you know, the, those shifts where parents are like, oh, this is great.

Brenda Garcia Castro: Now I [00:40:00] can use it for this. Now I can. So they become familiar where now those conversations are had with their children, and now their children is like, mom, dad, look at what I found. This is what I'm doing. Isn't that great? And I feel like a lot of times when that communication doesn't exist, and this is with between all stakeholders, between the school and the parents, the parent and the student.

Brenda Garcia Castro: The student, it, it, it creates. This dynamic in which we're all fearing probably the same thing in our own little silo. Yeah. So it is creating these spaces to, to understand that, you know what, we, I might not necessarily have it all down too, that scares me a little bit, but let's explore it together. And you know, I have an 18-year-old and I'm just like, and a 15-year-old and I see it, but again, you know, it's like I've come from it also from as a parent perspective.

Brenda Garcia Castro: And I'm like, okay. Like, how are our parents feeling? If I'm feeling this way, how are they feeling? You know? Yeah. 'cause and it's not about like, no, it's how can they teach us? And [00:41:00] that's the other thing I love. I'm an appreciative inquiry gal. I, I'm always gonna be like, strength-based, like, let's leverage their strengths.

Brenda Garcia Castro: Some of our parents know more than us in some of these areas as well. Like, how do we have those conversations? I've had parent meetings where I have one of our parent representatives and she's like, oh yeah, and we can do this on their phones. They're like, can you give a workshop on that? Because I don't know how to do that on my child's phone.

Brenda Garcia Castro: And again, that wasn't me. That was them. And now they're having workshops on their own, or I just facilitate the space and it's like, here, you know, you have this room for the next hour and a half. You know, teach them how to do that. So it's leveraging, again, it's not just the expertise that, that we might have that our teachers have, but kids have a lot of experience.

Brenda Garcia Castro: Um, they can support each other, they can support us, especially with technology. And I think it's this space of like, how do we dis domestic? You know, what these new concepts are, these words that are coming. Why? Because we need them. I think about my kids and I was like, and we've talked about this, you know, the different generations that are coming up.[00:42:00]

Brenda Garcia Castro: Like their jobs have not been, you know, we don't know what they're doing yet. We like, but they're inventing them as they go. But it's such a beautiful thing for them to have that opportunity and to have that option. I feel like it's just like we need to support that and make sure that students are ready for that, embracing that uncertainty as well.

Brenda Garcia Castro: So how do we support them in their self-esteem, in their idea that they're worth it, that they belong, that they can do it. Um, and we, not one person can do it individually. We all have to support our children.

Michael Conner: I love how you said to Demystify and I, and I think that demystifying, I think some of the notions that we have when it comes to these new threads.

Michael Conner: Right of the 22nd century that I'm highlighting, understanding the generations to this depth and breadth. I love how you said we have to demystify some of that and scaffold and [00:43:00] desegregate that, but having, you know, students leading students, parents leading parents as well, you took kind of like that ethnographic, empathetic approach of understanding it from your lens through as a parent, through your kids.

Michael Conner: To now be able to design intentionally to bring this and scaffold it amongst your community and families as well. Very intentional from that because you know you are absolutely right with the phrase you stated. Fear of what we don't know. We don't know about this, these new dimensions of ai as they're rapidly changing every second of the day, workforce development, how is that going to be integrated with AI jobs?

Michael Conner: We don't even know about the unknowns generation, alpha and generation beta and how. They're going to have, I like to say this reactive context from a, a research standpoint or a statistical standpoint of if we don't [00:44:00] change the model, and then another unknown is how are we gonna be able to prepare our families and communities for.

Michael Conner: These future trends of the 22nd Century education model, but really I love the intentionality. Very strategic in the context of how you're preparing your community and your families for. The unknown for these various threads that are scary. Let's just be honest. It's, it's a scary time. It's a, it's a, it's a time for opportunity and challenge, but the unknown is, is very scary because they're very new and they're so new and they're changing constantly.

Michael Conner: That is hard for us, even myself, to keep up with all these changes in AI with yourself. But I love what you stated, right. Putting families and communities as a focus and leveraging them to be able to carry us through on the journey. But Dr. Garcia. Last [00:45:00] question. All right. And knowing you, being one of my, my good, good, good friends.

Michael Conner: You're a rule follower, but I wanna see how you're going to be able to do this, because every other guest on VB has not followed the rules with this question, but

Brenda Garcia Castro: I probably won't. You

Michael Conner: probably won't. I know, right? Knowing you, what three words do you want today's audience to leave our podcast with?

Michael Conner: Regarding innovation, community and student agency in the AC state of education.

Brenda Garcia Castro: I warned you already, so my first word, and I've said it throughout the entire time here, is intentionality. Like I just feel that is, and it's not intentionally has so many, it, it can be so many things. And I think I've, uh, alluded to it in different contexts, but intentionality with ourselves.

Brenda Garcia Castro: I feel that in education, [00:46:00] we are often the last ones we take care of, and we've even had this conversation because we believe in what we do. We believe in serving, we believe in our purpose to be there for others. So intentionality in the way we take care of ourselves, intentionality in the way we serve others.

Brenda Garcia Castro: Who and what are we talking about? Who are we bringing in? Who are, how are we referring out? How are we collaborating, intentionality with the way we look at our, our students? You know, there's so many things. One of the things that I love that I, you know, work with here is our multi-tier assistance and support.

Brenda Garcia Castro: Yeah. When I did my research on this, we do universal screening. We do, you know, we have a tier one, tier two, tier three. We are a P-B-I-S school. But all the resources that out there, and even with some of these things, 15% of schools are, you know, doing screenings 15, where we know that, that obviously partner with other data 'cause could really support [00:47:00] students, especially ours in the climate that we're in right now, in the population that I serve.

Brenda Garcia Castro: Like we, you know, we need to be very intentional with what we're ready for, uh, what we're not ready for, and how do we leverage the partnerships that we have. So intentionality is, is my first one. Um, my second one would be, I'm still gonna try to keep, I'm gonna do this, this access, and this came from my research, but I think when you're intentional about finding out the needs of the parents, of the students, of the staff, then you're able to provide access to those either organizations, to those spaces, create those spaces.

Brenda Garcia Castro: So what is access to those stakeholders and how do you leverage, what do you have? To grow. To grow, grow and then able be able to, which is my last word, provide the support mm-hmm. Support systems against another finding in my research, but very intentional in, in how do we do it here? The support system might not always come for me.

Brenda Garcia Castro: You know, I, I could be a support, a part of a support [00:48:00] system, but it doesn't always have to be. And I know, again, from experience that. Some of the, the, the community that we serve, like we, they, they wanna have those support systems. They just dunno how to get to them. They don't know who to ask what to ask.

Brenda Garcia Castro: Um, and for some that are ready, the support system is different. And I'll share a, a very brief story. I had a parent who, one of our community partners offers parent coaching and she came in and she's like, do you have a minute? I was like, of course. So we sat her and she's like, I don't know how to do this.

Brenda Garcia Castro: I was like, okay, what don't you know how to do? How do I help you? So we sat on my couch and I helped her, and she took out her phone and I had the QR code. And so that was what she needed, but she needed to be able to trust me in order for her to be able to ask me that question. So again, those supports can come from anyone in the school.

Brenda Garcia Castro: And the last thing I'll say is that if you work in a school, you're an educator, regardless of your title. Because everyone sees you. You interact with the students, you interact with the [00:49:00] parents, you interact like all this. You are part of that community, so be intentional with that, those relationships that you build because you might be that one person that child needs that day.

Michael Conner: Absolutely. Intentionality, access and support. Dr. Brenda Garcia. Thank you so much for coming on VFE. I tell you every day that we speak, I just enjoy our conversations because you know, sometimes I find myself really going down, I like to say this rabbit hole of technology, ai, innovation, statistical models, and analyzing that.

Michael Conner: Always bring me back to the research and the academic aspects of it. So I'm like, yes, I got, I get my feel of both every single, but Dr. Garcia, if anybody wants to contact you with regards to potentially setting up a visit [00:50:00] at your school to examine your community programs and partnerships that you have, culture, how you're unpacking that.

Michael Conner: From a strategic standpoint strategies, and they actually live it to by coming to Century, uh, community charter school, or even threads of your conceptual model and research, how would they be able to contact you?

Brenda Garcia Castro: Please, please, please go ahead and email me. It's probably the easiest way, but that is B as in Brenda Garcia, G-A-R-C-I-A at Century Community Charter.

Brenda Garcia Castro: Century community. Okay, hold on. Century community.org. It's like trying to say the school's name, but if you contact Dr. Conner, BGarcia@centurycharter.org, please feel free. I'm always, as I said, I love to grow. I love to learn. I love to just, you know, lean into something that I am not familiar with. So let's discuss.

Brenda Garcia Castro: Let's bounce off ideas. Super excited.

Michael Conner: Absolutely. Dr. [00:51:00] Garcia, again, thank you for coming on VFE, my friend. You know, I love you to death. Appreciate you so much, so much, so much, and this is just great to highlight you and your work here. So as you already know, I always say onward, keep going. You, you, you got it.

Brenda Garcia Castro: Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. It was an honor and I can't wait to just continue to collaborate.

Michael Conner: Absolutely. And on that note, onward and upward. Everybody have a great evening.