Interview with a District Leader

Interview with Dr. Pedro Galavis

Director of Secondary Education, Round Rock Independent School District

June 12, 2012

What is your definition of leadership?

“It’s relational.  It’s about building teams, about collaboration and dialogue.  It’s about bringing diverse perspectives together to bring about student achievement.”

How do you work to develop a shared vision?

“Listen more, speak less.  Listen to the needs.   Use data.  Value diverse perspectives.  Bring people to the table.  Invite dialogue.  Communicate through action and words that none of this is about me, it is about us.”

How does the Superintendent or district leader accomplish wide range strategic planning?

“First of all, it begins with results – what are you shooting for?  Is there a three to five year plan?  How many stakeholders are involved in the plan?  The plan has to be benchmarked and it is important to progress monitor along the way.  I like to have the plan highly visible – put the goals on every agenda.  This is where we are going as a district.  We need to talk about it often.”

How does a Superintendent or other district leader promote and sustain a district culture that emphasizes student learning and professional development?

Dr. Galavis spoke to the importance of a positive district climate.  He believes it is important for districts to seek feedback from the community through climate surveys, but also sees a need for an external evaluation of a district’s “organizational health.”  Dr. Galaviz talked about a research study citing organizations that may have high morale but limited results, meaning that everyone gets along well and enjoys working with one another, but little work is getting done.  Conversely, you may have a “taskmaster” type of district in which everyone gets the work done, but are miserable in the process.  The ideal situation is an organization with high morale and high results.  District leadership sets the tone for this culture to develop.  When people are energized and excited about their work and come together for a common, higher purpose, the possibilities are endless.  District leaders need to always be learning, modeling this for our teachers and students.  We can always learn and get better.

How should Superintendents and district leaders approach the management of everything from budgets to technology applications?

“You have to have a high level of organizational coherence.  Whatever you are doing, the money has to follow it, and it has to follow kids.  Our vision, mission, professional development, goals….it all has to be aligned and targeted to students.”  He referenced the Harvard framework for organizational coherence and the importance of common language in a district.  Everyone in the district needs to know what we are about, and everyone needs to be on the same page. 

In our time together, Dr. Galaviz also referenced a study from the Vanaburg Institute from Brown University.  He shared that three important functions exist in every district:

·         Servicing – putting students as number one priority, customer service for teachers/community

·         Safeguarding – compliance, policy, regulations

·         Shaping – curriculum, professional development.

Reflection

One of the reasons I chose to spend time with Dr. Galaviz (besides his availability to meet this week!) is that I am consistently seeking ways to grow my knowledge of secondary education.  My whole career has been in elementary education, so I often put myself in situations to try and expand my experiences.  Ironically, when we are talking about leadership, it seems to transcend all grade levels.

 A definite theme in his responses was one of being student-centered, focused on clear goals, and all activities in the organization aligning toward those goals.   I chose the above five responses to share because I think all of those responses reveal this sort of thinking.  Dr. Galaviz is truly about kids and learning, and utilizing his leadership skills to bring out the best in principals and teachers so that they may do the best work possible for students.

I especially appreciated Dr. Galaviz sharing some of his current “reading list” with me.  I felt that I walked away with somewhat of a “to do” list to research and study.  I have been aware of Harvard’s educational leadership initiatives for quite some time, but feel prompted after this interview to spend some time on their web site.  I am also interested in the work he referenced from Brown University.  I connected with the idea of “Three S’s – servicing, safeguarding and shaping.”  Frameworks like this help me organize my thinking about a district leader’s role.