Partnering for Success

Our 20th episode pulls back the curtain on the powerful community partnerships that help us excel. We're joined by DeShonna Brown (Chesapeake Council PTA President), Chris Crouch (Educational Foundation Chair), and Sean Murphy (Foundation Board Member and Grassfield alumnus) for a candid conversation about supporting our schools.

Whether you're a parent wondering how to get involved, a business looking to connect with schools, or simply someone who cares about education, this episode offers practical pathways to make a difference. After all, as our guests remind us, the strength of our schools reflects the strength of our community involvement.

Chapters

• 0:32 Welcome to Amplify - 20th Episode
• 1:16 Meet Our Community Partners
• 2:06 Why They Give Back
• 4:32 Educational Foundation's Mission
• 6:26 PTA Programs and Impact
• 9:13 Success Stories and Care Spaces
• 11:43 Challenges Facing Schools Today
• 17:10 Skills Needed for Future Graduates
• 19:28 How to Get Involved
• 22:36 Closing and Upcoming Events

Transcript

Matt: 0:00

Welcome to Amplify the Chesapeake Public Schools podcast.

Chris: 0:13

Chesapeake Public Schools is located in the Hampton Roads region of southeastern Virginia. We proudly serve over 40,000 students in 45 schools and three centers. Join us as we share the stories behind our story by celebrating the people and programs that make us one of the premier school districts in Virginia.

Matt: 0:32

Hey listeners, this is Matt Graham here with Chris Bale, and today is our 20th episode here on Amplify the Chesapeake Public Schools podcast.

Chris: 0:43

Matt, we're going stronger than ever.

Matt: 0:45

now that is absolutely correct. And on this 20th episode we have a special topic and it's all about our community partnerships.

Chris: 0:55

We really are pulling back the curtain on this one. We get the president of Chesapeake Council PTA, the board chair for the Chesapeake Educational Foundation and a member.

Matt: 1:06

Listeners. I hope you tune in and listen to the positive impact that they are making in our schools. Welcome to the podcast. Can each of you take a moment and introduce yourself and maybe share a little bit about how you're connected with Chesapeake Public Schools?

DeShonna: 1:25

My name DeShonna Brown Brown. I am the president of the Chesapeake Council of PTAs.

Sean Murphy: 1:35

My name is Sean Murphy. I am a financial advisor with Edward Jones and I'm on the board of directors for the Educational Foundation Proud Grassfield Grizzly class of 2013. Born and raised in Chesapeake, moved away to Maryland for a couple of years, but Chesapeake is really good at sucking us back.

Chris Crouch: 1:48

So here I am, and I am Chris Crouch. I am a principal at RRMM Architects here in Chesapeake and I am the chair of the Educational Foundation.

Chris: 2:03

All right, so let's jump right in. Why do you guys do what you do with Chesapeake Public Schools? What's your reasoning for giving back?

DeShonna: 2:06

Mine were purely personal. My son started in Chesapeake Public Schools when he was two years old and I was nervous as all get out. My two-year-old was starting in one of the preschool programs and I come from a family of educators. I was a stay-at-home mom. I needed to be near my son, so I joined the PTA.

Chris: 2:29

I think that first time you send your child off to school I don't care, I'm a dad I was nervous and you want to be involved and you want to know what's going on in the school right.

DeShonna: 2:39

It was my way of wiggling myself into the school.

Chris: 2:42

And what a great way to do it too. How about you, Sean?

Sean Murphy: 2:46

My background is my mom actually taught special ed at Great Bridge Middle. Even before I was born, chesapeake Public Schools has kind of been a thing for me. Again, the way I got involved was Chesapeake gave me a lot growing up, so the most I could do is really just tap back in when I was called upon by Chris and your beautiful wife Andrea to join the board and really it's just been a good way to reconnect and start to give back now that I'm a little bit older and wiser.

Chris Crouch: 3:14

Yeah, I was the same. I have three boys. I put my first one on the bus at Cedar Road and you know, up to that point our company had always stroked a check to Chesapeake Schools but we never really were engaged and involved. So I was actually at the state of the schools and I was just seeing ways that we could get involved and I texted Andrea and I said, hey, I'm in, whatever you need, and she put me on a golf tournament and then kind of, the rest is history. Steve Best said you're not just doing golf tournaments, you're going to be on the foundation.

Matt: 3:45

You're mentioning the Chesapeake Public Schools Educational Foundation. Can you tell us a little bit more about what that is Sure?

Chris Crouch: 3:52

So it's evolved over the last eight years or so. But really what we try to do is bridge that gap that exists, whether it's funding, whether it's the mentorships that we try and draw people in. You know, I always tell everybody that it's not just the money piece, it's the mentorship, it's the knowledge that you can provide to these students, to these teachers. Sometimes it's just resources. We have a lot of businesses that are growing, they're changing and a lot of time we get donations just from surplus that these teachers need, because kids are coming to school without pencils or things like that. So really we exist to bridge the gaps and we lean on Dr Cotton and his team to tell us, hey, we could really use this or we could use that, and then we go out and we try and make that happen.

Chris: 4:37

Deshauna with the PTA. What a big undertaking that is. So do you want to talk about some of the work that your group does with the schools?

DeShonna: 4:46

Absolutely. We do all kinds of enrichment programs for the students. We just finished the Reflections program, so we had 106 entries and then, once we judge them and they go to the state level, we actually submitted 27 of our 106. The state level we actually submitted 27 of our 106. We had 16 to place and then we had four to actually win state and they're going on to national and when they go to national they actually can win prizes and all kinds of things and it's just.

DeShonna: 5:17

It's a great opportunity for the students. They can do art, they can do film, they can do dance. It just lets them express themselves and there are no boundaries put on them. So we actually in the PTAs, between all of us, all the schools, we actually offer $30,000 in scholarship money every year. So we have a list on our website. We encourage everybody to go, all the students. We have middle schools that offer scholarships. We're in the schools, whether it's trying to help boost morale, doing stuff for the teachers. I know one of the schools called me yesterday. They're buying a book for every student for SOLs. So we really try to again bridge the gap, just like you guys do, and just be the boots on the ground in the building.

Chris: 6:10

You guys are doing some amazing work, but I want to hear about your biggest success story, something that really pulled at the heartstrings and you're like this is why I'm doing what I'm doing.

Chris Crouch: 6:22

COVID is probably an easy one for us to all look back at and the impact that we had. We were flying by the seat of our pants during that time and a lot of it was going to virtual and Dr Cotton said, hey, we have a lot of kids that don't have Internet at home. We're not going to be able to get this done without some type of support. And he actually asked us for $25,000. And we asked him what that accomplishes and he kind of gave us a percentage and we came back with $100,000 and said we want to take care of every single kid. So during COVID we gave them the money to buy hotspots for every kid that did not have internet at home and that allowed them to stay engaged, stay connected throughout that time period. So that one really hit home the impact that we can make.

Matt: 7:09

Another impact that you are making is through the care spaces that are in our schools. Sean, can you tell us a little bit about that?

Sean Murphy: 7:16

That was kind of cool because, before I was even on the Educational Foundation, I moved back here in 2018. And Ms Savoy, who was at Oscar Smith High, got me connected with them, tutoring a lot of the students during the day, and it was really cool because you got to hear the stories from everybody and you got to develop a personal relationship with a lot of the boys, girls, you know, and they were all at different stages of life. And hearing some of their stories, you know, one girl would wake up. She had two little brothers they lived with their grandparents, had to take them to school.

Sean Murphy: 7:47

Then, guess what? She went and did a four or five hour shift at cookout right after school. Right back to doing what she was doing waking up, feeding the kids, getting them to school. She was playing pseudo mom and 16, 17,. That's crazy. So seeing all of that and then seeing us be able to do these care closets, it's. I mean, I don't have kids, I'm not doing anything crazy now, but I forget stuff in the morning to brush my teeth or throw deodorant on.

Matt: 8:17

It happens. Life is hectic.

Sean Murphy: 8:18

But to have that there for somebody like that who they're growing up but they're having to grow up with their brothers and sisters at the same time but have that role model and just really leader of the house mentality, just putting something small there for them that if they forgot it they can just go snag it really quick.

Chris: 8:35

Yeah, I think that's one of the things maybe our community members don't understand. You know, you think pencil, you think paper, you think Chromebook now. But if that student's coming to school without deodorant, without the toothbrush, just simple things, they're not going to be comfortable in class, they're not going to have that ability to sit down and learn. So I know, especially in some of our less fortunate areas, those care spaces have meant a lot to those schools and they go through a lot of items. So you as foundation members, part of that job is trying to get business partners to replenish some of those harder to find items.

Chris Crouch: 9:13

Yeah, when we first started it, I don't think we realized how big it was going to be. We started getting calls that basically everything was depleted and Claudia Kadir really spearheads that efforts with some support from others, and we received such a good feedback from the students, from the teachers, the principals, that it used to be kids were embarrassed to go grab something because they felt like they were less fortunate. And now it's. You know, you're walking down the hall, you just grab it and keep rolling and nobody has to feel any certain way.

Chris: 9:43

Yeah, no attention. You just grab what you need no one's going to question it and you move on.

Matt: 9:48

And these are all wonderful things that you are doing, what the PTA is doing and what our business partnerships are doing what fosters that strong relationship between y'all and the schools?

Chris Crouch: 10:01

Well, I mean I'll take my business out of it. I'll say, just through me and Dr Cotton and the foundation, he's very open about what those needs are and he's open to different ideas. So I'll say eight years ago the foundation kind of had a different purpose. When I first came on it was more capital-based and we were replacing chalkboards.

Chris Crouch: 10:26

And I'm sitting there scratching my head, saying this isn't what we want to do, this isn't going to make the impact. And soon after that Dr Cotton was hired as the superintendent and I had a conversation with him I was actually the vice chair at the time and we were both in agreement that we wanted to maximize the dollars to make an impact on our teachers and students. So we got out of that capital piece and I took a little bit of heat for that, because there were some people that were past board members that were like no, this is what we do. And I had a lot of meetings, a lot of coffee breaks, a lot of lunches explaining our purpose to these business partners. And now everybody's on board that the things that we're able to do, from the grants to the teachers of the year, to you name it. So I would say the open communication that we have with Dr Cotton we kind of have that shared vision of what is needed for success for these teachers and students.

Matt: 11:18

And you've been a part of the strategic plan moving forward with our school system. Right, You're on Empower 2025 and you're also on the Empower 2031, right.

Chris Crouch: 11:27

I am. Yeah, it really hit me how old I'm getting.

Sean Murphy: 11:30

You have a five-year plan and you see it through and now you're re-up for another five years.

Chris Crouch: 11:34

So, yeah, and we just had our. Actually it was our second session a couple of weeks ago. A lot of great minds in the school system. As a parent with again with three boys, to see the minds that work in that room is just very impressive, and I know that all the kids and teachers are in good hands.

Chris: 11:52

The three of you serve in different roles and work with the schools in different ways. From your perspective, what do you think are some of the challenges now we face in the schools and how do you think we can overcome them?

DeShonna: 12:03

Wow, Well, I mean the biggest challenge with everything is funding.

DeShonna: 12:07

That is just. I mean, everybody here at the table we're giving and we're doing and you're raising money, but it's never enough and it's like every time you think, okay, we've got this nailed down. Something else happens, like, for instance, we have a shoe fund for the PTA and it is a quiet, quiet program, meaning if a child is in the building and they need new shoes, the guidance counselor or the principal reach out to us and then we quietly send them a gift card. Nobody knows, like we don't even know who the student is. It is a, this is what we need, we just need $50 or whatever and we just send it. But we don't want to know who the student is, because it's none of our business.

DeShonna: 12:52

But we try to help everybody. So we have that in and, of course, mainly it's the primary you know, the primary schools that we get the request from. So we're always looking for funding for the, for our shoe fund. And then we do have a safe fund and the safe fund is where we take care of, like, triple C and those schools that don't have PTAs. So we try to do something for the students and the staff there staff appreciation week or doing something you know for the holidays, sending them little cookies or just whatever, because they have a hard job and there's a lack of support of parents in the building. So you know you want to make them feel like every other teacher in the building, but it's for me, for us, it's funding well, I don't have a kid in the school yet you have one on the way.

Sean Murphy: 13:42

One on the way, august 11th, so future hopefully grizzly, we'll see where we move to we're great bridge district now, but I don't know about the wildcats wait, uh, hold on.

Matt: 13:52

Yeah, we're gonna start. Got to be careful. Who went in a fight? A Grizzly or a Wildcat? Come on, I don't know man, wildcats, they're scrappy True.

Sean Murphy: 14:02

That's a great question. I'm just for an example to plug the Rotary. We do a lot as well, not really with tandem. With CepCep, we do donate money back and forth a lot, which is great. We have a really good partnership with one another. But another disparity we're seeing a lot of, which is very odd, especially in Chesapeake. We're a very wealthy city and we have a lot of do-gooders out.

Sean Murphy: 14:22

There is this Thursday we're loading up backpacks with a lot of food at BM Williams 450 to be exact for kids to take home over the weekend. Because somebody found out there's a slew of kids at BM Williams going home hungry over the weekend and they don't have anything there, and so we really spearheaded that to take that up and say there should be no kids in Chesapeake going hungry the entire weekend. So that could also fall back on funding. How is it that we could maybe supply food as a city over the weekend to the kids? Because you can imagine seven, eight years old going home empty stomach over the weekend one or two meals. I was a chubby husky seven eight-year-old so.

Sean Murphy: 15:05

I can only imagine. That.

Chris Crouch: 15:07

But he did not go without meals.

Sean Murphy: 15:09

Yeah, no, still don't. But yeah, stuff like that, just really finding needs in the community, especially at the school and the individual child level. That's really the shortfalls I'm seeing being involved with all these different organizations.

Chris: 15:23

So looking outside, the classroom walls really to fill some of those needs. How about you, Chris?

Chris Crouch: 15:28

Yeah, I mean, I think the obvious piece is the students, but another piece that I really see is their recruitment and retention of teachers.

Chris Crouch: 15:36

You know less and less are pursuing those degrees. So we've taken it upon the foundation to really support Dr Cotton and all the principals. We've given out gift cards to teachers that have been recognized by their peers and that was really fun to go into the schools and do those things. But looking for ways to make Chesapeake that premier destination for graduates to come back here after they've gone out to whatever college they go to, come back here and work, make sure that they're staying here, just really kind of growing that base.

Chris Crouch: 16:07

So my firm we design schools. We're the third largest educational designer in the mid Atlantic. So I'm in a lot of different school districts, I'm in a lot of different schools and the things that are going on at Chesapeake are really impressive. And kudos to Chris, chris Vail on telling that story. And if you've seen the state of the schools over the last couple of years, they do a really good job of not just recognizing the achievements of the students but really recognizing the teachers, the janitors, the principals, the bus drivers, anybody. It's really telling that story because there's great things being accomplished at all levels.

Chris: 16:47

Yep, and it takes a community to create that level of excellence that we do have in Chesapeake Public Schools. And what we're hearing from business partners is the skill sets have changed that are needed for certain jobs. So what might be with business partners here? What might be some of those skill sets you're looking for in graduates?

Chris Crouch: 17:09

Well, again I'm on the architectural side. The technology, the AI, I mean. That's going to change our world and many other worlds as well. So I know Dr Cotton's placed a big emphasis on STEM, but that technology piece is going to be huge for these kids. It's going to be completely different when they're graduating college to what we're facing now. How about?

Chris: 17:30

you, Sean, these high school students. What skills should they come out with and be ready?

Sean Murphy: 17:35

Get your face out of the phone. Learn how to talk to people. That's the biggest skill. You can go really get any degree you want, unless it's gonna be very specific computer science, ai, if you wanna be a nurse. If you get a basic vanilla business degree I got one it's fine. But just be personable, be able to have those conversations with people, look them in the eye and just talk to them, cause that'll get you further in life than an MBA ever will. So how about you Deshauna Anything?

DeShonna: 18:03

I think, for us, honestly, it's two, it's two pronged, it's time management and it's wanting to give back, because I know the students have a volunteer component for graduation and so, like some of the events, we will ask, or you know, hey, we'll write you that volunteer letter and then they'll come, they'll sign up, and then they don't show up. So when we are dependent upon oh, we had 20 volunteers, well, 10 of them showed up. So you know, it's time management and the commitment that you are choosing, and I think that would probably go into what you were talking about, because you want people to come back, but they need to see us, so they, so they see it that, ok, it's cool for me to come back, I'm seeing these adults.

Sean Murphy: 18:49

You know exactly.

DeShonna: 18:50

But the adults have to have the time and make the time to talk to the kids and do the things, and so it's that's a full circle, exactly. But the adults have to have the time and make the time to talk to the kids and do the things, and so that's a full circle moment.

Sean Murphy: 18:58

Exactly. You're not too cool to come back, and if you come back, it doesn't mean you failed. Correct it just means I'm ready to be back in the community that helped raise me and actually give back.

DeShonna: 19:08

So it's okay because I'm adjacent, because I grew up in Suffolk.

Matt: 19:11

See, that's okay, I'm adjacent, but you're here now, which is what matters.

DeShonna: 19:16

Exactly.

Matt: 19:18

So for the parents that are listening, the parents that are not in the PTA yet, or for the parents and the community members that want to get involved, how do they do that? What's the best route? Like from a PTA perspective? What would you say is the best way? Hey, let's get you involved. What should we do?

DeShonna: 19:35

Go through your local school. Most of the dues are $5, $6. I mean, some are $10. But go through your local school and people have to remember that there's always a need and I always say that there are three types of volunteers. You have the one, like me, that we are in the building, we're always there, we do everything. And you have those parents that show up to events and then they do that and that's all that they do. And then you have the ones that just pay their dues. All three are great. There is no PTA level better than the other, because, even if they just join, we have a power of numbers.

Matt: 20:15

And what are some of those numbers that you were mentioning?

DeShonna: 20:17

We are almost 11,000 strong here. In Chesapeake we had a goal of 12. We're a little shy, but it's not too late.

Chris: 20:26

It's never too late. It is never too late, so you can sign up at any time, not just at the beginning of the year.

DeShonna: 20:32

Our fiscal year ends June 30th. Anytime, not just at the beginning of the year. Our fiscal year ends June 30th, so we will take your $5 or $6.50 or however much your local school charges up and through June 30th.

Chris: 20:40

And how involved you want to be. It's up to you.

DeShonna: 20:43

And it doesn't matter. We just need your money, we need your membership. I'll click that up, but yeah.

Chris: 20:50

What do businesses if they're looking to get involved in the school? What are some of the things they could do?

Sean Murphy: 20:54

Yeah, well, one thing that we partner with the schools. We do something called Strive over at Indian River High School. It's a monthly kind of a class. It's where the top 25 students who've brought their GPA up the most get to come enjoy a little breakfast Sometimes it's Chick-fil-A donuts and then a business member from the community will come in and kind of just give them a spiel on what it is they do, how they got started. I do that once a year. I wish I could do it more, but they try to get some diversity in there. But just go in, tell them about the stock market, things like that. So really, if you want to get involved as a business owner, just with your business, it's kind of like a career day. You go in, you give a 30-minute talk to the students, answer some questions, engage with them, get them to know what careers there are out there, and that's a good first step. And from there you can kind of catapult yourself into being more involved with the educational foundation, pta. I don't know if you take on business sponsorships.

DeShonna: 21:50

We do there you go.

Chris Crouch: 21:52

We do See. Yeah, I would say you know, reach out to Andrea Vail. She's the director of engagement. That was a smart strategic move that Dr Cotton made to tie the two positions the executive director of the Ed Foundation, director of engagement same person. So you know she knows what's needed on both sides, just like when I started, I didn't know what I wanted to do, but I knew I wanted to do something and started talking with her and it's evolved. It's not just the finances. Yes, we want to have people do a sponsorship and support the events, but we're looking for mentors, we're looking for people to actually go into the schools. So there's a variety of things. So if you're looking for something and you don't know what you can do, but you know you want to do something, I would start with Andrea. She's a wealth of knowledge of what the school needs.

Matt: 22:40

We have our State of the Schools, where we celebrate our partnerships with businesses, with our PTAs and we let those community members in to show them all the great things that we're doing at Chesapeake Public Schools, and we also want to remind our listeners to attend the PTA's annual dinner held on May 7th at Oscar Smith High at 6 pm. Tickets are found on their website and I've loved having this conversation. We're hearing about the actual events and what that money goes to and how specifically the PTA is in the schools and supporting whatever need that could be. I hope our community gets another peek at what is happening with our schools. We hope you enjoyed the stories behind our story on this episode of amplify the chesapeake public schools podcast. Feel free to visit us at cpschoolscom forward slash amplified for any questions or comments and make sure to follow us wherever you get your podcasts. Bye.