New School Year, New Beginnings with Superintendent Dr. Jared Cotton

Hopefully, every school district has leaders who are passionate about learning and the success of their students.  One such figure in Chesapeake Public Schools is Superintendent, Dr. Jared Cotton. In this episode, we get to know Dr. Cotton as he takes you through his educational journey and his passion for helping students find their own paths.

Dr. Cotton also shares some exciting new initiatives and programs for the 2023-2024 school year.  These initiatives run the gamut from school safety to ensuring our students get the best possible education.  Listen today to our first full episode today!

The Stories Behind Our Story

Transcript

Amplified

Matt Graham 0:00

Welcome to Amplified the Chesapeake Public Schools podcast.

Richie Babb 0:13

Chesapeake Schools is located in the Hampton Roads area of southeastern Virginia. We serve 40,000 students in 45 schools and three centers. This podcast is designed to tell the stories behind our story and to introduce and celebrate the people and programs that make us one of the premier school districts in Virginia.

Matt Graham 0:34

Alright, welcome to our very first episode of Amplified the Chesapeake Public Schools podcast. This is Matt Graham, and I am here with Mr Richie Babb.

Richie Babb 0:44

Indeed.

Matt Graham 0:45

Yep, and we are also here with a special guest, our superintendent, Dr Jared Cotton. Hello, happy to be here. Alright, and word on the street is that you are an avid tennis player. Is that true?

Dr. Jared A. Cotton 0:59

I'm a tennis player, I would say, and I enjoy tennis. I won't speak to how good I am at tennis, but I do enjoy tennis.

Richie Babb 1:08

Yeah, we decided not to ask that question, so so how's your?

Dr. Jared A. Cotton 1:12

summer been. It's been hot, I will tell you, but I been busy. A lot of people don't realize that there's a lot that goes on in the summer in schools. You know I still have people I run into and say aren't you excited that you have the summer's off?

Matt Graham 1:24

And I said no, I don't have the summer's off, we're working.

Dr. Jared A. Cotton 1:27

Right, and we're very busy preparing for the upcoming school year and it's a different kind of busy but it's very busy. But fortunately I did have some time to break away and take a little bit of vacation and, as the staff know, I had a chance to go on an Alaskan cruise, which was amazing. Nice With my family time to separate and get away, but of course. Now we're back and getting ready for the start of a great school year Awesome.

Richie Babb 1:49

Yeah, I would hate to have seen your email inbox when you got back from Alaska.

Dr. Jared A. Cotton 1:55

Yeah, surprisingly it wasn't too bad. One of the things I like about going on a cruise is you don't get your emails very well. Yeah, Right. And you do disconnect a little bit once the boat takes off and leaves the shore, but that does help with a nice break. But you're right, when you get back they're all there, Right.

Richie Babb 2:13

Right. So I think most people may know, but tell us a little bit about your connection with Chesapeake Public Schools.

Dr. Jared A. Cotton 2:21

Sure, well, I started as a student, of course, in Chesapeake. I started in fifth grade. I just relocated back to Virginia. I had my family was well-rooted here in this area, norfolk, chesapeake area. So I started as a student in fifth grade at Crestwood Intermediate. Of course at the time it was an elementary school. It was grades probably four through six at the time. I know it's a little different now, but so then I went on through Crestwood, crestwood middle school and then I went to Grapewich High School where I graduated as a wildcat, and then, of course, Well, that makes three of us actually in this room that graduate from Graebridge.

Richie Babb 3:01

Yeah.

Dr. Jared A. Cotton 3:02

I'm among friends. We've got lots of wildcats in here and then, of course, went on to Old Dominion University. Didn't know exactly what I wanted to do, but I found my way, gravitating toward teaching and education. There were lots of different paths that I was pursuing or looking to pursue, but I kept coming back to teaching. And then I was fortunate to start teaching at Crestwood Intermediate, where I was once a student, and I actually ended up in the same classroom where I was once a student.

Dr. Jared A. Cotton 3:32

So I was hired to teach fifth grade. I did that for several years and then I had a chance to go into a technology job and a lot of people don't realize this, but at the time I was one of two technology integration specials for the whole city of Chesapeake. Now we have pretty much one in every school.

Richie Babb 3:48

Right.

Dr. Jared A. Cotton 3:48

But at that time there were only two of us, so I got a lot of time on the road traveling from school to school and then, of course, came up through Chesapeake. Assistant Principal at Chittum Elementary, had a brief stint at Hickory Middle School as an assistant principal, then, of course, became a principal at Triegel Elementary for a couple of years and I became the director of assessment and accountability, where I integrated technology with testing because at that time it was moving to computers and online.

Dr. Jared A. Cotton 4:17

And then, of course, I had an opportunity to go to Virginia Beach for a stint there as their assistant superintendent for accountability, which ended up being associate superintendent for lots of other areas. Then I went to Henry County as superintendent in the you all know Henry County and Martinsville area in the western part of the state and did that for several years and I had the great honor to come back home to my hometown here in. Chesapeake and just finished my fifth year here in Chesapeake, so looking forward to starting my sixth year in Chesapeake.

Richie Babb 4:47

Yeah, the further we get away from the pandemic, probably the better. You look forward to each year more.

Dr. Jared A. Cotton 4:52

Of course, those two years felt like ten. Yeah, absolutely right.

Richie Babb 4:57

Absolutely right.

Matt Graham 4:58

Well, when you were telling us about your background there and all that, was there something in particular that made you sort of lean towards that education? Like, was there something like a moment or something that kind of had that spark that brought you to education?

Dr. Jared A. Cotton 5:13

Sure, and I tell this, we like to call it our origin story. Those of you who like superheroes, they always have an origin story. But at the time I was initially pursuing a degree in pharmacy.

Discovering a Passion for Teaching

Dr. Jared A. Cotton 5:26

I thought I was going to become a pharmacist, and then I found my way to the Pine Treatment Center where I was a counselor and an activities coordinator lifeguard. So I was involved in activities while I was pursuing a college degree. And then the thing that really changed things for me is I had to substitute in a classroom there for a couple weeks and, by the way, I had been in that classroom a few times and those kids were not at all interested in what was going on in that classroom.

Dr. Jared A. Cotton 5:55

So they were misbehaving, they were distracted, they were constantly being removed and I would be the one who would have to take them out of the classroom because they were having issues. And they said we need you to be the sub for two weeks. And I said are you kidding you?

Matt Graham 6:10

want me to take that job.

Dr. Jared A. Cotton 6:13

And I said, okay, I'll do it. And of course I said but I'm not going to do it the way that it was being done. I wanted to make it exciting hands on. I took the student outside, we did science experiments, we got fully engaged in learning and I'm a big science math person and I really wanted them involved with hands on activities. And what I found was the students were excited about participating in the activities and we didn't have any behavior issues during those two weeks. And because I laid it out at the beginning, I said we're going to have a great time, but if you mess up, then if we go outside, we all got to come back inside.

Richie Babb 6:49

Right.

Dr. Jared A. Cotton 6:51

And they took me at my word and we had a great two weeks and I realized I'm pretty good at this. I'm pretty good at getting students engaged and excited about learning. And then I said maybe this is my calling. And then, of course, I went to tell my parents that I wanted to be a teacher. The first thing they said was do you like being poor? And I said, I don't care what salary I make. I feel like this is what I was meant to do.

Dr. Jared A. Cotton 7:18

And so it was such a powerful experience to realize, when you're struggling to find your path and that's what we talked about and just before the time is helping students find their purpose and what they're passionate about. And for someone who is struggling for so many different career paths to find the one that really resonated with me, and the fact that I've had a 30 year career, that started with that spark, and that's why I think it's so important that we get our students exposed to different opportunities early, absolutely.

Richie Babb 7:52

Looking back at your time as a student in Chesapeake, any teachers that stand out to you or that you look to as sort of role models in teaching?

Dr. Jared A. Cotton 8:02

Of course, one of the funny things that happened to me. When I came back to Chesapeake, I went to Indian River High School to do my welcome meet and greet and then I heard a voice coming from the hallway and it was Mrs Shuler, who was my sixth grade teacher, and at the time and she's recently retired.

Dr. Jared A. Cotton 8:18

actually, I think she's failed at retirement because I think we've already brought her back to work part time. But I heard her voice and right away I knew it was her and she was a great teacher in sixth grade when I was at Crestwood, and so it was so good to run into her again. But one of my all time favorite teachers that I always remember is Mrs Martha Woolery from Grape Ridge High.

Matt Graham 8:41

School.

Dr. Jared A. Cotton 8:41

She was my English teacher when I was in 10th grade at Grape Ridge High and I was so happy to be in her class and she really had a way to make you feel confident that she could be a great writer, that you could be a great speaker, because she had us do public speaking?

Dr. Jared A. Cotton 8:58

in her English class and she also sponsored different organizations that I was a part of as well. And what I thought was so powerful is when I was at an event later in my career. I saw her at an event being recognized and I went up to her in the parking lot and I made sure I told her, because that's one of the things that we don't do a good job of doing we don't tell people that they've had an impact on our lives. So I'm so happy that I did that. Unfortunately, mrs Woolery passed away a handful of years ago, but I'm so happy that I had the chance to tell her when I saw her. And I do encourage you hear me say this all the time Let people know they've had an impact on you and your life, because a lot of times they have no idea and as educators, we're always happy to hear that.

Changes in Education and New Programs

Richie Babb 9:46

Yeah, no doubt. So you mentioned 30 years in education. What changes in education generally have been most significant in your opinion?

Dr. Jared A. Cotton 9:58

Well, I would say the first one that comes to mind, obviously, is technology has certainly changed so much.

Dr. Jared A. Cotton 10:03

You know, I I laugh sometimes when I think about my time at Crestwood Middle School and I tell people you know, we didn't have AC in the building, right, and we weren't allowed to wear shorts, except when the temperature hit over we were allowed to wear the shorts, so terrible that we were excited about a hundred degree. But you know temperatures. But anyway, you know the technology, the one-to-one technology and all the all that we've done. Now we have one-to-one devices for our students, but also the all the different software that we've been purchasing and that we've made available to our students that can really Personalize learning and help our students really meet their specific needs. But we also have been using technology much more now to get students to think creatively, to communicate in many different ways. And and one of the biggest things that I've seen over the last few years is you know, when we were in school, when you were writing or communicating or presenting, you were presenting to your class or your teacher now.

Dr. Jared A. Cotton 11:04

You have the ability to present to the world right now. Right. What you create and present, develop can be shared all over the world. All over the country, you get feedback from people in all different parts of the world, which is exciting but also adds a level of responsibility that you have to be mindful of right, because Anything you put out there is there for everyone to see.

Dr. Jared A. Cotton 11:28

Yeah, so it. So that has changed quite a bit. You know we've also been really working on what do we value in education. You know, as you are going through learning the facts and figures, those those are important to a point, but what we really have to spend time doing is making sure that we're preparing our students for the workforce, and that means critical thinking, communication, collaboration, all of those important skills that our students really need to develop and Years ago we didn't really have a good way to measure that or to assess that or to encourage that, and now it's a must.

Dr. Jared A. Cotton 12:04

Yeah in order to prepare our students for the future. And we're really big in Chesapeake on preparing our students for what's next whether it's a career, whether it's the military, whether it's college, and In order to do that, you've really got to make sure that you're creating learning opportunities in schools where students can develop those Important skills.

Richie Babb 12:22

Yeah, yeah right.

Matt Graham 12:23

Yeah, it's all post online, like yesterday, about how the smart boards and all their classrooms have been taken. Yeah, right, and I remember when that was like the innovation, right, yeah yeah, so no more of that sort of stage on the stage everyone, it's not just on the board. Everyone's has that right.

Dr. Jared A. Cotton 12:38

Yeah, and a good point, because we've just added box light Flat panels to all of our learning spaces, which is incredible, Wow which means that any of our students, as you were saying, can present project. You know, it's not just the teacher, right.

Matt Graham 12:53

Right.

Dr. Jared A. Cotton 12:53

And now students can put they can be working on something on their computer and they can pop it up on the box, box like projector and then they can share it with the class, and it's really making sure that everyone has an opportunity to share their work.

Richie Babb 13:09

I think the biggest thing about that sort of technology change is it really affects student engagement. When I started teaching, and certainly when I was in school, as you know, it was sitting get, I mean, and if you didn't get it that's your problem, whereas now this technology allows us to really make sure that students are engaged, and I'm glad you said that because it's really a focus.

Dr. Jared A. Cotton 13:31

here in Chesapeake we are working on more student centered learning and we have three distinct areas that we're really working on. That's one, one technology, as I've shared project based learning and assessment where students are involved more in projects than instead of multiple choice tests, because we know that's going to prepare them better for their future. And of course we've been really working to help support our students with their well being and their social emotional development and of course, as you all know, that's been quite the challenge during COVID and coming out of.

Dr. Jared A. Cotton 14:02

COVID. So there are lots of ways that we have to put supports in place to help students academically and with building their confidence and working toward their goals. So those are areas that are really helping us be more student centered rather than teacher centered, right. Because as you were saying the teachers this age on the stage in the past, yeah Now we want our students to do more of the talking and more of the thinking rather than the teacher doing all the work. The students should be Right.

Matt Graham 14:31

Right, yeah, for sure.

Richie Babb 14:32

All right, thank you, dr.

Matt Graham 14:33

Connor, we're going to take a quick break and continue this amazing conversation as we get to know you and some of the awesome things that are happening here with just be public schools Families. Now is the time to complete the online student verification process through parent view. This important process ensures that we have the correct emergency contact information on file for your student. The deadline is Friday, September 29th 2023. Visit cpschoolscom for more information. Be a part of the Chesapeake Public Schools family. We are hiring teachers, bus drivers, school nutrition workers, nurses and more. Visit cpschoolscom or call 757-547-0001 to join our team.

Richie Babb 15:40

All right, we're back here. You're just joining us. Just rewind the podcast, actually, yeah. I didn't realize so I would recommend you listen to the whole thing. Well, it's fine. You say like rewind.

Matt Graham 15:52

I know Rewind, I know my daughter is a teacher Is is six and we're watching a movie and she's like Reback it. There is no wine. Can you reback it? And I'm like that makes total sense.

Richie Babb 16:06

It's funny people still say when they videotape, when they record things, they say I got to go videotape this. We haven't used videotape in how long but some of those words stick around, but anyway we've been talking to Superintendent Dr Jared Cotton and trying to get into his background and some of his thoughts on education. But we want to kind of turn it now to to Chesapeake Public Schools, and the beginning of school is here.

Matt Graham 16:29

Yeah, so school is just underway, and are there any new programs or projects or initiatives that you're especially excited about that you'd like to share with our listeners in our community?

Dr. Jared A. Cotton 16:42

Sure, we always have great things happening each and every year as we kick off a new year, and that's one of the things I love about education is, every year you have a fresh start.

Dr. Jared A. Cotton 16:50

You get to start anew and I was one of those nerds that enjoyed the beginning of the school year in the fall. But we've got some great things going on, academically as well as safety-wise. I'll talk about some of the safety niches we're excited about. We are implementing the Student ID badges, which many of our listeners probably have heard about through the news. Where our students are in elementary schools, k through five are going to have an ID badge, which is going to be important because they're going to be able to check in when they get on the bus. They're going to be able to use those badges when they check out in the cafeteria, when they check books out in the library, and we've piloted that at Norfolk Highlands Elementary this past year and it was very well received. So it's going to be very helpful from a safety perspective, but also from a convenience perspective.

Dr. Jared A. Cotton 17:36

And of course, if that goes well as we anticipate it will we're going to expand to Midland High School, so that's exciting. We've also just reported on our Sheriff deputies. We've partnered with the Sheriff's Department. Our community and our board members have said we really need to work on improving safety in our elementary schools and we're very excited that now we're going to have Sheriff deputies serving in different boroughs throughout our elementary school zones and they're going to be in and out of our elementary schools on a regular basis, providing an extra layer of support. And what a great partnership with our Sheriff's office.

Exciting Initiatives and School Safety Discussion

Matt Graham 18:11

So those are.

Dr. Jared A. Cotton 18:12

Those are two really exciting initiatives that are going on. From an instructional standpoint. You know we are implementing a new learning management system Canvas and parents. It'd be a little adjustment but from what I've seen from the teachers already they have really embraced this new learning management system. You all know we had School of G in the past but now we're moving toward Canvas. But what's exciting about it is all of our resources are being loaded in there over the summer to prepare our students and our teachers for interactive hands on collaborative type lessons.

Dr. Jared A. Cotton 18:45

So all of that is being uploaded and ready to go and we're going to continue, as I said earlier, to work towards student centered learning initiatives really focusing on our students being more actively engaged in learning through projects and project based instruction as well as assessments.

Dr. Jared A. Cotton 19:04

So those things are happening that are really exciting. Parents of our younger students are also going to start seeing more happening in elementary reading. You know, we're really embracing the science of reading, which is research based instructional methods to really help our students develop in the area of literacy, and that's going to be something that's that we started working on last year and that's really ramping up as we move into this year. So those are. Those are some of the things that are that are happening as we move into this, this new school year. And, of course, we're working on lots of capital improvement projects and doing some work to invest in playgrounds across several of our schools and tracks and and fields we're trying to develop.

Dr. Jared A. Cotton 19:49

That's a work in progress that's going to take time and it's interesting that you asked this question because we're going to do a readiness presentation for the board at the next board meeting, where we talk about some of the things that we've accomplished over the summer. That's really gearing us up for a new year.

Richie Babb 20:05

I want to step back for just a second on the school safety topic. I know that the deputy initiative that we have is evidence of our interest in school safety, but I don't know if most people know like our school safety team and that sort of stuff Talk about what we do to help ensure safety in our schools.

Dr. Jared A. Cotton 20:27

Sure, we do get a lot of feedback about safety and what are we doing to address school safety? I'm really proud to be a part of the Chesapeake community because we have such a great partnership with our first responders, our Chesapeake Police Department and our police chief, chief Sileski, our sheriff as I've spoken about earlier Sheriff O'Sullivan, and our city at large. I mean, we've got so many different community partners who meet monthly to talk about safety initiatives. It's the mayor's safety task force. Our mayor, dr West. Rick West put together this task force, I would say probably about almost six years ago, and we meet monthly and we talk about ways that we can improve safety. We have subgroups who report out, we gather feedback. Every time there's a safety incident, we debrief, we talk about and, whether it's our safety incident or an incident around the world, I often get asked about.

Dr. Jared A. Cotton 21:22

You know what happened locally? Yes, we do pay attention to that, but we also pay attention to safety events that happen everywhere, because there's always learning that can happen there. So what we do is we discuss it, we debrief, we talk about ways that we can improve safety, and I have to tell you that we've made incredible progress over the last few years ensuring up safety in our schools. But safety's never done. It's a daily conversation, it's a constant review and discussion and it's constant planning. And, of course, our city council has been supportive in providing us with funds to help with some of our safety projects, which has been powerful as well.

Matt Graham 22:00

Yeah, I think I think my kids. I have two kids that are in the school system, that are in their four and six. They're in the elementary school, so I think they're going to be excited about seeing the sheriffs.

Richie Babb 22:11

Oh, yeah, I'm sure, yeah, right, yeah. And you know and Sheriff O'Sullivan also mentioned the fact that it's good for them, because then kids get to see at a very young age that they're the good guys.

Dr. Jared A. Cotton 22:24

Yeah the good guys and girls. And Sheriff O'Sullivan made such a great point. He said that the first reaction that our young students have with law enforcement he wants it to be positive.

Matt Graham 22:34

Right and.

Dr. Jared A. Cotton 22:35

I thought that was a powerful statement that he made and, after meeting the group that he's put together to serve our elementary schools, I'm very excited about the team we have in place, so I'm looking forward to starting day one with this new initiative and, of course, depending on how it goes which I anticipate will go really well we'll certainly look at adding even additional safety and security.

Dr. Jared A. Cotton 22:58

The other thing that we've added at elementary schools that I want to make sure the listeners knows we added additional school security officers. Those are our staff members we've added and they're serving elementary schools as well, so we're increasing those numbers also. So, among other things, there are lots of things that we do. We don't always enumerate all the great safety initiatives we have in place, but we want to make sure that everyone's aware that it's always top of mind. The number one thing we have to do is make sure students and staff are safe each and every day. Instruction is what we're all about, but you can't have good instruction and high quality teaching and learning if you don't feel safe. Correct.

Dr. Jared A. Cotton 23:37

So, that's why we make sure that we spend time making sure everyone feels safe and that we do everything we can to ensure safety in our schools.

Richie Babb 23:44

Yeah Well, I appreciate you taking your time to be with us. That's, we're out of time and I'm sure you have other things to do, but we appreciate your time. It was nice to have a few minutes to sit and allow us and our listeners all thousands of them to get to know you.

Matt Graham 24:02

Well, I'm telling you it's going to be millions. I'm absolutely sure. I mean it's going to be worldwide, so thanks again for joining us.

Richie Babb 24:12

That's all the time we have for this episode of Amplify, the Chesapeake Public Schools podcast. You can share your thoughts by visiting cpschoolscom. Don't forget to follow us on Spotify, apple Podcast, google Podcast, amazon Music Stitcher and iHeart Radio, wherever you get your podcast. Thanks for listening.