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A Conversation with Superintendent Dr. Cintron

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Campos had the distinct honor and pleasure to sit down ann have a conversation with Dr. Cintron on a wide range of issues impacting the District 14 community and its future.

Show Transcript

Hello everybody welcome welcome welcome welcome to our first official episode of Beyond on the Bell here at compost we are your hosts I am Jourdan and I'm Zoe and today we're very pleased to welcome our superintendent cron and our amazing principal Cecilio how are you guys doing today we're good wonderful to be here I'm stoked to be with you it's great all right thank you thank you thank you so much for being here though you were very much appreciated we appreciate the invitation absolutely all right so um first question that I want to ask the both of you what do you think makes our district unique compared to others in the state or country so first of all thank you for having having us this is beyond the bell this is just beyond thrilling for me to be here with you today you're inaugural podcast here at 711 moral compass this makes me just warms my heart makes me so proud our district is a very unique place I often tell people that 1 of the I think defining characteristics of district 14 which is our community school district here in North Brooklyn is that it's a microcosm of the city and people often say that New York City the largest school system in the in the country uh and in fact could be the largest school system in the world for a city is a microcosm of the world and so if that's the case district 14 you don't have to go any further to see all the uniqueness diverse in Beauty the Brilliance that is New York City right here in our community from Greenpoint throughout Williamsburg bedstee uh Clinton Hill and uh Bushwick we have pieces of all of those areas Within the the Community School District and as you know because you live here uh you can go from 1 block to the next and you see the Mosaic that's our community you see 1 Community the vibrant music and the food and the Beautiful cultures that exist and it shifts this as you make a left on any given block right here at our district office for example you can go in any direction for a block or 2 and you see how the differences um diminish and you don't have to jump in a vehicle right you can you can just walk our district because it's a fairly small District compared to others but what makes us unique is that we have a little bit of everything okay definitely Sean I also would say what makes us unique is the feeling of family in any school you go to in district 14 you always bump into somebody that you know that you have worked with that you have gone to school with that your children have been with uh I am a proud member of this 14 I went to school and district 14 my children have gone to school and district 14 and I've worked in district 14 my whole career so I think the feeling of family makes it most unique in the city you know it's interesting you see that because I'm from the Bronx I grew up in the South Bronx and I'm a Brooklyn transplant that's what they call me now and 1 of the things I used to tell people when I first arrived here back in 2022 was that district 14 even though we're we're right in the north section of Brooklyn the part of New York City feels like a small town I felt like wherever I went people knew everyone else and I was being told oh go talk to Nicole down the street she'll she'll tell you a way to get that that great uh food right for example example so that New York City is a city of I think 8 million people yes but to be able to preserve that small town feeling in a community like ours I think is 1 of those really defining characteristics that make us unique I agree definitely I definitely do agree um family I feel like family even without blood I feel like is very very important so you know a very good Community is very very very very important for the district so I definitely do agree and um coincidentally that goes into um my next question question is who are very busy people you know so how do you balance the needs of students families and teachers when making very big decisions so how do you balance that out you want to give a great question that that's really the principal's question I I think the principal is a unique position in that it is the the principal represents is the head of the school right is the administrative leader of the school and unlike the super superintendent of the principal is upfront leading in the community so how do you balance that principle Cecilia so uh it is intentional work to balance it all and I think that if you come into every decision putting Children and Families First and prioritizing what's in the best interest of Children and Families the balance just comes naturally there is a lot of I try to call it outside noise that can get in the way of the very strategic and intentional planning that you're doing for your school and you really need to be mindful of that and not allow that to take over your mindset or your daily plan there's always time for that uh if you have noticed I'm forever in a hallway right forever in a classroom uh and that's where I should be all of the outside noise all of the compliance issues or anything else that needs to happen can either happened before children arrived to a building or after children have left so I'm going to say if you put Priority of Children and Families First the rest comes easily piggy backing on that I think for me at a system level serving as the superintendent for the entire District it's very much what principal Cecilia was saying most of what we do is as she calls a noise it's a busy world it's a busy time we live in It's A busy life we all lead and I think 1 of the most important things as Leaders we we charged with doing staying focused on the main thing and and I love how you put it in terms of like putting kids first and kids and Families First that's the work it's a little bit trickier for a system leader because we're not at the front lines in some respects we don't get the joy of spending the day with kids our community of kids in a specific location every day and most of our time is with the adults and and and it isn't the school level adults necessarily the adults of the community the current leaders the elected officials the system leaders government officials I mean the list goes on and on business Community leaders and it it is easy for system leaders to lose sight of what's the main thing children and families and the longer a person serves in a position like mine the easier it is to lose sight of it and so for me it's always coming back to my own personal why and ensuring that in some way whatever move I make whatever every decision I make is and whatever time I spent is on my bigger vision of improving lives for others and so for example being here today I know it's it's a special day for you because it's your your inaugural podcast and to me it's an honor and it's just a joy to spend my time in this special moment in this special space with you and I carry that with me when I make those big decisions as you asked earlier Zoe right I make decisions every day if a principal makes hundreds of decisions a day I'm probably making thousands a week and it's easy for me to get caught up in that busyness but staying in spaces like this as we are today with you helps remind me and keep me focused on why I do what I do and so when I make those decisions I draw on these moments and I carry them with me like this this moment doesn't just end with the podcast it continues it kind of fuels me it moves on to another that's right that's right and I take it forward and everything that I do right right right it definitely it's definitely an honor for us to have honestly both of you here you know our principal obviously and then you the superintendent you know for the whole District like that's something very big for us to have you here and it's um very fulfilling for us because it makes us feel you know very special and very important and it shows us a certain sort of side of school where it's not not just pencil and paper you know it's very very interactive class after class instead it's very interactive and very very Hands-On for students you know getting to know the people who are running the school you know it makes us see and connect with people that make decisions for us you know and make our school life and everything better for us you know and it feels good to be Hands-On with 1 another and actually be able to speak to 1 another because I always felt like at least my principal is always to have conversation you know conversation is very very important to me so to be able to do that with both you and Cecilia it feels very very very special for us as well but and Mr Cron when you said being in a small space helps you remind you of the bigger picture and what's going on that's like a piece of advice you would be able to give someone else that would want to be in your position absolutely I think for for principles for teachers alike we we surround we're surrounded by data every day there's content reams of content that we deal with and especially at a at a system level we're looking at thousands of students we're making decisions that impact thousands of students that I would venture to say our Chancellor uh uh almost a million students write in New York City and you know the numbers escalate based on where you are in society but sometimes you got to remember a story because we can look at proficiency rates for students we can look at graduation rates whether they're high or not as high as we want them to be sometimes it's important to know the story of 1 student to put those reams of data in context and I think that that that is a I think a message in life as specially today when we are overwhelming consumed and overwhelmed by the the amount of information that's coming at us platforms like podcasts social media the internet now ai all of it is inundating our minds and our lives but if you sometimes distill that to something a representative sample or singular story that grounds all of that data and information it helps us move forward I think forward in a productive way okay of course and I asked that to you because that leads into my next major question what's a piece of advice you wish someone had given you when you were in high school and Mrs cilio you can answer the question as well that was just the other day right we left High School I feel like I feel like it yeah I feel like I just left High School um I had a a wonderful teacher in high school more than 1 but 1 that uh I can draw up on right now who said uh do what you love to do because you'll be doing it for a really long time and um when I was in high school I can be honest I I had no intention of being a teacher it was not something that was even in my purview of doing um I thought I was going to be a hairdresser that's I went to school to be a cosmetologist to do makeup and hair and um life leads you down a path of different ways uh and teaching found me I I began my career as a paraprofessional very young in my career and I just fell in love with it and I always go back to that teacher who said find something that you love to do because you'll do it a really long time and I get up every day and I want to come to work right there's my daughter's say to me my the only person I know that wants to go to work but it's true I want to go to work I want to be with kids I want to be with families and I just love what I do every day okay so that's a piece of advice that I would pass on to anybody do what you love to do I I don't think I could I could give a more profound piece of advice I'm a parent of 3 and you know we we work hard as parents as teachers leaders and we want to do right by kids but we make mistakes too and I only wish as a parent I got to remember how to remember that advice to to encourage others to do what you love right sometimes people are motivated by money Prestige or power it's not always the best motivator it's typically not the right motivator at all but when you do what you love it's it it's not work and you get up every day wanting to be there the only other thing I would add to that because that's that's really Sage advice pursue what you love what I would say to young people now uh drawing on my experience from high school was I remember Miss Miss Edelstein my home room teacher I was fortunate to have 4 years I didn't have her in any class it's amazing she was just my home room teacher so for All 4 years your husband All 4 years unusual she was my home room teacher so she got to know us well and I think in a way that um no other teacher got to know us because she we didn't well I at least didn't have her in any class Ironically in 4 years I didn't have her but we got to spend like 20 minutes a day with her for 4 years and just getting to know what gave it an inspect and we had the Leaning cards different process and then we we we just chatted up and we we we would talk and I'll never forget she said to me what are you going to do in 20 where are you going to be in 2 5 and I said 25 years she said yeah 25 years I said that's so far away she said Don't Blink because it's going to come and go quickly so they along the lines of what you said they're supposed to sell it to to uh love pursue what you love love what you do or she also got us to think about working hard at that thing we loved early because the time goes like this it sounds cliche I'm sure you've heard it but when I say I feel like I just left High School I feel like I just left High School my body reminds me when I get up with the back pain in the morning or it takes me longer to heal after I pull my back which I did this past weekend that reminds me that I'm not high school age anymore but the time it it just goes so just like stay in the moment love what you do and work hard at it yeah I definitely understand what you mean because I believe 2 years ago when I was in ninth grade my mother told me to enjoy my high school years while at last because when you're in high school the years are going to go by quick and she told me this when I was in ninth grade and I sort of believed it but at the same time I thought High School would drag on for a little bit because you've been in school for so long and now you're in high school and you have 4 years left so you feel like these next 4 years are probably going to be a little long but oh oh I'm a senior now I'm graduating in June and she she was not wrong she was not wrong my high school years have really they really have combat really fast yes that advice you told me this 2 years ago yes 2 years ago when I was in the ninth grade that was probably some of the best advice that I was able to be given because you know when you're young you don't really feel you feel like you have all the time in the world you know you feel like the years it's 365 days it's so long and then it's High School you've been in high school for however long you've been in and then it just goes by completely I'm a junior I graduate next year so it's it's very very almost rewarding yet unsettling because it's you know then all these questions come to you what do you do what will I do in 25 years what is something I love what will I be will I be happy what you know all these questions come to you but sometimes you look into the future so much that you almost forget that you're still here you know you're very much here at this time and I've had Ellie bird as a teacher back in seventh grade and he was 1 of the teachers at tell me this will go by very fast so make it yours and that's definitely an advice that very much stuck with me and in the school it's so tight-knit you know there's a lot of teachers that I've known since middle school and they've seen me grow you become a family with them because it's people that's in you from a lot of stages of your life you know I was very different back in middle school than I am here now today so people that have seen you since you were a little kid fresh out of elementary school new to this new Middle School world you don't know anyone you're scared you're afraid and you get to know people and these people if you choose to stay they see you grow up from this little kid you were into but growing up you have become and the mature person that you have grown to be so true right yeah you know you make me think about like the world today to your point about thinking about like what's ahead the the he is especially as a high school student is to explore this is the time for you to determine what's the thing or the things that you love so that you can then start pursuing them if you go too far ahead of yourself you can close your because I'm doing anxiety or if you if you focus too far in the past same thing right with regrets or or otherwise is staying present is I think 1 of the most important things especially in high school staying present in those moments so that you can uncover the path that you may least expect to lead you down those 25 years trust the process and and lean into exploring what is it that you love yes I definitely do that's something that I think I will take with me for you know many years I had you know my high school experience is definitely something that will stay with me for years that's something I'm very sure about you know I definitely like I've known Jordan since we were in middle school and you know to see my friends graduate and move on and me soon to be that as well it's very very daunting at first but then you think about it and it's like you get to show who you are outside of school and then be able to talk about these memories that very much you will cherish for the rest of your life I mean you guys are far into work and far into your adult life and still are able to remember advice you were given years ago from when you were in high school and is definitely stuck with you and definitely shown who you 2 could be now so it's definitely very very calming for a student to see that so it can show me that when I move on I won't forget memories or I won't move on from advice that I was given years prior so it definitely helps us out when we hear that advice because it makes us feel like okay we're going to be okay we're going to be fine you will definitely be okay okay you never finished know right who you are and who you're going to become process we are a little older than you are and we're not done right we're still learning we're still developing we're still pursuing interests and we're just in a different place in life the the basic difference other than age between us and you is that we have many more years to look back on that we draw from to say okay this is where I should go next alright but we're still learning their there's no point where you say you're finished I think when you when you're finished life is over and so just give yourself the Great to know that you're going to continue working on it and on yourself and this is the process and you'll continue to evolve I am not the same person I was in high school I'm not the same person I was even as an assistant principal or as a teacher right you just evolve every day so look forward to it I'm sorry you're only competing against yourself right Society to tell you like you got to do that thing or this thing you you turn it turn that mirror on yourself and say this but I want I'm going to be the best version of myself what I'm pursuing here yeah I mean look at other models and see that may be something I want to pursue or something that's interesting to me but finding your why and and loving what you do is principal Cecilio said earlier is really about you having that self-talk every day and gaining that Insight from your experiences every day because there's something to be learned every single day that you'll take with you of course so I made a pontificate I feel like I'm lecturing no no no no no no it it's a conversation you say what you feel you know we're you know conversating usually we're used to you know asking questions and you know hearing answers like what Cecilia said when I did um talk to fifth graders and it's for me it's very crazy to see someone further in life and then young kids just starting life and to see how answers could be similar or different you know when you talk to Young fifth graders for me it was I was giving the advice you know they would ask me questions about High School what is that like will it be card will it be and I you know always give them advice it would be very different for everybody they said that 11th grade was going to be so hard and you know a lot of work and yes it's a lot of work but I'm actually having 1 of the best times of my life I think this is very fun and I think it's very interactive you know I've never done this before so it's very very rewarding so I always feel like it's very it gets better soon so I feel like every person's experiences are so different so and then when you ask an eighth grader okay will I be able to do well what is ninth grade like what is this like it will be like how you make it you know for me and then when I get the advice back it's very rewarding and then you almost feel like okay so I'm fine I can do it and we're perfectly you know good so that brings me into my last question is if you could step back into high school today what would you want to experience here as a student so if you can go all the way back to high school and experience something here that you didn't get to experience What do you want to experience now knowing how things have changed from then and now and how we have more unique things to learn and do in high school now what would you want to do if you were to come back to high school yeah that's that's a great question because although it it doesn't I think I speak for both of us but I say I don't it doesn't feel like it was a long time ago but it was like some of the work that I am most proud of in New York City that we've done for high school students in particular um but that's now expanded to our middle schools and elementary schools is what we call Pathways the opportunities for kids to see career opportunities in the work that they do at school this space for example in this time that we're spending here together I think is a unique a great example of the pathways work that we do as a school system where students aren't just sitting in a classroom in a rows with a textbook the way we we primarily came up um in our time but actually learning content and applying that content in real life world examples that can be leveraged as career opportunities because the bottom line is an education is for the upward mobility of all my personal wise about helping people see when I was a teacher I was very well grounded up and my kids see opportunities that they may not see for themselves so that they could not only gain an education but more importantly to have better life outcomes have a more productive fulfilling life and I think today like us as people our our school system is a work in progress but the opportunities that exist today like this where you can be engaging in school in a real real world applicable way like a podcast that can then be transferred to a skill set that you're going to use as a career is a unique opportunity that we've never had and I don't want you to take it for granted because it doesn't exist in School across the world and every High School this is 1 of the new the unique things I think and the advantages we have in New York City to have these pathway programs that include internships problem based learning needs to go out into fields and work creatively in a hybrid environment not necessarily the 4 Walls of a classroom to name a few a great examples that I wish I would have had the opportunity to take advantage of as a kid because I think it would have as a high school student it would have opened up more opportunities for me in terms of what I wanted to do with my life expose me to even more opportunities I grew up very poor I I had very little my mother did the best she could uh raising her kids and teaching us the values uh that um brought us to where we are today but that she was very limited when she could expose us to it wasn't like we had money to barely go to the movie certainly not to a Broadway show or to experience culture in that way but now that we've brought all of that into schools for kids and I just I I hope that our students don't squander that opportunity and they take full advantage of it take those resources and use them that's what I would do if if I could go back in time I would ensure my school would be infused with those opportunities because the more you know the better equipped you are to make the decision to go back to what you said earlier about loving what you do right if you're exposed to a a variety of experiences right here in the time as I said before where you should be exploring that for yourself in terms of what is it that excites you in life you're you're going to be better positioned to make a decision for college or whatever career opportunity or wherever the path takes you in the future I agree for me it when you talk about high school and experiences in high school uh as superintendent cron said right there was much more of a pencil and paper type of learning um when I got here at Campos I said in 1 of my first talks with the students I said my my goal here is to allow you to um um have experiences that you have not had be exposed to things that you have not seen and to discover love of something to ignite an interest or a a a passion for something right so experience Discovery exposure is very important and I feel like um in the short time that I've been here I've been able to start to chip away at that right with this podcast room with the culinary room with the Hydroponics room um with the Drone program right all of these uh different experiences that students are getting I wish I would have had when I was in high school so I I would also agree with you with the experiences in high school and definitely do agree and um it's definitely helped um when I was growing up um it was definitely all still pretty much pencil and paper I was still using you know the green boards back in um Elementary School to um Early Middle School and then when I came here it was so much different I came here because it was an art school so to come to high school and see so much change in a school that I've been in since the sixth grade it almost feels like a whole another school to me and it feels amazing to be honored with this like I was pretty shy prior to this podcast um talking to you know superintendent or a principal or higher up higher ups people higher than myself it you know it was scary for me because you know I was very shy and you know talking in front of a camera is I what I used to do but alone in my room you know I didn't do it in front of so many people but now it's definitely helped me with my communication skills and you know I do want to do cosmetology as well so it definitely helps me in how to communicate with 1 another and you know not be so enclosed in myself so it's definitely a very appreciated thank you experience that we got to have that makes me happy it sure does right I remember you know I consider myself a senior this is my fourth year as the superintendent here in district 14 I tell the principles all the time this is my senior year I'm graduating and to graduate means that we're going to have some receipts today I think we have some receipts hearing your experiences and what uh life the the opportunities that are opening up for you because of your experience here and you need your unique experience of coming here as sixth graders to now Junior and senior here you have a very unique uh advantage of vantage point of how the schools evolved I remember saying to to principal Cecilio when we we we were bringing her on board this even further beyond that when I first set foot here knew this was a special place I felt that family at atmosphere and I saw the love and I thought the children were beautiful maybe it's because I missed being a principal at the time and I was missing my school that I had just left at at the time and I said to principal Cecilia when she came on board all you got to do is tap into that if if you bring your passion and we we expose the kids to the experiences that we want to have they they filled a sense of belonging as you've expressed those are receipts sky's the because there's so much that you're able to do just the way you describe coming out of that shell right like you're here today makes me so proud and you're you're you're living examples of the work that we do we don't get to see very often the impact of our work as teachers and leaders cuz you know it's down the road on occasion we'll see a student 20 years later run into them someplace and say oh I remember that lesson or that thing you did or that message that you gave us like we were just describing from our schooling but to be in the moment mint with you now to hear about how your evolution is already underway and you've experienced so much change already in your life and you you see so much clearer now you're going to see in more clearer all clearer still as you continue and you move thank you for for allowing us into this space with you because just of course we come here to be interviewed right but we're getting as much from this from you absolutely as as you may think you're getting from us right you do absolutely and we definitely thank you for coming out and joining us today take your time out of your day with us to come here that's what we're here for it's very very appreciated and it's very good to give you the thanks and you know show what you know the impact that you've all done for us as well it's very very rewarding for us as well um so it is very much the end of the podcast but but before we end the podcast we have a little gift for you for so superintendent cron I'm right all right what do we have here oh look at this card look at that honorary member of isn't that beautiful oh my Lord listen

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A Conversation with Superintendent Dr. Cintron

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